My love for craftsmanship goes deep. Firstly, I see it as a way for validating our consumeristic society.  And let’s face it, the buying and selling of something, be it a product or service is the thread that keeps our way of life functioning. EVERYONE depends on it. Including you and I.

The problem with consumerism is greed and, a lack of respect for the creation of a thing or, the person who creates it. When the artisan element is taken out of a product it becomes a mass-produced “(noth)thing”, it is cheapened in both the cost to purchase it and the value of the human artisan skill to make it, the maker becomes less valued, as does the thing ( that’s my opinion 😉)  

The number of times people have come in to my shop and said “these are gorgeous but are too expensive”, I literally hold back the tears, feeling for the highly skilled artisan who took hours to make that item.

Recently, I walked into a large (NOT expensive) department store near where I work. And it stirred in me mixed emotions, the first was “wow this is gorgeous”, then at a closer inspection my heart sank and I felt despair. What looked artisan and handmade was a mass produced copy of something that I sold at the Fair Trade Hub. The item was a basket, it looked the same, but it was not the same. It was not a social design product! To me these products were the antithesis of everything that is good, fair and beautiful.

When an item is mass produced or even worse, a 100% machine made product (and that’s what’s happening); it is basically made from start to finish by a machine or mechanical device. The only winner in this standard consumerism model is the CEO and the retailer who can gain huge profit margins.  

The handcrafted method is a lot more labour intensive and generally much more expensive to make.  But that expense and my terrible profit margins are 110% worth it.  Because these products have a value, a positive ripple effect, where the consumption of something turns into a “social designing” mechanism. It preserves culture, values art, respects the environment and it creates a more equitable world. I will never be rich, but I know that I belong to a prosumer movement that makes the world and my self-worth much richer.

My business is called “Aware…the social design project”. Yeap, It’s a mouth full and, a tad cumbersome as a business name. But I LOVE IT!!!! :D. It is a daily reminder for me and, I hope others, that there is such a thing as good consumerism. That there are products that can improve the social design of our world. Be it eco, locally made, handmade or fair trade.

As I sit in my shop and watch the mind boggling amount of trolleys of stuff coming out of the department store. It leaves me thinking:

"How did we get to this point of stuff only having a value because it’s cheap, on sale or it’s a bargain. Is it fair that a business mass produces things to look like artisan products? Cultural appropriation shouldn't just about clothing and accessories, it is baskets and other handcrafted items."

Don’t you think?

Would those trolleys be so full if these customers asked – "Does this item have a soul? Or, is this more than just a thing?" 

How I wish I could reach these people with the message:

”Buy less, buy well and make it last” (as per the British designer Vivienne Westwood)….. and if we also buy things with soul - then together, we can change the world!". 

On a positive note; there are many pro-sumers out there (ie you) -  people who get that consumerism can have a positive and life changing effect on an individual and societal level.   

Lots of Love,

Yvie xo

#tohetherwecan #Awarenessiskey #Prosumersarethesocialdesigners

When I first started doing Fair Trade fashion 7 years ago, it was a time when it was difficult to source organic cotton, it wasn’t fashionable to op shop and up-cycling fashion was not a thing.

But how things have changed! Within the last few years sustainability has become an increasingly mainstream topic of conversation. For example, now we have the following sustainability organisations paving the way for a more ethical fashion industry:

• Good On You: Is an ethical rating fashion app that rates clothing and accessories on their level of goodness. It gives power to the the customer, who can check brand ratings whilst they shop and discover ethical and sustainable fashion labels from around the world.

• The Fashion Advocate: Is a blog, movement and ethical fashion website, it is rated #17, as one of Australia’s top influencers.  The purpose of this business is about “sharing meaningful content ……. for positive social and environmental change“. 

• Eco Warrior Princess: In their own words it “is a media brand that is redefining what it means to live green”. This site is one of my favourites, I highly recommended going there for quality eco journalism.   

• The Fashion Revolution: Created as a response to raise awareness after the Rana Plaza factory tragedy in 2013. Each year in April, the group hosts Fashion Revolution Week and the #whomademyclothes campaign, which uses social media to petition fashion brands into providing supply chain information. It lets particularly big businesses know the consumer cares.  

• Redress: Started to address reduce textile waste in Asia. It has moved this to a global level by creating the ‘The Redress Design Award’, a global platform for young design talent— this year it received applications from 56 countries. “By going global, we can educate and then gather the brightest design minds from around the world and harness their creativity to create a global shift in the way we design, produce, consume and ultimately dispose of our clothes,” - Christina Dean (Founder of the Redress)

• Make Fashion Circular: Advocates for fashion to think in a circular economy mindset, were innovation is required to reduce waste and improve the longevity of clothing to avoid it becoming waste.

• Eco-Age: The Green Carpet Challenge that was initiated by Livia Firth, propelled ethical fashion into the global spotlight by partnering brands with celebrities for high-profile, media saturated events like the Met Gala and Cannes Film Festival.

• Sustainable Apparel Coalition: A group that evaluate the whole industry on a unified set of standards. It is made up of over 220 institutions across the industry, including retailers, suppliers, trade associations, nonprofits and brands.

And this was just naming a few!!!!! ****Happy dance****

It’s become very competitive in the ethical and sustainable market and, people who are our target market are shopping less and up-cycling more.  Its really, really tough! But it is wonderful that this is happening 😊. So much has changed in my years as an ethical fashion producer and retailer and it inspires me to do it even better. 

Love,

Yvie xo.

Photo: I would like to thank the model @stephaniefairhall and photographer @purely_Visual_photography.  Model is Dressed our in house label Awear...Social Re-design. 

Textiles are my passion. I am a textile nerd, weirdo, fanatic! For example, when I go op-shopping, I don’t even look at the colours, brands or styles. I run my fingers along the clothing and stop when I find a potential treasure.

With my label I have the luxury to go even deeper with my textile extremism. Firstly, I make sure that everything is ethically produced from the cotton farmer, all the way through the supply chain . I select organic, hand loomed eco dyed fabrics from accredited suppliers such as MORALFIBRE. Fabrics are selected intentionally to support income for those in most need. Resulting in a fabric that is both artisan and soulful.  

When clothes are designed to improve the social design of humanity and are as light as possible on its ecological impact, its kind of like making magic, where art, culture, consumerism and humanity are woven in away that does good and feels good.

The hand loomed fabrics for this years collection have been sourced through MORALFIBRE, because I love how they support artisans in a decentralised manner. Fabrics are from co-operatives with self-employed artisans; mainly working from homes in remote villages. MORALFIBRE Is a member of the FAIR TRADE FORUM, India. Also, they are one of the very few certified suppliers of Khadi fabrics in India. 

Khadi or khaddar is a hand spun, hand-woven natural fibre. Spun into yarn on a spinning wheel called a charkha. My love for this type of fabric started with an image of Mahatma Gandhi – He made the charkha more than just tool for making something, it became a symbol of the Indian independence movement and the peaceful rebellion. This image inspired change. For me, Khadi (fabric) also translates into a symbol for the slow fashion movement and the artistically beautiful rebellion against fast fashion.

Love,

Yvie xo

Note: Picture of  Mahatma Gandhi via Public Domain via Wikipedia. 

Some exciting news……Firstly the “The Fair Trade Hub” is open for business! The store is a collaboration between myself and Carina from “The Fair Trade Way”. This is our 5^th year working together and popping up as “The Fair Trade Hub”.  Our new shop is located at Shop 55, Stockland Glendale, right beside the sushi bar, EB Games and Kmart. Also, just a few stores up is a café called Boho Black, they make a great coffee and have a huge children’s play area. So many good reasons to come say hi .

Carina and I go way back, as members of the Fair Trade Association and The NSW Fair Trade Networking group, we were founding members of the still successful “Fair Trade Emporium”. We started as a pop up in Paddington, Sydney, and then moved to the Addison community centre in Marrickville, Sydney. Carina said “Let’s do something locally!” and after years of commuting to Sydney from Lake Macquarie I was like “Yeeeesss, I am in!”.

The second bit of exciting news is that my sewing studio is up and running. The plan is to create and build more up-cycled designs using remnants and excess stock -  handmade by me. Over the 6 years I have been in business I have kept a most of my seconds and left overs  – Now is the time to work some Frankensteining magic on them. I have so many ideas my head is feels like it will explode! This project is very close to my heart, it’s just a matter of finding the time around my hours working at The Fair Trade Hub.

Thirdly, I am launching this web site. I turned it off for a while because I just didn’t have the time to work on it. Also, I’m dyslexic and a perfectionist so I was always putting off getting it back up because I was too embarrassed that it wasn’t good enough. My husband made a wonderful suggestion, he said just be honest about it, and ask for help to review it. So peeps, if you see an error please let me know so I can fix it. I need to own the fact that my spelling is not a strength and get this site up so I can make my product more accessible to you.

And finally, after losing a close friend tragically last year, I promised to take control of my life and to have a better life and work balance - I want to get my groove back! This year’s designs which are being launched in August are an echo of this goal and ethos. The 2019 - 2020 Earth Collection has been designed for comfort, to live life to the fullest and to have fun. The range is artisan (featuring Ikat and hand embroidery). The fabric is Fair Trade, organic cotton and eco dyed (sourced through Moral Fibre and A&A Eco). And there are pockets. I want the clothes to allow the wearer to feel less restricted by their life and more connected to the positive vibes and love that has gone into making their garment.

Lots of Love,

Yvie xo

“Everything changes”. A powerful truth, in just two words. So simply it explains one of the hardest and most empowering lessons about life. Thankfully poverty, oppression, and hopelessness doesn’t need to be a fixed situation.

My business lets me see the possibilities of change. It blows my mind that I can be here, and my team is in India. Yet, together we are doing something so special. Creating an eco, artisan and sustainable clothing label into something that has a soul. Together we are being the change we want to see in the world! We offer empowerment to the repressed and we believe and encourage the best in each other.

Since visiting ‘AIF’, the little production facility in Lucknow India, that makes my clothes, the team has become more like an extended family to me. Each of them impacted and inspired me in ways I never imagined. Over the next few blogs I’ll introduce you to the wonderful individuals in my team.

First, I’d like to start with Rubina (The lady ironing above). She is an embroidery artisan and has been at ‘AIF’ for roughly 8 years. As a girl in a poor family she had next to no education, and this is probably the main reason she has consistently refused to learn how to use the sewing machine. The production facility respects her decision to continue working embroidery because it is her decision to make.

Every day I went to the production facility Rubina would be dressed in the most amazing outfits. She became a bit of a muse to me while there, it was so lovely to see her so confident in her own style – She looked unique and fabulous! Next year I plan to do a few pieces collaborating with Rubina, so the world can see her design styling talent.

It's heart warming how huge the Fashion Revolution movement has become. It honors those within the fashion industry whom have been exploited, especially those who suffered due to the Rana Plaza factory collapse, which killed 1138 people and injured many more on 24th April 2013. It was that day the the Fashion Revolution was born.

This year our Fashion Revolution stand has been focusing on slowing everything down; to make higher quality, hand made and more sustainable items. We have been radical enough to even try and close the loop. For example, making up-cycled items (our "Marjas" label), using unsold stock or with items that were not "op shop" suitable such as work polo shirts and security vests. 

We are still passionate about organic, natural fiber textiles, and creating styles with our "Awear..social re-design" label that are iconic, long lasting and artisan. Just this week our fabric supplier has finished hand looming our organic cotton and they are about to dye the fabric using low impact methods. Then they will be made in a gorgeous Fair Trade production facility in Lucknow India by this amazing team (see attached photo). 

If you want to check out what we are doing - On the 21st April we are collaborating with "The Fair Trade Hub" at Hamilton Clock Tower Markets located (Beaumont st, Hamilton) from 9am till 2pm. This is a Fashion Revolution and Sustainability advocacy event. Hope to see you there :). 

Love,

Yvie  

#Iknowwhomademyclothes #fashrev #slowfashion #artisan