Sawang Boran is a social community business in the Thailand. They use traditional skills to produce high-quality hand-woven silk ikat fabric made of golden Isan silk.
Fall 2010, day 2: London Fashion Week, the dream destination of fashionistas. Young designers have it tough - and some outstanding design by young, ambitious designers.
Fall 2010, day 3: London Fashion Week, the dream destination of fashionistas. The origins of EstEthica, and the subjectively coolest designers in 09/2010.
Fall 2010, day 4: London Fashion Week, the dream destination of fashionistas. Quietly sustainable brands that don't shout about their commitment.
Yesterday: Paris Ethical Fashion Show September 2010: D3 – The colours of technology Tomorrow: Paris Ethical Fashion Show September 2010:...
Grom is an Italian, organic and ethical ice cream brand. But beyond this achievement, all their consumables are biodegradable and compostable. At no extra price to the consumer.
“The voice of a poor man does not carry very far” they say in Laos. But TAMMACHAT - a Canadian social business - is collaborating with Laotian women weaver communities to change that.
Made in Neukölln: A social enterprise project that aims at introducing Berlin high school students to the different textile trades of the apparel, while pitching for social integration and sustainable supply chains.
Ethical fashion, finally!. In addition to the fashion category, even in 4 of the 11 remaining general Observer Ethical Awards categories ethical fashion made it onto the short list.
Shirahime has been pronounced the winner of the Observer Ethical Award in the category 'ethical blog'. Time to look back, and to publicly renew this blog's commitment.
Interview with Shazia Saleem, a London-based couture fashion designer, who specialises in hand woven textiles & works in cooperation with Varanasi brocade hand weavers.
Laces have been a firm part of haute-couture since the medieval, and the fabric still is, and always has been, a luxury product. The StGall exhibition in Switzerland pays tribute to 800 years of lace work featuring the best of European textile artisanry and technology.
Sneakers, or basket ball shoes, are an unlikely candidate for building a successful ethical brand, yet Veja has managed the grow in an otherwise saturated market.
Animanà is a calling to give the world an alternative production model that connects the market with the artisans who live in marginal areas of the Andean region. A portrait.
Natural Dyes in large scale industrial processes sounds like a complete 'No Go'. Tintoreria Clerici - one of the oldest and biggest in the business - is going back to their roots, and proving us all wrong.
Smateria is a Cambodian upcycling bag label founded by 2 Italian women. What originally was a haphazard venture with the will to improve the lives of Cambodian women has turned by now into a successful social business.
The word Beshtar means 'More' in Dari. The idea behind the brand and its designs is to do more for the people of Afghanistan. The inspiration for Beshtar comes from the resilience of a people living in a country that has been at war for more than 30 years.
Itchiku Kubota is possibly the Japanese Kimono artist par excellence. None of his contemporaries have created such a body of work. At the same time, the artist brings the value of craftsmanship, today often ignored or under-rated, to our attention.
Sashiko - a now extinct Japanese textile technique and tradition which for centuries was used to adorn as much as make garments more durable. A portrait.
Bryan Whitehead is one of the few remaining textile craftsmen in Japan who not only rears his own silk, but masters the whole textile process. Just as he as learned from seasoned crafts people, he now hands his knowledge on to his students. A plea to best of craftsmen and women cherish their expertise by teaching.