Where Clothes Kickstarter Campaign is Underway!

Hey world! I have just launched a Kickstarter campaign for a lookbook collection project! If you or someone you know is interested in sustainable and ethical fashion, please check out my page and share with anyone you's like! Thanks in advance :)

Another Tragedy at an Unsafe Sweatshop

The demand for cheap fashion lead to a building collapse in Bangladesh today, killing over 120 people and injuring over 1000...many are still trapped in the rubble. According to the New York Times article, this factory made clothing for Walmart, C & A, Benetton, and Cato Fashions. 

The building's overall construction was substandard, and the top four floors illegally constructed without permits. After the nearby garment factory fire killed 112 people last November, stricter saftey standards were supposed to be upheld. Inspection teams discovered cracks in the wall on Tuesday, but these danger signs were ignored by the factory owners and employees were forced to work.

For $40 a month on average, these employees risk their lives working long, hard hours in dangerous conditions...all so we can buy a cheap pair of jeans.

This unfair and detrimental labor needs to stop. Please consider supporting local and ethical fashion.

Happy Earth Day!

Team Eco Etsy has made a bunch of fresh and green treasury collections of eco-friendly items in honor of Earth Day! Check out the creative, inspiring, and eco-friendly etsy items featured below!

Click here to view full treasury!

Click here to view full treasury!

Click here to view full treasury!

Click here to view full treasury!

New Website!

In the midst of spring cleaning, I decided to amp up my website and change the theme around. I'm loving the new look, especially the new Spring 2013 collection photo gallery. These photos were taken by the lovely and talented Ash LaRose, and modeled by my dear friend Jacs Fishburne. It was a super fun shoot, I love being with those gals!
Here are a few previews:

Future Fashion

From Rations and Proportions on tumblr:

"What spurred me to promote ethical fashion? This little book. It’s called, quite succinctly, Future Fashion and it contains a series of short essays from a host of different designers and business owners involved in green fashion. Everyone from Diane von Furstenberg (writing as the head of the CFDA) to an organic wool farmer to a natural textile dyer contributes to this book, and each small essay adds up to an enormous picture of the huge obstacles the industry faces before we become sustainable and ethical. The book focuses on green movements, but some of the facts I read - such as the huge cancer rates among textile workers - spurred me to endorse fair trade and fair labor issues in the production of fashion as well. It’s a quick and easy read, but it’s well worth the effort if you’re curious as to how the fashion industry has become the 2nd most pollutive industry on earth, behind only oil & energy. "

Boomerang!

Is Synthetic Clothing Causing “Microplastic” Pollution in Our Oceans?

A scary note from ecouterre.com:

"Think of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans and visions of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch invariably come to mind. But an emerging breed of “microplastics,” defined as any plastic particle smaller than 1 nanometer—or one hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair—is raising health and safety concerns on shorelines across the globe. Unlike its larger brethren, however, microplastic pollution has a far more insidious cause. And, according to a study published in the November 1, 2011 issue of Environmental Science & Technology, our washing machines are partly to blame.
Microscopic fragments of acrylic, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, and polyester have been discovered in increasing quantities across the northeast Atlantic, as well as on beaches in Britain, Singapore, and India, says Mark Browne, an ecologist at University College Dublin and the paper’s lead author. Browne and his colleagues from the University of Sydney in Australia, the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter in the United Kingdom, and Waters in Canada sampled 18 sites representing shorelines in six continents to track down a possible source of the contamination.

A chemical analysis revealed that nearly 80 percent of the filaments comprised polyester or acrylic, which are common in synthetic textiles.

By separating the plastic from the sand and chemically analyzing them, the researchers discovered that nearly 80 percent of the filaments were either polyester or acrylic, both of which are common in synthetic textiles. No single beach was devoid of the colorful lint. Each cup of sand had at least two fibers and as many as 31. The most-contaminated samples also originated from areas with the highest human population density, suggesting a pathway to the ocean through sewage. Samples of treated wastewater and sewage-tainted ocean sediment confirmed the scientists’ suspicions.
To discover how the synthetic lint wound up in sewage, Browne’s team purchased an assortment of polyester blankets, fleeces, and shirts. After cycling the garments in three domestic washing machines for several months, the researchers collected and filtered the wastewater for analysis. The numbers were startling: A single garment can produce over 1,900 near-invisible fibers with each wash, Browne says. Ingested microplastics can persist in cells for months, moving up the food chain to animals and people who eat fish. More alarmingly, some studies show that microplastics can absorb toxic chemicals such as PCBs, dioxins, and DDT.

Textile and washing-machine manufacturers, as well as sewage-treatment plants, should be researching ways to mitigate microplastic pollution, says Browne.

As populations grow, so will the problem. Textile and washing-machine manufacturers, along with sewage-treatment plants, should be researching ways to mitigate microplastic pollution, says Browne, who suggests filters that trap the fibers or clothing that sheds less. Consumers can also help by choosing natural fibers over synthetics. Certain garments, such as polyester fleeces, can release up to 180 percent more fibers than other textiles, he adds.
Seasonality is another consideration. Washing-machine usage is seven times greater in the winter, notes the study, which results in a sudden uptick in the amount of microplastics released into the environment. Getting maximum usage out of clothing before tossing it in the wash could also ease shoreline pollution." -Article by Amanda Coen