On the weekend Mr S and I went for an evening out to celebrate being married for 14 years. Seems like a long time and I think we have done pretty well to put up with each other this long. We started out with food at Strada and then onto Komedia for an evening of comedy. I always think that having a good laugh is a great way to relax and it certainly seemed to do the trick although not all of the Comedians were to my liking.

Apart from a relatively rare opportunity to spend some time with Mr S, I got the chance to wear this dress by SkunkFunk that I bought with a voucher given to me by Zalando. SkunkFunk are one of my favourite eco brands at the moment. They make their clothes in different styles that will last and from sustainable fabrics.  Zalando also sell quite a few other  ethical fashion brands including People Tree, Komodo and Kuyichi. I really loved the criss cross design of this dress making it a bit different from a plain little black dress and the dropped waist which reminds me of the twenties flapper styles that are popular at the moment.

Have you been doing anything fun lately? or do you have any great eco / ethical fashion brands that you would like to share?

With warmest wishes

Dress – Annie Greenabelle
Cardigan – charity Shop
Shoes – Clarks c/s Spartoo

This week I am making a concerted effort to post some of my ethical workwear outfits. Today was the turn of my a new Annie Greenabelle dress that I have treated myself to. It is made from organic cotton and although it is probably more of a summer dress, It works well for me for winter with tights and a cardigan.

The shoes are from Clarks and another treat but more importantly a comfy and practical flat workwear style that I can wear to work over the winter. Of all the shoes I own, I didn’t have anything flat and comfy to wear with dresses and trousers for the winter. I realise that leather is never a great choice for the environment but my eco friendly plastic shoes by Melissa were just not comfortable for wearing all day at work. I needed some shoes that will keep my feet dry in the rain but also let them breathe.

I was a bit disappointed to see that Spartoo aren’t stocking my favourite brand Dream in Green at the moment, but a little research has informed me that Clarks are actually quite sustainable and ethical. Most importantly, I have been wearing Clarks shoes ever since I was a little girl because they last well and they still do now. I even buy them for my own children. Buying clothes and shoes to last has to be the most sustainable way to shop. Here are just a few interesting  points from the Clarks social responsibility policy..

Clarks are working with the Leather Working Group to develop and maintain a protocol that assesses the compliance and environmental performance of tanners and promotes sustainable and appropriate environmental business practices within the leather industry. They have also committed not to use leather in their products that is produced from cattle raised in the Amazon Biome and to maintain the principles of Greenpeace’s ‘Commit or Cancel’ policy for halting deforestation for cattle ranching in the Amazon Biome.I n the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland they operate one of the biggest retail footwear reuse schemes in the world and are working alongside other brands and retailers to support Loughborough University’s work to make recycling of footwear practical on a commercial scale.

Clarks also support a number of charities including Soul of Africa.Clarks also promote family friendly working for their employees and have an established factory audit programme that enables us to review working conditions in factories that we use and to identify opportunities for improvement.

What do you think? do you wear ethical workwear? and do you wear leather shoes because they last well or avoid them because of the ethical/ sustainability implications?

With warmest wishes

Dress – Skunkfunk
Shoes – Melissa

Top – Really old (from New Look)
Skirt – upcycled from an old skirt
Satchel – Scaramanga
Hat – Pachacuti
Necklace – Made UK

T shirt – A Question Of
Skirt – ASOS Africa (from a few seasons ago)
Satchel – Scaramanga
Sandals – really old from Clarks

Finally summer has arrived and I am loving this beautiful weather although not getting as much done as I ought to be. We have so little sunshine in this country, I feel I must enjoy it while I can, for a few hours in the evening at least. Today I have finally managed to catch up with posting some outfits that I have worn over the last week or so. My laptop has completely died along with all photo editing software. On the bright side, I do have a spare laptop and decided to take the opportunity to try out a new way of editing with picmonkey.com, hence the polaroid effect photos. I would love to know what you think. I have also been taking advantage of the great weather and the chance to take some rare outdoor photos.

For anyone who followed the saga surrounding my attempts to buy a satchel, I am pleased to say, I have received a full refund on my previous purchase and used it to buy the satchel pictured above from Scaramanga. I am really pleased with the beautiful leather and high quality of it and would definitely recommend Scaramanga to anyone looking for a eco friendly and ethically manufactured satchel.

Last Friday was the Ethical Fashion Forum Source Summit and I went along to find out about the latest developments in ethical fashion, do a spot of networking and to speak on the Innovation Masterclass about social media and mobile technology. It was a really amazing event and its growth in size and development since last year seems to show that there is a growing interest in ethics and sustainability in the fashion industry (about time too!).  For anyone that is interested, you can view a summary of some of my presentation on Online Fashion Marketing (my company blog).

Finally I have added a few new brands to Style is… over the last few weeks Motel Vintage and nudie jeans for men and will be adding more soon. I would love to know what you think and which brands you would like to see on the site.

Have a lovely week.

With warmest wishes