Under the Canopy Ecofashion®

Stylish and ethical fashion need not come with a hefty price tag. Organic and ethical fashion label Under the Canopy are having a summer sale and you can pick up some great buys for as little as $19. Under the Canopy was established in 1996 with the intention of making a positive impact on the planet and utilising sustainable materials. Their products are crafted from innovative organic fibres and fibre blends, such as: organic denim, organic cotton and soy. Last year in the U.S. alone, over 84 million pounds of toxic pesticides were sprayed on conventional cotton crops. The production of conventional cotton results in poisoned people, plants, soil, air, waterways and ultimately a poisoned planet, so I applaud UTC on their ecologically sound practices.

UTC's Ecofashion® line offers luxurious and high quality fashion, minus the pollutants and harsh chemicals that put producers and consumers at risk. Along with garments for men, women and children, UTC also produce organic household products, footwear and accessories. If you want to check out UTC's eco-credentials, just ask and they will forward you a certificate of authenticity for every garment labelled as organic. The brand use low impact dyes, which are less damaging to the environment and their dye factory is powered with rice husks instead of fossil fuels. What is more UTC's garments are produced under fair labour practices and their factories in India and Peru use fair trade certified cotton, with products produced in fair trade certified factories. This means that their producers are receiving a better wage, healthier working conditions and a percentage of profits to re-invest into community development.

Thieves fashion will steal your heart

If you are searching for ethical fashion to get excited about, look no further than Canadian based Thieves, by eco designer Sonja den Elzen, who effortlessly evokes cutting edge style and sophistication using a range of sustainable fabrics, including: organic cotton, organic bamboo, linen, organic soy cotton and lyocell.

Sonja is as passionate about the environment as she is about producing meticulously designed clothing. Her love of fashion began at a very young age and eventually led her to create an urban street wear line, Jystijls, that was available in various boutiques worldwide from 1996 - 2002.

Thieves arose out of Sonja's desire to combine her fashion designing with environmentally friendly principles and practises. Thieves spring 2007 collection is stylish, thoughtful and earthy, using putty shades that evoke the imagery of nature. The fall 2007 collection literally takes us back to black, with a simple and refined collection that borrows Japanese detailing.

As thick as thieves, Sonja den Elzen and Dana Takeda established an online boutique for men and women in May 2007, called League of Lovers and Thieves, which sells the Thieves range and Dana's League of Lovers organic intimate wear and re-worked vintage pieces. Both women believe in using environmentally sound processes and materials, with the intention of, "taking the fashion world by storm and turning everything green one dress, one shirt, one jacket and one pair of pants at a time." With their beautifully created pieces, the outlook looks very promising.

Ethical brand lowdown: Adili

What do they do?

Adili is an online ethical store selling a range of Fair Trade, fairly traded, recycled, organic and other ethical womenswear, menswear, accessories, footwear, babies and children's clothing, household items, skincare and gifts, produced by a range of ethical labels.

What are they about?

Adili is the Swahili word for 'ethical and just,' which is what Adili stand for, believing that fashionable clothing can be made without causing unnecessary harm to people or the planet. Adili showcases the pioneering brands who have demonstrated that trade can be conducted in a fairer manner, without exploiting people along the supply chain. With this in mind, Adili has created a framework for each brand to be evaluated against, before they can be adopted as a supplier. Each supplier must demonstrate against a set criteria how they are ensuring the ethical and just nature of their production processes.

Who is behind Adili?

Adam Smith is the CEO of Adili, with 14 years experience in the retail sector. He has undertaken various roles throughout his career, including Director of Operations for sit-up Ltd and eCommerce Development Director at Dixons. Adam has experience of setting up supply chains from the Far East and Indian sub-continent and a personal empathy with the values of Adili.com.

Quentin Griffiths is the Co-Founder and Non-Executive Director, a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of ASOS. His background is in marketing.

Christopher Powles in a Non-Executive Director, who combines his experience of financing small unquoted companies with a long standing interest in the environment and developing world. Christopher was born in Africa and has been involved in conservation and ethical projects for a number of years.

Claire Lissaman is a consultant on ethical and fair trade, having formerly been the UK director for RUGMARK, a certification, labelling and development initiative working to end exploited child labour in South Asia's rug industry.

What criteria do Adili use to ensure that items are ethical?

Adili has a set definition of fair trade, which includes, "a trading partnership based on trasparency, dialogue and respect that seeks greater equity in international trade," amongst other things. Some brands carry a certification label such as those issued by IFAT (International Fair Trade Association) and the Fairtrade Foundation. Adili uses the word fairly traded to denote brands that are working within their set definition, but do not yet have formal certification.

Adili recognises organic certifiers who are members of The International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM), including: The Soil Association, Skal, IMO and AGRECO. Adili uses the term organic to denote products that are crafted from organic fibres but are not currently certified.

Adili also sells locally sourced products (which supports local businesses, promotes traditional skills and helps to combat carbon emissions from shipping clothes all other the world) and sells products that use alternative and recycled fibres (which prevents wastage, as millions of textiles are binned each year and avoids the reliance on cotton, a crop which accounts for billions of dollars worth of pesticide use every year and consumes vast amounts of precious water).

For further information on Adili's ethical framework, check out Adili.com.

Hot picks?

I thought you'd never ask, the Ciel Sophia Dress, for £185, made from certified organic cotton, the fairly traded Kuyichi Harpoon Print Top, for £40, made from 50% cotton and 50% polyester, the fairly traded Kuyichi White Denim Jeans, for £78, the Fifi Bijoux Ardent Pendant, for £205, made from ethically mined gold and gemstones, without the use of cyanide, arsenic or mercury and all the Spiezia beauty products, because I think Spiezia are fantastic!

More summer sales: People Tree

Yesterday, ethical brand People Tree launched a summer sale, offering up to 75% off of a whole range of items. People Tree is a pioneer in the ethical and Fair Trade fashion arena. They have a Fair Trade policy, to pay producers a fair price and aid some of the world's poorest communites and an eco-policy, to promote natural and organic cotton farming, avoid damaging chemicals, protect water and forest supplies and use natural and biodegradable substances where possible. People Tree is a registered member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), which stipulates ten standards that Fair Trade organisations are required to follow and the brand works with 50 Fair Trade groups in 15 developing countries, helping the world's most marginalised communities use Fair Trade to avoid the poverty trap. Their designs are stocked in over 30 Fair Trade and independent shops around the United Kingdom, in Topshop's flagship store in Oxford Street, London, as well as being distributed to a range of other countries.
Here are a few of my favourite bargains!

1) Delia Summer Dress, cut from £38 to £19 - 100% organic Fair Trade cotton.
2) Greek Tunic Top, cut from £28 to £21 - 100% organic Fair Trade cotton.
3) Emma Embroidered Blouse, cut from £36 to £9 - 100% Fair Trade cotton.
4) Amazon Leaf-Print Skirt, cut from £45 to £36 - 100% organic Fair Trade cotton.
5) Three-Quarter-Length-Trousers, cut from £45 to £22.50 - Fair Trade cotton.
6) Jute Safari Bag, cut from £18 to £13.50 - Fair Trade.

Ecoganik: Fashion with a conscience

Ethical fashion is picking up pace and more of us are realising the impact of the mainstream fashion industry on our increasingly fragile environment. Billions of dollars worth of pesticides are sprayed on cotton crops every year, polluting the environment and harming producers all over the world. Forty million garment and textile workers worldwide are subject to poor working conditions, low pay, forced overtime, unsafe working environments, to name but few of the problems these individuals face.

The ethical fashion industry is demonstrating to us that it is more than capable of producing stylish garments with a conscience. One of the brands that are embracing this vision is the California based Ecoganik, providing “a fusion of fashion and eco consciousness.”

Ecoganik is a member of the Organic Trade Association, the OTA Fiber Council Committee and Co-op America Business Network and they only use certified organic and eco-friendly materials in their clothing and accessories, free from harmful pesticides and chemicals. To colour their garments they use low impact dyes, free of metal and mordant substances.

Ecoganik make the most of alternative fibres such as eco fiber – a recycled cotton fabric, tencel – a 100% biodegradable silky fabric made of the cellulose extracted from trees, using a non-toxic process and hemp – a crop that is naturally antibacterial and resistant to insects and pests (thus it can be grown without the use of pesticides).

Ecoganik’s ranges are affordable and incredibly attractive. Here are a few of my favourite pieces. You can find all these pieces online at Couture Candy.

1) Bamboo Dress with Lace in Sky, $129 – 92% bamboo, 7% spandex.
2) Long Stripe Dress in Blue and White, $150 – 62% polyester, 19% cotton, 19% modal.
3) Organic Tissue Earth Tank in Chamomile, $63 – 100% organic cotton.
4) French Terry Short in Tulip, $85 – 100% organic cotton.
5) Jersey Elastic Waist Mala Pant in Eggplant, $105 – 100% organic cotton.

[via Hippyshopper]

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!