One off clothing – GoodOne

It has got to be good – made from hand-picked recycled textiles.

See their website at www.goodone.co.uk

keith

[from the Guardian 10/2/07]

Jean.s

Never been much for wearing jeans myself – just could not take to them. However most people do – and this list of organic or alternative jean ranges is taken from a longer article in this months Organic Life magazine (no website)

www.loomstate.org – 100% organic cotton Flux Jeans (and a funky flash site)

www.prpsgoods.com – 70% african organic cotton (more flash, great denim detail)

www.kuyichi.com – organic and fairly traded street wear (very urban )

www.hug.co.uk – 100% organic and fairly traded (simple site, great clothes)

www.spiritofnature.co.uk – 100% organic cotton jeans for kids (be patient here – may take a while to find them)

www.howies.co.uk – 3 organic styles of jeans (another simple and sweet site)

keith

Limedrop – Sweatshop Free

Was a time when clothing that carried a badge of pride for the eco or fairtrade minded would have been embarrassing to be seen in. Time have changed.

Take a look at the range from this Australian label – who unhappily to point out that sweatshop’s exist in Australia as well as developing countries. Be warned that the photography on this site is not the best – and Winter 05 is the latest update.

www.limedrop.com.au

keith

Mung beans and Fashion (don’t mix!)

For years it has been difficult to buy fairtraded fashion that is relevant to western consumers. I guess this is because of the inevitable conflicts between the core skills and craftmanship that are the mark of small producers in developing countries and the fickleness of the clothing sector in the developed one.

It is definitely easier now and there is a sufficently developed marketplace to (hopefully) sustain new entrants. Jane (no surname given) is the founder of ThinkFairTrade and she has a collection of 5 garments on her site. Together with a lot of information on the business, the suppliers and the background to her setting it up.

Commenting on her cloths as opposed to her business is outside of my core competencies so have a look and make up your own mind! I picked this up in the current issue of The Ecologist. And the mung bean reference is from her home page!

think! make stylish and desirable fairly traded clothes for women who have never been near a mung bean in their life

keith

Pants to Poverty

This is a “social enterprise” I guess – set up after the “Make Poverty History” blip last year (where Fairtrade coverage was all over the press). Not a shy bunch:

They only seem to have one size – and they are in the very early stages of the business/campaign. They have an informative website (linked here) where you can purchase online, they invite participation and I hope they continue to develop a business model that sustains the message

keith

The Good Life

I suspect the author of “An irish Craftworkers Good Life” just might be too young to have seen the TV series of the same name!

Rebecca Allen is a textile artist and for her the story of her love for her craft and her family is something she is happy to write about. I hope it works for her in the promotion of her business – it is great to see non-techies embracing this medium. Her blog is a good balance of home and work and uses a 3 column layout to show details of her work alongside her posts.
Here is the link to her blog: http://irishcraftworker.typepad.com/ 

keith

Seasalt

A curious name for an organic clothing business – although when you go to their website you see that they also do a non-organic range of gear for sea-lovers.

The organic range is for women and is one of the most colourful I have seen in organic cotton. They sell online and deliver to most countries in Europe.

I read a short piece on them in Organic Life magazine. 

keith

Passion..

..is what these two businesses have in common.

One is based in Ireland, one abroad. One makes chocolate by hand, the second commissions others to make clothes for them. Both are run by women (co-incidently I think) and both are passionate about what they do.

Cocoa Bean Artisan chocolates is Sarah and Emily – sisters who are based in Limerick. I have been eating their chocolates for nearly a year now and have sent feedback to them twice. Both times I got a response from them. Nice one. Their website is on V2 (at least) and it works for me – it conveys their love of what they do.

People Tree is an English based business that is fairtrade fashion. Clothes that look good for which the makers are paid a fair price. Safia Minney is the the founder and she runs a blog – http://www.peopletree.co.uk/safia/. I would love to read a blog from Cocoa Bean in the same way I can read the one from People Tree. It helps me connect with the reason for the business and the vitally important people behind it.

This stuff is important to me. Small businesses and their founders deserve support – especially ones who focus on things that are important to them and who find themselves (by accident or deliberately) outside of the mainstream because of that.
My kids will hopefully grow up with that in their heads – be passionate about what you do, do it well and enjoy yourself while doing it!

(This post was originally written for my Pure Play blog in May 2006)