Undress Brisbane

My UB bow seeing the sites- the Brisbane wheel.

Undress Brisbane is a very sexy sustainable fashion show that takes place in- you've guessed it- Brisbane, Australia. Now in its third year, on 13 October 2013 the city will be awash with all things excellent and ethical from hot-right-now designers such as Rachael Cassar and Holloway Eyewear. This year the spectacle promises to be even more marvellous and magical.

The concept behind Undress is that if you don't know where your clothes or accessories were made or what they are made from, you should take them off! Check out some of the beautiful videos on their website.

I was recently lucky enough to meet with Edda and Anna from the hardworking UB team and following our meeting they kindly gave me an iconic UB bow! This bow can be worn as a bow tie (as in #bowtieforbranson- check it out!) or a hair clip. It is made from pre-loved materials, natch. Thank you Edda and Anna!

My UB bow came with me to Banana Lounge for an organic lunch.

My UB bow having a sunbathe.

More to come re UB soon...

Reef Brief

Having very recently dived the beautiful Great Barrier Reef, I feel compelled to let you know that you can help stop harmful dredging in the area by taking 30 seconds to sign this Greenpeace petition.

Thank you for your support!

Happy Wed-day

No I haven't got a cold and yes it is a Wednesday but I am talking about WED: World Environment Day!

WED has a pretty funky and informative website which I would urge you to take a look at- especially the activities to do.

Reconciliation

One of my 'must do's during my time here in Australia was to learn more about the indigenous population; their fascinating history as well as what the current situation is.

Thank you to Jacqueline Minney for helping me achieve this. I interviewed Jacqueline, a Yamatji Malgana woman from Western Australia and Director of consultancy Opportunities Without Boundaries, to help produce my most recent article for Ethical Corporation on indigenous talent.

The work that is being done is great, but many improvements can still be made and it is events like National Reconciliation Week (this week!) highlight that.

If you enjoy reading the above article, then rest assured there is a 'part 2', including input from another indigenous employment expert, to be published on Ethical Corp trés soon.

Image above from Australian Geographic.

Sassy & Bide

Australian label Sass & Bide are sassy today. They are engaging in inclusive business activities in Nairobi, having joined the International Trade Centre’s Ethical Fashion Initiative.  The Initiative seeks to provide fashion supply chain workers with fair wages, training and ultimately sustainable employment enabling an enhancement of quality of life.

For luxury fashion brands, ethical production is certainly achievable. In the wake of disastrously fatal factory fires/collapses in Bangladesh, the hope is that more of the high street fashion labels will take action and not only the likes of Stella McCartney and Sass & Bide. 

Making good use of the things that we find

(/are given)...

Whilst wombling around the place t'other day my neighbour bestowed on me a ripe ol' bundle of limes fresh from his tree- he simply had too many!

"Well, we can't let those go to waste", said I. And thus it began...would you believe that those very limes became lime marmalade and a lime and pistachio cake?

Oh and of course a few slices went very nicely with Coronas/white wine sangria. Living like the wonderful people at #growitlocal who fed TEDx Sydney yesterday.

I once came up with a new idea for a We Are What We Do Action, and I think this illustrates it beautifully: 'make too much of something'. In this case it is 'grow too much of something'- that way, you will have to share your fruitful delights! I did in the end make 'too much' lime and pistachio cake, which enabled the feeding of many, many hungry bellies.

That is the end of this short tale.

Swapsies in Patagonia

Laura and I tagging up clothes as people came through the door

This Tuesday evening's swish went swimmingly well as hoards of people turned up to central Sydney to swap their fashion items, accessories and outdoor wear.

A fashionable way to save landfill space, clothes swapping events are also incredibly sociable. Over a glass of wine, people shared their clothing stories, which they wrote on tags attached to each item. Here are some interesting ones:

“This knows a lot of the bars and nightclubs of France”

A pre-loved Patagonia hat: "summited Denali in Alaska May 24 2011"

"Winter bag for the impending colder days"

 “This went to Colombia!”

“Too little for me L enjoy J !”

“Skirt from Boston”

“Bought and worn once. Deserves a better home x”

“From the Big Apple”

“Handmade dress found in the treasure troves of Sydney”

 “This has raced up Austrian mountains”

There was a gilet labelled as someone’s granpa’s favourite old top, a pair of trousers that had been up Everest and a cardigan labelled as “I met my husband wearing this!” These beautiful and inspiring stories added to the feeling that clothes are things that should be built to last and should be treasured. Of course, should you ever get bored of them, they can be swapped! 

 Making more tags for the incoming items: cream (fashion items), red (designer or new with tags), blue (outdoor wear)

Helen Spoor and Tom (Patagonia) spreading the good word of clothes swapping

Thank you to Patagonia for providing a great venue for the clothes swap. It was very handy to have an existing shop environment, rails, shelves and changing rooms to showcase the items! Thank you to Helen Spoor- the main organiser- and to my fellow ‘helper outers’ for doing a spiffing job.

There are a few more great images of the night out there on Becky’sblog and Bethan’s instagram.

Having a mingle and a browse

I came away with a lovely new (to me) skirt, which I can wear to work and which is also both smart and cool enough to wear to a jazz club this evening- perfect!