You must have already heard about the project “product red” initiated by U2 front man Bono and Bobby Shiver of (Debt AIDS Trade in Africa) to raise global fund to fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The concept is for their licensed company partners to use the Product Red Logo and to develop line of products to which the percentage of the sales will go to the global fund. Companies such as Apple computer, American Express, Converse, Motorola, Gap and even Giorgio Armani have already signed agreement with. The idea to create a global fund that can help millions of people is truly admirable. However we cannot just disregard that big company can use this to serve their own purposes. Surprisingly it seems that most of these big companies that adopted and embraced this kind of campaign towards a more conscious and caring for the people are the ones that have been criticized in the past. Gap for example up to now continue to be questioned on the presence of their sweatshop factories in Asia, even Apple have been recently talked about when exploited children were discovered in some of if its Ipod factories in China. If a company has a real intention to do something good and clean it should not be just their image. The increasing consciousness and demand of the market for products that have social and ecological contributions are getting bigger and bigger that most business minded head cannot help but to have their own share of the cake. It is our task then to see the difference.
For the past few weeks the topic that has been largely talked about in the television, in the radio and in the newspapers is the chaotic scenario that awaits us by year 2050: the earth that's much hotter, and the disappearance of certain of its species. In the recent report published by the American review "Science" for example showed an alarming prediction on the consequences of pollution and heavy fishing in the ocean. Claiming that if nothing is done nearly the total of the fishes and shellfishes we consume will disappear in the ocean by year 2050. I remember seeing a similar report last month claiming that the natural health of the planet earth has declined by 30% since 1970 (source: WWF report). Imagine that we are using up and turning resources into waste faster than the nature could turn them back into resources. And that with the rate of our growing population we will need two earths to meet all our demands. It may not sound like too much of the future we all saw in the sci-fi movies we loved but more likely a horror movie that we do not want to be a part of. The only good thing about it is that it is never too late to do something right now. We all have responsibilities in taking care of our planet that we try to get so much and give so little in return. We need to make the decisions and actions right now before it’s too late.
Just a short preview what awaits us if we do not act right now.
We may have enjoy chicken on our plates so many times because it taste good and nutricious but have you ever thought of wearing clothes made of out of chicken? In the laboratory of University of Nebraska Lincoln chicken feathers and some rice straws are being used to make fabric fibers that resembles wool, linen and even cotton. Yiqi Yang the professor of textile science in charge of the research believed that as fabric is 50% from petroleum it is important to contribute to lessen our worsening oil issue. The researchers also believed that agricultural waste like chicken feather that is composed of keratin like wool (in USA alone about 4 billion pounds of waste annually that ends up in the landfills) offers an important alternative source for fabric fiber. The textile industry definitely needs a hand to go by with the worsening environmental issues we are all facing right now. The possibilities of being ecological in fashion is definitely not only limited to using "bio" cotton for the alternatives could be infinite: recycling fabric, salvaging "end of stocks", using alternative fibers (bamboo, abaca,rice straw etc..)or agricultural waste like chicken feathers. Let's be creative.
A few extra links to help us reduce our ecological footprint:
The quizz of the Earth Day Network to know how many Earths you are using.
Action Carbone, the Association of the french photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand, who proposes to donate some money to compensate for our emissions (in french)
Be green, another site giving us advices on how to reduce our ecological footprint
With all of the developments of our technology here is the presentation of the Spring-Summer collection of Hussein Chalayan for 2007: clothes that can change their shape a futuristic idea for the clothes of tomorrow.
There is a French proverb that defines dead “as those who does not have friends...” But in Philippines this is never true for the dead spent at least one day a year with their families, relatives and friends.
Every November 1 all roads lead to cemeteries, as majority of Filipinos take time to remember their loved ones and friends who parted away. Although this day is actually the feast of the Saints in Philippines it is more like a feast for the dead. Prayers, flowers and candles flooded the cemeteries in a fiesta-like ambiance. We pass the time their sharing food, exchanging stories or playing games (scrabble, poker, etc) in a happy and relaxed atmosphere. Most often people take time to head to the cemeteries very early in the morning to avoid the rush and traffic. Or just simply to have longer time to find the graveyard of their loved ones as small streets and towering layers of graves in the cemetery could be like a big labyrinth. Considering the unstoppable prices of land in Philippines even in cemeteries we have the same agony: prices are so expensive different families are obliged to share one graveyard that leads to towering layer of graves that we often call the “condominiums of grave”. There are some families that this system is still unaffordable and therefore choose to rent out the land for certain number of years only to be exhumed at the end of the contract or just simply squat. Ironically for those that have money their mausoleum is so well equipped with all the comforts and luxuries (TV, air condition, refrigerator, etc.) that we can even imagine living there. The observance of All Saints’ Day is a one-day affair where three businesses dominate the cemeteries: selling water, renting toilet and selling candle drops (collected candle drops of the day could be sell around 30 pesos per kilo (50 centavos).
But at the end of day when all these merry making is over, cemeteries will be once again empty and could finally find back their peace for the rest of the year
I know it's been long time overdue that I wanted to do my write-up on the Ethical Fashion Show but my busy schedule forbid me so. Well, finally here it is:
The third annual Ethical Fashion Show that took place in Paris last October was a tremendous success in terms of numbers and variety of exhibitors who participated. This year over 20 nationalities and brands were present unifying this event with one goal: promoting fair trade, ethic and environment. It was totally impressive to see how fashion eco and fair trade designers' work were presented in the catwalk on the inaguration night and on the fashion show for the streetwear category. I have special preference over the Haute Couture collection from Mongolia and the fabulous winning piece dress of Rainer Wolter for the Umbrella Inside Out competition organised by Treehugger.
The fashion show for streetwear collections was also worth mentioning. Dancers were used in between to keep up the beat and it would definitely give you envies to dance. Despite my hectic time I managed to drop by and check other booths and had the opportunity to meet some interesting designers like Numanu (the lauriat winner of EFS) and of course Grace Trance (an American based eco-fashion designer who also happen to have Filipino roots). It was also a nice occasion to see again some of our friends like Alexandra (Altheane), Jerome (Tudo-bom) Rachel (Ideo-wear), Naskigo, and to meet new ones like Seyes, Johanne (Ethos) and others.
Unfortunately since majority of french Fair trade brands like us were assigned on the third floor we seem to have lesser visitors and less action. Probably because they were too tired to climb until the last floor well I couldn't blame them. I had the impression too that there were not that much audience for the conferences and some exhibitors needed to abandon their booths just to watch.
But nonetheless, I would say that the overall result is quite positive. We met many interesting people and it was amazing to see all this energy focused on one issue: making fashion fair and environment friendly. Seeing the number of people we met who were putting up their own fair trade boutique or their own brand of fair trade clothes made me ponder even more on the question, is ethical fashion a fad or a long term thing that will stay there forever? The challenge is up to us.
After the story of the Top Models that were denied to participate in the fashion show in Spain, here is a video of a campaign "for a real beauty". Are we finally going to realize that the kind of beauty promoted by the fashion industry is just a lure?
The Blog
The third annual Ethical Fashion Show that took place in Paris last October was a tremendous success in terms of numbers and variety of exhibitors who participated. This year over 20 nationalities and brands were present unifying this event with one goal: promoting fair trade, ethic and environment. It was totally impressive to see how fashion eco and fair trade designers' work were presented in the catwalk on the inaguration night and on the fashion show for the streetwear category. I have special preference over the Haute Couture collection from Mongolia and the fabulous winning piece dress of Rainer Wolter for the Umbrella Inside Out competition organised by Treehugger.
Unfortunately since majority of french Fair trade brands like us were assigned on the third floor we seem to have lesser visitors and less action. Probably because they were too tired to climb until the last floor well I couldn't blame them. I had the impression too that there were not that much audience for the conferences and some exhibitors needed to abandon their booths just to watch. 
