Ethical Menswear – A Pressy Guide

Posted on November 13, 2012 by admin

Christmas is only 6 weeks away, so loads of time left to get your Christmas shopping done. I thought I would help out by sharing with you a few ideas for ethical menswear for the men in your life including dads, brothers, husbands, boyfriends and sons. Christmas is a great time to treat them to something a little more luxurious than they might usually buy for themselves and by buyng sustainable and ethical menswear as a gift, you can not only buy them something stylish and well made but also minimise the environmental impact of Christmas and help to reduce poverty. So here is my ethical menswear pressy guide.

Knitwear

Komodo is definitely one of my favourite brands for womens wear but I hadn’t really checked out their menswear before. This Cornelius jumper is made from soft wook but has a chunky and slightly rugged look. It is of course also made under fair trade principles.

Shirts

Arthur & Henry launched this year with some amazing Fairtrade and organic cotton shirts. The shirts are made with extreme attention to detail from the compact, elegant seams that are a result of a high number of stitches per inch to the fused buttons that will never fall off, the pattern matching, removable collar stiffeners and a horizontal bottom button. The collection includes both causal and formals shirts. I love this blue floral print shirt but they also have plainer choices for men that are less adventurous with their clothing!

T shirts

People Tree have some fantastic t shirts for autumn and winter made from organic and Fairtrade cotton. I particularly love the wildlife inspired designs like this wolf face t shirt (I may well get this one for Mr S) and they also have lots of other lovely colour block and stripey t shirts. In addition Rapanui and newly launched Albatross clothing have some fun organic cotton t shirts.

Wash Bag

This Recycled hose bag by Elvis and Kresse looks great and is useful too. Your man will probably be interested to know that it is actually made from recycled fire hoses making it strong and waterproof and lined with high visibility waste parachute silk.

Accessories

For men that like something a little different and quirky, these WeWood watches are perfect. Available in a variety of designs, they are also hypo allegernic and completely free from chemicals. WeWood ensure that for every watch sold a replacement tree is planted.

Underwear

Admittedly pants are probably not the most exciting of Christmas pressies but every man needs them and Christmas may be the only time his pants draw ever gets an overhaul. Pants to Poverty make extra soft and comfy pants that look great too and they will also help toward making Poverty history so if you are going to buy pants, these are about as good as it gets!

That is it for now, do you know of any great places to buy ethical menswear?, if so I would love to know.

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

Ps this post does contain some affiliate links

Upcycling – Better the Devil you Sew

Posted on November 8, 2012 by admin

I love upcycling or refashioning, whatever you want to call it! I think it is the best way to give old clothes a new lease of life and the perfect opportunity to get creative, make something a bit different to wear and of course, it is so much better for the environment than buying something new. I used to make clothes from scratch but by upcycling, you can often make something amazing in next to no time. If you are still not convinced of the merits of upcycling, perhaps that fact that it is a major trend at the moment might sway you, you can just check out the DIY section on Pinterest for evidence (and inspiration!)

Better the Devil You Sew is a new Collection at Oxfam Brighton made completely by volunteers from damaged clothes that are donated to Oxfam. Check out the video above for ideas and inspiration. It just shows what you can achieve with a few old clothes.

Do you like upcycling? please share your latest project.

BTW- you can check out my latest post for Oxfam Fashion – Our Top Picks for Autumn Winter.

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

An Upcycled Lace and Floral Dress

Posted on September 23, 2012 by admin

This months DIY/ upcycling challenge at Ethical Fashion Bloggers had the theme of lace. With no time to go charity shopping, I had to use something that I already had in my wardrobe. This lace top and floral dress were the the perfect candidates. I don’t really wear the lace top much as it is too see through to wear on its own and the dress being strapless had a number of issues for me including the potential for it to end up around my waist but I love the colourful floral print. I definitely feel much more elegant and safer when I wear a high neck.

So I decided to combine the dress and the top to make a high necked dress with the added bonus of a fantastic lace/ floral pattern clash slightly inspired by these dresses for AW12 at McQ Alexander McQueen.

All if did was try on the dress over the top (which I wore backwards to get the high neck) and pin it in place. The most difficult part was trying to take the dress over without injuring myself on the pins. Then I sewed along the along the existing stitching line with my sewing machine to attach the two together. I then trimmed off some of the excess material on the top underneath.

This project was super simple which is great as I very quickly lose interest if something takes too long. It was the perfect rainy Sunday afternoon project and still left me time to cook up some comfort food; a great big pot of vegetable soup of lunch in the week, rhubarb crumble for after dinner and scones for my girls who just dont seem to stop eating lately.

I am also entering this post in Ta-dah Tuesday at Faith Hope and Charity Shopping.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend despite the wet and cold weather.

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

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Product Review – SPAIR Sandals

Posted on August 14, 2012 by admin

Do you ever wish you could slip out of your heels and into a pair of cool flip flops instead?

I was recently sent a pair of SPAIR Sandals which cleverly fold into a little pouch which will easily fit into most handbags. Should you need to wear them, them, the little pouch turns into a bag that can be used to carry your shoes home. I have seen similar ideas on the market before, but what I really loved about Spair sandals is that they are 100% Recycled tires and earth-friendly leatherette.

They are actually a kind of solution to an environmental issue as stated on their website

improper disposal of over 300 million rubber tires per year is a serious risk to our health and environment. Disease-carrying pests and mosquitos breed in the stagnant water that collects in tire piles, and spread deadly viruses like West Nile, encephalitis, and malaria.

Whilst I haven’t had the chance to do a manicure to show off the actual sandals that I was sent, I have given them a try and can confirm that they are super comfy. I think they would be fantastic for weddings when I almost always feel the need to kick my shoes off by the end of the day so that I can strut my stuff on the dance floor.

The shoes are available in 3 colours in the US from www.spairsandals.com

Would you find these useful?

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

Upcycled Fashion, Olympic Style by Queenie and Ted

Posted on July 17, 2012 by admin

The Olympics are not too far away and despite not really having any interest at all in watching sport (except the gymnatics) usually, I can’t help getting just a little caught up in the whole thing. When I saw a press release pop into my inbox for Queenie and Ted, I definitely started getting into the Olympics mood.

Queenie and Ted upcycle high quality clothing and sell it in their shop in London’s historic Columbia Rd. In celebration of the Olympics, they have created some quirkly motifs featuring synchronised swimmers and leaping gymnasts to embellish one off skirts dresses and jackets.

The two fine artists have a passion for sustainable fashion and use old
curtains, tablecloths and finds from the airing cupboard to embellish and breath
life into vintage and nearly new fashion. Old buttons, trimmings and
embroidered details add texture and colour. With prices starting at £28, they are also surprisingly affordable. They even have a bespoke service for turning your old clothes into something special, I love this idea!

Fun embellisments over eyecatching patters, I love them, especially the dress.what do you think?

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

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Recycled Sandals – Brazilian Beach and Urban Style

Posted on June 30, 2012 by admin

I just wanted to share with you another fantastic ethical brand that I have come across. Marlandia is the exclusive U.S. online distributor for Retalhos Cariocas, a progressive Brazilian fashion house that transforms flip-flops with recycled and sourced
fabrics into sandals with a vibrant mix of Brazilian beach and urban style. They are now shipping worldwide!

Founder Silvinha Oliveira was born into the Barreira do Vasco slum, far from the beaches of Ipanema. With extraordinary determination, she worked her way through fashion school, returned home and created Retalhos Cariocas, which translates to “Rio Scraps.” Her vision is to empower local women by teaching them sewing skills and offering fair wages. She explains, “People from the favela… There’s a destiny of being poor, not being able to go to university, or get a good job. We’re fighting to destroy the mentality that a person from the favela doesn’t have the right to be someone.”

Today, the women of Retalhos Cariocas are fighting their way out of Brazil’s slums and creating economic opportunities to lift their community out of poverty. Through their use of fair trade labor and sustainable materials, Retalhos Cariocas has gained worldwide acclaim for empowering local women from Brazil’s slums, as featured in Cosmo India, Look Magazine U.K., Origin Magazine, and Forbes Magazine Blog as well as Rio Fashion Week.

The story behind these sandals is pretty amazing, you can see more in the video below but what I really love with this sandals is that they look amazing and really unusual. As you can see from the video, it is not just about fair trade, the design is also of huge importance.

I hope that you are having a lovely weekend. Please don’t forget if you have not already entered, my outfit competition ends today. I am enjoying my last day of freedom (in terms of what I wear) before I start on the Labour Behind the Label 6 Items Challenge. I will post more about this tommorrow but if you would like to read about it, you can do so here.

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

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Fashion Blogger’s Ethical Outfit Competition – Over £250 of Prizes to be Won

Posted on June 15, 2012 by admin

Following on from the success of the last 2 Ethical outfit competitions, I have decided to make these competitions a regular event. It is fantastic to see how bloggers are wearing ethical and sustainable fashion and I hope that these outfits will inspire others to give ethical/ sustainable fashion a try too. The competition is open to any UK fashion blogger, your outfit just needs to include at least one ethical or sustainable item which include anything organic, made from sustainable fabrics, fair trade, vintage, recycled or second hand. you can find out more on how to enter below, but first I wanted to tell you about the fantastic prizes!

The Prizes

£100 of Spartoo Vouchers

Spartoo are an online shoe retailer with a fantastic selection of ethical and sustainable shoes. The vouchers can be spent on men’s, women’s or children’s shoes from a wide range of brands including my favourites Dream in Green, Melissa and Pikolinos.

Organic Cotton Yoga Pants and Tencel Vest by From Clothing

This outfit by From Clothing consists of loose fit, 3/4 length Capri leggings made in a scrumptious soft organic cotton and a beautiful, feminine strappy vest made from 95% sustainable Lenzing Tencel. It is perfect for Yoga, Pilates or simple, relaxed everyday wear! From Clothing is a new Ethical Fashion Brand based in Devon designing clothes inspired by the big outdoors and made using ethically sourced, organic and sustainable
materials. Their clothes are stylish, flattering and on trend whilst promoting the
‘real shaped’ woman.

A Calypso Skirt from Bibico

Take your pick of a Calypso skirt in you choice of white, grey or a pretty print. (subject to availability). Bibico is an ethical fashion brand which combines contemporary styling with traditional skills including hand weaving, embroidery and knitting to create beautifully simple and charming clothing. All of their clothes are made from quality natural materials and produced in fair trade cooperatives.

£50 to spend at Grassroots Fashion

Break free from the high street with Grassroots – Grassroots provides unique, fashionable and affordable, upcycled clothing. Each garment is individually re-designed and upcycled to reflect the current fashion trends so you can wear the season’s must have styles without it costing the earth.

If you would like to enter, all you have to do is post a picture of you wearing your ethical outfit on your blog with a link to www.ethicalfashionblog.com and mention which aspect of your outfit is ethical. Then follow me on Twitter (@StyleEyes) and tweet me the link with the following:-

’I’m rocking #ethicalfashion for the @StyleEyes Blogger’s Outfit Competition’

Before the end of 30th June.

I will choose winners from 1st to 4th place based on how stylish, creative and ethical their outfits are, on 2nd July. The first prize winner will get to choose their prize first, the second next and so on. All outfits enetered in the competition will also be published here on Style Eyes Ethical Fashion Blog with a link to the relevant blog.

I can’t wait to see your outfits! If you want a bit of inspiration, check out the amazing outfits from my last competitions in November 2011 and March this year.

For those that have an interest in Ethical Fashion, you may be interested in joining a new group that I have just set up www.ethicalfashionbloggers.com. You don’t only have to just blog about ethical fashion, it is for anyone that is interested in networking with other bloggers, working with ethical brands, joining in ethical outfit challenges, DIY and post round ups and coming along to meet ups. We also love vintage, charity shopping and DIY.

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

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Swapping, Selling and Giving at Friendly Fashion

Posted on May 3, 2012 by admin

Denim jacket – swapped
Necklace – Made
Dress – Oxfam
Shoes – Dkode

We are all kind of guilty to a certain extent of buying clothes that we need or just getting bored with what we already have and fancying a change. Swapping, selling and buying preloved clothes is a fantastic way to refresh your wardrobe and it is better for your purse and the environment than buying new. I also think it is really fun and a great way of trying something new that you might not usually buy in the shops. I am so passionate about swapping that I set up my own clothes swapping website Posh Swaps a few years back to encourage people to get swapping. Since then there has been an explosion of Swishing (swapping) parties and clothes swapping websites which gives everyone plenty of opportunity for everyone to recycle their old stuff and get something amazing in return. The denim jacket in the image is the result of a swap I did and I wear it all of the time.

I recently recieved an email Friendly Fashion, a great new swapping site. They have some fantastic stuff listed on the site and I would definitely recommend checking it out if your wardrobe needs a little refresh. The site is free to use, allows you to swap, buy, sell and give away itmes and has a fantastic widget which can be customised and adding to your blog to help promote any items that you list.

Spring is the perfect time to have a good clear out. You can make yourself some extra cash or get something lovely and new in return for the clothes that you don’t wear. Here are some of my favourite items listed on the site.

I definitely have plenty of pieces of clothing I would love to swap. How about you? Have you every tried swapping?

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

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Birthday Week

Posted on April 29, 2012 by admin

Apart from the fact that it marks me getting another year older, I really love birthdays. I don’t have much time to myself most of the time so on my birthday like to indulge myself. This year I have managed to spread it out over a whole week of doing pretty much exactly what I want. I had some lovely pressies including delicious smelling Lush goodies from my sister, a beautiful mirrored jewellery box and a necklace from my neighbours and a vintage book from my friend but mostly I got money which I have used to treat myself to a few goodies (clothes of course!).

On Monday, I spent a very wet day wandering around the shops and researching my Vintage and Second Hand Guide to Bath, I did also manage to squeeze in some shopping and got this beautiful scarf from the Black and White Shop for just £10. I also got this amazing printed dress from Monsoon and a Monsoon cardigan from the Oxfam Boutique. I can’t wait until the weather warms up so I can wear the dress perhaps with the scarf for a really printastic outfit!

My actual birthday was really all about eating cake. I ordered up this beauty from Patisserie Valerie, it was delicious- sponge, cream, fruit and white chocolate. I did manage to fit in 2 hours of excercise classes which hopefully went some way to offsetting some of those calories.

On Thursday, I had a cup of tea and chat with the lovely Noorin Khamisani of Outsider, a fantastic label that is all about classic, wearable and beautiful clothes (that just happen to be ethical too) . I really love her latest collection which features some very lovely dresses, one of which she happens to be wearing in this photo.

It was yet another horrible and wet day so I resorted to wearing jeans (organic cotton from M&S) and boots (Dream in Green) with my new Antiform top that I got from Mr Style Eyes and the girls. I did give them a little help in deciding what to get me. Well actually I just bought it ,myself from Think Boutique. Antiform is another label which I really love and well worth checking out if you love unusual pieces. They use reclaimed fabrics and mix fashion forward shapes with heritage crafts.

I also got this People Tree top from the Zakee Shariff Collection.

And this dress by Frank and Faith (another amazing and very afforable brand) from Ethical Superstore which I wore out to dinner with my friends on Friday with leggings and necklace by People Tree, swapped denim jacket and shoes by Simple.

I have also ordered myself a few more goodies in the Ethical Superstore 20% off sale and some Melissa shoes (to keep my feet dry) which I will share once they arrive.

So that is it birthday week is over, back to reality, sensible, healthy eating and a complete shopping ban until at least the autumn, I definitely don’t need any new clothes now.

I hope you have had a lovely weekend, despite the rain!

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

This post contains some affiliate links

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Antiform SS12

Posted on March 27, 2012 by admin

Antiform are a sustainable label based in Leeds making quirky clothes using recycled and reclaimed fabrics. They combine heritage and contemporary styles. They source everything including materials from within 20 mile of their studio boutique in Leeds.

For SS12, their collection combines inspiration from folklore, heritage and sportswear. If you want to check it out for yourself then why not pop along to the collection launch on 29th March between 4 & 9pm in Dalston London. You can even enjoy drinks and a fabulous 20% off.

You can find out further details and shop the collection on the Antiform website.

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

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