I just read this article on Urban Times online magazine about a woman that decided to stop buying new clothes and make do with what she already had. Even when things seemed to have lost all use, she would find a way of giving them a new lease of life by mending them. It is an incredibly inspirational article, and the fact is that lots of us probably do have old items of clothing that just need a little mending and then they'd be as good as new, but we just never get round to it.
I am definitely now going to have a look through my wardrobe and see what I can fix or customize, rather than buying new items.

http://www.theurbn.com/2012/08/one-wardrobe-for-life/

SPEEDO + FROM SOMEWHERE

Speedo have once again collaborated with ethical fashion brand From Somewhere to create an incredibly, visually striking ball gown out of the surplus of Speedo's Fast Skin Super Elite Swimsuit. Orsola de Castro, of From Somwhere said of the one-off upcycled "Unity" dress “I think our dress speaks about water, and water is life. It’s about the environment, and preserving water which should be a priority for all humankind.”
Sean Hastings, vice president of product and marketing at Speedo International said,  “We’re delighted to again team up with From Somewhere in the development of this latest truly unique piece of ‘upcycled’ fashion, which uses the different colours of our sponsored international swim teams to reflect the vibrancy and excitement of swimming.”
I think this dress is absolutely stunning and shows what you can create out of upcycling surplus fabrics. 

HEADSCARVES

For the past couple of months I have been working on a small project to promote ethical fashion.
As a part of this project I have created five different headscarves 100% ethically, using water-based non-toxic printing inks, and organic cotton. Below is the photoshoot I did with the finished headscarves.

M&S + OXFAM SHWOP

In a bid to highlight the amount of textile product that goes to landfill every year and to encourage a more sustainable way of shopping, Oxfam and M&S have teamed up to create the new initiative that is 'shwopping'.
The idea of shwopping is to encourage people to give unwanted items of clothing from their wardrobes when they buy a new item, with the hopes that a 'buy one, give one' culture will develop within the UK. All Marks and Spencer stores will now accept second hand pieces of clothing from any brand which will then be resold through Oxfam, with the money going towards helping people that are living in poverty.
I think this shwopping idea is such an important development for the UK high street, the only way for larger audiences to begin to understand the changes that need to happen and for them to actually start doing something about it, is for big high street brands like M&S to set up initiatives like this. Hopefully this idea will encourage more and more of the big high street names to get involved and start making a change to the throwaway culture that we live in. It would be amazing if eventually shwopping was something that you could do in all UK high street stores, not just M&S.

2012 ELECTIONS

Green party have managed to get ahead of the Lib Dems in the London Mayoral Elections, taking third place behind Conservative and Labour. A breakthrough for Britain, as Jenny Jones said, it has happened in many other countries but this is a first for Britain, and it is good to see the Green Party get enough votes in London to take third place. Hopefully this shows that more people are beginning to realise that a difference does need to be made with regards to the environment.

EBAY

I've become slightly addicted to eBay recently, there are so many bargains to be had! It is a lot easier if you know exactly what you want, but there have been many occasions where I have spent hours scrolling through pages and pages of bags and shoes with no real idea of what I'm looking for...just a bargain and bidding war.
Here are some of the second hand bargains I've recently bought.

OFFSET WAREHOUSE

Offset Warehouse is a great enterprise that was created to make it easier for people to make interiors and clothing ethically. They provide on an online platform with everything you could need to create clothing and interiors ethically such as, an ethical fabric shop and haberdashery, a directory of services and businesses that work ethically and have ethical accreditations, and a resources area with any information you need. On top of this they also provide lectures and seminars, workshops and consulting services 'to make being ethical easy.'

www.offsetwarehouse.com