*INTRODUCING*

Delectable 'recipes' to inspire you to whip up your own styles

A simple starter to show you how easy it is to make your clothing your own:

We discovered that local charity shops are trading a treasure trove of rare buttons for mere pennies.

Or take a gander to Edinburgh car boot sale, every Sunday morning from 9am on Lothian road, for a genuine military fastening.

Hold your needles for more how-tos to be shared shortly...

'Design is at the start of the production chain and is the most effective, direct action you can take to influence sustainability'

Dr Kate Fletcher, author of ‘Sustainable Fashion & Textiles: Design Journeys’ addressed a ‘Fashioning an Ethical Industry’ conference at Out of the Blue, Edinburgh, 23/03/11.

Fletcher disentangled some of the knotty dilemmas faced by brands, students and consumers with the shared end of a sustainable future for style.

We would like to share some of what we learned.

The Supply Chain: For the conscious consumer, trying to navigate the multifarious systems of labelling (‘organic’, ‘fair trade’, ‘made by’) introduced in recent years to offer the consumer reassurance about the origins of their clothing, can be a mind-numbing experience…

…If this t-shirt is labelled ‘organic cotton’, does it mean that the garment workers involved in its production have been fairly paid?

What does ‘fair trade’ really mean?

All of these labels, although going some way to demystifying the manufacture history of a garment, fail to extricate the consumer from murky waters.

Paradoxically, some brands which do commission factories following ‘fair trade’ guidelines, will not risk labelling their garments as such since their disconnection from the processes of production prevents any certainty of the conditions under which their products are produced.

The Power of Design: Fletcher appealed to the old adage ‘prevention is better than cure’. She highlighted that ‘eighty per cent of costs of production are choices made in design’, thus ‘design is at the start of the production chain and is the most effective, direct action you can take to influence sustainability’.

The Consumer: must become consciously, not passively engaged with garment purchase.

We must find ways to create an emotional connection with clothes.

The Doubt: The economic imperative is to grow. Growth depends on buying and selling.

The Challenge: To create a new future for ourselves. To find ways to make money in the fashion industry without selling new units. To find entirely new ways to make fashion happen.

The Style Project: inspired to engage brands, consumers and students in conscious consumerism.

*Out of the Blue Drill Hall Flea Market*

On Saturday, The Style Project ventured to Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Dalmeny Street, in search of treasurable items at bargain prices and came away with gold...

*Style Project Finds*

Paisely Print Maxi Skirt £10

100% Suede Leather Jacket £19

White Lace Dress Alla Kate Bush £12




*NEXT FLEA MARKET: SATURDAY 26TH FEBRUARY!!*

Style Project Creative Director Spins a Thread Around the Coupling of Ethics and Style

Ethical and Style are two words that are rarely put together successfully, and this is one of the main reasons why I wanted to get involved with The Style Project. Over the last decade there has been a huge surge in interest in environmental and ethical issues, but the fashion industry has not been able to balance the demand for fast-changing fashion with ethical production.

The labels that have emerged over the last few years, concerned with the production of wearable, ethically produced clothing have seen a great deal of success. However, ethical production is unavoidably more expensive, making it difficult for these labels to compete with the established high street chains. As well as being more expensive, ethical brands are not capable of the incredibly short lead times that the fickle fashion industry demands.

The Style Project aims to offer an alternative, encouraging young people to learn skills and gain knowledge that will help them to make the most out of their clothes, as well as in creating unique, fashion-forward garments without paying the price of a designer label.

I hope that the Style Project will provide a platform for the discussion of these issues and encourage young people to engage with clothes in a personal and original way.

Martha Barratt

Creative Director - The Style Project

VIPs explain why they wanted to get involved with The Style Project...and why you should too!

For me, The Style Project represents a new wave of thinking about the attainment of clothes. I’ve been shopping in charity shops and car boot sales for years now, avoiding high street shops for a number of reasons: the price, the quality and the history behind the garments (and also a minor sense of agoraphobia).

Buying a garment from one of these stores is never as satisfying as the perusal through a mismatched selection of clothes in a musty smelling shop; but what makes The Style Project even better is that it broadens the opportunities of what a garment can look like. Instead of seeing a thick wool sweater, you can now see a cardigan with customised hemming; instead of seeing baggy pair of chinos, you can now see a fitted pair of tapered leg trousers.

This is, of course, The Style Project on a superficial level. The Style Project is not only trying to promote individualism and a creative outlet in the purchase and customisation of clothes, but also is making an ethical statement that we do not need to buy so much. The recycling of old clothes is a creative way of reducing the amount of excess material that is produced and bought without the knowledge of what goes into the making of garments. It is a pioneer of what the future of style is going to be.

Adam Louis Gavshon Brady

Creative Director - The Style Project