Posh Swaps Blog

My name is Laricea Ioana Roman and I am a student at Kingston University, London. I am doing a Master in Marketing, Advertising and Communications and at the moment I am writing my Dissertation. My topic is related to ethical clothing, more specifically, I am investigating how personal values influence customers’ decision to buy ethical clothing. In order to come up with some answers for my topic, I need some opinions from people who actually bought ethical clothes. Thus, I am kindly ask you to complete my survey, which will take you no more than 10 minutes and It could give you the chance to win £30 vouchers at The Body Shop and three eco-fashion books.

You can complete the survey here

Although many people wear leather shoes, few would consider buying or recognise the benefits of vegetable tanned leather. When leather is tanned, a cocktail of highly toxic chemicals are used. Lead, zinc, formaldehyde, dyes and cyanide-based chemicals are just some of the substances used to remove the flesh from the skin and stabilise the structure of the leather. Tanneries are also notorious for causing severe air and water pollution which is damaging to the environment and the health of those living nearby. Workers in the leather industry are often exposed to these dangerous chemicals sometimes without any protective clothing or even shoes.

Spartoo sell a range of vegetable tanned shoes which are a great eco friendly and ethical alternative to conventional ethical shoes and are also beautifully made with great attention to detail.

These stylish Thailandia Mar shoesare made with vegetable tanned leather by Pikolinos. A Spanish brand that manufactures comfortable shoes with respect for the environment.

These Iggdrasil  Maki shoesare also made using vegetable tanned leather, this time by El Naturalista,  a brand that specialises in eco friendly shoe designs.

These stylish Equador shoes are also by Pikolinos and feature two colours and lace cut out leather for an unusual design. This shoe is perfect for those who are concerned with style as well as comfort and the impact of fashion on the environment.

Po-Zu is pleased to announce the launch of its ethical and ecological footwear retail website www.po-zu.com.

The new website now allows customers from all EU countries to buy their Po-Zu shoes direct as well as through the established Po-Zu stockists, including Terra Plana and the Natural Shoe Store in the UK.

Po-Zu is a range of stylish footwear for men and women with an environmental consciousness. They are safe for the people involved in the manufacturing process and their impact on the environment is minimal. Their coconut fibre foot-mattress is not only biodegradable but also provides a uniquely pleasurable walking experience thanks to its springy fibrous structure.

“The beauty of this web store, is that we are able to offer our entire range for the first time under one virtual roof” explains Po-Zu founder Sven Segal. “It’s also about being transparent and accessible. The site has been designed to be as user friendly as possible, and you can easily find our retail store partners there too”.

With extreme hot weather in mind, Po-Zu’s spring-summer line uses sustainable, breathable, and lightweight materials which are kind to our body and the planet. Po-Zu has also expanded its selection of Vegan shoes this season by incorporating organic hemp and cork to over 70% of its entire range.

The cork is produced from the bark of the Cork Oak tree Quecus Suber, which grows
in Portugal where the shoes are produced. The harvesting does not harm the tree and a new layer of cork re-grows, making it a renewable resource. The hemp is organically grown, unbleached, with low-impact dyes, free from heavy metals.

Apart from shoes there are a few accessories on offer like edible shoe cream and coconut shoebox planters. Also, a sweet, short film follows the shoe production route, from the coconut husk in Sri Lanka, through to England and finally Portugal where the shoes are made.

Po-Zu was launched in 2006 by shoe designer Sven Segal with the aim of setting new standards in ecological footwear manufacturing. The shoes are made from carefully-selected natural biodegradable materials, free from harmful chemicals, and organically certified where possible. Harmful glues are avoided by stitching the shoes together, which also makes them more breathable, durable, repairable and recyclable.

The brand’s other goal is to provide maximum comfort and pleasure for the people who wear its shoes, while ensuring the shoes are ethically sourced and manufactured.

Po-Zu’s shoebox was nominated for the UK Green Awards 2006, for best packaging. The biodegradable coconut box can be used as trays to grow seeds. As the plant grows, the entire packaging can placed in the ground where it will decompose and turn into earth.

Following its commitment to produce products that are as non-toxic as possible, Po-Zu launched in 2007 a shoe cream that is so safe it can be eaten. Apart from treating leather, the Edible Shoe Cream is also an all-in-one beauty product that can be used as a lip balm, skin moisturizer, hair conditioner, massage oil and cooking oil. You can even spread it on toast for a nutritious snack.

Finding a classic style of shoe that works well with all sorts of casual and smarter outfits for the summer can sometimes be challenging. These Mocassins by Pikolinos combine attention to detail and comfort in a shoes that will go with almost any casual summer outfit. We love the stitching and the neutral, versatile colour. They also have an anatomic sole for maximum comfort.

These shoes have also been made with minimum impact on the environment. Whilst most leather is tanned using a cocktail of chemicals including chromium which are bad for the environment and damaging to the health of those working in the tanneries, these shoes are made using vegetable tanned leather. Tanneries often cause substantial pollution of the air, water and land in surrounding areas. Vegetable tanning uses only natural agents which is much kinder to the environment.

Pikolinos is a Spanish brand with a focus on natural design and artisan manufacturing giving high quality, comfortable shoes that are made with respect for the environment. Their shoes all conform to their three fundemental values which are unique, natural, and authentic. They have a range of shoes available on Spartoo.co.uk including sandals, court shoes and boots.

For those blushing brides who want to look their absolute best on their big day without worrying about what impact their dress has on the environment, they will be pleased to hear that a new website has been launched which features wedding dresses that are produced in India and Nepal, under strict fair-trade conditions using eco and sustainable fibres and fabrics. Tamman Wedding Collection, who also offer a bespoke service as well as their internet service, were inspired to create these stunning dresses from details of Indian and Tibetan traditional dress style, mixed with futuristic ideas from creative art.

With prices starting from £450, there may be brides out there who still want to have their perfect wedding dress, do their bit for the environment, whilst keeping to a budget- and what better place to start looking than Posh-Swaps.com! Posh-Swaps is the website to swap, buy and sell unwanted clothing and accessories- so you could find yourself with a beautiful wedding dress that has only been worn the once- for FREE! And at the same time, perhaps swap it for that something in your wardrobe that you don’t wear anymore!

However, if you are a bride who has already had her perfect day, then another great way to help save the environment is to recycle your wedding dress by either swapping or selling it online. You may find that you are happy to swap it, and if your dress is worth a few hundred pounds, you may be able to negotiate a swap for a few more items of clothing- perhaps a pair of shoes, jeans, and a new top, or anything else which you have perhaps been thinking about having to update your wardrobe!

Picture taken from www.daisygreenmagazine.co.uk

Posh-Swaps.com have announced that we are celebrating our first birthday at the end of April 2010! Our website, which is fast becoming a popular place to swap, buy and sell clothes, will celebrate the occasion with a fantastic prize-draw for anyone that registers and lists clothes to swap during the month of May 2010, with prizes to be won including £100 of shoe vouchers! The website was launched almost a year ago for people to do clothes swapping for free.

There are other clothes swapping websites which have introduced fees everytime someone swaps, buys or sells, but we have no plans to do so ourselves. The aim of the free service is to encourage everyone to swap clothes without the need to throw them away, and so recycling them to do our bit for the environment.

This first year has certainly been a busy one for us at Posh-Swaps, with plenty of successful online swaps and two swapping parties (known as swishing) held in Chiswick and in Bath. Clothes swapping is becoming increasingly popular lately, as it is a great way to refresh your wardrobe- gaining new clothes and discarding others which you never wear, and thanks to Posh-Swaps, all for FREE! You also get a great sense of having done a really good thing for the environment, by reducing what goes to the landfill sites and reducing the environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing of new clothes.

Our website constantly keeps you up to date with the latest fashion and eco-fashion news with plenty of different blog posts published each week, plus a fantastic newsletter that gets sent out every fortnight to let ypu know of the latest items available for swapping.

Picture taken from www.ask.com

Whilst you might think carefully about where you buy your clothes and how eco friendly they are, shoes are something that not many of us pay much attention to. The manufacture of shoes can be environmentally damaging with the use of chemicals as adhesives and for tanning leather as well as a range of non biodegradable materials.

Swapping clothes and buying second hand clothes is a great way to get sustainable style, but sometimes it is not that easy to find just the right pair of shoes in your size. A great sustainable alternative to second hand shoes is eco friendly shoes. There is a growing choice of eco shoes available ranging from organic, natural, biodegradable and recycled options. We have just discovered Spartoo, an online shoe store with a great selection of eco friendly shoes including brands like Think, El Naturalista and Pikolinos.

The notion that eco friendly shoes mean boring, frumpy or unfashionable footwear goes completely out of the window with these gorgeous, trendy and stylish shoes which are good for the environment and good for your feet.

Vialis by Campari - this delicate and on trend summer sandal will work with so many summer outfits from military shorts to floaty maxi dresses.

Schlapfa Divg by Think- this lovely bright mule is made manually using 100% natural materials, ou would never guess!

Nayeri by Panama Jack - a sturdy and very wearable medium height. Very now and very versatile try wearing with feminine floral dresses and jeans.

A new online boutique company called Sequel London has arrived on our scenes- one of the latest boutiques to launch that are eco-friendly. Sequel London offers a range of leather handbags, which have been made from recycled leather jackets, discarded silk ties and curtains that are no longer wanted. The company has been created by cousins Claire Baigent and Laura Queening, both of whom want to reduce waste and to encourage sustainability in fashion by choosing unwanted clothes and accessories from Oxfam’s Wastesaver Warehouses, and using the materials to create their stunning new range.

The collection features bags made from leather including leather buttons, a removable silk tie decoration to add colour and style to the bags, and recycled curtains which are cut so to provide the lining of the bag. The ties on each bag will vary by design and will depend on the amount donated to Oxfam, so no two pieces will be the same. All of the Sequel London products are made in London itself, and the company is aiming to use recycled materials wherever possible- from the leather and the curtains, to the packaging and the stationary which will be made from recycled paper. All of the products have been designed by co-owner Laura Queening, who graduated from the London College of Fashion in 2007. “We decided to launch Sequel London as a way of encouraging sustainability in fashion by using those cast-offs that most of us have in the backs of our wardrobes, to produce classic, beautiful pieces that can be worn with pride time and again,” comments Laura. “We only choose the best quality material, even if the clothing itself has passed its fashion sell-by date.” Claire Baigent graduated from Newcastle University in 2006, and holds a CIPR Advanced Certificate in Public Relations.

The Spring/Summer collection, which is only available to buy online at sequellondon.co.uk, consists of six designs which are priced from £39 to £79, and offer beautiful and durable designs to last a life-time at high street prices.

Pictures and Quotes from www.sequellondon.co.uk

The famous fashion sport’s brand O’Neill has announced the launch of their new collection called ECO’Neill- a collection that is made entirely out of eco-friendly and sustainable materials in a new attempt at ‘doing their bit’ for the environment, and so reduce O’Neill’s carbon footprint. As O’Neill is one of the world’s leading companies when it comes to surfing products, the launch (which will be released next Spring), comes to us as extremely good news as they are seen to many as role models for other surfing and sporting brands.

The collection includes board shorts with fabric made from recycled plastic bottles, basic t-shirts, tanks and beanies made entirely from 100 percent organic cotton, and novelty t-shirts and tanks made from 100 percent organic cotton slub jersey. Advertising the new eco-collection is reggae artist and waterman Mishka, who completely supports the launch. He will promote his latest album release ‘Talk About’ to coincide with the launch, and will be giving his fans a preview of the collection during his album tour which started at the beginning of April. As the newest member of the O’Neill family, he will also be contributing to the designs and creative side of further ECO’Neill styles. Also in the coming months ahead, Mishka will then be featuring in advertising for the brand, social media and mobile marketing to show his support for the coming launch. O’Neill is among many different companies- designer and high street- to launch a new eco-friendly range.

Having been around since 1952 when the world’s first neoprene wetsuit was introduced by surfer Jack O’Neill, O’Neill’s are extremely pleased to be able to create such a range made from recycled and organic materials and yet still maintain their surfing image around the world and continuing to deliver to their customers exactly what they need in terms of style, flexibility, and now the knowledge that what they’re wearing is reasonably sourced.

Picture taken from www.fashionunited.co.uk