Our ranges of exceptional fair trade gifts are still growing at Fairwind. Here are the latest additions to arrive at the shop.

Stunning jewellery from South Africa and Zimbabwe

Funky chunky bracelets     

 from £9.50

Spiky shell rhodium jewellery  

from £22  

Freshwater pearl jewellery

£12                                                         

This
gorgeous jewellery is made by Yakanaka, a fair trade organisation
that seeks to support economically disadvantaged members of
marginalised communities in South Africa and Zimbabwe through the
provision of sustainable employment opportunities. Yakanaka has to deal
with some serious challenges, especially in Zimbabwe where the
inflation rate is in the millions, there are daily power and water
cuts, dirty municipal water and there is no diesel or fuel; the list is
endless!

Two of our best combinations we have created this week
     1. 100% cashmere Bra Dress for House of Cashmere. Burlington 
          Arcade, London
     2. A golden, sparkly sleeveless Bra Dress for T4 presenter

FURTHER NEWS:

• Our debut collection for online retailer ASOS will be launched at the end of this month

• Goodone will be exhibiting again at Estethica during London Fashion Week Spring Summer 2010

• Andwe are currently being followedby a Japanese film crew ‘NHK’ documenting our Goodlife!

• Lastly there will bea studio sample sale happening in the next couple
  of weeks! The perfect time to pick up a bargin, and the opportunity to
  pick out your own colour combination for whatever design you
  like…watch this space.

 www.goodone.co.uk

Every now and then I come across a book that just grabs me and won’t let me go until I’ve finished it.  It’s not always obvious at first and I have to confess that I was unsure what I was in for when I opened John-Paul Flintoff’s new title.  But once I started I was hooked.

The author is a journalist and a committed environmentalist  who delights in all things that are away from the mainstream.  You know that ‘game’ where you decide on people’s personalities based on the Winnie the Pooh characters?  Well, John-Paul is most definitely Tigger….  In the book he throws himself into a dizzying array of different situations getting largely enthused by much of what he comes across in his search for a new purpose in his life.

The cast list in the book includes an eclectic mix including Richard Gere, Jeremy Clarkson, Rob Hopkins and Prince Charles’ tailor.  Add in posthumous contributions from the Buddha, Mahatma Ghandi, Aldous Huxley, Adam Smith and John Ruskin and you begin to see the breadth of material covered.

The subjects John-Paul looks into range from religion and peak oil to sweatshops and consumerism.  But central to it all is the matter of clothing, how it’s made, who makes it, who profits, who is exploited and who decides what you wear.  J-P experiments with crocheting, knitting, treadle sewing machines and making yarn out of nettles, plastic bags and the wool of a blue faced Leicester.

I found Through the Eye of a Needle an inspiring read.  It conveys an infectious joy in all of us taking individual actions in our lives to address the calamities we see all around us.  As J-P says when a dinner guest rubbishes what he is up to on the basis that people can’t do anything meaningful “Like many people, this woman was paralysed by the scale of the problems facing us, combined with the urgency.  She should relax: we can’t do everything at once.  We can, make a great deal of change incrementally.  And there’s nothing we can do except as individuals.”

Taking his own advice John-Paul makes himself a pair of underpants……

Take my advice and read this book – you’ll feel all the better for it.  If you don’t I’ll eat my hat (so long as it’s made from nettles of course).

‘Through the Eye of a Needle’ is published by the wonderfully sustainable Permanent Publications for a miserly £7.95.

EcoChic collection-Short Film
 
Short and sweet, but we were delighted with our first short film recently shown at the Sussex Innovation Awards, discussing ethical and fair trade fashion, which we will launch shortly online to you.

EcoChic Collection & the Green Party

We were
thrilled to be asked to collaborate recently to launch a campaign for
Brighton to become an ethical centre for jewellery. Our campaign was
featured  this week in the Sussex Argus Newspaper

   
“Congratulations to the Green Party for spearheading such an important
campaign for Brighton. EcoChic Collection is delighted to be
collaborating on this vital issue and supports the work of the work of
ARM (Association For Responsible Mining) who alongside CRED jewellery
have worked tirelessly to promote this issue.”

Read more here: A Green Collaboration

EcoChic Collection live on Brighton Radio 

Much
fun was had alongside Alex Phillips from the Green Party at radio
reverb this week when we discussed the possibility of  an ethical
jewellery centre for Brighton.

EcoChic Collection partners with Ethical Weddings

And
finally, we’re delighted to announce that we are now official partners
with the inspirational Ethical Weddings. We’ll be working together to
spread the word about ethical weddings and eco chic style far and wide.
Look out for joint special offers and promotions coming soon.

Latest Offers
Win 1 of 4 pieces of La jewellery worth over £20.00 including cufflinks and earrings.
 
Enter the draw to win one of four jewellery pieces by La Jewellery, previously presented to HRH Camilla. Just spend over £40.00 (to include jewellery) and we’ll enter you in the draw.
 
These beautiful pieces have been kindly donated by our friends at La Jewellery. La design and handcraft their exceptional jewellery range in Wales by local silversmiths who use responsibly sourced silver. The La social business model is also an inspiration with valuable charity work and enabling their employees to work from home, promoting the work-life balance.
 
La Jewellery is inspired by nature and is truly unique and beautiful.
 
View our La range here: EcoChic Collection La Range
 
This offer is being promoted on The Prize Finder
 

Want
to get crafting and lacking in inspiration? Perhaps you’re looking for party
bag gifts or stocking fillers? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a token gift
for someone who has everything? Look no further, our Fair Trade Beading Kits
are the perfect starting point! 

The
small tin contains everything you need to make your very own necklace including
beads, string and clasp.  With ten colours to choose from, you can be sure that
each necklace will be as unique as the person that’s made it.

Produced
in India by TARA Projects, a non-profit organisation.  They help to generate
steady work and income for their craft workers by providing opportunities and
helping to develop skills.

For further information click HERE (http://www.onlyfair.co.uk/acatalog/Beading_Kits.html) to
view the item.

E-charger was picked as one of the three best portable chargers by the Metro on Friday 10th July 2009
Here is what they said
E-charger Pack this compact emergency charger and you’ll never be caught out with a dead phone, BlackBerry or iPod.£15, www.echarger.co.uk

Echarger Ltd is a small company
aiming to make a big difference to the environment by offering a range
of environmentally friendly – and extremely useful – battery and
mobile chargers for people on the move or out of reach of a standard
power supply.

Offering the following products: 
- emergency charger 
- solar mobile charger  
- solar bags ranging from business bags  
- messenger bags  
- city style bags  
- pouch  
 
Echarger’s range of fashionable, energy efficient and solar travel
chargers is available in a variety of formats to suit a wide range of
portable gadgets.  
 
The solar mobile charger, emergency charger and solar bags supplied
by the business are just right for any occasion. Available on the website,
the products are beautifully constructed and last for life.  
 
Echarger Ltd has an expanding network of clients, located in and around
London, including Eco friendly sites. The company is managed by Tony
Momoh who has been focusing on the business for many years. Having previously
worked for the IT industry, Tony Momoh is more than qualified to look
after the company.  
 
With a fully fitted workshop and fully qualified staff, the company
provides a professional b2b to businesses. The service is designed to
cost effective, enabling clients to make a difference to save the planet
economically. 
 
 Link to product review article  

http://www.lifegoggles.com/1738/echarger-emergency-charger-product-review/

Appearing
this month on the shelves in WH Smith and Borders nationwide, new eco-living
directory BOOK OF GREEN is the most comprehensive guide for everybody to
genuinely and easily green their lifestyles.

With
the general public currently becoming more receptive to living a more
eco-friendly life, this completely free guide points the consumer in the right
direction – it includes hundreds of approved ethical providers in a wide range
of sectors including business services, health and beauty, home and garden,
green energy, travel, parenting and food & drink.  All the companies
in the directory are in some way mostly or completely environmentally friendly,
sustainable, fair trade, organic,  ethical and socially responsible.

Book
of Green is intended to show everybody how to easily reduce their carbon
footprint, live a healthy lifestyle and make  a personal positive 
impact on the environment by integrating truly ethical products and services
into their daily home and family lives.

With
an initial print run of 30,000, the guide comes in a handy A5 format and is
printed in vegetable inks on 100% recycled paper.  An online flip magazine
version is also available at www.bookofgreen.com 
 Book of Green will be available in WH Smiths this July, attached to the
front of Permaculture Magazine as well as distributed across the UK in high
street eco stores, online eco stores, and at events during the summer as well
as at the Eden Project and the Kent Eco Village, the Kent Show by The
Ecologist, July 17-19.

Book
of Green is co-founded by Sue Jueno (founder of Allthingseco) and Katie Keegan
(founder of One Green Earth),
 whose combined experience of 6 years in the eco/ethical business arena
has given them the experience, knowledge and contacts to create a guide for
green living which everybody can trust.

“Being
green is more than reducing the threat of climate change, it’s also about
ethical trading and personal health.  The companies found within Book of
Green provide solutions across all sectors through their products &
services to help build a positive foundation for your family’s future
generations,”  says Katie Keegan.

“With
credit crunch in mind and a passion for promoting green shoot businesses we
have made Book of Green extremely affordable to advertisers and free to the
public to show off exceptional companies that are solving environmental
problems and that will be leading us into the future,” says Sue Jueno.

By Elaine Dutton, Director Pure Design

2009 New Designers in Islington opened its doors to the public this Thursday, and for the fourth year running I was there to see what promising new graduate talents are in store for the UK design industry, and of course my radar was set to sustainable!

What is special about this trade show?
With over 3,500 of the best new design graduates represented for the two weeks the show runs, New Designers is definitely one of the highlights of my design calendar. Not only is the quality of the work on show fantastic, the buzz about the place is great, and the designers are overwhelmingly positive and all eager to talk about their work.  Week one exhibitors include contemporary applied arts, ceramics and glass, jewellery and precious metalwork graduates, and the ‘One Year On’ exhibit tracks award winners from the year before. Week two includes product & furniture design, visual communications and spatial design, and as above ‘One Year On’ of award winners from 2008 in these disciplines.

How to spot the green goods?
The irony when searching for new eco design products and talents for Pure Design online boutique, gallery and gift shop,
is that Pure Design is a design-led sustainable company – so we don’t
go looking for accessories that look green we go looking for design
pieces that have the ‘ah’ factor and then we ask the designer the deal
breaker “are your products eco or ethical?” So it is actually quite
hard to ‘spot’ eco products in a way.  In my view the best eco design
does not scream out “I’m green and good, pick me, pick me” – it is
quietly and confidently stylish and doesn’t need to flaunt its virtues
to be noticed.

Over the past few years of visiting design
fairs and exhibitions and interviewing designers, I have learnt which
disciplines of craft and design tend to score high and low on the eco
scale. There is often little eco joy to be found in acrylic – although
I have met several designers trying to reduce, reuse or replace the use
of plastic, for example opting to use plant based bio-resin
alternatives. Ceramics and glass are usually not particularly eco, and
sadly many of the textile designers I speak to do not use natural or
non-toxic dyes. However, I have been pleasantly surprised when I have
been proven wrong and a designer has pointed out that they have found a
way to turn a material on its head. 

This year, with limited
time and a few hundred stalls to get round I decided to try the top to
bottom approach, so duly started on the top floor and set off into the
world of ceramics….

Now I have to admit I do usually move quite swiftly through this section as to date, with the exception of Sarah Jerath of Sustain Ceramics who
incorporates recycled car window glass and reclaimed china in her work,
I haven’t encountered much in the way of eco ceramics. However, I am
ever hopeful and would be delighted to be proven wrong, so answers on a
postcard please if you have any tips on eco ceramics! 

Tomorrow’s ‘Newspaper’ Jewellery
Having
exhausted the ceramics section quite quickly I moved into the
contemporary applied arts section and immediately spotted some
jewellery that intrigued me. Sidling up to the cabinet for a closer
look and to read the designers statement, I saw the magic words ‘eco
range’ – bingo! I am pleased to say Julie Linn the designer was also
nearby and having spotted my obvious interest she very kindly chatted
through her range, ideas and ambition of creating a fully recyclable
range of recycled paper jewellery. Julie’s range recognises the
transient nature of fashion and offers an affordable and sustainable
product that can reinvent and recycle itself with every new season. In
my opinion a great alternative to the endless new ranges of bright
plastic or cheap metal jewellery the high street retailers seem to be
awash with at the moment. 

Intrigue & Attics
I
had also received an inside tip from an ex-colleague that there were
some intriguing flying light bulbs at the Falmouth college stall which
I couldn’t resist seeking out and am very glad I did. Curious,
intriguing, humorous and a little Tim Burtonesque are just some of the
adjectives I would pick. Luckily before I had a chance to meddle and
break the delicate workings of these automata pieces, Richard Hackney
the designer came over and explained that all of the parts were
salvaged treasures from his grandfather’s loft. As a self-confessed
attic/second hand /antique shop addict, I found these little reclaimed
sculptures instantly likeable and how great that they were the result
of a dusty rummage through family treasures.

I then descended
onto the main floor of the centre – awash with textile swatches,
banners of printed paper draped floor to ceiling, upholstered gilded
armchairs in bespoke textiles and eye-catching screen printed dresses
and fashion designs.

Amongst the sea of textiles, the next
promising designer I met was Jenny Clarke a graduate from Nottingham
Trent University. Jenny carries out intricate hand embroidery on
reclaimed textiles and second hand clothes and unlike one of her chosen
subject matters ‘Marmite’ I didn’t think it was a love or hate affair.
I really liked Jenny’s work – the concept was simple but the
application of her craftsmanship and creativity inspiring, and I am
sure her work would appeal to a wide range of audiences. And amongst
all the super modern technologies, trends and textiles, Jenny’s work
showed that even the very traditional applied crafts such as embroidery
have a place and a market in our style obsessed but eco 21st century
world.

Elaine Dutton is the founder and Director of Pure
Design, contemporary ethical design online, and an award-winning social
entrepreneur.

Pure Design sell beautifully designed and made
environmentally friendly gifts, eco fashion and contemporary jewellery,
and decorative arts and accessories for you and your home. And because
Pure Design only sell products that are ethically and ecologically sourced you can feel good about shopping with them too.

See What’s New at Pure Design
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Latest News on our blog.
Follow Pure Design Eco Tweets.

“Who’s?
Glass is a fresh, young, environmentally aware glass-making company
that specialises in unique, handcrafted recycled glassware. 
The fundamental ethos
of Who’s? Glass is to make the recycling of a used glass bottle as
environmentally friendly as possible – to transform, what in effect
is discarded domestic
or commercial waste, into contemporary useable glassware products.”
 

Established
in May 2008 and set in the picturesque port town of Bideford North
Devon, Who’s? Glass conveys
the essence and tranquillity of Devon’s rolling windswept moors and
turquoise green seas.  Who’s? Glass is a company committed to
the environment and is proud to offer a
clean alternative to the UK’s polluting glass making industry. 
Since the first bottle was collected, washed and reshaped, Who’s?
Glass has gone from strength to strength as Devon’s first and, at
present, only glass company specialising in recycled bottle
glassware.  And so the journey began….

Who’s?
Glass is made up of three talented
glassmakers, comprising of two generations of experience in this
genuine family
affair.  Lars Anders Persson is a Swedish Master Glassmaker with
over 40 years experience in the glass making industry. Lars has
helped create pieces for companies such as Tiffany & Co., Cartier
and Wedgwood, amongst many others, and has worked for some of the
world’s top glass houses.  Working alongside Lars is his
eldest son Anders, who has over 16 years experience in the glass
industry and is a keen participant in new technical developments in
recycled glass.  The youngest son, Matthew, completes the team. 
Matthew is a multi-award winning glass designer who has
designed ranges for some
of Britain’s top high street stores and last
year won the prestigious ‘Gift Of The Year’ award – made in the
UK category. As a group they are individual,
talented and outstandingly
creative and are committed in their quest to establish Who’s? Glass
as the UK’s leading producer of innovative recycled
glassware products.

GreenUnion
is absolutely delighted to have partnered with CRED, the original
Fair
Trade Jewellers.
With a passion for beauty fashioned from fair trade and
environmentally responsible materials, we would say that CRED’s
jewellery is simply the purest in the world.

Buying
jewellery is the most personal purchase one ever makes. What you wear
speaks to the world of what is intimately valuable to you. It is a
timeless purchase that should reflect the values you aspire to;
personal expression, freedom of choice, social and environmental
well-being and exquisite beauty.

From
the mountains of Bolivia, lush jungles of Colombia,
the Brazilian wilds, and savannas of Tanzania,
CRED’s rich diversity of sourcing partners ensures that highest
standards are delivered to the purest jewellery in the world. All the
gold & platinum CRED uses is cyanide and mercury free and comes
from their partners Oro
Verde,
their silver is 100% recycled and their conflict
free diamonds
and traceable coloured gemstones all come with the CRED
quality assurance certificate.

To
celebrate our partnership, during June and July we’re giving everyone
a chance to win
an elegant and contemporary recycled silver, satin finished CRED
ring, designed by Laura Strand, worth £70.00.

Visit
http://www.greenunion.co.uk
for more information.