Green Design: Clothing with a Conscience

I was recently asked to write on fashion, textile and design by the team at Femina.in. I love writing these pieces in my spare time. It gives me as a fashion professional a voice and greater insight in probing and writing on a subject.

The first piece i wrote for them was this one on Green Clothing or Ethical Fashion. The article lists relevant Indian stores and manufacturers in the green fashion space.

Let me know what you think.

Alice

Sustainable Silk - a possibility

This is really interesting... young designer Elsbeth Joy Nielson from the Netherlands has discovered a way of producing silk without killing silkworms. As per the norm silkworms are thrown into boiling water when they cocooned themselves - which is the end of life.

The designer has been experimenting with an idea of sustainable silk production: before starting the cocooning she puts the silkworm on a shaped piece of carton board which is held by a stick that is centered on the downside. The silkworm then starts trying to escape from this platform - without success of course as it fall down at the edges of the carton. In the two days of crossing the carton in the search of an escape the silkworm so spins a random net of silk. The result is a very delicate texture made of silk which you can see in the picture. After this procedure the puts the silkworm back, lets him spin his cocoon and become a silk-spinner butterfly.

The only problem is that the butterfly has been breeded to produce silk for centuries and now his wings are not big enough that it could make him fly. Well - maybe biotechnology can help on that problem.

The resulting scarf demonstrates the fabric's exquisite beauty.

Via Roger Live.

Plantable Eco Calendar 2009

I dig all things green (though i'm not as green as they come, oh well, i do have a few decades wherein to get my act together), and i love creative design. So whence the twain meet in terms of a Plantable Eco Calendar for 2009, i had to share et blog all about it.


The Plantable Eco Calendar, as it's makers the Botanical Paperworks company reveal is twelve months of completely plantable(!) pages made with 100% post-consumer waste and 100% recyclable into wildflowers. Notice the little seeds in there?!

Keeping track of the year with this 5 x 5 inch handmade plantable paper monthly desk calendar creates beauty and leaves nothing behind but flowers - and a completely reusable tin. When a month passes by simply plant the seed-embedded page and wait for wildflowers to grow. :)

Could it get more awesome?