BurdaStyle co-founder Nora Abousteit and creative director/Project Runway alum/Dahl designer Alison Kelly just launched “everything you need to know for a fashion-forward wardrobe,” in their new book, The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook. Featuring five fully customizable sewing patterns that offer “infinite fashion possibilities” and comprehensive step-by-step instructions, this is the go-to guide for sewing hobbyists and budding designers alike. The book features five popular basic patterns for a blouse, skirt, dress, bag and jacket which are turned into 15 distinct projects, along with dozens of user-submitted customizations for extra inspiration.

The key to BurdaStyle’s success of open sourcing, social media and taking the age-old art of sewing and making it hip again is brilliant and EcoSalon is a big fan. This book is but a representation of what the site offers daily to over half a million members that faithfully follow to learn how to create easy-to-make, great-fitting garments. Offline, BurdaStyle members have formed more than 260 sewing clubs worldwide, from China to New Zealand, South Africa to Norway, with 181 clubs in the United States alone. Members meet up to sew, socialize, and talk through projects and sewing issues face-to-face.

We guess that this book will inspire many more designer conversations and we’re happy to give you an opportunity to win it! Just go to our Facebook page and leave a comment and you are in the drawing.

Good luck!

The post BurdaStyle Book Giveaway appeared first on EcoSalon.

EcoSalon’s top 20 favorite sustainable fashion sites from around the globe.

They help us find out about new designers, industry news, trends, learn what sustainable fashion means, and discover all the swanky events we can attend on a global level – these are our eco fashion writers and designers, our go-to girls reporting all the news fit to print, from the exciting and beautiful to the all-too-often tragic and wasteful designer landscape. These are the pioneers of a new type of fashion that explores, connects and draws us in to what the industry could be if we simply supported it more.

We’d like to throw our own hat into this ring, as well- but then, you’re already here reading us, aren’t you?

Past Fashion Future

Past Fashion Future founder Emma Grady says: “I founded Past Fashion Future one year ago as a platform to explore my personal style aesthetic and to show the beauty of timeless and classic fashion and style. I love hearing people’s personal style stories, specifically about their sentimental connection to the clothing that they wear.”

We love the site layout, sharp, stylish images and especially, Something Old, Something New, a series that reveals how modern day style mavens wear heirlooms, vintage, and ethical fashion.

Vogue’s Green Style blog

Come on, It’s Vogue, it’s Livia Firth, it’s eco fashion and it’s high style – do we need to say any more about it?

Ecco eco

BurdaStyle

BurdaStyle, is an online social community that uses the web to bring the craft of sewing to a new generation of designers, hobbyists, DIYers and anyone looking to sew. What could be more sustainable than making clothes yourself? Sewers flock here to mingle, share and support over projects, patterns and full galleries of completed designs.

Join their community to keep current with what other budding (and seasoned) designers are doing. We most certainly do.

Six Magazine

SIX says it was founded with one aim, “to celebrate the designers, individuals, independent brands and companies who are creating a more ethical and sustainable future for the fashion industry.”
We love how the site incorporates beauty products as well as high fashion and packages it so beautifully we want to read every article.
We also love that SIX represents the sixth sense we all have when it comes to style and value.

Clever.

4 Equal Sides

Tara St James, founder of Study NY and 4 Equal Sides believes that “open source material plays a strong role in the development of the sustainable design community,” making her the rare designer that has vision enough to see how the sustainable designer’s new model needs to play out. Under her guidance, Study’s interns have developed, produced and continue to sell their own sustainable mini collections. St James is very open about her production and design process and documents her own story as a designer in a visually as well as editorially personal way that makes you come back for more.

Fashion Me Green

FashionMeGreen is a sustainable fashion awareness project and style site. Founder Greta Eagan says it’s “Conscious coolhunting from around the globe,” and we are in total agreement.

All the curated product pulls, designer features, amazing photo editorials and fashion trend pieces give us extreme hope for the future of ethical fashion that it can in fact be stylish enough to become mainstream without anyone even noticing.

Closette

Yuka Yoneda, founder of Closette and Ecouterre’s Senior Editor calls herself a shopaholic.

“Well, I was a shopaholic. I was always a jeans and sweatshirt kinda girl, but when I graduated from college and got a job in the city, I went a leeeetle crazy with the shopping – okay, a lot crazy. Then I learned about where the clothes I was buying came from and how they were affecting and hurting other people, particularly women and children, around the globe. The idea that these crimes against women, pollution and chemicals going into our water and bodies, and just shear waste were all happening because I wanted a new top or jeans really made me feel ashamed. I knew I had to make a difference in my own life, so I started thrift shopping, supporting sustainable designers and making my own clothes and I feel wonderful knowing that the garments I wear don’t contribute to anyone else being hurt (except maybe for the people who have to look at my crazy outfits).”

Check out Closette for some fun DIY ideas, shop vintage and secondhand clothing or try winning one of her fun giveaways.

Goodlifer

Founded by Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Johanna Björk, Goodlifer is all about style and the good life. “With your help, we’re writing a guidebook for a new generation of Goodlifers. We want you to share in and help craft a positive, enthusiastic vision of a future that is both sustainable and achievable. Through first-hand, personal journalism and thoughtful exploration and discussion we’re here to consider daily choices, reconsider assumptions, pose questions, uncover opportunities, make you think and collaborate with us on what it means to be a Goodlifer.”

Sign us on Johanna.

We’ve been following Timo Rissanen since we came across him in this New York Times article and were more than elated to finally meet him recently at the Yield exhibit in Brooklyn. Timo says on his site: “I’m investigating fashion creation without fabric waste creation through design practice.”

We are fascinated by his finds.

EFW

EcoFashionWorld says they aim to inspire with new ideas, ideals and information. “Our goal is to keep you green, gorgeous and growing with a comprehensive guide to finding sustainable designer brands and online eco fashion stores.” For those new to the game and fumbling over the words like Peace Silk or tencel, check out their glossary for the latest terminology definitions.

Ethical Fashion Forum

The Ethical Fashion Forum is a non-profit organization, that makes life just a little more easy “for fashion professionals to integrate sustainability at the heart of what they do.”
Membership to the EFF delivers support for sustainable fashion businesses through three programs with each program including several essential tools which members can take advantage of to succeed in ethical fashion business.

Members can also stay current with events, sourcing and EFF socials.

Ecouterre

The fashion daughter of Inhabitat, Ecouterre is a heavily photo-curated website devoted to the future of sustainable fashion design. “We’re dedicated to showcasing and supporting designers who not only contemplate cut, form, and drape, but also a garment’s social and environmental impact, from the cultivation of its fibers to its use and disposal. Our ethos: To follow the evolution of the apparel industry toward a more environmentally sound future, as well as facilitate a conversation about why sustainable fashion matters.”

Treehugger

What came first, eco blogging or Treehugger? I think many of us were reading Treehugger when eco fashion was just beginning to evolve past the point of crunchy. Still on track to provide us with timely fashion news, we’ve bookmarked the site and will continue to go back.

Eco Chick

Eco-Chick editor Starre Vartan, consultant and author of The Eco-Chick’s Guide to Life, says the main intention of her site is to “inspire readers toward a healthier, more sustainable life (which we think means a happier life too). That includes slowing down, unplugging, getting out, going in, making mistakes and moving on, being choosy, doing research, and growing every day. Rest and relaxation are real and important, and so is time with friends and family. We love local food, farmer’s markets, independent designers, handmade everything, and connecting with where our stuff comes from and who makes it. We especially love inspiring women who keep us on our toes and asking questions.”

Her site covers all aspects of the fashion industry and Starre is a known girl about town on the streets of New York City when it comes to getting the scoop on eco-fashion. If you’re where she is, you’re in the right place.

Magnifeco

Magnifeco is an eco-fashion blog currently based in Tokyo by founder Kate Black and features fair-trade, sustainable, organic, recycled, vintage and vegan brands in a place where ethics meet aesthetics. From earth friendly fabrics, to sustainable manufacturing processes and fairtrade practices, the site features conscious designers and products for the conscious consumer.

Market Publique

Market Publique is an eclectic marketplace dedicated to vintage fashion “committed to bringing the community together so we can all have a place to buy, sell and discuss vintage in a positive and focused environment.”
The Brooklyn based company started when the founders realized there was a lack of options for quality vintage sellers online.

We are obsessed with how great the styling is and are always inspired to grab a piece to add to our own wardrobes or to simply wear clothes differently after we leave the site.

Holly McQuillan

Holy McQuillan, Yield Curator, designer and lecturer in the fashion design program at Massey University’s College of Creative Arts in Wellington, New Zealand says since completing her Masters of Design, which explored the presentation of cultural memory through garment design, her work has focused on exploring the possibilities that arise when garment design is restrained by one goal – zero-waste.

Peruse her site or get in touch with her with some of your own zero waste design questions. She will get you rethinking fashion for sure.

Organic Girly

Organic Girly founder Jennifer Barckley is not only one of the nicest people we’ve ever met, she’s also a fantastic resource. Utilize her “Ask me anything,” button and she will get back to you quickly. Check her site for periodic updates on vegan and sustainable fashion forays that sometimes even lead her to chicken sitting.

Social Alterations

Mary Hanlon’s Social Alterations was “developed with fashion and textile design educators in mind, it also acts to create a platform for design educators to benchmark themselves against other educators not only within their own field, but across various design disciplines. In order to create real lasting change, designers of all disciplines must work together to foster transformation.”

A wonderful venue for timely fashion news regarding everything from Fast Fashion to CSR.

Image: Shandi-lee

The post From Eco to Vintage to DIY, 20 Fashion Sites We Can’t Live Without appeared first on EcoSalon.

SeriesPart 4: The fashion industry is emerging from its cocoon post-recession, a changed sector where consumers are more cautious, manufacturers are on their toes and designers are struggling to stay afloat doing business as usual. In this five-part series, we take a hard look at the fashion world, speaking with industry leaders, luminaries and experts. This week we ask: Did the recession birth new DIY designers tired of being branded with corporate logos?

In times of economic despair, there will always be a surge in the use of hands to quell the storm of financial uncertainty and to give meaning to otherwise challenging lives. During the Great Depression, people were advised to acquire “productive activities,” to make good use of idle time being out of work and to maintain solid work ethics that rewarded them with a sense of fulfillment and a feeling that they could still, in fact, be productive members of society.

Post recession, one has only to look at the number of DIY sites that have become popular and the micro trend of sewing and knitting groups to know that a cultural shift is happening. Within the confines of craft, there now lies an inherent rebelliousness that you usually only see in punk, indie music or street culture. Women working with their hands to teach others (or even alone in their own homes) are leading a movement against being branded, and taking how they dress themselves as a form of protest.

Juliana Sabinson, a freelance sewing teacher and artist, is one of those people.

Anne Wilson’s Local Industry

Sabinson says while her desire to create and teach the art of sewing is to promote empowerment. Her own story is inextricably linked to her dislike and distrust of contemporary clothing and the companies behind it.

“I try and think about all the socioeconomic systems behind my purchases and at a certain point buying clothes seemed no longer a sustainable option, not to mention the majority of it is so badly made,” says Sabinson. “So I make not only to fulfill a creative desire and to externally express myself, but also as a political act, a small and artistic protest against a largely unquestioned system.”

She’s not alone. Many people are coming out of the woodwork post-recession in protest that they are not a brand and refuse to be catered to as one. This rounded consciousness that applies to fashion, along with food and home, is burgeoning a sewing renaissance that professional women as well as homemakers are part of to take a stand against corporate forces that got us into the recession in the first place.

Sabinson says it’s not all rebellion, however. When people are sewing and using their hands they are not only building a level of muscle memory, they are quieting their brains and giving themselves a space in which to be a designer.

“They are designers simply because they’re creating,” says Sabinson, who teaches her students to first create in their heads then execute the design. She likens it to a “leap of faith,” which makes them feel at ease and able to think more creatively.

“For me, the most important goal in all my classes is to build one’s confidence and willingness to fail and start over.”

Though unemployment and economic uncertainty have helped fuel design growth, some say the economic downturn has in some ways been beneficial, because more consumers have turned to channeling the comforts of tradition.

Caroline Weaver, VP of North America Marketing for SVP Worldwide, the world’s largest sewing machine company and source of the SINGER®, HUSQVARNA VIKING® and PFAFF® sewing machine collections, says if you look at a brand like Singer’s 150-year history, during times of economic slowdown and depression, people will always gravitate towards hobbies and because of that, micro trends like sewing will flourish. In the case of the under-40 crowd, these sewers-cum-designers are just starting to realize that modern day sewing machines are not their grandmother’s gadgets.

“These machines are highly, highly automatic and that’s what’s appealing to the under 40 crowd. The machines make their own button holes, thread themselves, and provide constant tension. These are the machines with millions of lines of code. Nowadays, you’re not just paying for a sewing machine, you’re paying for a computer and having  a sewing mentor in your machine.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Anjali Athavaley reports that in the post-Project Runway world, sewing enthusiasts are finding the old-fashion craft comes with apps, Twitter and high-tech machines. This is a whole new generation used to smartphone technology and the simple push of a button to instantly gratify their every need for information.

BurdaStyle, an online social community using the web to bring the craft of sewing to a new generation of designers, hobbyists, DIYers and anyone looking to sew, is a popular part of this generation. BurdaStyle Creative Director and Editor Alison Kelly, who was also on Season 3 of Project Runway, says the current DIY movement was certainly proliferated by reality shows like Project Runway.

Alison Kelly, Season 3 of Project Runway

“Before them, I think fashion design was a mystery to many people, the face behind a fashion label often remained unknown (except of course by die hard fans), and now many fashion designers have become celebrities. It’s a wonderful thing, inspiring people to create, and these reality shows are so interesting because one can witness the creative process first-hand, while drama and competition fuel the fire,” says Kelly.

Nora Abousteit, co-founder of BurdaStyle, says when she and former partner Benedikta Karaisl von Karais – a fashion designer – came up with the BurdaStyle concept and thanks to what Fast Company calls “her love for interaction and innovative technology,” Nora reinvented an old Hubert Burda sewing magazine into an online icon in the sewing community.

BurdaStyle at Brooklyn’s Renegade Craft Fair

“We witnessed many people over the past four years that started sewing and now are proficient. It is so much fun to see when people improve their skills and take up harder challenges and simply produce more and better work,” says Abousteit.

In addition to budding designers worldwide utilizing the BurdaStyle community, lots of well-known designers have participated in their DIY community, including Wenlan Chia (Twinkle by Wenlan), Alabama Chanin, Samantha Pleet, and Mina Stone.

With over 530,ooo registered members, BurdaStyle is a growing force to be reckoned with.

While all women interviewed agree this post-recession “micro-trend” is all about a new and more aggressive DIY sewing community, they all also agree that it is empowering.

“Consumers are tired of living in a mass produced world,” says SVP Worldwide’s Weaver. “Women are deciding to put signs outside their homes that they do embroidery work for customizing team jerseys and hats to make extra money, our classes are filling up, we’re breaking sales records and people are just so inspired.”

Images: Kheel Center @ Cornell University, A Forest Frolic, Anne Wilson

The post The Post Recession Fashion Industry: Sewing Circle Rebellion appeared first on EcoSalon.

The quest for sustainable textile sourcing is surely front and center on every conscious fashion designer’s agenda for 2011. Thanks to new resources like Source4Style, identifying and acquiring sustainable fabrics is becoming less time consuming and arduous in terms of research and supply checks. In addition to recycling and upcycling textiles that are all ready in the waste stream, several resourceful fashion designers have targeted the massive global stockpile of military surplus garments and fabrics. Heather Heron and Christopher Raeburn are standouts in this latest phenomenon, as their chic and functional designs transform high quality fabrics into timeless signature pieces that just might out maneuver sustainable strategies of the past.

Heather Heron  For Environment Furniture

We are not talking about “military chic” here, or the glorification of war-mongering attitudes, but given the fact that our troops have been deployed somewhere at some time for as long as hemlines have been shifting, it is inevitable that there is a hefty surplus of military fabrics on standby for reuse.

As British fashion wunderkind Christopher Raeburn described in an interview with Fiona Sibley of The Guardian, it makes sense that a designer looking for durable (often waterproof) fabrics would choose to tap into a cache of military ponchos, parachute fabrics, and field tested canvas/woolen gear.

“…The military always has to overproduce its garments, so there are warehouses with thousands of square feet of military surplus sitting around. For me, giving that a new lease of life is very interesting. What is available depends on political issues: I use fabric from the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic, but also from the former East Germany, which has a post-cold war feeling. After the first Gulf War there was a fall-out of desert camouflage. I spend a lot of time researching the supply, and now my challenge is to find quantities to make my production scalable, to be able to make 100-200 garments, not a handful.”

Raeburn, who studied at The Royal College of Art and was a February 2009 recipient of the Ethical Fashion Forum’s Innovation Award, works first and foremost as a precision-driven craftsman who artfully transforms military garb into beautifully tailored garments that Vogue, Barneys, and numerous fashion glossies have latched onto. All of his designs are made in Britain, something that allows him to monitor scalable production as well as maintain ethical standards. In the end, Raeburn’s designs are first and foremost about fashion with a production process that just happens to be ethical and conscious in its smart use of materials and built-in functionality.

Comme des Garcons

As the folks at BurdaStyle recently pointed out, designers like Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons have been working with reclaimed garments and dry goods for years. Khaki fatigues patched together with military tent fabric and jackets serve as iconic collage elements for street style dressing. Designer Heather Heron might fall into this camp with her eco-luxe accessories that highlight the raw beauty of vintage military fabrics transformed into sleek clutches, computer sleeves, and totes that are ideal for modern living.

Heather’s most recent collection on view at Environment Furniture’s New York showroom demonstrates the beauty of transforming one basic style of vintage army sack into five functional and smart looking pieces. A pleated clutch crafted out of Swiss army textiles definitely sends a message that sustainable style is more than an attitude; it’s a gorgeous testimony to accessories that just get better with age and personal adventure. Add to this the fact that Heron produces all of her designs locally in California with skilled artisans, and the reports from the field just seem more and more promising. The military “trend” is here to stay and it is up to us to find the most sustainable way of addressing and demobbing the issue.

Lead Image Christopher Raeburn

The post Redeployed Military Fabrics in Sustainable Fashion appeared first on EcoSalon.

There’s always something going on in the fashion world despite the crowned achievements of fashion weeks and celebrity collaborations taking center stage.

For instance, a good contest for budding designers to partake in, news so juicy you won’t be able to stop talking about it and of course, a trend someone has picked up on that you had on your radar but didn’t quite know how to make it sustainable.

Here’s a little overview of some of our favorite blogs covering fashionable things.

Ecouterre’s Denim Challenge sponsored by the Gap, garnered a slew of very talented submissions that you can peruse here. Tough decisions to be made for the Ecouterre staff and judges (shh, one is me) but the grand prize winner will be showcased on Ecouterre, Inhabitat, and the Gap 1969 Stream, as well as receive a $200 gift certificate. While lucky finalists will get their name, design, and a link to their portfolio or website showcased on Ecouterre and the Gap 1969 Stream and a fancy new Ecouterre t-shirt.

(See image above from the challenge and definitely one of my top picks. Wide leg jeans can do that?!)

Burda Image

BurdaStyle’s Party Through The Decades contest sponsored by Bernina. The contest is open to BurdaStyle members (reason to join now?) and will serve to be an exciting platform to showcase “Your joie de vivre in a fabulous party look,” says creative director and site editor Alison Kelly (you might remember her name from Project Runway years ago?)

Check out Alison’s favorite party looks spawning over the past few decades on the site.

FIT Image

The Eco-Fashion: Going Green exhibit over at FIT will be wrapping up on November 13th so get on over there to witness first hand the information and actual garments thathighlight both the positive and negative environmental practices of the fashion industry through the ages.

Treehugger writes here about how you can get an “Earthy education” by attending.

Paige Green Image

Educating yourself about eco-fashion and developing a consciousness about it is half the challenge, living it is quite the other. Many challenges are out there right now to live a more simple fashion life but when I saw this Fibershed challenge I realized I needed to step it up.

The Fibershed challenge “Is inspired by the need to swing the pendulum of our production – and our consumption to a more balanced state, that supports the health of all humans and the greater ecological system of which we are apart; through the re-integration of organic fibers, natural dyes, and a regional base that supports local communities and economies,” says the site.

The challenge to live for one year in clothing made from fibers within a geographical region 150 miles from founder Rebecca Burgess’ front door. You can go to the site and pledge money which will go to:

Pay Farmers fairly for their fiber
Pay local mill to process the fibers
Pay for professional documentation of the project- photo and film
Pay for knit patterns to be drafted and samples to be created

Go to Fibershed now and pledge!

Vogue Image

On the other end of the fashion spectrum, we have Anna Wintour and Vogue. I love this post by writer Johanna Bjork from Concrete Flower on “Vogue’s Vague Eco-Fashion Foray,” where Vogue supreme goddess Anna Wintour has finally discovered eco-fashion, but, well, doesn’t know what it is.

Bjork writes of the sustainable choices Vogue picked: “A steep price tag is just not enough to make something eco. While some of these materials may be better than their alternatives, most of these fashion houses make loads of crap from ‘conventional’ materials, probably in Asian factories. One eco piece does not make up for all the rest. We call this greenwashing.”

Here, here. Anna, call me.

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