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Spanish Artist Protests Unethical Fashion With Live Street Performance

by , 06/18/13   filed under: Eco-Art, Worker Rights

Yolanda Dominguez, Madrid, Spain, eco-art, eco-friendly art, sustainable art, Rana Plaza, Bangladesh, workers rights, human rights, sweatshops, sweatshop workers, sweatshop labor, forced labor, eco-fashion, sustainable fashion, green fashion, ethical fashion, sustainable style

It is clear that the actions of consumers have the potential to support both ethical and deplorable working conditions for those laboring in the fashion industry. Deeply moved by the Bangladesh garment factory collapse on May 24th of this year, Spanish artist Yolanda Dominguez created a public art installation entitled “Fashion Victims” to draw attention to the calamity. She placed various women underneath rubble on the streets of Madrid to send a disturbing and bold message to those living in the urban west.

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Muji Bankrolls Eco-Friendly Dyeing Plant in Cambodia

by , 06/18/13   filed under: Eco-Fashion Brands, Eco-Fashion News, Eco-Textiles

Muji, Japan, Cambodia, all-natural dyes, plant-based dyes, eco-friendly dyes, sustainable dyes, sustainable dyeing, natural dyeing, natural dyes, nontoxic dyeing, nontoxic dyes, low-impact dyes, eco-fashion, sustainable fashion, green fashion, ethical fashion, sustainable style

Muji has announced the development of an eco-friendly natural-dye plant in Cambodia as part of its commitment to the Business Call to Action, a global initiative to “accelerate progress” towards the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals through sustainable business models. The Japanese clothing and lifestyle brand, known for its minimalist yet design-conscious wares, says it has committed to a 2,150-square-foot facility that will employ more than 300 local people by 2015. Muji is also planning to plant indigo—a flowering plant harvested for its dark-blue dye—around the premises, which it says could generate another 50 jobs, along with a potential new line of indigo-dyed products.

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House Approves First Congressional Action on Bangladesh Safety Reform

by , 06/17/13   filed under: Eco-Fashion News, Worker Rights

U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Congress, Rana Plaza, Bangladesh, U.S. Department of Defense, eco-fashion, sustainable fashion, green fashion, ethical fashion, sustainable style, workers rights, human rights, sweatshops, sweatshop labor, sweatshop workers, forced labor

Photo by Shutterstock

Nearly two months after a deadly building collapse claimed the lives of 1,127 garment workers outside the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka, the U.S. House of Representatives is taking action on the issue of safety in the beleaguered South Asian nation. Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., approved on Friday a defense authorization bill that requires all military-branded garments produced in Bangladesh and sold at Department of Defense-owned base retail stores, also known as “exchanges,” to comply with an enforceable fire and building safety accord that will improve conditions in the country’s ready-made garment factories and “uphold our nation’s core values.” The bill also requires military exchanges that sell their own Bangladesh-made branded garments to join or abide by the conditions of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

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MCMC's Brooklyn-Crafted Fragrances Benefit Volunteer Groups in Need

by , 06/14/13   filed under: Eco-Friendly Beauty, Fashion Philanthropy, Featured

 

Vodafone's "Power Shorts" Use Body Heat to Charge Your Cellphone

by , 06/13/13   filed under: Eco-Fashion News, Wearable Technology

 Isle of Wight Festival, wearable technology, Vodafone, United Kingdom, U.K., cellphones, music festivals, human-powered clothing, human-powered clothes, human-powered fashion, eco-fashion, sustainable fashion, green fashion, ethical fashion, sustainable style, eco-friendly shorts, sustainable shorts, eco-friendly sleeping bags, sustainable sleeping bags

No need to worry about running down your cellphone battery this festival season. Vodafone’s “Power Pocket” promises to keep peripherals pumping on little more than body heat and movement. You won’t have to fret over missing a beat, either: Prototypes are available in the form of denim shorts and a sleeping bag, which means you can charge your gear while you walk, dance, or even nap. Debuting at the Isle of Wright Festival on Thursday, the Power Pocket is a collaboration between the British telecommunications company and the department of electronics and computer science at the University of Southampton. Each smart material contains thermoelectric modules that convert temperature differences—say between your sweaty, gyrating behind and the surrounding air—into electric voltage, a concept known in physics as the Seebeck effect.

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: T-Shirt Converts Rock Music Into Electricity at Glastonbury Festival

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State Takes the "Farm to Hanger" Approach to American-Made Fashion

by , 06/13/13   filed under: Behind the Seams, Interviews, Women's Eco-Fashion

State, Adrienne Antonson, Behind the Seams, Brooklyn, Heather Koonse, Joyce Vollmer, Marion Payen, made in the U.S.A., recycled fashion, upcycled fashion, recycled clothing, upcycled clothing, New York City, repurposed clothing, repurposed fashion, Behind the Seams, eco-fashion, sustainable fashion, green fashion, ethical fashion, sustainable style

Photos by Amanda Coen for Ecouterre

Adrienne Antonson of State designs clothing according to her own calendar. Turned off by the fast fashion cycle, Antonson takes a thoughtful and resourceful approach to life as much as to fashion. Her line features handmade organic cotton britches, smocks and silk tops reconstructed from tops that she has collected during her travels throughout the US. Ecouterre’s Amanda Coen had the chance to catch up with Antonson in her Brooklyn studio one morning to hear about her work process and State’s latest developments.

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Kate Fletcher's "Local Wisdom" Promotes Clothing as Personal Narrative

by , 06/12/13   filed under: Features, Interviews

 

6 Emerging Eco-Friendly Brands at Designers & Agents Los Angeles

by , 06/11/13   filed under: Designers & Agents, Eco-Fashion Brands, Events

 

NeuroKnitting Creates Personalized Scarves Based on Your Brainwaves

by , 06/10/13   filed under: Eco-Friendly Accessories, Wearable Technology

neuroknitting, knitic, textile, eeg, brainwaves, bach, goldberg's variations, scarf

You already knew that you could wear your heart on your sleeve, but what about your brain on your neck? Artists Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet have teamed up with researcher Sebastian Mealla to create NeuroKnitting, a project that explores the how brain signals interact with technology and textiles. Using Bach’s “Goldberg’s Variations” to invoke emotional responses, brainwaves are collected via an wearable EEG headset and transferred to the “Knitic” machine which assembles scarves into bicolor patterns reflecting the wearer’s moods.

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EPA, NIH Award $100K to Conscious Clothing's Wearable Pollution Monitor

EPA, NIH Award $100K to Conscious Clothing's Wearable Pollution Monitor

Most cities and towns monitor their air quality, but it’s usually only in a few spots and doesn’t alert us to dangerous locations where pollution may be higher. Wanting to…

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Nike, NASA, Team Up With USAID to Crowdsource Fabrics of Tomorrow

Nike, NASA, Team Up With USAID to Crowdsource Fabrics of Tomorrow

Traditional manufacturing processes of fabrics we use in clothing, personal products and the like, include the overuse of water, toxic chemicals used in the process and the harmful…

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Varanasi Silk: A Hand-Loomed Jacquard That Revives an Ancient Tradition

Varanasi Silk: A Hand-Loomed Jacquard That Revives an Ancient Tradition

VARANASI SILK \ˈväranasi ˈsilk\ n 1 a: An intricate jacquard fabric woven by artisans in Varanasi, India, using foot-powered looms. b: Based on a 500-year-old tradition that has…

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Katharine Hamnett: Ethical Clothing Cannot be a Pity Product

Katharine Hamnett: Ethical Clothing Cannot be a Pity Product

“You might think people would buy clothes out of pity, but they won’t. People buy clothes because they want to be excited about themselves. So it can’t just be…

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5 Ways to Recycle an Old Necktie Into a Last-Minute Father's Day Gift

5 Ways to Recycle an Old Necktie Into a Last-Minute Father's Day Gift

GUITAR STRAP MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES Necktie Ruler Fabric scissors 1½-inch wide slide and tri-glide Needle and thread or sewing machine DIRECTIONS 1. Cut off the tip of your tie 4.5…

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Lily Cole Debuts Wild Rubber Jewelry That Benefits Amazon Rainforest

Lily Cole Debuts Wild Rubber Jewelry That Benefits Amazon Rainforest

WILD ABOUT RAINFORESTS Cole’s collection, available exclusively at online retailer Stylistpick.com, isn’t your typical vanity project. The 25-year-old threw herself into the…

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Gap, Walmart Seek Alternative Plan for Factory Safety in Bangladesh

Gap, Walmart Seek Alternative Plan for Factory Safety in Bangladesh

Photo by David Goldman for Associated Press As pressure from consumer and labor-rights groups over factory safety in Bangladesh intensifies, a number of leading U.S. brands and…

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Bangladesh Building Collapse: Shoddy Materials, Bad Choices to Blame

Bangladesh Building Collapse: Shoddy Materials, Bad Choices to Blame

Photo by Andrew Biraj for Reuters The disaster of Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza Building collapse, which killed 1,127 people, is a result of a serious of bad, horrible, choices. A…

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Your New T-Shirt Slogan: Spectrum & Ali & Tazreen & Rana

Your New T-Shirt Slogan: Spectrum & Ali & Tazreen & Rana

Photos by Dan Cutrona Can you stop fast fashion with a T-shirt? Probably not, but it’s a start. When Rana Plaza came tumbling down in Bangladesh in April, those of us in the…

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