Category Archives: Shoes

Sneaky Business // Oxfam Australia organizes virtual protest to support the rights of footwear workers

Oxfam Australia has launched a new online campaign: Sneaky Business—a virtual march touring protesters across factories in Southeast Asia, China and Central America, all the way to the headquarters of leading shoe manufacturer, Nike. The march is a call for action for workers rights in the global footwear industry. As I write this post, there are 205 virtual protesters marching through Indonesia.

“The journey shows that poor working conditions are a global problem. Worker exploitation exists whether in Australia, South East Asia or Central America. However Sneaky Business also demonstrates that there are companies doing the right thing— ensuring that footwear workers are treated with dignity and have access to their rights.” (Oxfam Australia)

When the march finishes up in the next few months, Oxfam will deliver the messages of each protester to the shoe manufacturers. Teachers, this sounds like a perfect project to get your class involved with come September.

To join the march, simply choose your message and upload a picture of your sneakers!

Bloggers, be sure to check out the Sneaky Business Toolkit.

Great work Oxfam!

Summer Rayne Oakes presents ‘Eco-Trends: The Art & Science of Sourcing Sustainably’ // ECO Fashion Week Vancouver

ECO Fashion Week Vancouver, September 30^th, 2010 // Day three: Summer Rayne Oakes

Summer Rayne Oakes – Eco-Trends: The Art & Science of Sourcing Sustainably
Summer Rayne Oakes, Image via Jute & Jackfruit	BIO// Summer Rayne Oakes is a model-activist, author of bestselling style guide Style, Naturally and a young entrepreneur focused on environmental sustainability in business. She has developed more environmentally-preferable collections with a variety of brands, including Payless ShoeSource’s zoe&zac line and Portico Home & Spa. Her unique positioning as both a brand ambassador and environmental strategist keeps her busy on and off camera, advising and consulting on various aspects of design, production and practice. She is now launching a new company called Source4Style, which is an online marketplace that allows designers to purchase more sustainable materials from around the world. Vanity Fair has named Oakes a “Global Citizen,” Outside called her one of the “Top Environmental Activists,” and CNBC called her one of the “Top 10 Green Entrepreneurs of 2010.” Summer Rayne is a graduate of Cornell University with degrees in Environmental Science and Entomology and is a Udall environmental scholar.
NOTES //
– Background – grew up in NE Pennsylvania country. Brought home insects, etc…. A lot of people in cities never have these experiences!- At University studied sewage sludge; toxic organic contaminants from laundry chemicals, food, body products. – SRO wanted to reach more people than possible through entomology so headed for fashion. – She headed a beauty shoot with a model and bees in order to highlight the plight of bees – 3 billion dead in the last four years. – Style, naturally – book by SRO. Talking about sustainability good but to get through to fashion, needs a whole infrastructure to support i.e. fabrics available, etc. – Case Study – Payless Shoes – Zoe & Zac $30 and less sustainable shoes. Using water based glues, organic cotton, recycled rubber and cardboard. Recycled packaging, sales of reusable bags with $1 per bag to planting trees in Brazilian forest; $1 per tree – Shipping by rail not air – Portico home – Products get ‘in’ i.e. pillow offers 20% more sleep, plus bonus environmentally friendly. Film campaigns make organic & natural etc. – Source4Style – ‘we source, you design’. Designers spend up to 85% of time sourcing. Market research on annual budget and yards purchased – B2B (business to business). Based online because not all designers make it to tradeshows. Images include close-ups etc. 30 suppliers, 1000+ materials. More coming. – Big brands are signed up ! Adidas, levis, sears, lululemon, MEC, Barneys NY etc – What is sustainable? Organic, recycled, biopolymer, process from farm to factory environmentally friendly, fair trade, fair labor, handmade, traditional,. – Sustainability is a moving target. Continued Improvement is required, full disclosure and transparency required. Ask the right questions to find out what’s really going on with factories etc. – Designers see source4style.com – Suppliers see source4style.com/suppliers – info@source4style.com – 347.338.110
Q&A //
Do you work with existing suppliers only or are you looking to expand? – Both. We’ve got the known ones and are open to developing newer ones. Consumer demand dictates this a lot. How does a eco friendly shoe for $30 not impact labour costs? – Payless shoes is 50 years old. They have standards. Zoe & Zac has to be tame in terms of design in order to be able to sell and make money and keep design costs down. As a consumer, I was sceptical of Zoe & Zac being sustainable and ethical because it’s so cheap and sold at payless. – I wanted to work with companies who’re already trying to become environmentally responsible. Big companies who aren’t like that but are at least making an effort are worth helping. What do you see in the future? – More brands will be doing this. Eventually brands won’t say ‘green’ or ‘eco’, it’ll just be part of it. Do you have contact with fashion schools? – Once the website is up and running, this will be a good project. My book Style, naturally is used as a teaching aid and several universities have signed up. Students are the future and so this is very important.

FASHION EVOLUTION

Our friends over at Re-dress in Ireland have been BUSY!

In less than one month, Re-dress will present FASHION EVOLUTION, Ireland’s 3rd ethical fashion week:

“Fashion Evolution aims to re-vitalise the spirit of the Irish fashion industry, with a schedule of exciting events catering for consumers, producers, retailers and supporters of fashion alike.” (Re-dress)

“Our mission is to provide the Irish fashion sector with the tools needed to make more sustainable fashion choices.” (Re-dress)

We don’t think they’ll have any trouble accomplishing this goal–just take a look at what they have planned!

What: Re-dress ETHICAL FASHION CALENDAR LAUNCH
When: Tuesday 4th April
Where: Online www.re-dress.ie
Cost: Free

What: FASHION MENTORING SESSIONS
When: Wednesday 5th 6-8pm
Where: Sugar Club, Upper Leeson Street, Dublin
Cost: 15 Euros BOOK NOW!

What: FASHION ENTREPRENEURSHIP; EVENING LECTURE AND NETWORKING SESSION WITH KATHARINE HAMNETT
When: Wednesday 5th 8.30-10pm
Where: Sugar Club, Upper Leeson Street, Dubin
Cost: 10 Euros BOOK NOW!

What: IRISH FASHION INDUSTRY CONFERENCE
When: Thursday 6th 9am-2pm
Where: Fallon and Byrne
Cost: 40 Euros (students and unemployed 20 euros) BOOK NOW!!

What: CLEAN CLOTHES CAMPAIGN – GENERAL MEETING
When: Thursday 6th Time TBC
Where: TBC
Cost: TBC BOOK NOW!

What: FREE PUBLIC FILM NIGHT
When: Friday 7th 7pm
Where: Smock Alley Café
Cost: FREE BOOK NOW!

What: EJF Cotton T-shirt exhibit
When: Tuesday 4th-Saturday 8th 10am-5pm daily
Where: The Greenhouse
Cost: FREE

Title: FASHION EVOLUTION
Location: Ireland
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2010-05-04
End Date: 2010-05-08

Sseko Designs: Social Change through Responsible Business

Janette Crawford, who runs one of our favourite blogs, fashion loves people, has shared a wonderful interview she had originally done for KCFreePress.com. The interview is with Liz Bohannon, founder of Sseko Designs, an organization working to provide women with tuition money they need to attend college in Uganda through social enterprise.

I encourage you to head over to fashion loves people straight away to check out the full interview.

I wanted to share this video clip with you here, as a source of encouragement. Liz Bohannon speaks passionately on the power of social enterprise in creating sustainable change—her dedication and optimism is so inspiring! Click here for more videos from the interview.

Sseko Designs: Creating sustainable change from Janette Crawford on Vimeo.

Thanks Janette for sharing this with us!

Social Alterations// Slides

Nadira and I both promised to make the slides from our presentations at the FEI conference available online, and here they are, along with a slideshow of some of the images we captured from the event. I’ve reposted the videos of the presentations for convenience.

Thanks to everyone who offered feedback, we were so grateful for your considerations. Please, keep let’s keep the conversation going!

Be sure to contact us with any questions!

Social Alterations: An Education Lab for Socially Responsible Fashion Design

View more presentations from socialalterations.

Social Alterations @ FEI from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

CSR Trends in China’s Apparel Supply Chain

View more presentations from socialalterations.

CSR Trends in China’s Apparel Supply Chain from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

Find more photos like this on Social Alterations

WATCH// Social Alterations @ FEI

Here are just two of the videos we took at the conference. We have more videos to come, so stay tuned for those.

The first video is of my Pecha Kucha talk. I’ll be posting the slides and my notes a little later on. Please contact us if you have any questions on the works cited in the presentation.

Social Alterations @ FEI from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) held the table next to ours during the Market Place on day two of the conference. We asked them what exactly responsible fashion meant to the EJF, and for their thoughts on why designers should care.

FEI Conference 006 from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) was also there, asking participants “what organic cotton means…..to me”. Pictured above is Nadira Lamrad (right) with her answer.

Social Alterations @ FEI

So here we are in London for the Fashioning an Ethical Industry Conference: Fast Forward. Today, Nadira and I will both be presenting at the conference, and with Katrine in attendance, this will mark the first time the SA team is all together in the same place at the same time!

We will be doing lots of blogging and twitter (ing?) from the event, and will have our presentations uploaded later tonight for you to check out, so be sure to tune in.

Follow on twitter via @maryhanlon for that feed.

Wish us luck!

Tracing Trash

Trash of Your Society (T.O.Y.S.), an art project of theSYNdicate, is on tour investigating the after-life-cycle of products, or artefacts (a.k.a. trash). Do you know what happens to your products once you’ve tossed them?

Here is part of ‘The Concept’:

The footsteps or traces that refuse leaves internationally, are the subject of the art project of theSYNdicate: how countries deal with refuse in different parts of the world; the global cycle of refuse; the dimensions of European refuse in Africa.

Transport routes of primary products as well as of finished consumer goods cover long distances, in this globalised world, with many stages, and with goods passing through many hands: sometimes transported goods describe a cycle, other times goods travel in a more one-dimensional perspective.

At the end of a cycle, for example, a number of high quality goods from the southern parts of the world land in Europe, to be sold at high prices, with a hefty profit margin – which drives turnover and stock exchange assets. African countries (and other continents and countries with similar social and economic conditions) are the destination, the recipients, of refuse: the results of agrarian over-production, electronic junk, garments (often second hand clothes), and many similar goods. In this cycle, the places that are the countries of origin (right at the start of the cycle), are left mainly with refuse and package material. Africa – the First World‘s testing ground or laboratory, and self-service shop.

You can buy stock in the project for 35Euro, and receive a piece of upcycled art.

Follow along their journey through the TOYS Blog. The images and stories may surprise you!

Source: psfk

Images via the TOYSTOUR

Green Carpet Challenge

“We can’t celebrate good intentions, we have to celebrate beauty” (Dilys Williams, London College of Fashion)

We’ve really been enjoying watching Mr. Darcy actor Colin Firth’s wife Livia Firth challenge herself to take on ethical fashion this award season. Livia is no stranger to ethical style, however, considering she’s the owner of ethical shop Eco Age in London.

She’s been blogging about the Green Carpet Challenge over at Vogue UK, so that we can follow along with her on this incredible journey. Along the way, she’s been interviewing ethical fashion gurus like London College of Fashion Dilys Williams and ethical designer Christopher Raeburn.

Be sure to follow her as she takes on this challenge!

The Case for Sustainable Fashion: Organic and Sustainable Textile Seminar for Brands and Retailers

“21st Century supply chain management calls for innovative mindsets and specialized methodologies. Escalating oil prices, climate change, consumer awareness, water shortages, child labor, biodiversity, landscape management, transparency, pesticide management – all these elements impact on sourcing decisions, the supply chain and how we deliver product to the consumer.” (OE-MB Sustainable Fashion Seminars)

The Seminar is a unique 2 day intensive aimed to bring textile and apparel professionals working within the industry up to speed on opportunities to create responsible change within their supply chain.

Title: The Case for Sustainable Fashion: Organic and Sustainable Textile Seminar for Brands and Retailers
Location: London
Link out: Click here
Description :

“Some of the important topics covered include:

Environmentally Friendly Fabrics – Understand the Definition, Sourcing and Production Issues,
A discussion on Recycled Polyester and Climate Neutral Clothing,
Responsible Processing – The Good The Bad & The Ugly of Dyeing and Finishing Industry,
Product Integrity – Certification, Labeling, Transparency and Traceability,
Social Compliance – Understand the Different Systems and Learn The Actual Work Done,
Setting Sustainability Strategy – Learn from the Perspective of Leading Brands, Their Pitfalls, Triumphs and Lessons Learned,
Communication Strategy – How Sustainability and Branding Strengthen Each Other?
Fashion and Consumer Trends Towards Sustainability in Europe.

Participants will be encouraged to be critical, ask questions and share experiences during discussions. It would be an excellent place to actively share knowledge and information and to network at every possible level.

It is of our main intention that you will leave this event with:

Practical and in-depth sustainability strategies that can be used by your business,
A roadmap of action – a clear idea of what needs to be done, and how,
A new set of meaningful contacts.

Who would benefit most from this seminar?

If you are involved in supply chain management, buying, designing, fabric sourcing, marketing, CSR or are a professional and manager of a clothing brand or retailer, this seminar will assist you to initiate and develop your sustainable textile and apparel programme.
By attending, you will provide your company with an excellent return on investment as you meet with your peers, expand your knowledge of sustainable textiles, and find new opportunities for innovation, risk reduction/brand protection, and cost savings.

Please contact Nany Trivita Kusuma for additional details or questions” (event description directly sourced through OE-MB Sustainable Fashion Seminars)

Start Date: 2009-11-19
End Date: 2009-11-20

Source: CSF and OE-MB Sustainable Fashion Seminars