Howies add on

And this in their catalogue referring to their big carbon footprint on Merino they use but they are trying to improve.
(How many posts have I already made this week?! Guess this is what an office job does to me. )

Hand me down Howies

This week made clear: it's spring! On Wednesday was spent in lotus position on a rooftop on a woolen blanket with tea lights in jam jars (long live jam jars!) and bottles of wine, kept warm in woollen Fjallraven/Barbour Katie K jumpers; it had been sunny, hazy and mild all day. Daffodils, cherry blossoms, cardigan weather. Mhhmmmmmmm...

On that rooftop, Katie came to talk about Howies clothing and how awesome they were. I didn't know them (gasp!) and looked 'em up the next day. Indeed, awesome the are. One unique concept is 'Hand-me-downs' http://hmd.howies.co.uk/ : "These products have been made to last. So that one day you can hand them down to someone else. And they can carry on their little journeys.". High quality, organic, classic garments&accessories made not only to last your whole lifetime but the one of the next person you hand it down to (with a 10 year guarantee). They achieve vintage status by actually being worn for tens of years as they will last that long, and not washed down and treated with chemicals for a vintage look that is fashionable and disposable. Same concept with their jeans all being raw selvedge denim. After flicking through their website, blog and brand history they come across as creative, chilled dudes I'd want to sit on rooftops or have bags&clothes-making sessions with.

... and art, too!

http://www.chorltonartsfestival.com/

Friday 15 May - Saturday 23 May

Chorlton's Green Festival

The Manchester area Chorlton is commonly known to Mancunians as bohemian and alternative. There is a wide variety of charity & independent shops, pubs, bars and restaurants that appeal to the Chorlton scene and beyond which is anything but clean cut. This is not purely posh organic & fair-trade material (which does exist too e.g. restaurant 'Marmalade') but also sweaty, dirty pubs with live bands playing, and (organic) beer is spilled (e.g. Dulcimers).

Bottom line: (eco-)eclectic and friendly. My favourite area of Manchester by far - no, not scary Moss Side or faceless Didsbury; although Withington pubs and Levenshulme antique shops have their charms.

Ooooh how could I forget about the Northern Quarter !? But more on that one another time!

Most likely, I will refer to some Chrolton shops and their offered labels at some point but my main concern after introducing the lovely Chorlton-Cum-Hardy (in full) is to share Chorlton's Big Green Festival! It is taking place on the 4th of April 2009 in St. Clements Church (who are great at hosting e.g. the Chorlton Film Institute). According to their website http://greenchorlton.org.uk/ They have offerings for following categories: crafts & swapshop, organic food&drink, music, film & dance and well being, bicycles. I'm going, that's for sure and will report back if it's as amazing as it sounds.

Re:Denim

The cut of this denim jacket is something else!

So is the denim brand Kuyichi. On their jeans they print a code you can enter on their website to retrace the journey of your pair of jeans before landing in your shopping basket.

From http://www.kuyichi.com/:

"Many brands are now following our organic revolution.Kuyichi is proud to be the first for organic.
And we keep on pioneering. Besides organic cotton and linen we also work with new, cutting-edge sustainable products like clothing made from recycled PET bottles, spare denim, soya, lenpur and vegetable tanned leather."

"We want a few mad people now. See where the sane ones have landed us!"
George Bernard Shaw.

Artist: Anais Edely - http://www.anaisedely.fr/ . My friend Joe in Leipzig told me about her; she is living with her at the moment. I appreciate the Anais' graphic style, often mixing hard black lines with dreamy aquarell paint.

Thanks for the Uebersetzung, GC & http://www.quotesdaddy.com/.

Spotify

www.spotify.com

... Only discovered it today, so still need to check out how much more amazing it is than I already think it is. Free music for listening, faster than streaming. Don't understand in the slightest how it's possible but I'm making use of it this very moment, listening to Fever Ray (The Knife's singer's solo project).

(On an environmental note: less purchasing, less waste ;) )

Waste Couture

"According to the EPA Office of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year, and clothing and other textiles represent about 4% of the municipal solid waste. But this figure is rapidly growing. "

"A textile worker takes a break at dawn after sanding jeans all night at a clothing factory in Guangdong Province, China. The blue dust from the jeans is a heavy irritant to the lungs.

http://www.ehponline.org/members/2007/115-9/focus.html

Clean Clothes

The last 2 posts featured vintage shoes and handmade jewelry made by an independent individual. These beautiful, unique and high quality items cannot be found on the high street. But mass production is thriving with the fast fashion trend the demand is there or else these multi-million pound corporations wouldn't exist. Unethical and toxic. There ARE alternatives. Every purchase is a conscious decision and a vote.

And while window shopping online at http://www.theurbancollection.com I very much took liking to those vintage "ostrich look embossed leather" booties; notice the leather laces!

Some earrings I found through my fave fashion blog http://stylebytes.ne and then bought on etsy. Next project: learn to bead.

A Start

My first time blog experience .
Not an easy task to get started : I keep writing, deleting, rewriting, editing, deleting, writing.
...
I am a designer, therefore quite possibly a majority of posts will fall into the fashion category. Although I am currently working for quite a large Manchester-based commercial brand (my first graduate design job) my interest lies in creative, ethical and sustainable alternatives.

It's the little Crabb's little online scrapbook, as every day I come across attention-grabbing while on the wide and weird world of web & real life that I'd like to record for myself & share with anyone interested.

Auf gehts!