Summer sales: Pick up some bargains

Summer means sales and not just for mainstream fashion, but for ethical fashion too! A study carried out by Doorone.co.uk, of 1,152 UK adults, aged 16+, discovered that 67% of those questioned felt that ethical products are too expensive. So, now's your chance to make the most of the sales and grab some great ethical fashion buys. You don't have to go mad, but by slowly building up an ethical collection a bit at a time, you will eventually find that you have a whole wardrobe full of ethical garments. There is no need to throw your old wardrobe out (that will cause more waste), instead give anything you don't want to a charity organisation like Oxfam or the British Heart Foundation, exchange some items on Uk.freecycle.org or take them to a recycling bank. Check out Recyclenow.com for your one in your locality.

Back to the sales, here are just a selection of the bargains you can find out there.

1) Ecoganik Kimono Tissue Top, cut from $68 to $47.60 - 100% organic cotton, BTC Elements.
2) Ecoganik Laurel Long Tie Side Thermal, cut from $62 to $37.20 - 100% organic cotton, BTC Elements.
3) Edun Crochet Tank, cut from $154 to $92 - 100% organic cotton, Coco's Shoppe.
4) Stewart + Brown Organic Cotton Cinch Skirt, cut from $80 to $48 - 100% organic cotton, Coco's Shoppe.
5) Kuyichi It's All About Me T, cut from £35 to £23 - fairly traded, Adili.
6) Beyond Skin Suzy Pointed Toe Stiletto Court Shoes, cut from £165 to £94 - black faux leather, The Natural Store.

Flourish in five flowery summer outfits

Eco-stylist, Dawn Mellowship, puts a spring in your step this summer, with five outfits inspired by this season’s flowery trend.

Summer is here yet again and we are all patiently waiting for it to stop raining, but just because the weather is gloomy, it doesn’t mean we have to be. Fashion is taking its cue from nature and flowery garments and accessories are a sure fire way to boost your mood and remind you of lazy sunny summer days. If the thought of flowers sends you running for the hills, you can inject an element of floral rather than going the whole hog and causing unsuspecting passers by to mistake you for a field full of blossom.

Ethical fashion is all about protecting the environment and people, so it makes sense to purchase flowery fashion that causes minimal impact to the planet. To get you started I have chosen five outfits that will keep you cool and leave you looking blooming marvellous! Most of this items can be purchased online at The Natural Store, or via the actual labels themselves.

1) All in the yellow (as seen above)

Anatomy Muslin Lace Camisole Top, £75.00 – made from organic muslin.
Emmeline 4 Re Box Pleat Skirt – Honey Rose, £75.00 – made from vintage, reclaimed 100% cotton fabric.
Snood Shrug, £39.00 – handmade in England from reclaimed and vintage wool.
Terra Plana Goa Off-white, £75.00 – recycled, vegetable tanned natural hemp.

2) Party in pansy

Enamore Pansy Cotton Shift Dress, £150.00 – made from organic cotton sateen certified by SKAL.
Beyond Skin Larry B Pointed Toe Kitten Heel, £167 – made from purple satin.
Bourgeois Bohéme Sandy Small Beige, £32 – textile with silver metallic tinge.

3) Yummy flowery mummy

Enamore Short-Sleeved Kimono Top, £65.00 – handmade in England in hemp/tencel fabric.
Emmeline 4 Re Midnight Forest Skirt, £75.00 – made from vintage, reclaimed 100% cotton fabric.
Charmoné Monarch Ribbon Tie-Up Flat Cool Green Blue, £149.00 – made from Italian microfibre faux leather.

4) Short, psychedelic and sexy

Emmeline 4 Re Unique Neck Tie Blouse French Lilac, £60.00 – made from vintage, reclaimed 100% polyester fabric.
Ciel Denim Shorts With Waist Tie, £130.00 – Denim, My Wardrobe.
Terra Plana Juniper Shoe, £95.00 – recycled vegetable tanned leather.

5) Floaty Romantic

Pardess Frenchie Bustier Camisole, £115 – 100% organic cotton.
Pardess Petal Skirt, £170 – 100% organic cotton.
Hetty Rose Yuki Vintage Kimono Shoes, £320.00 – vintage kimono.
Sarah Donegan Marry Handbag, Tea Pot Lace, £120 – made from vintage textiles and trims, The Green Apple.

Dawn Mellowship is the UK’s first online eco stylist offering a range of styling services and online ethical fashion resources. No matter what the occasion, Dawn will find some fabulous ethical fashion that suits your style and personality. Her website can be found at ecostylist.co.uk.

Vegan shoes galore!

Vegan shoes used to be frumpy, clumpy and incredibly unattractive. Those days are thankfully gone and there are now some wonderful vegan footwear brands, producing striking and cruelty free footwear. Many people like the comfort factor and breathability of leather shoes, but unfortunately it's a dirty business. Millions of animals are slaughtered every year for their skin, being subject to castration, branding, dehorning and tail docking (minus anesthetics), before bleeding to death and being skinned. Animal skin is then converted to leather with dangerous chemicals, dyes and other toxins, that are exceedingly harmful to people and the environment. Rearing animals whose skins are eventually transformed into leather uses vast amounts of fossil fuels. Farm animals create large amounts of toxic waste which is absorbed into the ground and surface water, polluting wells and rivers and contributing to global warming. The vast amount of land used for grazing also contributes to a negative environmental impact.

A study carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disclosed that a solvent utilised in tanning leather has been linked with a heightened risk of testicular cancer. Additionally when you buy leather products, you may sometimes be purchasing leather from Asian cat and dog tanneries. For more information see Cowsarecool.com.

There is an alternative. Some fantastic vegan footwear brands have emerged that provide stylish and ethical vegan shoes. Three of my favourites are featured below. I will be featuring more in coming weeks!

Beyond Skin

Beyond Skin is an exclusive vegan footwear label that was established in 2001, by Natalie Dean, a make-up artist in the music and fashion industry. Beyond Skin footwear is hand-made to order in the UK, by a small manufacturer in East London, utilising a range of man-made fabrics such as polyester (kinder to the environment than viscose, which is processed with acid chemicals) and cotton backed polyurethane (which is less damaging to the environment than PVC). Polyurethane is not perfect by any means, but it is a whole lot better than leather! Beyond Skin is a firm favourite with celebrities such as Natalie Portman, Sadie Frost, Amanda Holden and Joanna Lumley.

Hot Pick - Sui Generis Angelina almond toe court, in a variety of vegan fabrics, £284.

Charmoné Shoes

These are my current favourites. Charmoné Shoes were founded in 2006, by Jodi Koskella and Lauren Carroll who noticed a gap in the market for stylish vegan footwear. They work with the aim of producing beautiful, luxurious and sexy shoes that are environmentally friendly and cruelty-free. The shoes are crafted in Italy, utilising high quality Italian microfibers that are constructed like leather, allowing the skin to breathe. The materials used are free from PVC, instead using a polyurethane coating.

Hot Pick - Ginseng half D'orsay open toe platform, laster cut microfiber faux leather, $315.

Bourgeois Bohéme

Bourgeois Bohéme, a 2007 PETA Proggy Award winner (for Best Cruelty-Free Shoe Retailer) is a trendy on-line boutique providing a range of vegan, natural and organic accessories for men and women. Their products are ethically sourced and the leather alternatives they use are mostly biodegradable. Bourgeois Bohéme endeavour to use recycled products when possible and are Vegan Society approved, as well as being PETA Business Friends.

Hot Pick - Amelia White vegan dress shoe, faux leather, £45.

My top three ethical fashion brands

Ethical fashion is making big waves with brands like Kuyichi and People Tree having concessions in Topshop. M&S offering a fairtrade range, Dorothy Perkins selling organic tees and The Clothes Show Live having a section dedicated to ethical fashion this year. Anya Hindmarch created a stir with her 'I'm Not A Plastic Bag Bag.' People seemed to be more concerned about its fashion rather than eco-credentials, but some would say that any publicity for ethical living is good publicity. Ethical and stylish were once far from synonymous, but those days are but a distant memory and as an ethical stylist, it's my job to find fantastic ethical fashion buys.

I am off to the Daily Mail for a ethical fashion photo shoot this Wednesday. I'll let you know what day to buy the paper (when I know that is!) if you would like to see this feature and marvel at the beautiful ethical clothes.

For now, to save you scouring the web for hours, tearing out your hair, wondering why you can only find T-shirts with 'Let's Go Green' (or such like) on, here are my top three ethical (I heart) brands. I will be adding more favourites over the coming weeks, months and years.

1) Ciel - The wonderful Ciel, firm celebrity favourite, was brought to us by Sarah Ratty. Sarah's mother was a fashion lecturer at the Brighton College of Art and following in her footsteps, Sarah developed a taste for fashion. After considering and pursuing various paths Sarah finally embraced her creativity and entered the realm of fashion design (luckily for us). Prior to Ciel Sarah developed "Conscious Earthwear," which was first sold in Brown's, South Molton Street.

Sarah designs for ladies who love fashion and care about protecting the environment, recognising that the two don't have to be mutually exclusive. Ciel clothes are created from beautiful eco-fabrics and the production process conforms to labour laws stipulated at Labour Behind the Label.

If you are wondering what to wear this summer take a look at the V-Neck Smock Dress (as seen on the left). In line with the Foho trend, why not team it with some black tights, or faded denim skinny jeans and a pristine handbag. Hurrah for Ciel!


2) Kuyichi - For the young and uber stylish boys and girls out there, Kuyichi is superb. Kuyichi (established in 2000) craft jeanswear for young, urban consumers. Cutting edge style with a conscience is what they are all about and in my opinion they have succeeded in their endeavour. They develop organic materials and were the first denim label to make good use of organic cotton. What does Kuyichi mean? It comes from the Peruvian god of the rainbow, who, as myth suggests, pinched the colours of life from the Taquille Indians. They weaved glorious blankets and in return Kuyichi returned their colours. This brand certainly bring colour to our lives. Whoever said ethical should be dull?

One of the trends for this summer is going for short dresses and skirts. If you can bear to bare your legs then Kuyichi do some fantastic ones. Check out the Hevess Dress 70-752, Helium Dress 70-753 and Heman Dress 70-754. For stockists of these fab items check out the Kuyichi website.


3) Beyond Skin - Shoes glorious shoes, filling up your wardrobe. Don't buy too many shoes, changing fashion trends lead to an incredible amount of wastage. According to WRAP over one million tonnes of textiles are ditched in the UK every year. Instead of going crazy, buy a capsule collection of shoes, that are less likely to go out of fashion by next week. Beyond Skin is another celebrity favourite. Natalie Portman wore Beyond Skin shoes to the Oscars. This brand was set up by Natalie Dean, a make-up artist in the music and fashion industry and a dedicated follower of veganism. Beyond Skin create exclusive, hand-made (in the UK) vegan shoes in a variety of lush, plush fabrics.

There are no Jesus sandals to be seen on the Beyond Skin website, just luxurious, exquisitely crafted shoes. This month I like the Angelica T-Bar wedge (as seen on the left) which is just so sparkly and spangly and will turn an average outfit into a crowd stopper. Hurrah for Beyond Skin!