Tree of Peoples

People Tree have started getting new season stock in, and its lovely. People Tree have done well since introducing their 'Youth' line, I think they really needed that. The collection Emma Watson designed for the summer was lush - cute tees, daisy dresses and the cricket jumper - very Jack Wills. Emma is unveiling a S/S 11 range in September at the 'Garden Party to Make a Difference' organised by none other than Prince Charles (by video connection as shes busy studying in the US).

Anyway, I really love this red check pinafore dress! And this tee, and all the snuggly knitwear (need it now the summer's over). They have also been running a Vintage and Fairtrade Fortnight challenge which involves wearing either vintage or Fairtrade outfits for two weeks. Diary pictures of Safia Minney taking on the challenge are on the People Tree online magazine and you can send in your own pictures.

Lovely Libertys

I went to Liberty of London last week for the first time. How had I not been there before? Why didn't anyone tell me how beautiful it is? There are a number of iconic department stores in London; Selfridges, Browns and of course Harrods, but Liberty is like no other. It feels like you are walking around a country home, away from the bustle of Oxford Circus. A relaxed, unpretentious atmosphere means that you are free to browse at your leisure, without feeling in the way of sales assistants. There is a beautiful scarf room full of sumptuous silk and Liberty’s famous dreamy patterns, and a vintage area well stocked with designer delights from times gone by.

I bought some jeans in the sale, grey skinnys by C.r.a.f.t. a fab bargain! The sales assistant was helpful without being pushy, and even telephoned his colleague to let me know what C.r.a.f.t. stands for (I’ll let you find that out for yourselves). Overall a great visit, although I think the bag and shoes sections could do with more choice. Personally I can’t wait for Selfridges huge new shoe gallery . . . could be dangerous. From mid September Manolo Blahnik will have a ‘pop-up’ store inside Liberty stocking exclusive shoes using Liberty prints from the swinging sixties. There will also be cushions, candles and printed fabric in the collection, plus Manolo himself will be curating Liberty’s Christmas windows. An excuse for another visit I think!

Pretty Sweaty Betty

I’ve known about sportswear brand Sweaty Betty for a long time, but I had never bought anything from the brand until now. It was when I was doing some research on retail entrepreneurs that I came across Tamara Hill-Norton, the founder of Sweaty Betty and this led me to the website. Sweaty Betty sells comfortable, stylish clothing under the headings, ‘sweat’, ‘yoga’, ‘beach’ and ‘snow’ and works with the purpose to ‘inspire women to find empowerment through fitness’. It is refreshing to find performance active wear without the big labels and logos. Indeed it was the story behind Tamara Hill-Norton and Sweaty Betty which really enamoured me to the brand, a brand started in the UK by a woman who knows what women want. Hill-Norton opened the first Sweaty Betty shop in 1998 in West London on a small budget, and by 2008 they had 24 shops. The business is still run by Hill-Norton and her husband. On my visit to the site I bought this ski jacket and the customer service was great. I’m going snowboarding for the first time next year and thought buying a jacket in the sale would be a good plan. Sure I may hate the snow and never go again, but if we have a winter like last year I’ll be very glad of my purchase! It’s an investment. I’m also a regular (reasonably) at the gym and will be snapping up the cute gym outfits as soon as I save some more cash. I’d like to say it doesn’t matter what you look like at the gym, but if you look good and feel comfortable, it’s sure to affect your performance, right?

Red Rail: Would you pay with blood?

There was a whole new show at last months Amsterdam Fashion Week, The Red Rail. A unique collection of 20 outfits from 18 up and coming fashion designers sashayed down the catwalk: softly draped pink pastel tops, high waisted trousers, ruffles and statement silhouettes for women, and graphic tees and pale, tailored trousers for men. What made these garments different to anything else at Amsterdam Fashion Week is that you won’t find them in the shops for sale. If you want any of these items, you have to give blood.

No it’s not a humane way of feeding the vampires, but a new initiative by Stichting Nobel, bringing together a collective of Dutch designers willing to design and donate clothing for the cause. The aim is to promote the act of blood donation to the health services, encouraging a new, young generation to give their blood to those in need. Most people would agree that donating blood is a good thing to do, but how many people actually get around to it? Giving blood is giving life, and an idea such as this could prove to be a huge boost to reach the young generation.

So how does it work? The clothes were shown at Amsterdam Fashion Week on 16^th July and have since appeared on the website. Anyone wishing to take part has six months to donate their blood, and once done, they can email the organisers stating the item they have their eye on, contact details, and the all important donor number. Due to the limited number of items available, a lottery system will be adopted to award the clothes to happy donors early next year. In January 2011, all 20 outfits will be displayed in the Young designers United Store for two weeks to be viewed.

The clothes were designed by emerging new talent in the fashion industry, with Ellen Benders, Ivona Batuta and Studio JUX topping the list. They worked under the gaze and guidance of Dutch designer Claes Iversen and Angelika Groenendijk Wasylewski from Young Designers United.

The Red Rail is an innovative idea and sure to be a success. Not only has it, already, raised awareness for blood donation, but it also celebrates new design talent. Save a life and get a new dress in exchange for giving blood? Sounds like a good deal to me.

www.theredrail.com

Read, Think, Write, Read, Think, Write

The research I have been working on for the last year is aiming to identify how fashion companies are currently trying to communicate ethical/sustainable attributes to the customer at point of sale. It came from the idea that when we buy a bag of crisps, for example, we are given detailed knowledge of the ingredients, nutritional information, and even perhaps the type of potato used so we can make an informed choice whether to buy it. When buying a t-shirt however, we’ll get the fibre content communicated to us, and maybe the country of origin (this, by the way, is almost meaningless, does it mean where the cotton came from? Where the t-shirt was manufactured? Or perhaps where the label was sewn in?) but precious little else. We, at the University, wanted to find a way of letting the customer see exactly where their garment had come from, what chemicals and processes were used, and its carbon footprint, all before making the decision whether to buy.

A study by Defra found that people acquire the information that influences their clothing decisions during the activity of shopping itself, as well as from conventional media. I think this is unexplored potential. The last year has involved studying the literature, approaching ethical fashion companies, and considering different research methods. For my MPhil work I have focused the work on two case study companies, and a consumer survey. The biggest issue for me, before developing any kind of point of sale communication, was finding out what the average consumer actually knows about the fashion supply chain. This brings me to the point I’m at now; developing a survey study. Surveys seemed so simple at school, but when faced with the need to produce a rigorous methodology and research design, I have realised the problems that could occur if the design isn’t just right. Preparation is everything! I’ll update my progress as it happens.

No Logo: 10 years on

The international bestseller, ‘No Logo’ exposed the bitter truth behind global brands. A decade on, how has the fashion industry changed?

Uncovering the truth behind the brands, No Logo has become a cultural manifesto of the anti-globalisation movement since its publication in 1999. But has anti-capitalism thrived in the last decade? Or have consumers just got sucked in deeper?

The full article can be found at http://runninginheels.co.uk/articles/nologo/

If you haven’t read No Logo it’s well worth a look. It was published at a time when brands were booming, and an anti-consumerist movement was gearing up to fight back. It highlighted the issues behind the shiny exterior of well known global brands, particularly the people involved in sweatshop labour.

Writing this article was really interesting because it made me go back to the book and consider what had actually changed. I think branding is still hugely important and prevalent, but with the huge surge in value retailers like Primark, is it all that important to the consumer anymore? We’ve moved more into a society where people boast about their latest Primarni bargain, and sometimes names and logos are a bit naff.

Then there’s the issue with sweatshops. With huge companies manufacturing in hundreds of factories worldwide and holding the power to move to a different factory at the drop of a hat, it’s no surprise that the sweatshop culture grew. The question is, how much did the Western retailers really know? Or did they turn a blind eye? The media coverage of such practices in the last ten years has really put pressure on brands to buck their ideas up and many now have special teams responsible for ethics and corporate social responsibility. As I say at the end of the article, brands have a huge power over us as consumers; they should use that power for good, and communicate something worth knowing, like where our clothes really come from.