Posh Swaps Blog

Yet more gorgeous and sustainable style, this time from Kristinit, a fashion brand with a holistic approach to fashion, one that links social responsibility, sustainable fabrics and great design. Kristina Lenss, designer of Kristinit explains that this autumns collection named the Love Campaign is “inspired by an integrated approach to designing and manufacturing a high fashion collection” She says “This collection is about complementing fashion with sustainability — without sacrificing style.”

The collection contains intricate details such as custom lace pieces handmade by artisan weavers in Brazil combined with innovative organic fabrics and fairtrade partnerships for a truly design orientated sustainable collection. Kristinit also donates a percentage of each sale to One Percent for the Planet and the Pachamama Alliance. 

The KRISTINIT collection is available in Los Angeles at FRED SEGAL and PETRO ZILLIA boutiques or by emailing sales@kristinit.com or visiting the website: www.kristinit.com.

You can sell your used and refashioned or recycled clothes on www.posh-swaps.com for free. Refashioning is a great way to create your own line of individual clothes. It is not only fun and good for the environment but it is also a great way to make money. If your old clothes are looking a bit out of date refashioning them is a great way to bring them right up to date. There are so many ways to refashion clothes including dying, embellishing, shortening and deconstructing and reconstructing them into a completely new piece of clothing.

You can also sell second hand, designer, high street and vintage clothes on Posh-swaps.com.

Set up your Posh-swaps.com account today and start listing your items.

We are loving the Green People range of Eco friendly hair and skin care products. Not only are these products good for the environment, they are also great for you. With no nasty chemicals like Parabens, Phthalates, Lanolin and Artificial Fragrances they are completely natural and made using plant extracts from certified organic sources. The formulas are both gentle on your skin but have powerful properties to moisturise and care for your hair and skin. The products are particularly suitable for those with sensitive skin, allergies, eczema or psoriasis but the range also has luxurious and indulgent treats including the organic body spa range which contains extracts from organic Cranberry, Pomegranate and Rosehip.

The Green People products are completely natural and so are also better for the environment as they are biodegradable. As a company Green People have some great environmental credentials including being 100% carbon neutral and using eco friendly and recycled packaging.

picture - exotic reviving trio gift set

Finnish designer Mina Hepburn started her eco fashion label Mina in Dorset after she begain making clothes using Scottish Lace and embellishing using from the beautiful things that she had collected from local antique markets.

Mina uses eco friendly textiles in her clothes where ever possible including organic, fair trade and recycled materials. She also ensures that there is no waste and any remnants are used to embellish garments.

I love how she used recycled things to make very gorgeous and intricately detailed clothes. The latest collection features luxurious lace/wool mixes, cropped wool jackets made with British wool and fitted dresses made from recycled fabrics. Her clothes are all very feminine. Her ranges include women’s and children’s clothes, accessories and jewellery.

picture - Lola dress by Mina

The Wottle, a collaboration between designer Orla Kiely and water filter company Brita is quite simply a reusable water bottle. Nothing revolutionary about but a great idea and looks pretty good two. The constant use and subsequent disposal of plastic water bottles is very damaging to the environment. Not only is there the problem of landfill to consider but also the use of valuable and non renewable resources to keep manufacturer plastic bottles for just one use. The Wottle eliminates both of these problems and can just be reused each day by refilling with tap water or water from a filter jug.

The Wottle is manufactured from recycled plastic further adding to it eco friendly credentials. It is also a lot cheaper option than spending money on bottles of water. I think the Orla Kieley leaf design also makes this  a much more stylish option than a normal bottle of water.

I recently posted about a DIY refashioning project where I used bleach to create patterns on T shirts and turn a boring plain t shirt into something a bit different. I have now tried out the same technique on a pair of old jeans. This a great way of breathing new life into a pair of faded black jeans. The bleach not only creates a great pattern on the jeans but also changes them from faded black to a nice grey colour. You can vary the colour of the jeans, the pattern and the contrast of the pattern depending on how long you leave the bleach for. For my refashioning project, I scrunched the jeans up and rolled in some neat bleach in the bottom of a washing up bowl, left for 2 or three minutes and then filled the bowl up with water before leaving for a further 10 minutes and rinsing well.

For a less striking pattern leave the neat bleach on for less time and for a lighter overall effect leave the jeans to soak in the diluted bleach for longer. There is a bit of trial and error involved. The first time, I didn’t get enough pattern had to try again.

Don’t forget to protect your clothes when using bleach and wear rubber gloves!

On this weeks green chic links we have even more ideas on how to be gorgeously stylish and green and what’s more you can do it without spending lots of money.

The Fashionable Housewife asks Do You Recycle Clothes Thrift Shopping Savvy!

The Fashionable Gal dishes on how to be

My Beauty Bunny shows you how to tighten those arms!

Fashion Pulse Daily is thinking beauty in the round with Lauren Hutton’s Naturals Face Disc

Looking Sharp! is hearting the new Flip & Tumbleprinted bags!

Posh Swaps discusses how you need never be out of fashion in second hand clothes in her post second hand clothes – what goes around comes around

Quinta Trends reads the Lingerie Trends Mini Report UK and its eco recommendation.

Vintage rhinestone brooches are all the rage, and Red Poppy Fashion has found some gorgeous sparklers thanks to Etsy.com

I am a firm believer that most trends come back again and again there are very few completely new trends that appear. This means that if you love second hand clothes, no one will ever know that you are wearing second hand clothes. In teh long term look at the vintage trend, clothes from the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties regularly come into fashion. In the shorter term, the same trends come back year after year.

There really is no need to buy brand new clothes each season to keep up with fashions. Just take for example the key trends for this autumn and winter of black and white tweed.

Alexander McQueen AW09

Pringle AW09

Alexander Wang AW09

pictures from www.style.com

You need look no further than Posh-swaps.com for a great second hand version.

Black and white tweed jacket

It has just come to my attention that my favourite ethical superstore Adili is now called Ascension. It must have happened on the quiet and in the dark of night as I have only just realised. I thought it was worth a mention in case anyone else hadn’t even noticed.

Adili (now ascension) have since their fairly recent launch, quickly made a name for themselves as a one stop shop for ethical clothing from underwear to shoes and accessories. If green is the new black, then Ascension is the new Harvey Nics. They stock a variety of well known brands including People Tree, Patagonia and Tatty Bumpkin as well as their own designer led label. They are supporting and nurturing some of the best young design talent to move ethical clothing onto the next level. Ascension is also working on a number of projects in countries like Rwanda, Columbia and Nepal to help improve peoples lives by developing skills and providing sustainable employment.

The clothes on the website are sorted by ethic to give shoppers the chance to find exactly what they are looking for, with categories including organic, fairtrade, recycled and alternative fibres and 1% for the planet. The Ascension T shirts are also the first fashion item to hold the new carbon reduction label. If you are looking for some guilt free shopping and sustainable style Ascension is the place to go (as well as Posh-swaps.com of course). At the moment, they have a great warehouse clearance with up to 80% off.

picture - 100% organic cotton lengthen T shirt

Picture from Facto Magazine

Fashion Pulse Daily tests (and loves) the new Burt’s Bees Super Shiny Lip Gloss in Juicy Peach — find out why!

Factio Magazine checks out all of the vintage and eco-friendly fashion during Lollapalooza!

Runway To Retail says, “Deep green is the new black”, for nails that is. Sephora recently pumped out several new products on their website.

Looking Sharp! is back to school cool with this upcycled Frito-Lays pencil case found at Target

Posh Swaps has been really busy creating some sustainable style with her DIY Project – refashioned and recycled T shirts

My Beauty Bunny shows you how to get some fab beauty products from LUSH, help orangutans in Borneo and get 15% off!

Quinta Trends (En Espanol) remembers vintage years with Re_cuerda