This week’s round up from some of the ECW ladies.

Enjoy!

Alternative Consumer
Sustainable designer Denise Rowcroft and her one-woman company, Lost & Found Art, takes reclaimed and salvaged items and transforms them into finely crafted pieces of art jewelry.
Read: Upcycled items become art jewellery

Green Cotton
Be Sweet and Eco-Chic for Valentine’s Day
Read: The Perfect Green Gift Guide for Your Sweetheart

Victoria Everman
An exclusive, in-depth interview with fashion design and Mountains of the Moon founder, Melissa Baswell.
Read: Interview with Melissa Baswell

Green Girls Global (That’s us!)
Learn some dress-making skills for the planet
Read: Self-sufficiency in your wardrobe

ECW was absent from our blogs last week as it seems we were all distracted by Thanksgiving holidays, snow and other exciting things.

However, this week we’re back with some great posts. Enjoy!

Alternative Consumer
Look and feel great while delivering that eco message.

Eco-Chick
Eco-Chick tells you how to keep away the stink-the natural way!

Fashion, Evolved
Fashion, evolved is drooling over the 100% sustainable and ethical jewelry by Dawes Design.

Fig+Sage
Amala Beauty :: An Intersection Of Purity & Luxury {+ $152 Giveaway!!!}

Green Grechen
How to truly shop eco-friendlier this holiday season

Green Glam Girl
Green Glam Girl loves to make her own eco soap!

The Green Girls
The Green Girls.tv has a fun video that teaches you how to make cute sandals out of an old bicycle tire!

Our footprints are all over this planet…..but do we have to stomp so hard!?

My name is Laura Bergman, the creator of Bottled Up Designs. I have lived all my life in the beautiful Pennsylvania Amish Country, where as a child we would dig around old foundations pulling old treasures from the ground from a simpler time.

The love of old glass and bottle digging stayed with me, and have always been an avid bottle collector. One thing that has always bothered me, though, is how we take away the pretty whole pieces, but leave all the broken remains behind for the environment and wildlife do deal with.

When I walk through these pretty wooded habitats, the sun slants through the woods and lights these little pieces of history. The ruby glows in the sun, looking like it’s on fire, amber from old medicine, beer, and the countless broken Clorox bottles used and carelessly tossed there so long ago. Another common find is the pretty ice blue glass of broken Mason jars, and always envision them in someone’s pantry full of the summer’s work “put up” for the coming winter. I am always a little sad when I see the broken depression glass, wondering if during those lean times there was the money to replace the pretty dishware that had broken.

To me, this glass still has history and real beauty behind it, and out of love for the pretty glass and the environment, I now bring home the broken pieces and create my jewelry. Each piece is handmade from this reclaimed glass, and wanting to share the history with those that wear it, have created “The Story of the Glass” detailing for each piece what it was originally, and the approx. age of the glass.

Recently, while walking my dog through a peaceful part of the woods, I spotted a baby fawn and her mother laying in the dappled sunlight. Of course, they caught the scent of us and were up and away, and where the fawn was laying was the broken shards of a cobalt Noxzema bottle. Hoping that she was unhurt, I sighed and picked up the glass to bring it home, wondering once again how we ever thought we had the right to treat our environment so carelessly.

To see all of the pretty vintage colors and how they are wonderfully transformed into beautiful artisan jewelry, please visit www.bottledupdesigns.com.

Read GGG editor Henriette’s review of Bottled Up Designs and this beautiful necklace.

Having started 2008 on a rather gloomy note, what with the rise of interest rates and the prospect of an economic slump, it was surprising, yet reassuring, to see that the levels of ‘fast fashion’ purchasing seem to have levied off. The discount fashion market has slowly been declining for the first time in a decade.

In particular, Primark, George at ASDA and Matalan have seen sales drop by 1%. Conversely, higher priced retailers have seen sales increase by 4% (Connie Tran, City AM, February 2008). This has been a welcome response to hundreds of independent, organic, fair trade and eco-friendly shops and sites who are pleased and relieved to hear that the ‘fast fashion’ bubble may have burst.

With this in mind, it is important to carry on supporting our local independent retailers, spreading the ‘fair trade’ word and encouraging more resourceful production. Fair Trade Fortnight in 2008 saw sales of fair trade goods rise to £493 million (www.fairtrade.org.uk). This is very encouraging, and hopefully we will see 2009 sales being even higher.

There are more and more companies who are focusing solely on fair trade accessories, gifts and more. Fair trade is not just limited to chocolate, tea and bananas, but can be associated with all products. However, seemingly, it has been proved that the fresh produce areas of fair trade have received more publicity and thus more sales than other sectors. Indeed in the UK, fresh fair trade produce makes up 52% of the total fair trade market (www.talkingretail.com). For example, fair trade coffee sales rose to over £117 million in 2008 (www.fairtrade.org.uk) and 8 million fair trade cups of tea and hot beverages were drunk in 2008 (www.fairtrade.org.uk).

However, as well as sourcing fair trade goods why not look for companies who use recycled and natural materials? It is amazing what one can recycle and re-use to create something new and original. By supporting smaller boutiques you are helping them to become more established and hopefully more successful. Perhaps try, even if it just once a week, to support your local florists, butchers, fishmongers and market stall workers. To them, sales mean everything. To supermarkets, your money means next to nothing. It is vital we encourage young entrepreneurs and not to succumb to the corporate world. By shopping at boutiques, both on the high street and online, one receives a more personable service, as well as a unique and individual gift. Try not to succumb to the lure of the high street where not only the products are generally produced in sweat shops, but also the choice, as well as the quality, is limited. With over 320 fair trade towns in the UK (www.fairtrade.org.uk) why not look to see where your nearest fair trade town is?

Claire Watt-Smith
CEO BoBelle
www.bobelle.co.uk
Fair Trade Fashion
Organic Cotton Baby Wear
Hand Made Gifts