Salmon skin la? Very fashionable!

When you think of Malaysia.. what comes to mind? Big Skyscrapers, Petaling towers, the beach, Orangutans? Would you think sustainable fashion with salmon skin leather? Malaysia's first eco brand ULTRA challenges norms of popular fashion and looks ULTRA cool while doing it! Click through the slide show and read about this amazing new venture! Make sure you read the comments at the bottom!

Make Fairtrade your new best brand!

Fairtrade Fortnight 2011 is happening right now! Between 28th February - 13th March, use your voice to show that people in Britain want a fair deal for the producers behind the products that we buy. And it’s not just about promoting Fairtrade coffee and bananas. Clothes are a big part of the Fairtrade campaign too.

Visit the Fairtrade website for fun ideas on how to get involved in spreading the word. Go on, show off your label!

Take a look at what it’s all about...

Let Barbie help you get in touch with your creative side

I am a 22 year old male and I spent my Friday playing with dolls. Yes that’s right dolls, and I loved it!

I attended the Fashioning an ethical industry event in Bristol a few weeks ago and was lucky enough to be a part of Lyla Patel of Traid’s workshop.

We were all handed a doll with a generic, basic black dress. At first I felt a little silly dressing up a doll but there was so much fabric and shiny stuff on the table I had no excuse to not come up with something. The end result was a hit if I do say so myself.

The fascinating part of the activity was seeing everybody else’s individual takes on dressing the doll. Each one was completely different from the last. I was shocked to see how everyone could interpret the same dress in such a unique and different manner. The workshop really brought to life Sheena Mathieken’s uniform project who has been making her dress look completely different everyday for the past 10 months.

This made me wonder, why don’t people customise their clothes a lot more in their day to day lives? Imagine some of the amazing creations we would see in a single day.

The reason people may be afraid of looking different could be down to their fears to look less than ordinary. Nobody wants to look different because we are all trying to fit in with one another and most of us use the excuse of ‘I am just not a creative person’.

But when put in a position like I was with the doll activity you realise how much power you have over your look. And how many dynamic creations you can come up with if you just experiment. It just depends on how much you dare to be different.

Image Credit- Freddycat1 on Flickr at Creative Commons 

Could our clothes save the world?

Furoshiki is a traditional wrapping cloth that has been used in Japan for centuries.

It started as a method to carry clothes to and from the bathhouses, and eventually evolved to people using them to transport, protect and decorate goods.

What interests me about Furoshiki is how it’s used to wrap gifts. While Furoshiki may carry a particular purpose, I am more interested in its use as a gift wrapper. In an article by the Independent it is estimated that during the Christmas period we would generate up to three million tons of rubbish. This is a tenth of the annual total. And of that three million, 83 square kilometres comes from wrapping paper alone. This is equal to laying wrapping paper down in Wembley stadium more than 80 times.

Getting old t-shirts and dresses and using them as gift wrapping makes the gift more personal and shows you think out of the box. Plus it will save a few bob or two on wrapping paper.

This video on YouTube shows how something as simple as tying knots in cloths can result in bags and unique ways to hold your belongings.



For more tips on how you can make use of your clothes differently, visit.....