Green sneakers

I’ve just signed up to do a half marathon. I’ve never done anything like that before. Ever. I didn’t attend a single athletics carnival in high school. I barely even used to run for the bus, however, I have now started running. Although, I’ve recently realized that my ‘running’ is actually what other people might call jogging. Fortunately I have eight weeks to turn that running into jogging.  Around the same time I signed up I stumbled across an item online about the award winning Transition Shoe, a design for a sustainable sneaker.

It got me wondering what kind of sustainable sneakers are out there? A quick Googling turned up a few old results, but really not a great deal.  The most green sneaker I could find was called ‘green silence’ by Brooks it is made from 75% recycled materials including water bottles, rubber and CDs and they are quite colourful. I found a few favourable reviews including one on inhabitat.

Of course, the barefoot runners say that the most sustainable thing is to go without a shoe at all. Barefoot running seems to be on the rise and has a rather cult following. This info-graphic explains why the barefoot runners think it’s better than shod running.

If you are interested in barefoot running it is best to transition to it slowly. Ecouterre lists 6 green choices of footwear to help you transition.

All my talk of running got me interested in a womens only night run in Sydney organized by Nike. I like running at night and I like the idea of a womens only event, but am hesitant to participate as I’d spent so long avoiding Nike in the past due to their bad reputation regarding their factory conditions and workers rights. Investigating if things had changed at all, I was directed to Oxfam’s work to improve workers rights.

It seems things have changed a bit, but Nike could still do more to, as Oxfam claims all the workers who make their product receive poverty wages and endure harsh working conditions. If you click the link above, sign their petition while you’re there. A campaign in the UK has similar concerns, in the lead up to the London Olympics War on Want are exposing exploitation of workers producing goods for Addida, Nike and Puma.

When your running shoes are worn out Nike does offer a good solution for what to do with old smelly worn out shoes. The company has collection points around the world where you can drop off your old sneakers, they then take them apart and turn them into materials to build running tracks, basket ball courts and tennis courts.

Meanwhile my sneakers are nowhere near ready for that, so with sustainability and my budget in mind I shall continue training in them till they are. Unlike other workout gear, you only need one pair of sneakers, if I really am going to turn my jogging into running I’m going to need other gear. Next stop is sustainable sports bras.

Shopping

As a quick glance at this blog will show, I post very soradically. Now that I have a new computer perhaps it will get easier? I’ve been meaning to post these pics for ages now. In August last year armed with our ‘I Love 2nd Hand Newtown Shopping Guide’ I went shopping with 2 friends, although I didn’t find any 2nd hand items that day (they did) I did pick up a few things I think are ethical and sustainable additions to my wardrobe. The black boat neck is a classic cut that will always be wearable is from made590, the belt is from Dragstar hand made in Sydney and the bow which is just plain cute is from Holly Chalmers. I think red accessories are great for giving basics a whole new look and feel. The I love 2nd Hand badge is on a favourite denim jacket picked up 2nd hand some time back.

Too fast fashion

I’m so glad Alice Payne wrote Counting the cost of fast fashion in The Conversation this week, as I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about all the cheap synthetic fast fashion filling up shops at the moment. It also seems that it is going to get even easier to impulse buy fast fashion with pop up billboard shops starting to hit the streets where you can buy from a billbard with your smart phone.

I also loved finding out about The Uniform Project where Sheena Matheiken wore the same dress for a year, styled in 365 different ways and did it all for a good cause. Inspiring! It reminded me of the little brown dress project I read about a few years ago.

If that statistic about conventional cotton accounting for one quarter of global pesticide use bothers you, Bassike are having a sale this weekend. Head down to Paddo for stylish organic cotton tees.

Gorgeous lady

I couldn’t think of a better way to kick of my first post on Green Gorgeous (earlier posts seen below are imported from my old blog, EcoChic) than with a gorgeous lady talking about buying nothing new. See the outfit obsessed Jessi Arrington on TED. By the way, I love TED.

My new favourite everything dress

>Yesterday I bought my new favourite piece. A dress from Moire in Bondi. I love it, I don’t know how I’m going to stop wearing it. I’d been searching for a quality basic dress that I can easily pop on for a little while. Something that can be dressed up for night time or comfy and easy for a trip to the shops or the beach. I wanted one quality piece that worked for everything rather than lots of different pieces. Moire don’t claim to have and eco consious philosophy, but their concept of ‘stretch comfortable cotton clothing that is ageless and timeless it adapts to all body shapes, all seasons and all shoes’ works for me and the less is more concept. Also, they are made in Australia – it is not very often I get to buy clothes made locally.

Ethical Clothing Australia

>Unfortunately sweat shops long a part of the fashion industry still exisit around the world, Australia is no exception with many clothing production workers working in unfair and poor conditions.
Ethical Clothing Australia helps local clothing businesses ensure that Australian workers making their products recieve fair wages and work in decent condtions. They offer a voluntary accreditation and labelling system. Their website lists accredited Australian brands.

Wasteful fast fashion

>It is unlikely to be a big shock to anyone that the fashion industry is very wasteful. The CEO of Australia’s textile clothing and footwear body had some words to say to the industry yesterday.

News article: ‘Can fashion really be green?’

>I wouldn’t normally read the business section of The Age, so it is lucky I stumbled across this article about eco fashion in my online wanderings. It tells of Melbourne based designer, Tiffany Treloar, taking a ‘fashion miles’ approach to eco fashion.
Find our more about Tiffany on her website which also includes some links to more information about eco textiles worth checking out.

Fancy knickers

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As you know I have my basic eco knickers sorted, but what about if I want something a little fancier, like a sexy knickers and bra set that is still eco chic. I remembered reading an article earlier this year about Annalise Braakensiek launching an eco lingerie line. It stuck in my mind as not only was it eco friendly, but the range also included sizes for the fuller bust. This pleased me as sometimes it can be hard to get a cute bra in my size. What is actually eco friendly about the pieces in her range isn’t all that clear. The label just says as ‘eco friendly as we can possibly make it’. A quote from Annalise in the The SMH article elaborates a bit further saying ‘It’s green. No toxic ink, organic cotton, organic bamboo, sustainable produce, the swing tags are recycled cardboard and even attached with organic twine’.

Available from Bras N Things I did see a white organic cotton set in the store, but I’m unsure as to how the particular set I got was any more eco friendly than the other (non- Annalise) items, except of course for the tags, twine and recycled plastic coat hangers. I wonder what happens to those little bra and undie hangers in lingerie shops?

A quick online search for some eco lingerie turned up a few more possibilities
Eco-Boudoir based in the UK has a shop in Melbourne listed as a stockist. Unfortunately (for me) none of the bras shown on their website look like they would hold up my boobs.

Treehugger featured Peau-Ethique lingerie, and lists a few other lines. These may not be available in Australia?

This slide show from US based The Daily Green lists quite a few eco lingerie lines. Again, not sure how many are available in stores Australia. Some are available on line. I’ve put a link to some of them under lingerie on the right for your browsing pleasure.

GreenKnickers have some fun stuff available on line.

Admittedly, this was a fairly speedy bit of googling research, which turned up quite a few eco lingerie possibilities around the world, but not too many available easily in Australia. Annalise may be on to something and it’s a good start and her range is nice, affordable and a good fit. However, in her next range I’d like to see more info on how eco friendly the items that aren’t organic cotton are beyond the tags and hangers.

Lastly, just to let you know, a lot of the eco lingerie labels found and listed include silk, which I’m personally not into as silk worms are boiled alive in the silk making process.

How ‘green’ are my new knickers?

>As I wore my new knickers for the first time last week a few questions on how ‘green’ they are occured to me.

Firstly, the organic cotton undies from Target proudly displayed a sticker saying ‘Australian Made Fabric’. Inside the undies the label says ‘Made in China from Australian Fabric’. Potentially there are a lot of fuel miles in my undies. I’d like to contact Target to find out where the organic cotton came from to be made in into fabric in Australia before going to China to be cut and sewn up, but it isn’t easy to contact Target via their website. I might have to write an old fashioned letter.

Secondly, should organic cotton have a certification? Like organic food does? The tag telling me they were organic was attached to the hanger which I didn’t get to keep, so I’m not sure if it included any info on that. I’ll have to go back to the shop to find out.

Thirdly, I was so focussed on the fabric, I didn’t think about the dyes used and their potential environmental and health effects. This issue would apply to any clothing item, however, in order of importance you can’t get much closer to your skin than your underwear. More research required for this one.

Anyway, all the knickers have held up well for their first wear. I can’t get over how how soft the bamboo is. I think they are my favourites.