Friday, January 10, 2014

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meetmeatmikes

Favourite Local Fashion-y Finds

Victoria Mason Hundred Waters Necklaces
Hello New Year readers!  I am VERY glad. I like to see the empty year stretching out in front of me as you only can at this time of year! I have a few things in my calendar already, but I can kind of kid myself that it's free sailing at this point. Do you feel like that too?
Anyhoo, you might already know that I'm writing about ethical fashion every Thursday on this very blog. It's part of A Year Of Ethical Fashion (#YOEF). I'm talking about buying ethical, local, vintage or second-hand, making clothes, swapping clothes and even just buying less. On a Thursday. Every week. (Hopefully!)

If you'd like to get involved with YOEF you can take the pledge at any time by signing up here and going ethical for a year (or more!)

For today's YOEF post, I've scoured Etsy for some great local vintage finds (below). I like the idea of narrowing things down to local, not all of the time, but some of the time. It seems like a good idea to support neighbourly types.

I've also dropped in a dose of Victoria Mason (top), because everyone needs a dose of Vic. She's a total keeper in the cute friend/clever designer stakes, as far as I'm concerned. I am in love with her new pieces. They are handmade by Vic in her Fitzroy studio. I think you will like them too!




I should also mention one of my favourite Etsy stores for super beautiful vintage : Bess Georgette : Add her to your faves! Tell me: Do you have a fave Australian Etsy vintage shop? Or a bricks and mortar vintage shop you love? Or perhaps you run an Australian Etsy vintage shop? Litter the comments with awesome vintage tipping links, won't you?! (Also… how great is Victoria Mason?!) x Pip A Year Of Ethical Fashion on Facebook
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meetmeatmikes

A Year Of Ethical Fashion


sign up here!

Here's the Year of Ethical Fashion (#YOEF) pledge for 2014… 2015!
If I'm looking for things to wear I will only:
a) Buy from ethical makers or
b) Buy second-hand or
c) Make it myself  or
d) Wear things I already own or
e) Borrow or swap garments with friends
Sounds pretty doable, right? Maybe you can take the pledge too?! For a year? Or longer, even?!
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meetmeatmikes

Australian Ethical Fashion To Put On Yourself

Ethical Fashion Australia : Obus
I was looking through Reuters most powerful images of 201. There's a lot of disturbing content there, truth be told, but the one that I keep thinking about involved the Bangladeshi garment factory collapse. I won't go into details but you can see it here, if you would like to. Over 1000 people died and despite being a $10 billion industry, conditions for workers are deadly.

Because I have been thinking about this a lot, I realised that  I really want to know more about companies who are looking after their workers, in terms of fair pay and conditions. I am guessing you have been thinking about this too...  Perhaps you are well informed about this issue already? Or perhaps you'd like to know more?

I did a bit of research and found some local labels are getting serious about looking after the people who make their clothes.  (That said locally made does not always mean ethically made.)  If in doubt go here to see a great list of 100% ethical local fashion labels. It's a big issue and people like us can make a big difference if we think before we buy…

I think it's great that the Alliance For Bangladesh Workers and Bangladesh Worker Safety Accord have been established, but I am a bit worried about them walking the walk. (I think sometimes these organisations can be very slow and just talk the talk, but we will see how it plays out!)
Ethical Fashion Australia : Fare-WellEthical Fashion Australia : Katie Hosking
You can sign Oxfam's petition urging better conditions for Bangladeshi workers here.  And here's some local and/or accredited fair trade labels you might want to support:

Here's some things I am going to try to do from now on:

1. Stop buying from unethical labels, fast fashion companies and cheap online retailers (some of my very faves don't seem to be very ethical!)
2. Wear more vintage and second-hand clothes
3. Buy less OR buy from the maker
4. Make more (and find out more about sustainable fabrics)

How do you feel about this? Does it bug you that some REALLY COOL fashion labels (some MUCH loved indie faves) don't seem to have a policy about ethical production? Are you torn between buying cheap clothing and doing what's best for vulnerable garment workers? It's confusing, right?

Can you recommend any other fair fashion labels that we might want to support?

x Pip

First published on meetmeatmikes.com
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