Can Green Credentials equal Fashion Credentials?

Maybe you think Fair Trade or Organic clothing is great for eco warriors, but not for the fashion forward.  If so, think again.  Here are three great jackets to see you into autumn in style – and all of them either Fair Trade or Organic.

This velvet jacket fits in with the 70’s look that is much in evidence in the shops this season.  You could wear it over a patterned folk-look dress, or pair it with plain trousers for a more formal look. A few months ago Vogue magazine carried a spread of ‘fashion perennials’ and included a velvet blazer.  Their choice cost over 600 pounds; our choice, from Fair Indigo, retails at $ 149 (US dollars).  It is available in US sizes 2 to 16 (equates to UK sizes 6 to 20) and comes in a range of colours.  See www.fairindigo.com for full details.

The wide sleeves on this jacket suggest the cape silhouette that is a key trend this autumn.  Wear it with straight leg trousers and platforms soled shoes for a tailored style, or bring out your sex appeal by teaming it with a pencil skirt.  It would also work well with jeans and boots for a dress-down look. It is available in black as well as the moss green shown, in sizes 8 to 16.  It is by People Tree, costs £65 and is available from www.Adili.com. The jacket is machine washable, which apart from being kind to the environment, is a bonus if you are on a money saving campaign.

Finally, an organic cotton sweatshirt for casual days.  I love the print, which was designed by illustrator Jenny Bowers.  It is from Howies, costs £55 and is available in size 8 to 16.  While this may seem a high price for a hoodie, I have bought clothes from Howies and they wash and wear wonderfully well.  As they last longer than cheaper items, they are a better buy in the long run.  Find them at www.Howies.co.uk

 From Brixham to Brisbane: Dresses to Bridge the Seasons

Pat writes.

If you live in a country with a Temperate Climate, your wardrobe needs to be versatile over the next couple of months as we move from one season to another. 

Dresses have crept back into fashion over the past few years; this is good news because they are easy to adapt to different temperatures as well as occasions.

As the seasons change regardless of whether you live north or south of the equator, we are featuring one dress from Brixham (England), and another from Brisbane (Australia)

This dress is available from www.quailbymail.co.uk, who are based in Brixham, Devon.  The Lucy dress pictured is available in raspberry, mallard, grape and sapphire blue, costs £32 (free P&P) and is machine washable.

It is made from organic, Fairtrade cotton, hand loomed in Southern India, designed in London and manufactured in Devon.

You could wear it with a denim jacket and high-top trainers for a casual look, with sandals on a warm day (we keep hoping), or pair it with a smart jacket and ballet style shoes for wearing to work.  When the weather turns cooler you could jazz it up with brightly coloured tights and a long bead necklace, topped with a woolly cardigan.

This wonderful print on this dress from Brisbane ensures that anyone wearing it will get compliments.  It is from Thea & Sami, a design and screen-printing studio.  Thea & Sami  use natural organic, sustainable fabrics printed with solvent-free inks.  Every stage of their design and production process is done locally, and they state that their products are sweatshop free.

The dress shown costs $269 (Australian dollars) which reflects the low production numbers.  If your budget could run to this, you should get value for money, as the dress could be worn to a wedding, and then accessorised in any number of ways for other occasions.  I would wear it casually with a plain linen shirt with rolled sleeves plus flat woven leather sandals (after dressing it up for the hypothetical wedding, of course).

Thea & Sami is a fairly new business with  beautiful designs.  Find out more from their website www.thea-sami.com.au.              

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Fair Trade Jewellery    This necklace always draws compliments!  I bought it from the shop in Aberdeen Art Gallery, but it was made far away, in a village in Kenya.  It is from an organisation called Kazuri, which means small and beautiful in Swahili.  The necklace is made of hand-painted ceramic beads, each individually made and therefore unique.  Best of all, it is fairtrade.  This necklace cost £28.  Prices vary according to the size and complexity of items.

Find out more and buy on-line from www.kazuribeads.co.uk

Other sources of Kenyan Fair trade jewellery:

www.manumtuk.com

www.lovethatstuff.co.uk

Take a look in your nearest Oxfam shop. They often have a selection of fashionable fairtrade jewellery.  They also have an on-line shop, from which this cuff is currently available at only £5.99.

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List of UK Fairtrade Clothing Suppliers

Take care when ordering. Using organic cotton in itself is helpful to the environment but just because an item is made of organic cotton doesn’t necessarily mean that it is also fairly traded.

EcoChic

Fair trade products from Peru, Vietnam, India, Nepal, Mexico and the UK.

http://www.ecochicfairtrade.co.uk/ 

Ekklesia.

Fairtrade Women’s Clothing & Charity Gifts

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/lifestyle/fairtrade/fairtrade_womens_clothing

ethicalsuperstore.com

A whole host of ethical products including fashion, home, groceries and health.

http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/category/fashion/ 

List of Ethical Clothing and Fashion Suppliers

http://www.ethical-junction.org/clothing/womans_clothes/

Gossypium, Lewes, East Sussex & website

Range of orangic cotton fair trade clothing. Also some home products.

http://www.gossypium.co.uk/ 

Guardian Ecostore

A whole host of products which are chosen as they are fair trade, organic or eco.

 Fashion, accessories, garden, eco home etc.

http://www.guardianecostore.co.uk/

People Tree

A range of women’s, men’s and children’s clothing.

http://www.peopletree.co.uk/

Traidcraft

Fair trade clothing, food, gifts and household products.

http://www.traidcraft.co.uk/

Tearfund

List of ethical clothing supplies from Tearfund website.

http://youth.tearfund.org/lift+the+label/fashion/ethical+clothing.htm

Want to find out more about the Fair Trade movement?  We've picked out a few books, shown below.

Clicking on any of the books will take you to the Amazon website, where you can find out more about the book.  You will still need to go through their checkout process to actually make a purchase.

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