Ethical Clothing Pledge

My sister E shared this post by KyliePT of Flying Ducks, who has made the following pledge to purchase clothes that comply with the following:
1. Pre-loved
2. Handmade (preferably by KyliePT)
3. Reconstructed
4. Made with ethical / environmentally friendly materials
5. Made by a company with strong ethical policy & workers' rights

I admire someone who will stick to this. I have been trying to purchase locally made and produced in many aspects of our lives - clothes, food, homewares - and it can be a struggle. It does however make it easier to put something back on the shelf - as soon as I see the dreaded "Made in China" label (especially with an enormous price tag) I am quick to return the item and keep browsing!

KyliePT brings up the point that items that are locally manufactured may well still be produced by exploiting the workers producing these items. At this point I am going to draw a line in the sand and, without researching the conditions for each, assume that for something made in Australia the workers have the mechanisms and laws to fight for their rights.

There are a few items that I struggle with in terms of finding local items to buy - clothing wise that is. They include shoes, underwear and sports clothes. I thought jeans were an issue too until I realised that C's Nobody jeans are Made in Australia, so next time I want some jeans I will be looking a bit harder!

I have also recently been questioning the source of fabrics and goods for making items in Australia. It would be great to have a mechanism where the manufacturer has to also label their items for the source of the materials as well as the labour for putting it together.

For more information see Ethical Clothing Australia

New clothes

C knows that the way to a girl's heart is with food. At least that usually works for me. This week he tried a different angle.

Last year we went skiing/snowboarding and he had to buy a new outfit for carving up the slopes. With this in mind he headed to the outdoor stores and ended up buying most of his gear from Main Peak, including snowboarding boots, trousers, jacket, thermal top, goggles and socks. I also bought a pair of trousers but made do with the gear that I already had collected.

We ended up spending a large amount of money at the store and they gave us a voucher for $50 to encourage us to spend more money at their store. It expires soon and this week C decided to go and spend! He suggested buying us both a pair of skiing/boarding socks and I pointed this out as not being very practical as we are not planning to hit the snow in the near future. His next idea was to buy me a top, and he chose a nice bright blue Icebreaker tank. I love my Icebreakers and wear them daily, even during the summer months.

Icebreakers are one of my blips, they are lovely NZ wool but made in China. If anyone can point me to a similar product but made in Australia or NZ please let me know and I will investigate and consider transferring my love!

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RIP Emporio

Emporio and their four floors of shoes shut down earlier this year. I am not often in the malls, and this afternoon I walked past and noticed that Dusk has set up shop. They proudly announce their status as a Temporary Factory Outlet.

I hope that an interesting store will take up residence soon. I look forward to seeing what shows up!

Great Form!

One of the engagement gifts that Chad and I received was a voucher for Form, a funky gallery on Murray Street. E and I went shopping yesterday; there were a few items on our agenda and one of them was for me to find something to spend the Form voucher on! Chad and I had earlier looked at their stock and he opted to leave the choice up to me.

Form have lots of nice pieces to choose from. They sell books, jewellery, bags, vases, platters, bowls, and all sorts of funky homeware products. From their website "Specialising in jewellery, glass, wood and ceramics, FORM on Murray also stocks books, bags and sculpture. Some of our most popular Australian brands include Dinosaur Designs, Fink and Mud." Other items I spotted include Mattt Bags.

There are so many pretty pieces to choose from, and they have some very high shelves with items arranged by colour. It is all very confusing and hard to decide what item would suit best!

As well as wanting something pretty for the house, I also like the something pretty to have practical value as well. I ended up speaking to the lady working there about what she would suggest. Prices are not readily displayed and the first item I considered was double the voucher amount and more than I wanted to spend on a bowl!

One of her suggestions was items from Mud Australia. Having already confessed to loving the Mud range I was easily swayed. The selection and colours on display were limited, and I was told that they have a new shipment in to be coded and put out for sale this week! The items in question included cake stands, so I will definitely be interested to see what they are like.

The outcome is that at the end of the week I will be heading back to Form to see what new mud products are there. Hopefully I can find a combination of colours and items to keep me happy for a while!

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My new wardrobe!

There is not too much original^* left in my place. It has slowly been redecorated in the three and a half years since I moved in. The kitchen is as the previous owner renovated it (besides a coat of paint and new blinds!), as is the laundry (apart from the coat of paint and new cupboard) and the powder room (coat of paint and new toilet roll holder!).

Upstairs only the ensuite and bathroom/toilet are in reasonably original form. Thanks to Chad the master bedroom is in a state of change and the wardrobe has been revamped! I am very excited by this as it means that I have a lot more hanging space and I can also fit all of my dresses into the wardrobe in the main bedroom rather than in the spare bedroom where they have been since I moved in.

The yellow has gone, replaced by Silky Beige (beige!) and a couple of Ikea Pax units. Note that the clothes hanging along the back are all mine, Chad's are to the left and in a 50cm wide unit!



The master bedroom is currently a work in progress. Chad has repainted all of the walls and ceilings and there are a few finishing touches left to go.

^* By original I mean as it was when I bought it. Not necessarily as it was when it was first built!

Cordless drills...

Chad's drill shirt arrived last year and was in the largest size that Shiften offered - XL. I thought that we would give it a bash, Chad is usually an XXL, but the sizing looked like it could work.

He likes the shirt (or so he tells me) but it is a little tight across his shoulders. I noticed just now that the shirt as advertised on the Shiften's madeit.com.au site now comes in sizes up to 4XL, so we are covered!

Maybe I should get him a screwdriver shirt next...

PS Chad's shirt is grey. Green clashes with his eyes!

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The start of creativity

Online haberdashery The Haby Goddess has some lovely kits to get you started. They also have all sorts of pieces to keep you going, including fabrics and buttons and trims and elastics. I might just have to buy a purse frame and make use of some fabric that I have.

I am especially taken by the cute animal patterns they sell, and I do wish that I could crochet. I could create a whole menagerie to play with! The turtles are super cute although I am not sure what the blue animal is...



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A promise to revolutionise shopping

Last night whilst channel flicking we came across an article on a commercial current affairs program. One of the big retailers is launching their online shopping website this week, and the program would have us believe that this was going to revolutionise the way we shop.

My favourite dictionary website gives the definition of revolutionise as:
"to completely change something so that it is much better".

I really cannot see that the advent of this online shopping experience is revolutionary. It gives more choice for the online shopper however but I would hardly attribute such a powerful word to the advent of yet another retailer launching their products online. Ho hum.

C and I both agreed it sounded like a giant advertorial for the said retailer and I swapped back to the ABC and Talking Heads to learn more about Judy Steel's work in Ghana.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day Mum!

Tonight we had my family around for dinner. Roast pork and vegetables and lime tart for dessert. E is generally more imaginative than I, and bought Mum a stick blender. I managed some pretty flowers.

Shopping online...

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Socks!

I was sent sock shopping the other day for black socks. I was in Myer practicing other wifely duties (buying wedding gifts for C's friends) so thought that I would poke around in the men's section and see what they had on offer. For some reason the men's clothing is in the basement at Myer Perth, and I felt a little bit like a pervert walking by myself through the aisles of men's jocks.

There were many black socks on offer, and the King Size socks (11 to 14) were all conveniently located together. There was quite a variety to choose from, and I took a while as I was trying to find socks that had reinforced toes. C tends to go through the toe of his socks.

Eventually I found a few Aussie made brands. The Lafitte socks were the only ones on the rack that had reinforcement, and they boast on the packaging that if your sock gets extra holes within the year then you should send it to them with the original packaging and your receipt. They do not actually specify what happens to the socks afterwards but I would be game to find out! The other socks are Humphrey Law and I purchased a total of three pairs for C to test drive.

DIY Footstool

This little footstool is a project that I have been thinking about for a while. I ended up with this stool from my first unit. It belonged to the previous owner and as she had no further use for it the stool became mine. I am not a big fan of the orange veour, and the foam has seen better days, but I think the structure is good. I would like to paint it silver and reupholster the seat.

I had vaguely looked at fabric at Spotlight before, but the prints and fabrics were uninspiring. I also considered the fabrics by Ink & Spindle however I was not sure if they would be a heavy enough weight.

Since my vague looks Ink & Spindle have added a 360gsm canvas weight fabric to their collection. The fabrics are from their Tamarillo collection, and I am tring to decide what I would like to use. There are six canvas weight fabrics to choose from, my two current favourites are below but I am undecided as to whether a bold colour would be better or a neutral.

The fabric is also certified organic fair trade.




The photo shows the stool in the master bedroom. The walls are still to be painted but only to a slightly darker beige and the carpet will remain.

Thoughts and comments welcomed.

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