In case it passed you by, the Anya Hindmarch 'I am not a plastic bag' bag has become the Wii of the ethical world. The last 20,000 sold out yesterday within an hour of Sainsbury's stocking it, and now roughly 1,500 odd of the £5 bags are going for £50-60ish on eBay UK. Now, I like the bag's design - we've got one in the New Consumer office, pictured left - but why the crazed rush?
Continue reading "Anya plastic bag madness - did I miss something?" »
Green Ready Steady Cook - set your eco PVR to record on 4th Jan, as the frantic food show features Penney 'No Waste Like Home' Poyzer (in green pinny) and Tracey 'Downshifting Week' Smith.
People Tree 07 - next year's season from the ethical fashion label is all about 'change today, choose Fairtrade'. Expect a bigger menswear collection (at last!), new undies and a new brand called People Tree for Top Shop - for the first time, it'll be available to buy online at Topshop.com.
Goodsearch - the Yahoo-based, charity-giving search engine is now live. Grab the Firefox plug-in.
Fairtrade and fir-trees - an ultra local event tomorrow, two minutes from my house: St Paul's Church on Herne Hill (London SE24) plays host 1-3pm to Xmas tree sales and a Fairtrade food sale. No word on organic trees, but there's always 07, right?
Big news in my RSS reader today: Timberland has bought out green skater fashion label, Howies. David and Claire, who founded the clothing brand - of which I own a few organic cotton togs - have written a long and obviously heartfelt post here about their reasons why. Foremost are Timberland's ethical credentials, including its aim to be carbon neutral by 2010, its tree-planting and its employees getting mandatory time-off for community work. Timberland's shares are reportedly up; there's no news on what price it paid. My fingers are crossed that nothing changes except finances at Howies - it's easily my favourite ethical fashion brand.
Following in the footsteps of Howies, Hug, Loomstate and more, Levi's has finally got with the programme to debut its organic cotton denims. Although the eco jeans went on sale one week ago in 20 Levi's stores across the UK, I can't find the things online for the life of me. None of Levi's official stockists have them, and you're a better surfer than me if you can find their product page extolling their benefits on Levi's Euro website. All of which makes me want to exhort you to seek out the alternatives. A shame, since Levi's jeans - based on the women's 570s and men's 506s (pictured) - do look cool and green. As well as the organic cotton, the button's made from coconut shell and the finish from potato starch, mimosa flower and Marseille soap. You can buy a pair for £80; I've posted a list of stockists on the 'continued story'.
Continue reading "Organic Levis go on sale offline... but are nowhere to be found online" »
Here's a fresh case of 'why didn't I think of that?': satchels made from old Royal Mail courier sacks. Edged with jute - which, like bamboo, grows fast - these hip recycled bags are selling for £27 a pop over at brand new ecotailer, Love Eco. The promising site also stocks stupendously cute chicken-shaped doorstops made from vintage fabric, Fairtrade and organic cotton pants, plus a few green-minded cushions, towels and toys I've seen before. Go take a look for yourself: there's a good helping of Christmas gift fodder on there.
Fashion Made Fair sale - 7-10th Dec - bargain buys from ethical clothes legends People Tree, Howies, Ciel, Enamore and more.
Eco Design Fair - 2nd Dec - green nirvana for Xmas present-buying
Timberland Forest Planting - 2nd Dec - buy anything from Timberland Regent St this Sat, like these boots, and it'll plant a tree on your behalf. Nice.
Green Xmas at Science Museum's Dana Center - 6th Dec - buy eco-minded goodies and hear chat from a recycling-loving designer and Peter from Junkk.com.
Timely, cosy and fresh on sale in central London this week: fair trade gloves, hats and scarves from People Tree. The new toasty accessories - including the £15 hat on the right - are all made by KTS, a knitting team in Nepal who popped over to Topshop Oxford Street last week to promote their wares and flag up the good working conditions they've got back home. My day mag, New Consumer, was there to interview them, so - advert alert! - look for a feature in mag, out 15th November. You can buy most of the new People Tree/KTS woolens at Topshop on Oxford Street, snag this bonnet from Timberland on Regent Street, and buy them all online at People Tree. Direct links: £15 hat pictured; £14 gloves; £12 beret; £20 scarf.
Cold out, eh? If you want to be the smug warm one at the bus stop/on your bike/filling up your Toyota Prius, I recommend checking out Howies' new fleeces made from New Zealand sheep wool. The wool from Merino sheep keeps the furry white critters warm even on NZ's southern alps, so it should keep you warm while sipping a Fairtrade coffee in Manchester's Northern Quarter. I'd prefer Howies sourcing its wool from local sheep for local people in Wales rather than shipping it from the other side of the world, but the Merino wool is apparently fully traceable, supports greener farming and ensures farmers get paid a decent whack on time because (more on this PDF here). The Howies fleece on the right is 100% Merino wool and will set you back a nay-bad £95. You can also snag vests, shorts and jumpers made from the wool.
Majestic. That's the only fit word for the design and presentation of Nest's new eco cleaning range (mentioned previously here). Where Ecover is proudly practical and spartan, Nest's products resemble posh toiletries - see for yourself in the pic on the left. Now, because a person should only read so many words on cleaning products in their lifetime, this review's short. I've tested the laundry water and antibacterial surface cleaner.
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