Looking Trashy, Recycled Kenyan Cowboys, & Vintage Ties

Kilakitu shirts come in 58 styles. Floral prints are big for 09, and these bold cowboy-cut tops are made from second-hand fabrics from the Kenyan marketplace. At 75$ a pop, a portion of the proceeds goes directly to a lunch feeding program for school children in Rongai (video). Also, Kilakitu plans to start a community cleanup & recycling business that will receive 10% of profits from Kilakitu – staff will work on cleaning up the environment in Rongai.

“Kila Kitu is a swahili saying meaning “everything” – our garments reuse discarded clothes from around the world and lovingly bring them back to you”.

What are the top 10 worst zoos for elephants? Find out if your city made the list HERE:

You will look totally trashy carrying this handsome messenger bag made from the plastic trash that litters New Dehli’s streets. The company, CONSERVE also provides a sustainable living for the poor women that make these bags, in addition to continually working to solve social, economic and environmental problems in the city of New Delhi.

$49.95 at Original Good.

Giorgio Armani has broken his promise not to use fur. A new video narrated by actor Gillian Anderson (X Files), shows rabbits kicking and screaming during slaughter. After the skin is ripped from the rabbits’ bodies, it is sold to designers such as Giorgio Armani—who uses rabbit fur in his new designs.

The selection of vintage neckties and bowties at ties2pillows.com is amazing. Everything from the classic skinny black tie, to high-contrast-plaid (big for ’09!) to narrow bowties can be found here. Most ties are only about $15 and you get 10% off your order just by giving them your email. Here’s a few of my selections:

If I had a bit of money to burn, and I wanted a gorgeous, rustic, recycled dining room set, this is probably the one I’d choose. It’s made from reclaimed railroad tie wood. $1468 for the table and 6 chairs, at VivaTerra.

Helmet of the Will • Eco Sports Car • Giveaway

Helmet of the Will makes 100% organic cotton Tees right here in Brooklyn. These are images from their upcoming Spring’09 collection. Get them at these stores.

This ‘Ain’t No Prius. The Tesla Roadster is a sheep in wolf’s clothing. In fact it is a sheep that has mastered the walk and the talk of the wolf. It is even offered with a vegan, microfiber interior. As quiet and under-the-radar as a Stealth Bomber, and so efficient it gets 244 miles per charge. To top it off, it goes 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds, and is now in production. If you’ve got $109,000 to play around with, and you’ve already given to every charity you can think of, go for it!

Veg News FREE giveaways. For the month of  November, VegNews Magazine will give away a prize every day to people who leave comments! Click HERE and look for “Today’s Giveaway”.

TODAY in NYC: Eco Sample Sale up to 90% Off

A Carbon Neutral Designer Sample Sale
2 Great Jones St. (between Broadway and Lafayette)
Open 7 days 12 noon to 8 pm

Faux Ever: Inder Bedi of Matt & Nat

Eight years ago, a designer with a penchant for architecture, subculture, and bold ethics launched MATT & NAT – a line of vegan accessories that is unabashedly tearing down any notion that you can’t be fashion-forward and an environmentalist. Anyone who is only one or the other might just be lazy.

Inder Bedhi (Matt & Nat)

Inder Bedi, the brain in which MATT & NAT both reside – and the 34 year old discerning brute whose headquarters are in Montreal, makes no apologies for his commitment to animal advocacy and environmentalism. His accessories are always totally vegan, and are increasingly made from recycled and sustainable materials.

Moz

The fact that the new fall 2008 lines are gorgeously-serious, structured, edgy, and modish is enough to make anyone do a triple-take as you walk by – but compound that with the fact that these accessories consist of treated cardboard, recycled soda bottles, and vintage faux-leather and it’s a recipe for handsome ethics.

Like Marshall McLuhan, MATT & NAT isn’t just the bag; it’s the message. Discreetly or proudly, to carry the bag is to carry the message. The Fall 08 collection takes its cues from menswear with a deep color palette, emphasis on heavy hardware, and a narrowed focus on larger all-use carryalls. Such a focused collection makes a bold statement. No other line says it quite as strongly as CARTON. With the success of spring 08’s experimentation in eco-fabrics, MATT & NAT is now exploring the world of paper. CARTON is fabricated from treated cardboard and retails for $150 – $295. Featuring vintage synthetic leather trims, bags are available in either black or natural, with the choice of mix-copper or antique silver hardware. The line is unique, powerful, and for those wanting to make a statement. There’s no question about it, CARTON is progressive, both in design & fabrication.

Ando Carton

Perfect for those cold winter days, FEUTRE is a line of heather gray felt bags entirely void of animal by-products retailing for $225 – $295. A first for MATT & NAT, the felt is 100% recycled water bottles. Bags are available in a choice of two trims: coffee or cement gray Japanese paper with lead-free copper hardware and a dark tonal lining. Masculine, distinct, and bound to be a classic, FEUTRE is minimalism at its best. Another first this season, BELTS. Made from synthetic leather, the line is comprised of traditional unisex hip belts that retail for $100 – $135. What sets these belts apart are the buckles in varying metals. Industrial in look, with oversized screw accents, BELTS iterate the design elements of the collection, and reinforce MATT & NAT as an avant-garde.

Junk Feutre

I had a few moments to interview Inder, here is our conversation:

DB: What is your inspiration for the upcoming collections?
IB: Architecture, cinema and music

DB: How did Matt & Nat come to be?
IB: A desire to put out a vegan line that represents balance between the two voices in my head (matt & nat), the voices that we hear all day that inevitably lead to the decisions we make every second…matt & nat strives to balance us as people as well as the worlds of fashion and positivity.

DB: Who are some of your celebrity fans?
IB: Nathalie Portman, Woody Allen, Heather Mills, Eva Mendes, Charlize Theron.

Ando Feutre

DB: How has fashion affected the green movement, and vice versa?
IB: Fashion has placed pressure on green to be more sexy (Kelly Green?), the green movement has asked fashion to be more responsible….weird question for me…been doing this since 1997…

DB: Does Matt & Nat have an official position on using skins, feathers, and fur? If so, why?
IB: matt & nat doesn’t….but I do…which inevitably effects matt & nat, it’s a fashion forward line of accessories that will always be vegan…

Rohe

DB: What is your biggest concern with the fashion industry right now?
IB: The extremes of ethical fashion and unethical fashion and the lack of lines in between.

DB: Are there any accessories you want to make that you haven’t been able to include in a collection yet?
IB: Belts, soon!

Kahn Carton

DB: Why should every fashionisto & fashionista care where their accessories come from, what they’re made of, and who makes them?
IB: Because we vote with our dollars, whether we like it or not.

DB: What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you as a designer? And the best?
IB: Took many years before matt & nat got noticed – best and worst thing.
DB: Fill in the blanks: Every single person should make a dramatic change in their life at least once a year. Cool is doing it before it’s done, Chic is not in my vocabulary.

Bueller

Mottainai: Fall 2008 Preview & Interview with Luke McCann

Luke McCann’s mom was a hippie. He says he learned to do a lot with a little. That might be one reason he’s spearheading a line of menswear that embraces organic denims, all natural vegetable dyes, organic Italian cotton shirtings, organic cotton knits, korozo nut buttons, and small-scale production in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

“Mottainai is about not wasting anything period..whether it be food, your time, your words, your money…a necessary, respectful almost lost way of life in a time of conspicuous consumption.” - Luke McCann

Mottainai is not 100% organic yet, but Luke is working towards that. The name Mottainai (moe tie nie) roughly translates from Japanese into “what a waste”, and can be used to describe when natural resources are squandered. The Japanese have folk tales of a Mottainai Ghost who comes after people who waste things to punish them.

I recently interviewed Luke about making clothes and making change. Here is our interview:

DB: What inspires you to create garments?
LM: To make clothes that are worthy to cover our bodies. We were frustrated with almost everything out there for young men and wanted to fill in the gap.

DB: Were you always an environmentalist? What does that word mean to you now, and how do you apply it to your life?
LM: Well, being born in Eureka, California to my healthy hippy mom definitely forced me to be environmentally conscious, all the time. Now, the word means what it has always meant to me. Someone who has a deep reverence for nature, and as a result, for themselves.

DB: What has the response been like to your “eco lux” collections so far?
LM: So far so good! Its not all peaches and cream but the reaction has been better than I predicted. A lot of people are very surprised and happy to see the use of eco-friendly fabrics and low-impact production methods coming from a younger, Brooklyn-based brand. The green movement will only get stronger with time and awareness.

DB: If destroying the earth isn’t making us happy, why do you think it’s still happening?
LM: To me its like when you see Wiley Coyote in the Loony Tunes falling off a cliff and then vanishing – only he doesn’t know he is falling. We think we are flying and everything is okay, but really we are falling, deeper and deeper into our demise. I think it will take a lot of educating and as sad as I am to say it, something very, very catastrophic may need to happen to really evoke change that will actually better our situation. Speaking of change, check this out: http://anz.theoildrum.com/node/4016

DB: What role can the fashion industry play in making sustainable = sexy?
LM: A leading one, if you create a eco-friendly brand, it must still be attractive, sexy, of great cuts, colors, lines, and texture. After visiting Premier Vision in Paris for the past 2 years, I have seen the Eco-lux textile industry explode and offer a lot of great products that at first, do not strike you as “eco-friendly”. So I think soon that will trickle down into the masses. But it may take a long time. Price is still a big factor.

DB: Is fashion more than just clothes and accessories?
LM: No not really, fashion is what is offered, fashion fades, fashion and vanity is what some believe to be the destruction of the soul. I think Style on the other hand, is eternal and unique to the man/woman, and as important as the feathers on a peacock or the mane on a lion.

DB: What is your opinion on animals exploited for clothing and fibers?
LM: Well that’s obvious, animals should never be exploited. Was it Ghandi who said something like you can learn everything about a country by looking at how they treat their animals? I think it sad, tragic, and evil what happens everyday to animals in terms of profits. However, if the animal is honored, the food and products are appreciated and used as nourishment or protection, then we maintain that balance that is missing from our society.

DB: Fill in the blank: In a perfect world_______
LM: …bill collectors lose their voice and have to call in to work sick everyday.

DB: What is the biggest failure of our culture right now?
LM: Our inability to prepare for a better future…and also family life and healthy social living has been destroyed over the past century…but it’s not too late to bring change.

Sling & Stone in a Good Society

When a group of Seattle professionals left their high-power jobs to change the world with “the most luxurious and best-fitting jeans”, they had no idea what they were getting Themselves into. Sling & Stones jeans are made from American-grown organic cotton. The pocket lining is organic, fair-trade Peruvian cotton. Their supplier programs in Peru help poor farmers, who previously were forced to grow cocaine, generate electricity for the nearby villages, and donate proceeds back into the local communities. Fair Trade ensures workers are paid enough to care for their families, put food on the table, and send their children to school. In addition, Sling & Stones provides doctors, subsidized housing, and living wages to their factory workers. If you don’t think they are doing enough, a percentage of Sling & Stones’ profits will be used to immunize villagers in Peru, fight teen suicide in Japan, and build an orphanage and youth rehabilitation center in India. Organic Jeans! Who knew?

Why Organic Jeans? Each year cotton producers around the world use nearly $2.6 billion worth of pesticides — more than 10% of the world’s pesticides and nearly 25% of the world’s insecticides. If all of our cotton clothing was organic, we could cut global insecticide usage by a quarter! This is staggering.

Cut: Daniel (Slim Fit) Denim: S&S Staple Japanese Organic Supima Denim

Cut: Daniel (Slim Fit) Denim: Natural Indigo Dyed S&S Staple Japanese Organic Supima Selvege Denim

Click HERE to find out where to purchase a pair.

Sling & Stone is also a participant in Good Society:

“Good Society is a loosely connected organic movement driving global change. The core value of this movement is the belief that in all things we must love, will, and do good. The Good Society label takes fashion beyond useless, and often-destructive pretense by presenting an affordably priced, forward thinking collection that is fully sustainable – both ecologically and socially. The label centers around its collection of fairly traded 100% organic denim with clean styling and a fit that ensures it will be the pair you wear to look good and feel great. Please visit www.goodsociety.org for more information.”

DB’s Etiquette Recommendation: If you care about ecology, animals, or other people – conventional cotton is your sworn enemy. If you are not familiar with the GLOBAL CATASTROPHE that is conventional cotton, click HERE and watch the video at the bottom.