Showing posts with label Online retail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Online retail. Show all posts
5/3/12
Labels:
Children
,
Ethical shopping
,
Online retail
,
Organics
,
Sustainable design
Liane is now the Creative Director of Master and Miss, an Australian children’s fashion label that offers clothing made from certified organic cotton from size 0000 up to size 5.
‘My earliest memories are of my mother at her sewing machine making clothes for our family, and following in her footsteps seemed like the natural thing to do.’
As well as being organic, Liane was determined that all the clothes would be designed and manufactured in Australia.
Read More
Search for Organic Kids' Clothes Leads to Online Business
When Liane Shannon had her daughter, Emma, she was concerned about the effects of synthetic and non-organic fabrics on her skin. But finding children’s clothes that were made from natural fibres and also fashionable and vibrant was much harder than she’d anticipated. So she decided to create them herself, and founded an innovative company in the process!
Liane is now the Creative Director of Master and Miss, an Australian children’s fashion label that offers clothing made from certified organic cotton from size 0000 up to size 5.
‘My earliest memories are of my mother at her sewing machine making clothes for our family, and following in her footsteps seemed like the natural thing to do.’
As well as being organic, Liane was determined that all the clothes would be designed and manufactured in Australia.
I interviewed Liane about why she started the company, the state of play with sustainable clothing in Australia, and what the future held.
While Master and Miss does not have any overseas
distributors we ship internationally. If you're looking to place an order and
want confirmation of postage or shipping rates, please email enquiries@masterandmiss.com.au
When did you start Master and Miss? Was it a solo venture?
Hopefully BRIGHT! As I mentioned before, I really think people are much more aware of the decisions they make. With brands such as Master and Miss providing consumers with more choices and at reasonable prices, I’m confident that consumers will choose a locally made, organic cotton garment over an imported mass-produced one.
Do you sell your clothes internationally?
I founded the company in May 2011, but had started doing my
research about six months earlier. Master and Miss is a solo venture but I do
have some great support from a friend who is very experienced in web design and
SEO. Without his help and guidance I would have been at a total loss as I have
no experience in this area.
Could you describe the situation you found when you
started looking for organic clothes for your daughter, and how you responded?
As a baby, Emma would get red spots all over her skin that weren’t
food related. I found that organic cotton
and clothing made from natural fibres reduced this. When
I started looking for organic cotton clothes I just couldn’t find what I
wanted, ie good basics that had a bit of style to them. I could find lots of
clothes that I loved but they weren’t organic, so I decided to make my own.
I sourced plain organic cotton, which is what I’ve used in
my first collection, but moving forward you will start to see a lot more prints
and patterns. One of the aims of Master and Miss is to be able to provide mums
with key pieces, like leggings and skirts, that they can buy year after year
and then pair the latest T-shirt with, so that customers get lots of wear
options.
Has Australia been
slow to take up the promise of sustainable clothing?
I think that more people are becoming aware of the impact
that we are having on our environment. Just look at how far recycling has come –
we all have recycle bins now, but when I was a child this was not common practice.
Solar energy and water-saving devices are becoming standard in new homes. I think
all this has a knock-on effect – sustainable clothing will only continue to get
more exposure and this will hopefully lead to more companies looking at organic
and natural fabrics. It’s all about educating people and giving them good
quality choices that are not three times the price.
What was most
satisfying to you about the process of designing the clothes?
I get such a thrill in seeing a design that has been in my
head become a reality, and then when I get to dress my own daughter in one of
my designs, the thrill is doubled!
What were some of the
challenges of setting up a sustainable clothing business in Australia?
The lack of choice of fabrics available in Australia. I would
love to add more details like trims and ribbons, but this would mean using non-organic
or importing from overseas. The dilemma I face is: will consumers mind if I add
these non-organic features, and will it take away from what the brand is all
about?
What were some of the
advantages of setting up the company, eg ability to sell clothes online without
a middle person?
The main advantage of selling online is being able to reduce
overhead operating costs like renting premises, electricity and insurance. Plus
I can increase my customer base to include not only the whole of Australia but
the world. The disadvantage is that people don’t get to feel the quality of the
clothes and see how well they look on.
Why was manufacturing
the clothes in Australia important to you?
I love the fact that I am creating jobs in Australia, and I
love being able to deal face to face with people and be hands-on. If I
manufactured clothes overseas I would not be able to do this. I would also be
helping another country to prosper when we should be looking after our own backyard
first.
Is there any particular highlight or landmark that stands out for you
in the process of setting up or developing the company?
People had told me how hard it is to have your own business,
and how costs and so on can get blown out or not go to plan. I thought I had
covered every eventuality, but there were so many UNEXPECTED teething problems
that I seriously thought that this was all going to be too hard. But you have
to believe in yourself and back yourself all the time and I have surprised
myself at how resourceful and driven I have been. I LOVE Master and Miss, I am
so proud of what I have achieved in such a short time and I can’t wait to see
where it will be in five years time.
How do you see the future of sustainable clothing in Australia?
25% discount offer to
all Inspired Shopper readers!
Master and Miss have kindly offered a 25% discount on their entire range for Inspired Shopper readers. To receive your discount you need to login to the website or register as a user. When you reach the checkout, you need to enter the code INSHOP. Hurry, as this offer expires 30 June!
Master and Miss have kindly offered a 25% discount on their entire range for Inspired Shopper readers. To receive your discount you need to login to the website or register as a user. When you reach the checkout, you need to enter the code INSHOP. Hurry, as this offer expires 30 June!
Until next time!
If you enjoyed this blog entry, you might also like Shop with Your Children without Having a Nervous Breakdown: Nine Great Tips.
10/9/11
Labels:
Budget shopping
,
Clutter
,
frugality
,
Online retail
,
Saving money
Warning: this article is biased towards Amazon and the Kindle, as I’ve published an e-book for the Kindle and also own one (a Kindle, that is!).
I was given a Kindle by a friend about two weeks ago. It was a complete and welcome surprise, and I’m still adjusting to it. The potential frugal (and decluttering) uses of the Kindle are immense, but there’s more to the Kindle than saving money and space.
Because I wrote an e-book for the Kindle before I got mine, I was aware of the massive cultural change that the explosion of self-publishing enabled by e-readers was bringing about, and I’d already thought a bit about how that would affect reading. Now, having my very own pet Kindle, I feel even more positive about its potential to change and improve the way we read. And the release of three new Kindle models, including a tablet, raises further questions about how the Kindle will affect reading.
So here are some thoughts about how the Kindle can enhance life, with some information about its frugal and cultural potential, and some questions about how the Kindle Fire might fit into this (or not).
You don’t actually need to buy a Kindle to benefit from it
You don’t have to own a Kindle to benefit from its frugal and cultural potential – you can use any of Amazon’s free Kindle reading apps. You may not fancy reading a book on your PC, but if you have a laptop, iPad or iPhone you can read Kindle books on these devices for free.
If you switch between different devices your place in the book will be kept, as will bookmarks, notes, and highlights.
You can also read books on your Kindle that are formatted for other e-readers, such as classic books that are out of copyright, as long as they don’t have digital rights management (DRM). To do this, you need a conversion program such as Calibre. For example, if there was a classic book in EPUB you wanted to read, you could use Calibre to convert it to Mobipocket, which is the correct format for Kindle e-books. Amazon also offers a free program, KindleGen, which converts EPUB files and several other formats to the Kindle format.
Reading becomes an easy choice
Often when I’m tired but not ready for sleep, I want to read but I’m too fatigued; it’s easier to watch TV, even if there’s nothing decent on. Because of the lightness of the Kindle and the control you have over the text size, you may find it easier to make the choice to read rather than watch TV when you're feeling fatigued.
Getting more out of the classics
One of the first things to go onto my Kindle was a free copy of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities.
There are loads of cheap and free e-books on the Amazon website that can be downloaded onto your Kindle at no cost as soon as you open an account, including many of the classics. (More on finding the freebies in the following entry.)
But it’s not just that you have access to these cheap and free classics. In fact, using a Kindle will enable you to get more out of them.
Classic books are often very long and, especially if they’re cheap editions, tend to be written in small type. These two factors definitely affect how much attention I pay to the language. When reading a thick book with small type, I usually get preoccupied with the Herculean task of completing it, and focus too much on how much progress I’m making. Not to mention the physical effort involved in holding a thick, heavy book.
With an e-reader there is only one page of text in front of you or, depending on the text size, perhaps just a few paragraphs. With total control of the size of the text, all you need worry about is the block of text you can actually see. Suddenly the language comes alive like never before, and you are free to appreciate its intricacies and the skill of the author without the manual difficulties of reading, or concern about how far you’ve got to go.
This in turn may encourage you to read more, and especially to read and appreciate more classics – a relaxing, low-cost hobby!
E-reading as a whole new hobby
With the rise of the e-book came warnings from the publishing industry about the death of reading, the fear that no one would read books straight through any more and, because of the potential to reconfigure books and so on, the fear that a book would lose its autonomy as cultural object, and become malleable. In other words, legitimate fears brought on by the internet about loss of attention span and capacity for deep thought (and capacity to produce texts created through deep thought) were being projected onto e-readers.
All this actually made me think that the opposite could well be the case. With its convenience and capacity to store huge amounts of text, as well as the explosion of self-published genre books (and online communities formed around genres) it struck me that reading on an e-reader represented a new form of entertainment along with, say, gaming. You could watch TV, stream a movie on your tablet, read a traditional book, play a computer game – or you could read on your Kindle.
Think I’m being overly optimistic? A computer-savvy, film buff friend of mine whose offline reading was previously confined to New Scientist bought a Kindle a few months ago and recently completed The Raw Shark Texts, an IT-based sci-fi thriller that was perfect for his sensibility. He is reading books on the Kindle that he simply couldn’t be bothered reading in paper form. This harks back to my previous point about the Kindle encouraging you to read more.
A shift away from reading?
Will the release of the Kindle Fire, with its access to other Amazon products besides books, including music, streaming movies and TV shows, full-colour magazines and games, destroy this potential of the Kindle to make e-book reading a whole new pastime? Probably not, according to telecommunications engineer Michael Wilbur-Ham. He says that the Fire is a ‘cheap multimedia consumption device’ that is not aimed primarily at readers of e-books, but at users of tablets.
‘Amazon knows how many of their users buy different kinds of products, and many of their users don’t buy books', he said. 'The Fire is primarily for those who can’t afford or don’t want to buy more expensive tablets.’
This doesn’t mean people won’t read books on the Kindle Fire – of course they will (and they do on their iPads). But the emphasis seems to be on the colour screen and how this will enhance the experience of watching movies and TV, gaming, and using apps. At the same time, Amazon has released new Kindle models that are dedicated e-readers, the Kindle wifi 6” and the Kindle Touch. Both have advanced ink displays for ease of reading and are touted as being lighter and smaller than their predecessors, indicating that Amazon intends to keep producing a device that is primarily for the purpose of reading.
(In fact, at only $199 the Amazon Fire may be cheap upfront, but like the iPad it’s designed to make users consume and buy more of the company’s offerings – so frugal consumers may not necessarily consider it a good buy.)
Note: Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet and Touch e-reader are not available in the UK, Europe, Canada or Australia; but the Fire would be next to useless if it were available, as users wouldn’t be able to access the movie streaming, music, apps and games because of licensing restrictions.
In Part 2 I'll look at ways to find free and cheap books for the Kindle, and other frugal aspects of the Kindle.
Until next time!
Read More
Cultural and Frugal Potential of the Kindle: Part 1
Warning: this article is biased towards Amazon and the Kindle, as I’ve published an e-book for the Kindle and also own one (a Kindle, that is!).
I was given a Kindle by a friend about two weeks ago. It was a complete and welcome surprise, and I’m still adjusting to it. The potential frugal (and decluttering) uses of the Kindle are immense, but there’s more to the Kindle than saving money and space.
Because I wrote an e-book for the Kindle before I got mine, I was aware of the massive cultural change that the explosion of self-publishing enabled by e-readers was bringing about, and I’d already thought a bit about how that would affect reading. Now, having my very own pet Kindle, I feel even more positive about its potential to change and improve the way we read. And the release of three new Kindle models, including a tablet, raises further questions about how the Kindle will affect reading.
So here are some thoughts about how the Kindle can enhance life, with some information about its frugal and cultural potential, and some questions about how the Kindle Fire might fit into this (or not).
You don’t actually need to buy a Kindle to benefit from it
You don’t have to own a Kindle to benefit from its frugal and cultural potential – you can use any of Amazon’s free Kindle reading apps. You may not fancy reading a book on your PC, but if you have a laptop, iPad or iPhone you can read Kindle books on these devices for free.
If you switch between different devices your place in the book will be kept, as will bookmarks, notes, and highlights.
You can also read books on your Kindle that are formatted for other e-readers, such as classic books that are out of copyright, as long as they don’t have digital rights management (DRM). To do this, you need a conversion program such as Calibre. For example, if there was a classic book in EPUB you wanted to read, you could use Calibre to convert it to Mobipocket, which is the correct format for Kindle e-books. Amazon also offers a free program, KindleGen, which converts EPUB files and several other formats to the Kindle format.
Reading becomes an easy choice
Often when I’m tired but not ready for sleep, I want to read but I’m too fatigued; it’s easier to watch TV, even if there’s nothing decent on. Because of the lightness of the Kindle and the control you have over the text size, you may find it easier to make the choice to read rather than watch TV when you're feeling fatigued.
Getting more out of the classics
One of the first things to go onto my Kindle was a free copy of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities.
There are loads of cheap and free e-books on the Amazon website that can be downloaded onto your Kindle at no cost as soon as you open an account, including many of the classics. (More on finding the freebies in the following entry.)
But it’s not just that you have access to these cheap and free classics. In fact, using a Kindle will enable you to get more out of them.
Classic books are often very long and, especially if they’re cheap editions, tend to be written in small type. These two factors definitely affect how much attention I pay to the language. When reading a thick book with small type, I usually get preoccupied with the Herculean task of completing it, and focus too much on how much progress I’m making. Not to mention the physical effort involved in holding a thick, heavy book.
With an e-reader there is only one page of text in front of you or, depending on the text size, perhaps just a few paragraphs. With total control of the size of the text, all you need worry about is the block of text you can actually see. Suddenly the language comes alive like never before, and you are free to appreciate its intricacies and the skill of the author without the manual difficulties of reading, or concern about how far you’ve got to go.
This in turn may encourage you to read more, and especially to read and appreciate more classics – a relaxing, low-cost hobby!
E-reading as a whole new hobby
With the rise of the e-book came warnings from the publishing industry about the death of reading, the fear that no one would read books straight through any more and, because of the potential to reconfigure books and so on, the fear that a book would lose its autonomy as cultural object, and become malleable. In other words, legitimate fears brought on by the internet about loss of attention span and capacity for deep thought (and capacity to produce texts created through deep thought) were being projected onto e-readers.
All this actually made me think that the opposite could well be the case. With its convenience and capacity to store huge amounts of text, as well as the explosion of self-published genre books (and online communities formed around genres) it struck me that reading on an e-reader represented a new form of entertainment along with, say, gaming. You could watch TV, stream a movie on your tablet, read a traditional book, play a computer game – or you could read on your Kindle.
Think I’m being overly optimistic? A computer-savvy, film buff friend of mine whose offline reading was previously confined to New Scientist bought a Kindle a few months ago and recently completed The Raw Shark Texts, an IT-based sci-fi thriller that was perfect for his sensibility. He is reading books on the Kindle that he simply couldn’t be bothered reading in paper form. This harks back to my previous point about the Kindle encouraging you to read more.
A shift away from reading?
Will the release of the Kindle Fire, with its access to other Amazon products besides books, including music, streaming movies and TV shows, full-colour magazines and games, destroy this potential of the Kindle to make e-book reading a whole new pastime? Probably not, according to telecommunications engineer Michael Wilbur-Ham. He says that the Fire is a ‘cheap multimedia consumption device’ that is not aimed primarily at readers of e-books, but at users of tablets.
‘Amazon knows how many of their users buy different kinds of products, and many of their users don’t buy books', he said. 'The Fire is primarily for those who can’t afford or don’t want to buy more expensive tablets.’
This doesn’t mean people won’t read books on the Kindle Fire – of course they will (and they do on their iPads). But the emphasis seems to be on the colour screen and how this will enhance the experience of watching movies and TV, gaming, and using apps. At the same time, Amazon has released new Kindle models that are dedicated e-readers, the Kindle wifi 6” and the Kindle Touch. Both have advanced ink displays for ease of reading and are touted as being lighter and smaller than their predecessors, indicating that Amazon intends to keep producing a device that is primarily for the purpose of reading.
(In fact, at only $199 the Amazon Fire may be cheap upfront, but like the iPad it’s designed to make users consume and buy more of the company’s offerings – so frugal consumers may not necessarily consider it a good buy.)
Note: Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet and Touch e-reader are not available in the UK, Europe, Canada or Australia; but the Fire would be next to useless if it were available, as users wouldn’t be able to access the movie streaming, music, apps and games because of licensing restrictions.
In Part 2 I'll look at ways to find free and cheap books for the Kindle, and other frugal aspects of the Kindle.
Until next time!
9/14/11
Labels:
Buying green
,
Ethical shopping
,
Fairtrade
,
Gift giving
,
Online retail
Iconic Australian chef and restaurateur Kylie Kwong has launched a stunning range of Fairtrade tableware, soon to be available online and in Oxfam shops within Australia.
The collection includes a soup bowl, rice bowl, Chinese teapot and teacup, all adorned with a striking hand-painted pink lotus flower design. It was created in conjunction with Oxfam Australia.
The range is handcrafted and hand painted in Vietnam by Oxfam’s Fairtrade producer partner Mai Vietnamese Handicrafts. Kwong travelled to Vietnam and consulted extensively with the artisans during the design phase.
Each item is smoothed by hand using a pottery wheel, fired and glazed. The pieces are then carefully hand painted before being fired in a kiln to create the vibrant tones that adorn the finished range.
'I wanted to create a design that was not only aesthetically pleasing but which also had great depth and a wonderful story to it', Kwong said.
'As part of my inspiration I looked towards the symbol of the lotus flower. To me the lotus ... represents femininity, spirituality, and the importance of nature and the environment.'
Founded in 1990 to support Vietnamese street children, Mai now employs the mothers and elder sisters of these children and most of its employees are women. Workers receive decent wages and training in areas such as quality control, marketing and export procedures.
Oxfam Australia’s Director of Trading, Nadine Silverberg, who initiated the Lotus project, said Ms Kwong’s involvement would make a huge difference to the producers Oxfam works with, both in Vietnam and more broadly. 'Kylie’s support is also playing an important role in raising the profile of fair trade in Australia', she said.
Kwong's involvement in the project supplements her passionate advocacy on behalf of fair trade. It's the same holistic philosophy that she brings to her celebrated Sydney restaurant, Billy Kwong.
The Lotus range is now available at Oxfam’s Australian online store (which also sells to international customers) and will be available at Oxfam's retail shops in Australia from 1 October. For further inquiries call 1800 088 455.
Until next time!
If you enjoyed this post, you might like Groovy Secondhand Bookshop with a Conscience.
Read More
Kylie Kwong Partners with Oxfam to Bring Fairtrade Design to Your Table
Iconic Australian chef and restaurateur Kylie Kwong has launched a stunning range of Fairtrade tableware, soon to be available online and in Oxfam shops within Australia.
The collection includes a soup bowl, rice bowl, Chinese teapot and teacup, all adorned with a striking hand-painted pink lotus flower design. It was created in conjunction with Oxfam Australia.
The range is handcrafted and hand painted in Vietnam by Oxfam’s Fairtrade producer partner Mai Vietnamese Handicrafts. Kwong travelled to Vietnam and consulted extensively with the artisans during the design phase.
Each item is smoothed by hand using a pottery wheel, fired and glazed. The pieces are then carefully hand painted before being fired in a kiln to create the vibrant tones that adorn the finished range.
'I wanted to create a design that was not only aesthetically pleasing but which also had great depth and a wonderful story to it', Kwong said.
'As part of my inspiration I looked towards the symbol of the lotus flower. To me the lotus ... represents femininity, spirituality, and the importance of nature and the environment.'
Founded in 1990 to support Vietnamese street children, Mai now employs the mothers and elder sisters of these children and most of its employees are women. Workers receive decent wages and training in areas such as quality control, marketing and export procedures.
Oxfam Australia’s Director of Trading, Nadine Silverberg, who initiated the Lotus project, said Ms Kwong’s involvement would make a huge difference to the producers Oxfam works with, both in Vietnam and more broadly. 'Kylie’s support is also playing an important role in raising the profile of fair trade in Australia', she said.
Kwong's involvement in the project supplements her passionate advocacy on behalf of fair trade. It's the same holistic philosophy that she brings to her celebrated Sydney restaurant, Billy Kwong.
The Lotus range is now available at Oxfam’s Australian online store (which also sells to international customers) and will be available at Oxfam's retail shops in Australia from 1 October. For further inquiries call 1800 088 455.
Until next time!
If you enjoyed this post, you might like Groovy Secondhand Bookshop with a Conscience.
8/18/11
Labels:
Buying green
,
Carbon footprint
,
Ethical shopping
,
Fashion
,
Internet shopping
,
Online retail
Ethical fashion – including fair trade fashion, sustainable fashion and, a term I admit to not being crazy about, 'eco-fashion' – is huge. You'd never know it in the mainstream media (in Australia at least), but this area is burgeoning, with new brands and online stores appearing, it seems, by the minute. (Of course, the handmade, thrifty, upcycling fashion movement is also having a huge influence.)
Because there is so much choice out there now (assuming you're willing to buy online), this is not a guide to individual brands but a guide to individual guides and lists – a metaguide! (I've also included some particularly informative blogs and magazines.) If anyone knows of any good guides or lists I've missed out on, from any country, please let me know and I'll add them. I've grouped these lists according to country, and at the moment it's confined to the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. However, most of the stores are online so in many cases you will still be able to buy from the overseas ones.
As far as the Anglo world is concerned it does seem that the UK is well ahead of the pack. But the more information about ethical fashion that's out there, the more its popularity will spread in all countries.
Hope you enjoy my guide to the guides.
Overall
Eco Fashion Guide
A searchable guide to sustainable, ethical designer brands and online eco-fashion stores. You can search by brand, store, eco criteria, category or country – 15 countries in all. It's far from comprehensive but worth a look.
http://www.ecofashionworld.com/ECO-FASHION-GUIDE.html
A great list of eco fashion and beauty blogs from around the world
http://www.bachelorofarts.com/the-complete-list-of-eco-fashion-blogs
PETA’s guide to animal-friendly brands and stores
A huge list of companies that sells cruelty-free products
http://www.peta.org/living/fashion/cruelty-free-clothing-guide-vegan-companies.aspx
UK
Marie Claire’s list of top ten UK sustainable fashion brands
The UK has some fantastic ethical and sustainable fashion brands, and they’re not all at designer prices. Here is Marie Claire’s list of the best 10.
http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/fashion/best/6715/10/eco-fashion-brands.html#play
Feze Fair Trade
The webpage below includes a list of websites that sell women's fair trade clothing. The website also includes a list of men's fair trade clothing, as well as information about other fair trade products.
http://www.fezefairtrade.com/womens/womensclothing.html
Ethical Consumer magazine's guide to clothes shopping
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/BuyersGuides/Clothing.aspx
Guardian Ethical fashion directory
The Guardian's own ethical fashion directory
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/interactive/2008/jul/21/ethical.fashion.directory
Style with Heart
A portal to a wide range of websites selling fair trade, ethical and sustainable clothes and accessories
http://www.stylewithheart.com/
Ethics Girls magazine
The Ethics Girls website sells a wide range of ethically sourced fashion. It's a cooperative with a commitment to selling fairly produced fashion.
http://magazine.ethicsgirls.co.uk/magazine
The Ecologist's list of top ten ethical labels
http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/clothing/748975/top_10_ethical_labels_to_love.html
Style Will Save Us
This website sells a wide range of ethical fashion, beauty and gift products, and also has an ethical fashion and lifestyle magazine.
http://www.stylewillsaveus.com/content.php?ContentType=Magazine
USA
One Green Planet list
A list of ethical and sustainable designers in the USA and elsewhere from a website promoting a vegan, sustainable lifestyle
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/beyond-green-hype-eco-concious-and-ethical-designers-labels
Ecouterre
A website that promotes sustainable fashion
http://www.ecouterre.com/
Socially Responsible Style
A guide to green and ethical buying including ethical fashion brands (the webpage also has a very good blogroll)
http://sociallyresponsiblestyle.com/resources/
LovingEco
A range of eco fashion at sale prices
http://www.lovingeco.com/
Treehugger fashion and beauty blog
This is based in the US but includes some overseas news.
http://www.treehugger.com/fashion_beauty/?campaign=th_nav_fashion
Behind the Seams blog
A very newsy blog about the latest in ethical style
http://ethicalstyle.com/blog/
Sustainable Sartorial blog
A personal journey by an aspiring ethical designer
http://sustainablesartorial.blogspot.com/
Australia
Ethical Clothing Australia accredited brands
A list of Australian fashion brands accredited through Ethical Clothing Australia (note that these may not be sustainable, and some sustainable brands aren't listed).
http://www.ethicalclothingaustralia.org.au/_webapp_826193/Fashion
Australian designers producing sustainable fashion
A very good list from RMIT
http://rmit.libguides.com/content.php?pid=3719&sid=21576
How Big Is Your Eco
A website that is a guide to Australian and ethical fashion
Blue Caravan
Based in Australia, Blue Caravan sources and sells independently made, ethical and sustainable fashion, homewares, beauty products, homewares jewellery and other items.
http://www.bluecaravan.net/
Peppermint Magazine
A hard copy magazine and blog with a focus on sustainable, ethical fashion and lifestyle
http://peppermintmag.com/category/events/
Wardrobe Wonderland
An Australian ethical fashion blog
http://wardrobewonderland.com/
Style Wilderness
A Melbourne blog that combines sustainable fashion and style with thrifting and handcrafts
http://stylewilderness.blogspot.com/
Canada
Fashion Takes Action
A list of members of an industry group for sustainable fashion
http://www.fashiontakesaction.com/content/membership/members-directory?start=20
Until next time!
If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy Be an Ethical, Frugal Fashionisa: How to Shop Ethical When You're on a Budget.
Read More
Where to Start in the Search for Ethical Fashion? A Guide to the Guides
 |
| Hemp wrap by Viridis Luxe |
Because there is so much choice out there now (assuming you're willing to buy online), this is not a guide to individual brands but a guide to individual guides and lists – a metaguide! (I've also included some particularly informative blogs and magazines.) If anyone knows of any good guides or lists I've missed out on, from any country, please let me know and I'll add them. I've grouped these lists according to country, and at the moment it's confined to the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. However, most of the stores are online so in many cases you will still be able to buy from the overseas ones.
As far as the Anglo world is concerned it does seem that the UK is well ahead of the pack. But the more information about ethical fashion that's out there, the more its popularity will spread in all countries.
Hope you enjoy my guide to the guides.
Overall
Eco Fashion Guide
A searchable guide to sustainable, ethical designer brands and online eco-fashion stores. You can search by brand, store, eco criteria, category or country – 15 countries in all. It's far from comprehensive but worth a look.
http://www.ecofashionworld.com/ECO-FASHION-GUIDE.html
A great list of eco fashion and beauty blogs from around the world
http://www.bachelorofarts.com/the-complete-list-of-eco-fashion-blogs
PETA’s guide to animal-friendly brands and stores
A huge list of companies that sells cruelty-free products
http://www.peta.org/living/fashion/cruelty-free-clothing-guide-vegan-companies.aspx
UK
Marie Claire’s list of top ten UK sustainable fashion brands
The UK has some fantastic ethical and sustainable fashion brands, and they’re not all at designer prices. Here is Marie Claire’s list of the best 10.
http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/fashion/best/6715/10/eco-fashion-brands.html#play
Feze Fair Trade
The webpage below includes a list of websites that sell women's fair trade clothing. The website also includes a list of men's fair trade clothing, as well as information about other fair trade products.
http://www.fezefairtrade.com/womens/womensclothing.html
Ethical Consumer magazine's guide to clothes shopping
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/BuyersGuides/Clothing.aspx
Guardian Ethical fashion directory
The Guardian's own ethical fashion directory
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/interactive/2008/jul/21/ethical.fashion.directory
Style with Heart
A portal to a wide range of websites selling fair trade, ethical and sustainable clothes and accessories
http://www.stylewithheart.com/
Ethics Girls magazine
The Ethics Girls website sells a wide range of ethically sourced fashion. It's a cooperative with a commitment to selling fairly produced fashion.
http://magazine.ethicsgirls.co.uk/magazine
The Ecologist's list of top ten ethical labels
http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/clothing/748975/top_10_ethical_labels_to_love.html
Style Will Save Us
This website sells a wide range of ethical fashion, beauty and gift products, and also has an ethical fashion and lifestyle magazine.
http://www.stylewillsaveus.com/content.php?ContentType=Magazine
USA
One Green Planet list
A list of ethical and sustainable designers in the USA and elsewhere from a website promoting a vegan, sustainable lifestyle
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/beyond-green-hype-eco-concious-and-ethical-designers-labels
Ecouterre
A website that promotes sustainable fashion
http://www.ecouterre.com/
Socially Responsible Style
A guide to green and ethical buying including ethical fashion brands (the webpage also has a very good blogroll)
http://sociallyresponsiblestyle.com/resources/
LovingEco
A range of eco fashion at sale prices
http://www.lovingeco.com/
Treehugger fashion and beauty blog
This is based in the US but includes some overseas news.
http://www.treehugger.com/fashion_beauty/?campaign=th_nav_fashion
Behind the Seams blog
A very newsy blog about the latest in ethical style
http://ethicalstyle.com/blog/
Sustainable Sartorial blog
A personal journey by an aspiring ethical designer
http://sustainablesartorial.blogspot.com/
Australia
Ethical Clothing Australia accredited brands
A list of Australian fashion brands accredited through Ethical Clothing Australia (note that these may not be sustainable, and some sustainable brands aren't listed).
http://www.ethicalclothingaustralia.org.au/_webapp_826193/Fashion
Australian designers producing sustainable fashion
A very good list from RMIT
http://rmit.libguides.com/content.php?pid=3719&sid=21576
How Big Is Your Eco
A website that is a guide to Australian and ethical fashion
Blue Caravan
Based in Australia, Blue Caravan sources and sells independently made, ethical and sustainable fashion, homewares, beauty products, homewares jewellery and other items.
http://www.bluecaravan.net/
Peppermint Magazine
A hard copy magazine and blog with a focus on sustainable, ethical fashion and lifestyle
http://peppermintmag.com/category/events/
Wardrobe Wonderland
An Australian ethical fashion blog
http://wardrobewonderland.com/
Style Wilderness
A Melbourne blog that combines sustainable fashion and style with thrifting and handcrafts
http://stylewilderness.blogspot.com/
Canada
Fashion Takes Action
A list of members of an industry group for sustainable fashion
http://www.fashiontakesaction.com/content/membership/members-directory?start=20
Until next time!
If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy Be an Ethical, Frugal Fashionisa: How to Shop Ethical When You're on a Budget.
8/3/11
Labels:
Bargains
,
Budget shopping
,
Buying green
,
Carbon footprint
,
Clothes swapping
,
Ethical shopping
,
Fashion
,
frugality
,
Internet shopping
,
Online retail
,
Sales
,
Swapping
Many of us who adore fashion – me included – want to move towards more ethical ways of buying clothes. But that’s not an easy ask if you’re a budget fashionista. Despite the inroads it’s making into the mainstream, to some extent ethical, environmentally sustainable shopping is still a niche market for those who can afford sustainable designer threads, or those who can happily confine their wardrobes to organic cotton T-shirts, trousers and hoodies. (An exception is the UK, which is miles ahead.) So how do you shop ethically if you're also living frugal and on a strict budget?
If you want to buy new clothes cheaply in fashionable styles, it’s easier to source clothing that is ethically produced than clothing that is both ethically produced and completely sustainable. It is possible to combine the two, but your choices will be more limited. If you want both and your budget is low, you may be better off focusing primarily on secondhand clothes and supplementing your wardrobe with a few well-chosen new garments.
Having said that, there are some exciting options available, and they’re growing in number. The sustainability area is relatively new and very dynamic, with new brands and techniques coming on board all the time. Online stores offer some reasonably priced options, although of course you’ll need to take postage costs into account.
(BTW, I welcome any news from readers in this area. I’d particularly welcome any info about mainstream brands from non-Anglo countries that combine ethical manufacture and sustainability as well as offering great style. Because of time constraints and where the majority of readers are, I tend to confine my (limited) research to Anglo countries. If there are any stand-out brands that you think deserve a mention please let me know.)
Some of the options below, then, focus on ethically produced fashion in terms of workers’ rights rather than environmental sustainability. I’m not a full-on ethical shopper, although I’m moving nearer to it at a glacial pace. The tips below are advice to myself as much as to anyone else for shopping ethically on a budget.
* Don’t give up if you fail to be completely ethical and sustainable all at once. Make changes gradually.
* If you want to find ethical fashion on a budget, being proactive is the key. You can still rely on serendipity – great accidental finds – at op and thrift shops, but you’ll need to think ahead if you want to source the fashion you enjoy at a good price. You’ll also need to be a bit of a bowerbird, buying clothes from an eclectic range of sources. Don’t focus on just a few favourite brands or stores.
* Stake out upmarket secondhand clothes shops and designer recycling stores in your area and visit them regularly. In Australia, for example, Red Cross stores focus exclusively on selling secondhand clothes and accessories at cheap prices.
* If you love online shopping, explore the options for buying secondhand clothes online. No longer is your choice confined to eBay! Secondhand Posh sells recycled designer fashion in Australia. The Clothes Agency is a UK-based website selling secondhand (and new) clothes for a minimum listing fee. Etsy is a US-based marketplace specialising in handmade goods and vintage items, so you get a huge array of choice when it comes to both handmade and vintage clothes, and a great philosophy to boot (the handmade goods won’t all be sustainable).
* Ethical and sustainable fashion stores with high-priced clothes can still have great sales. One UK brand with online sale items at mainstream prices is Bibico. This brand is World Fair Trade certified, and the clothes are stylish. World Fair Trade certification focuses on ethical standards, but it does have a sustainability factor.
* Independent clothes stores in edgy, hip parts of town often have alternative fashion brands that are relatively cheap and yet aren’t mass produced.
* Some mainstream brands are committed to ethical manufacture, and are no more expensive than non-ethical, but they may not be green. In Australia, some of these brands don’t want to associate themselves with the move to ethical fashion and therefore don’t use their accreditation in their marketing. Sillies! I think they are grossly underestimating their customers. In Australia, these brands include Bardot and Cue, both known for their great style. A full and growing list of Australian accredited ethical fashion – only some of it proudly so! – can be found on the Ethical Clothing Australia website.
In the USA, American Apparel is an institution, offering middle-of-the-road, reasonably priced clothes that are ethically produced in the USA (according to their website – they don’t have any formal accreditation, but the info on the site is fairly thorough). Apart from some organic cotton options, most of the range isn’t necessarily environmentally sustainable.
If you live in the UK, you’re way ahead of us in this area. It really seems to be a vanguard of ethical and sustainable fashion. As more people buy ethical fashion it moves into the mainstream and the prices go down. People Tree in the UK has pioneered fashion that is both committed to fair trade standards and minimises environmental impact. The prices are a little higher than mainstream but they have excellent online sales.
* Clothes swapping is a wonderful way to reduce landfill as well as your carbon footprint. Threadswap is an Australian website that enables you to swap your unwanted clothing for credits that you then use to ‘buy’ clothes online. The Clothing Exchange runs regular swapping events in all Australian capital cities except Darwin and Hobart. The Swapaholics team holds regular fashion-swapping events in the USA, while details of UK events can be found on the Swishing website.
* The USA has a new, comprehensive accreditation system for fashion that takes sustainability into account as well as ethical employment practices. It’s early days yet and there’s not much choice offered by the retailers on the web page, although it’s good for basics.
* Visit flea markets regularly, as well as markets specialising in recycled fashion. In Victoria, markets selling recycled clothes occur periodically; for example, Take 2 Markets runs regular events in Geelong, Darebin and Hawthorn. Conduct an internet search to find out if events like this take place in your area.
* Finally, vintage clothing is such an obvious inclusion in this blog entry that I almost forgot it! But where do you start if you’re on the hunt for vintage threads? The Vintage Fashion Directory is a great guide to bricks-and-mortar vintage stores in Paris, London, LA and New York, and it look as if it will soon be enabling stores to sell online through the website. The Vintage Vault is a US online vintage boutique that offers a very long list of online vintage stores. And there is an Australian vintage fashion directory on Facebook.
Good luck in your quest for fair fashion, and remember I'm always thrilled to receive any news on this topic.
If you enjoyed this post you might also like Great tips for successful op and thrift shopping.
Read More
Be an Ethical, Frugal Fashionista: How to Shop Ethical When You're on a Budget
Many of us who adore fashion – me included – want to move towards more ethical ways of buying clothes. But that’s not an easy ask if you’re a budget fashionista. Despite the inroads it’s making into the mainstream, to some extent ethical, environmentally sustainable shopping is still a niche market for those who can afford sustainable designer threads, or those who can happily confine their wardrobes to organic cotton T-shirts, trousers and hoodies. (An exception is the UK, which is miles ahead.) So how do you shop ethically if you're also living frugal and on a strict budget?
If you want to buy new clothes cheaply in fashionable styles, it’s easier to source clothing that is ethically produced than clothing that is both ethically produced and completely sustainable. It is possible to combine the two, but your choices will be more limited. If you want both and your budget is low, you may be better off focusing primarily on secondhand clothes and supplementing your wardrobe with a few well-chosen new garments.
Having said that, there are some exciting options available, and they’re growing in number. The sustainability area is relatively new and very dynamic, with new brands and techniques coming on board all the time. Online stores offer some reasonably priced options, although of course you’ll need to take postage costs into account.
(BTW, I welcome any news from readers in this area. I’d particularly welcome any info about mainstream brands from non-Anglo countries that combine ethical manufacture and sustainability as well as offering great style. Because of time constraints and where the majority of readers are, I tend to confine my (limited) research to Anglo countries. If there are any stand-out brands that you think deserve a mention please let me know.)
Some of the options below, then, focus on ethically produced fashion in terms of workers’ rights rather than environmental sustainability. I’m not a full-on ethical shopper, although I’m moving nearer to it at a glacial pace. The tips below are advice to myself as much as to anyone else for shopping ethically on a budget.
* Don’t give up if you fail to be completely ethical and sustainable all at once. Make changes gradually.
* If you want to find ethical fashion on a budget, being proactive is the key. You can still rely on serendipity – great accidental finds – at op and thrift shops, but you’ll need to think ahead if you want to source the fashion you enjoy at a good price. You’ll also need to be a bit of a bowerbird, buying clothes from an eclectic range of sources. Don’t focus on just a few favourite brands or stores.
* Stake out upmarket secondhand clothes shops and designer recycling stores in your area and visit them regularly. In Australia, for example, Red Cross stores focus exclusively on selling secondhand clothes and accessories at cheap prices.
* If you love online shopping, explore the options for buying secondhand clothes online. No longer is your choice confined to eBay! Secondhand Posh sells recycled designer fashion in Australia. The Clothes Agency is a UK-based website selling secondhand (and new) clothes for a minimum listing fee. Etsy is a US-based marketplace specialising in handmade goods and vintage items, so you get a huge array of choice when it comes to both handmade and vintage clothes, and a great philosophy to boot (the handmade goods won’t all be sustainable).
* Ethical and sustainable fashion stores with high-priced clothes can still have great sales. One UK brand with online sale items at mainstream prices is Bibico. This brand is World Fair Trade certified, and the clothes are stylish. World Fair Trade certification focuses on ethical standards, but it does have a sustainability factor.
* Independent clothes stores in edgy, hip parts of town often have alternative fashion brands that are relatively cheap and yet aren’t mass produced.
* Some mainstream brands are committed to ethical manufacture, and are no more expensive than non-ethical, but they may not be green. In Australia, some of these brands don’t want to associate themselves with the move to ethical fashion and therefore don’t use their accreditation in their marketing. Sillies! I think they are grossly underestimating their customers. In Australia, these brands include Bardot and Cue, both known for their great style. A full and growing list of Australian accredited ethical fashion – only some of it proudly so! – can be found on the Ethical Clothing Australia website.
In the USA, American Apparel is an institution, offering middle-of-the-road, reasonably priced clothes that are ethically produced in the USA (according to their website – they don’t have any formal accreditation, but the info on the site is fairly thorough). Apart from some organic cotton options, most of the range isn’t necessarily environmentally sustainable.
If you live in the UK, you’re way ahead of us in this area. It really seems to be a vanguard of ethical and sustainable fashion. As more people buy ethical fashion it moves into the mainstream and the prices go down. People Tree in the UK has pioneered fashion that is both committed to fair trade standards and minimises environmental impact. The prices are a little higher than mainstream but they have excellent online sales.
* Clothes swapping is a wonderful way to reduce landfill as well as your carbon footprint. Threadswap is an Australian website that enables you to swap your unwanted clothing for credits that you then use to ‘buy’ clothes online. The Clothing Exchange runs regular swapping events in all Australian capital cities except Darwin and Hobart. The Swapaholics team holds regular fashion-swapping events in the USA, while details of UK events can be found on the Swishing website.
* The USA has a new, comprehensive accreditation system for fashion that takes sustainability into account as well as ethical employment practices. It’s early days yet and there’s not much choice offered by the retailers on the web page, although it’s good for basics.
* Visit flea markets regularly, as well as markets specialising in recycled fashion. In Victoria, markets selling recycled clothes occur periodically; for example, Take 2 Markets runs regular events in Geelong, Darebin and Hawthorn. Conduct an internet search to find out if events like this take place in your area.
* Finally, vintage clothing is such an obvious inclusion in this blog entry that I almost forgot it! But where do you start if you’re on the hunt for vintage threads? The Vintage Fashion Directory is a great guide to bricks-and-mortar vintage stores in Paris, London, LA and New York, and it look as if it will soon be enabling stores to sell online through the website. The Vintage Vault is a US online vintage boutique that offers a very long list of online vintage stores. And there is an Australian vintage fashion directory on Facebook.
Good luck in your quest for fair fashion, and remember I'm always thrilled to receive any news on this topic.
If you enjoyed this post you might also like Great tips for successful op and thrift shopping.
7/21/11
Labels:
Internet shopping
,
Mindfulness
,
Online retail
Shopping online, or just browsing, is great fun. But because it is so convenient, it’s all too easy to fall into a delicious trance from which you wake hours later, having bought up the entire stock of Heavenly Homewares or Car Accessories R Us! Below are some useful tips for staying grounded when buying online.
* Ensure there is some natural light in the room. Open all blinds and curtains to let the day in.
* How are you sitting? Are you comfortable? Adjust your posture so you’re not slouching. Hunch and then relax your shoulders and move your head in a circle, a few times one way and then the other, to loosen your neck muscles.
* Be aware of your body in space – the feel of your feet resting on the ground; your fingers as they type on the keyboard or touchscreen; your breathing; your backside sitting on the chair; your back leaning against the chair or hunching forward. Try to maintain this body awareness for the entire shopping or browsing session.
* Take note of the temperature in the room. Are you hot, cold or just right?
* Stay aware of sounds: traffic, a clock ticking, floors creaking, a heater or air conditioner whirring, the hubbub of an office, a child’s voice, a dog barking, your fingers on the keyboard. Don’t judge the noises, or focus on any particular one; just be aware of each sound and then let it go.
* Tune into your emotions. What are you feeling right now? Where are the feelings? Are they in any particular part of your body? Don’t analyse or judge the feelings, just acknowledge and let yourself experience them.
* Don’t try to do more than one thing at once. Don’t text someone or speak on the phone as you’re browsing or shopping online. Stay focused on what you’re doing.
* Take your time. If you find yourself wanting to buy something in a hurry, perhaps you’re trying to tamp down some hidden doubts about the purchase. Slow down and listen to any doubts you have. Work out where the doubts are coming from, and whether or not you need to take heed of them.
* Stay grounded during the purchasing process. If you decide to buy something, stay aware of what’s going on for you, both physically and emotionally, as you buy.
While the tips above may slow you down a bit, the more grounded you are, the more efficient you’ll become. And of course, these techniques aren’t just useful for online shopping; use them throughout the day to stay grounded and in the present.
Read More
How to Stay Calm When Shopping Online!
Shopping online, or just browsing, is great fun. But because it is so convenient, it’s all too easy to fall into a delicious trance from which you wake hours later, having bought up the entire stock of Heavenly Homewares or Car Accessories R Us! Below are some useful tips for staying grounded when buying online.
* Ensure there is some natural light in the room. Open all blinds and curtains to let the day in.
* How are you sitting? Are you comfortable? Adjust your posture so you’re not slouching. Hunch and then relax your shoulders and move your head in a circle, a few times one way and then the other, to loosen your neck muscles.
* Be aware of your body in space – the feel of your feet resting on the ground; your fingers as they type on the keyboard or touchscreen; your breathing; your backside sitting on the chair; your back leaning against the chair or hunching forward. Try to maintain this body awareness for the entire shopping or browsing session.
* Take note of the temperature in the room. Are you hot, cold or just right?
* Stay aware of sounds: traffic, a clock ticking, floors creaking, a heater or air conditioner whirring, the hubbub of an office, a child’s voice, a dog barking, your fingers on the keyboard. Don’t judge the noises, or focus on any particular one; just be aware of each sound and then let it go.
* Tune into your emotions. What are you feeling right now? Where are the feelings? Are they in any particular part of your body? Don’t analyse or judge the feelings, just acknowledge and let yourself experience them.
* Don’t try to do more than one thing at once. Don’t text someone or speak on the phone as you’re browsing or shopping online. Stay focused on what you’re doing.
* Take your time. If you find yourself wanting to buy something in a hurry, perhaps you’re trying to tamp down some hidden doubts about the purchase. Slow down and listen to any doubts you have. Work out where the doubts are coming from, and whether or not you need to take heed of them.
* Stay grounded during the purchasing process. If you decide to buy something, stay aware of what’s going on for you, both physically and emotionally, as you buy.
While the tips above may slow you down a bit, the more grounded you are, the more efficient you’ll become. And of course, these techniques aren’t just useful for online shopping; use them throughout the day to stay grounded and in the present.
6/20/11
Labels:
Bargains
,
Decision making
,
Internet shopping
,
Online retail
,
Sales
![]()
Read More
Become an expert at navigating online sales!
Websites that offer tantalising sales and get-in-quick daily offers can make shopping look like a game! How do you navigate this dizzying world of opportunity and temptation without ending up with goods that aren’t that good, or right for you?
More and more sales, whether for sleek fashion labels, cool accessories, designer towels or boxing tackle, are happening solely over the internet. Some shopping websites function as clubs that you join to receive email notice of upcoming sales. Other websites have daily deals that only last a day.
These sales can offer incredible bargains, with goods discounted by as much as 80 per cent. Arm yourself with the techniques below and you’re much more likely to find genuine bargains, while avoiding the duds!
How to make the most of online sales without overspending
* Use routing software in your email program so that all your sales email goes into one folder before you’ve read it. This means that email alerts for sales won’t confront you as soon as you open your email program - you decide when you want to view the sales.
* Allocate a set time of day and a set amount of time to go through online sales invitations. If you have a spending problem, you could confine yourself to one day of the week when you allow yourself to take part in online sales.
* Create a list of all the things you need and are thinking of buying, and keep it handy. (This is called a Priority List – more information about this list is available in my book The Inspired Shopper.) When you’re browsing an online sale and you find something you’d like to buy, if it’s not already on your list, think carefully before buying it.
* Create a budget and stick to it. This could include a set amount of money that you spend on different categories, eg clothes and cosmetics.
* Alternatively, have a preset limit you will spend on online shopping on any one day or week, or any particular sale (but use intuition to decide the amount – if you just use your rational mind you’ll be tempted to outspend the limit and end up feeling guilty).
* Try to stay in the present moment while you’re checking out the sale items. Be aware of your breathing and surroundings. Take note of your reactions to those tantalising goods as they come up on the screen, but try not to judge your reactions. (I’ll be providing more tips for staying grounded while shopping online in a future post.)
* As you’re checking out different sales, imagine yourself wandering along a shopping mall, past many shops with SALE signs. You don’t need to go into all those stores, just the ones that call to you in some way. And even if you choose to go in, you don’t have to buy.
* Don’t be tempted to buy more than you really need just because it makes the postage costs more worthwhile.
* Always use your intuition when deciding whether or not to buy, and don’t be afraid to pass on something if it doesn’t feel right. Remember, you don’t have to know why it’s not right. When you obey your gut feeling in this way, you can be sure that something better will come along at the right time.
Now that you’re armed with tools and techniques for making the most of online sales, enjoy yourself! And remember, sometimes ‘just looking’ is enough to give you that shopping hit we all crave.
6/2/11
Labels:
Bargains
,
Bricks-and-mortar stores
,
Internet shopping
,
Online retail
,
Secondhand goods
While I’m a fan of small business retailers, I don’t normally use this blog to promote individual businesses - that’s not its aim. But when I stumbled upon Second Edition bookstore recently I was so impressed by the stylish fit-out and store concept that I had to include a plug in this blog.
Second Edition is a secondhand bookstore run by the Brotherhood of St Laurence, a Melbourne-based organisation that combats poverty through research; advocacy; and hands-on, innovative programs.
The store, at the quieter end of a well-established shopping strip in whitebread suburban Malvern, boasts a cafe selling Fairtrade coffee, loads of great books, vinyl records and magazines, iMacs on which to check out the associated online bookstore, and a sublime, retro-stroke-nerdy- atmosphere that Gen Ys should flock to.
Wooden display shelves creating a bold, assymetrical pattern perch high above a groovy round table smack in the centre, anchored by slats rather than conventional legs. Behind that you’ll find a comfy seventies lounge suite on which to lounge as you sample the merchandise. The seductive smell of freshly brewed coffee wafts through the air.
This store could become something of an oasis for those who feel a little out of place among the area’s conservative baby boomers and the hundreds of younger, four-wheel-drive-owning families who perhaps once aspired and have now reached their aspirations. And I'd hope that some of the older and cooler of the private school kids who stream down Glenferrie Road at around 4 pm on weekdays might adopt it as their own.
Not only is this groovy place raising money for the work of the good old BSL, but it offers traineeships in retail and hospitality. They’re also looking for volunteers.
So please, if you live in Melbourne, pop in and check it out. And if you don’t, consider buying from the online bookstore.
Second Edition is at 215 Glenferrie Rd Malvern. The opening hours are Monday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 10 am to 5 pm.
Disclaimer: In a previous lifetime I worked for the BSL as information officer. So sue me!
Read More
Groovy Secondhand Bookshop with a Conscience
While I’m a fan of small business retailers, I don’t normally use this blog to promote individual businesses - that’s not its aim. But when I stumbled upon Second Edition bookstore recently I was so impressed by the stylish fit-out and store concept that I had to include a plug in this blog.
Second Edition is a secondhand bookstore run by the Brotherhood of St Laurence, a Melbourne-based organisation that combats poverty through research; advocacy; and hands-on, innovative programs.
The store, at the quieter end of a well-established shopping strip in whitebread suburban Malvern, boasts a cafe selling Fairtrade coffee, loads of great books, vinyl records and magazines, iMacs on which to check out the associated online bookstore, and a sublime, retro-stroke-nerdy- atmosphere that Gen Ys should flock to.
Wooden display shelves creating a bold, assymetrical pattern perch high above a groovy round table smack in the centre, anchored by slats rather than conventional legs. Behind that you’ll find a comfy seventies lounge suite on which to lounge as you sample the merchandise. The seductive smell of freshly brewed coffee wafts through the air.
This store could become something of an oasis for those who feel a little out of place among the area’s conservative baby boomers and the hundreds of younger, four-wheel-drive-owning families who perhaps once aspired and have now reached their aspirations. And I'd hope that some of the older and cooler of the private school kids who stream down Glenferrie Road at around 4 pm on weekdays might adopt it as their own.
Not only is this groovy place raising money for the work of the good old BSL, but it offers traineeships in retail and hospitality. They’re also looking for volunteers.
So please, if you live in Melbourne, pop in and check it out. And if you don’t, consider buying from the online bookstore.
Second Edition is at 215 Glenferrie Rd Malvern. The opening hours are Monday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 10 am to 5 pm.
Disclaimer: In a previous lifetime I worked for the BSL as information officer. So sue me!
5/24/11
Labels:
Bricks-and-mortar stores
,
Online retail
I recently heard on Radio National's breakfast program that some Australian retailers were considering charging a 'try-on' fee to customers who went to their stores to try the goods on in preparation for buying them at a reduced price on overseas websites. The fee would be refundable if the customer bought the stock.
I have mixed feelings about this shopping behaviour. On the one hand it seems to take unfair advantage of the retailer. On the other hand, human beings are blessed with ingenuity and initiative; we'll naturally seek the cheapest and most convenient way to achieve a particular goal.
As well, Australian retailers have generally lagged behind the world when it comes to online stores; retailers have been warned for years that unless they offer customers a 'bricks and clicks' experience - a combination of bricks-and-mortar and online retail - they'll ultimately be doomed. And recently, following the retailers' complaints about the lack of a sales tax in Australia for online purchases under $1000, they've been accused of price gouging.
When I heard the story, though, I had some sympathy for the retailer concerned. If you go into a fashion store and try something on, you don't have to engage the sales staff and take up their time. But this guy sold sports footwear, so his staff were getting tied up helping customers who never had the slightest intention of buying at the store. He also referred to a retailer of ski gear whose staff were helping people fit ski shoes that they were only trying on for size - a time-consuming exercise, given how specialised this kind of footwear is.
So as a consumer, should you try something out in a traditional store if you fully intend to buy it online? Is it unethical? Here's my suggestion: if you want to use bricks-and-mortar stores to try something on that you'll then buy online, don't do it if it's going to take up staff time (unless the store offers both bricks and clicks, ie they combine online and traditional retail).
If you want to buy something online that you will need help with to try on, bad luck. Take your chances on the internet, and use both your rational mind and your intuition to decide on the right size. Check out the returns policy of online stores before you buy from them so that if a size isn't right you can easily return it.
There is another option. If you enjoy the ambience and service of traditional retail stores, consider haggling once you've decided to buy something. Tell the sales assistant about a lower price you've found on the web, or using a smartphone, and haggle away. In a competitive market, what's wrong with trying to obtain a cheaper price?
What do you think about my suggestions? What's your approach to trying things on that you intend to buy online?
Read More
Do Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures?
I recently heard on Radio National's breakfast program that some Australian retailers were considering charging a 'try-on' fee to customers who went to their stores to try the goods on in preparation for buying them at a reduced price on overseas websites. The fee would be refundable if the customer bought the stock.
I have mixed feelings about this shopping behaviour. On the one hand it seems to take unfair advantage of the retailer. On the other hand, human beings are blessed with ingenuity and initiative; we'll naturally seek the cheapest and most convenient way to achieve a particular goal.
As well, Australian retailers have generally lagged behind the world when it comes to online stores; retailers have been warned for years that unless they offer customers a 'bricks and clicks' experience - a combination of bricks-and-mortar and online retail - they'll ultimately be doomed. And recently, following the retailers' complaints about the lack of a sales tax in Australia for online purchases under $1000, they've been accused of price gouging.
When I heard the story, though, I had some sympathy for the retailer concerned. If you go into a fashion store and try something on, you don't have to engage the sales staff and take up their time. But this guy sold sports footwear, so his staff were getting tied up helping customers who never had the slightest intention of buying at the store. He also referred to a retailer of ski gear whose staff were helping people fit ski shoes that they were only trying on for size - a time-consuming exercise, given how specialised this kind of footwear is.
So as a consumer, should you try something out in a traditional store if you fully intend to buy it online? Is it unethical? Here's my suggestion: if you want to use bricks-and-mortar stores to try something on that you'll then buy online, don't do it if it's going to take up staff time (unless the store offers both bricks and clicks, ie they combine online and traditional retail).
If you want to buy something online that you will need help with to try on, bad luck. Take your chances on the internet, and use both your rational mind and your intuition to decide on the right size. Check out the returns policy of online stores before you buy from them so that if a size isn't right you can easily return it.
There is another option. If you enjoy the ambience and service of traditional retail stores, consider haggling once you've decided to buy something. Tell the sales assistant about a lower price you've found on the web, or using a smartphone, and haggle away. In a competitive market, what's wrong with trying to obtain a cheaper price?
What do you think about my suggestions? What's your approach to trying things on that you intend to buy online?
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