Every once in awhile, a company comes along and you think to yourself, “Wow! They really thought of everything!”  Sustainability? Check. Durability? Check. Utter cuteness? Check. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Fableists.

Who are the Fableists? (fay-buh-list) noun: A group of people making the coolest clothing for little punks! Garments that are not only beautifully designed but made well and completely sustainable. Origin: Fable (a short story with a moral) Activist (someone with a rebellious spirit who makes positive change happen)

Recently launched by UK-based husband and wife team Matt and Sarah Cooper, The Fableists sought to “break the cycle of kids making clothes for kids“. That was the original idea–to make children’s clothing without relying on child labor. Once they started researching the manufacturing business, they realized that they could not stop there.

The massive environmental impact of modern clothing manufacturing and the chemicals traditionally involved in the process were mind-blowing. Combined, they have four children–they didn’t want these chemicals touching their children’s skin, so why would anyone else? Their mantra became clear: “We are kind to the makers, to the planet and the skin of the kids who wear us.”

And when we say they’ve thought of everything, we mean it. Here’s the Fableists’ Sustainability Checklist:

• All cotton 100% certified organic
• GOTS (who certified most of the cotton) also rates
social responsibility in their certification
• Non-cotton items certified by Fair Wear or Fair Trade
• Factories and dyeing houses are inspected
• No underage workers in the factories
• All employees paid a fair wage and given statutory
rights in accordance with International
Labour Organization
• Everything from thread to buttons to rivets are
considered (rivets and buttons are lead and
nickel free)
• Printing of t-shirts and dying done in closed loop
system so that chemicals are not dumped in to the
communities and ecosystems
• Shipping done over land and sea where possible to
reduce carbon footprint
• T-Shirts have almost zero carbon footprint due
to factories being run on wind and other renewable
energy sources
• Cotton grown by a collective of organic farmers to
ensure that they are paid a fair price and are
governed and protected by a committee
• T-Shirt artists paid for the limited print run with a
potential for share in any profits
• Percentage of profits to go in to an as yet unnamed
charity that will help to promote education in the
areas where our clothes are made
• Cotton grown in monsoon rain fed areas of India as
most cotton requires a huge amount of water
to grow
• No GM crops used in the making of our clothes
• Cotton is 100% pure and not reliant on use
of insecticides for growing or other chemicals in
processing

In addition to their thoughtful, eco-friendly tenets, The Fableists line is sustainable by design. Their aesthetic is based on time-honored vintage workwear, which makes sense; play is hard work! Because the look is timeless and the construction is incredibly durable, pieces may be worn for years, being passed from child to child and family to family. (Adorable marketing piece: Each item comes with its own passport so you can document its journey!)

The Fableists website is not just for selling clothing and promoting their brand, but for educating consumers on sustainability practices to aid the health of our planet. They even provide tips for laundering your clothing to not only make it last longer, but to create less waste and eliminate harsh chemicals. Seriously. They thought of EVERYTHING.

The Fableists. Play hard, live forever.

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 All images and quotes courtesy of The Fableists

The post Meet the Fableists: Cool Clothes for (Always Cool) Kids appeared first on EcoSalon.

Natallia Antanovich wanted to dress in a way that expressed her modern, feminine style, while also being a testament to her environmental awareness and desire to live sustainably on this planet. After struggling to source a wardrobe that was both high-quality and 100 percent natural (and gorgeous, of course!), she decided it was time to start her own clothing line. Econica was born.

“I remember always being well-dressed in tailored, comfortable clothes by my wonderful mom, who herself is an outstanding seamstress. She passed on her gift, and her standards of elegance and comfort, to me when I was a teenager back in Denmark,” Natallia recalls fondly. “Soon after making a few outfits for myself and my kids, I started getting lots of requests from friends and family to the point where I would be hard at work on these the entire weekend…I realized what a great idea opening an online shop would be.”

Natallia’s first experience with garment construction came well before the Econica seed was ever planted–she made her own prom dress. “…I worked tirelessly and meticulously to ensure that it had perfectly finished seams and a flawless fit. I was so proud of myself! Unfortunately, it was a hideous hue of vibrant lilac with sinfully large bows on the shoulders.”

Thankfully, she’s moved on from poufy shoulder bows and is now creating decidedly feminine women’s clothing that is both body-conscious and graceful. She’s a one-woman operation; designing, making patterns and sewing everything from scratch. Quality is still paramount and she shepherds each piece from start to finish.

She keeps a sketchbook with her at all times in case something should happen to inspire her. Those sketches eventually become fully realized patterns, at which point she makes a prototype that she personally test-drives. “It’s important to me that my designs make women look and feel beautiful, while being conscious of their clothes’ eco-friendly origins.”

Econica pieces are available in an incredible array of juicy colors (including this year’s trendy orchid) and rich, dark neutrals. Using eco-friendly fabrics in her work is Natallia’s biggest priority: sustainably-sourced organic hemp, cotton, bamboo and even super soft French terry. “It always boggled my mind how we could sacrifice our own health and the health of our planet for our wardrobe”, she says. “I knew I needed to find a compromise.”

Econica is sustainable by virtue of being classic–Natallia strives to provide women with comfortable clothing and lingerie they’ll wear for years; staples and wardrobe-builders that will never go out of style. The look is one of effortless elegance: the dress you throw on with strappy sandals for Sunday brunch, the cowl neck tunic that you wear with EVERYTHING because you can dress it up or down. “I adore ’60s style fashion with ultra feminine complex designs. I aim for a look that is classic, with clean lines and subtle feminine grace. I love to watch old Doris Day movies and always admire how impeccably she is dressed.”

“Being part of the creative process every step of the way is fascinating, but I do see Econica growing to something bigger. Not just a brand, but a concept, and ideal. I am finally launching my brand new Econica Boutique this month, which I hope will be the start to make my dream a reality.”

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All photos courtesy of Econica

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So, you’ve just finished up your MBA and you’re ready to take on the business world with visions of power suits, power lunches and power plays dancing in your head. Where do you begin? What’s your first move?? If you’re Dubai-based Efua Mensa-Brown, you start by designing a clothing line.

Let’s back up a bit. Efua Mensa-Brown, though a lover of fashion, had never designed anything in her life–she spent years as a management consultant. The game changer? In 2008 while working on that MBA, Efua first learned about the atrocities of the $32 billion per year business of human trafficking. “It sounded like a movie–it couldn’t be real…I couldn’t wrap my head around it”,  she says. After graduating, she had the opportunity to go out and do practically anything she wanted (see aforementioned power-suited power lunches), but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed to do something with real meaning. She adds, “It sounds cheesy, but I wanted to change the world, make it a better place in any way that I could”. The issue of human trafficking kept haunting her. Doing her part to end it became her raison d’être.

So, how does one person change the world? Efua quips, “I know I can’t do it by myself! That I, Efua, will come to the rescue!” She decided to create something that people would easily buy, enabling her to donate a large portion of profits to an organization that is already working toward the goal of ending human trafficking. Completely undeterred by the fact that she was not a fashion designer, but knowing that women’s wear creates epic revenue streams (expected to exceed $621 billion in 2014, according to MarketLine), Efua ditched the proverbial power suit in favor of designing dresses.

It seemed a bit unorthodox at first. “Human trafficking”, Efua says, “is a dirty word. It’s a crime. How do I align this with fashion? With beauty? How do I give it meaning?” Efua optimistically believes that most humans want to make a difference and want to do good. She feels that she is offering a simple, everyday way for women of normal means to spend their clothing budget more meaningfully. It is a small step, but she feels that hundreds of women making small steps is just as effective as one person swinging for the fences.

Since she didn’t come from the fashion industry, her designs are simple, chic and imminently wearable–conceptual couture doesn’t make sense to her and, frankly, is not the demographic she’s after. Real women making a real difference–that’s Efua’s vision. Using fashion as a vehicle for awareness and change, she currently donates 20 percent of her profits to the A21 Campaign, chosen because of their global outlook and focus on major source countries of human trafficking.

The A21 website reveals that there are approximately 27 million men, women and children that are living in modern slavery. Twenty-seven MILLION. Sadly, only 1-2 percent of these victims are ever rescued from bondage. The site offers ways to get involved: by donating money, volunteering or interning. The site also has an extensive education library to help raise awareness of the problem. In January of 2014, they will be releasing a free downloadable version of their “Bodies Are Not Commodities” curriculum for high school students, which has been a pilot program up until now.

Efua’s line, aptly named Proverbs by Efua, is constructed of high quality, all-natural fabrics; primarily cottons and silks. Her first collection was black with pops of color; she says those pieces were “[…]about being in a dark place, but that there are always bright spots and people that help you in that time.” Her Fall/Winter 2013 line employs bold color, representing hope and a bright future (and just garnered a nice little blurb in the January 2014 edition of British Vogue).

And speaking of bright futures, what does Efua’s have in store? She plans to continue to stay true to her original idea of creating wearable fashion for a cause, but would love to expand into a lifestyle brand–shoes, sunglasses, and possibly even home wares.

Her wildest dream? “Wouldn’t it be nice if everything we bought contributed to a cause?”

All images courtesy Efua Mensa-Brown

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