One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.
-Oscar Wilde
Found some interesting headlines about eco-fashion this week: enjoy!
(Photo is of Cass in a hand-me-down dress with headband made of recycled materials. Friendship bracelet from Kelly at Design Crush. The purse was a present from Danielle Liss. This is how she dresses to go grocery shopping.)
Puma’s New Tack on Sustainable Consumption:
Compostable Clothes
“In the biological cycle, I can make shoes and shirts that are compostable so I can shred them and bury them in the back garden. We are working on products that meet these two criteria.”
Why is this not already a thing? In any case, I love my Pumas and I’m happy to love them even more.
Anke Domaske, German Fashion Designer, Creates Environmentally Friendly Clothing Made From Milk
After two years of trial and error, working with a research lab, Domaske and her team of six finally landed on a process of reducing milk to a protein powder that is then boiled and pressed into strands that can be woven into a fabric… She uses only organic milk that cannot be consumed because it has failed Germany’s strict quality standards.
And? AND?! Two pounds of fabric can be produced using only 2 liters (a half gallon) of water. Two pounds of cotton? OVER 10,000 LITERS OF WATER.
This is full of the awesomesauce. And by awesomesauce I mean milk. It does a body good… inside and out.
T-Shirt Remix:
Recycling America’s Used Clothes for Social Impact
“Our consumption is so rampant that we are dumping 95 percent of our clothes in the developing world,” Lohr says. The clothes we buy here in the U.S. and barely use—like that bar mitzvah party-favor tee—end up in thrift stores, which sell their excess in bulk to third-world distributors, supplying a global chain of used goods.
The good folks at Project Repat are raising money to launch the No More New project: paying workers in Kenya a fair wage to rework our cast-off clothes into bags and scarves. They’ll retail for $30, and include a donation to a nonprofit. (The pilot plan just involved restamping old shirts and reselling them for $25. They sold 500, raising enough money to build a solar-powered computer lab in Kenya and put five girls through school for one year in Tanzania. HOW HARD DOES THAT ROCK.) You can be a part of this innovative project and help back the funding by donating $1 or more.
Over-Consumption Invokes the Six Items or Less Experiment
Surveys show that most women own seven pairs of jeans but wear only four regularly and buy approximate 50 percent more shoes than they need.
‘Tis the season for feeling kinda gross and crappy about rampant commercialism and the GIMMEs. Could you go for a month only wearing six items from your closet? Chances are, you trend toward your favorite few anyway. There is an official 6 Items project underway, but you might want to try it just for fun. (Underoos, socks & shoes, bathing suits, accessories, workout gear, uniforms, coats and sleepwear don’t count towards your six, and you’re allowed multiples of the exact same item, which makes this SO EASY for me). It’s like the Uniform Project but less intense… using clothes you already have and are comfortable with.
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Thus concludes this week’s episode of Eco Fashion Friday.
Stay tuned until the next time I remember that I like to do this on Fridays.
If you liked this, leave me a comment! Maybe that will help me remember. 🙂
