Colours and Vibes of Mexico by way of Frida Kahlo

The Frida Kahlo effect in fashion and interior designs continues today following the successful exhibition of the iconic designer at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London last year, along with the colourful influence of Mexico.

Above: Frida Kahlo™ cushion, paper cups and plates available at Talking Tables.

From Talking Tables' Boho range of tableware and accessories comes an Aztec-inspired palette of bold, punchy brights, taking inspiration from Mexico's rich culture and history and paying homage to Frida Kahlo's brazen spirit and iconic style, with trompe l'oeil embroidery, fold-style geometrics, naïve florals and lavishly costumed llamas, as well as the artist Frida herself, emblazoned across lanterns paper plates, cups and napkins.  The Frida effect to the max.

Meanwhile London based designer and photographer Jacqui Sinnatt, founder of the St Agnes Eve brand has created a new range of silk scarves with her signature approach. The designer said her new "The Frida" silk scarf collection was created after visiting the exhibition.  She said the big, bold flowers and bright colours reflect Frida's passion for life, vibrant paintings and colourful dress style, the stone texture and border design reference Frida's disabilities and the hardship she suffered throughout her life.

These scarfs are available in four colourways: Chilli Red as shown above, as well as Tropical Orange, Sky Blue Pink and Turquoise and Lime, printed in the UK onto a light crepe de chine at 134 cm square with hand-finished hand rolled edges.  Bold statements for this summer.

Bring the vibes of Florida to your home. Wall murals by Paul Fuentes at Wallsauce

"Palm Springs Car" by Paul Fuentes at Wallsauce.com

As pink continues to be a choice of colour for interior décor, here  are inspiring images from Paul Fuentes - a graphic designer and photographer from Mexico - who has captured the unique pop-art colours and vibes of the US state of Florida with these made-to-measure wall murals available on Wallsauce.com.

"Florida" mural by Fuentes at Wallsauce.com

These wall murals by Paul Fuentes are super cool for the modern travel buff, from stylised graphics to retro scenes and  a pastel palette to set the mood.

Paul Fuentes examines the world through a surreal lens.  He first became noticed when he began sharing his abstract images of food, objects and animals on Instagram.  He has a collection of 25 murals at Wallsauce all available on a choice of wallpaper materials to suit different needs.

Luxury Sector becoming less opaque

Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London until 

1 September 2019.
  Designs by current Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri .

Photo by Lucia Carpio.

Luxury brands Gucci and Bottega Veneta are the highest scoring luxury brands reviewed  by Fashion Revolution’s Fashion Transparency Index 2019 to have made the 31-40% range of scores, and have achieved 100% on policy and commitments and governance. Chanel’s score increased by 7%, Sandro and s. Oliver by 9% and Christian Dior by almost 22%, demonstrating that for the first time ever, several major fashion brands are beginning to disclose supply chain information. Chanel also published its first ever Report to Society and s. Oliver launched a responsibility section on its website for the first time.

Only five brands (2.5% of the brands reviewed) scored zero this year, compared with nine brands (6%) last year. These are Eli Tahari, Jessica Simpson, Mexx, Tom Ford and Chinese menswear brand Youngor.  Another 10 brands are disclosing almost nothing (less than 2%), including Longchamp, Max Mara, New Yorker and several others.

“There is still a lot of work to be done”, Sarah Ditty, Policy Director and report author, cautioned, “detailed information about the outcomes and impacts of their efforts is still lacking. The average score among the biggest fashion brands and retailers is just 21%, showing that there are still far too many big brands lagging behind. Major brands are disclosing very little information and data about their purchasing practices, which means that we still don’t have visibility into what brands are doing to be responsible business partners to their suppliers.”

Fashion Revolution believes that the major fashion brands have the moral imperative and ability to effect change on a global scale for large numbers of people. Brands will also need to innovate, use fewer resources and help their customers consume less, take better care of their clothes and use them for longer if we are to tackle the climate crisis..

"To help drive this change, each year we explore a few key issues in deeper detail. This year we have  chosen 4 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that are particularly relevant and urgent for the global fashion industry to achieve by 2030 as this year’s Spotlight Issues:  SDG5: Gender Equality, SDG 8: Decent Work, SDG 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production and SDG 13: Climate Action.

Sarah Ditty concluded: “We will continue to use the Index to measure brands’ progress and help push them harder and faster towards taking on more responsibility for their policies, practices and impacts.”

Sportswear and Outdoor brands championing transparency

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity launched to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, the apparel industry is one of the culprits in causing our environmental and pollution problems, as globally a mind-boggling 73% of materials used for clothing are being sent to landfill or incinerated every year, with less than 1% being recycled to make new clothing.

Designs by Christopher Raeburn at the Jackets Required London trade show in January 2019.
The designer , a pioneer in recycling and upcycling, set up RÆBURN, a collaborative, creative fashion studio where daily design meets painstaking production, alongside monthly events, discussions and workshops.
Photo by Lucia Carpio.

Thus it is welcomed news that Fashion Revolution’s Fashion Transparency Index 2019 reveals today that three sportswear and outdoor brands are leading the way on transparency among the world’s 200 largest fashion brands and retailers by disclosing a wide range of human rights policies, commitments and outcomes, as well as who their suppliers are.

Adidas, Reebok and Patagonia each score a total 64% out of 250 possible points, followed by Esprit and H&M in the 61-70%. C&A, ASOS, Puma, Nike, Converse, Jordan, The North Face, Timberland, Wrangler, Vans and Marks & Spencer rank at the top end of the 51-60% range.

This is the first year since the Fashion Transparency Index’s inception that brands will score over 60%, showing that progressive brands are now taking real, tangible steps to disclose more about their social and environmental policies, practices and impacts.

However no brands score above the 70% range showing that there is still a long way to go towards transparency amongst all major fashion brands.

Since 2016, Fashion Revolution has tracked global brands and benchmarked their performance against five key areas: policy and commitments, governance, traceability, supplier assessment and remediation, and spotlight issues, which this year focus on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Sarah Ditty, Policy Director and report author says: “The progress we are seeing this year, coupled with the feedback Fashion Revolution has received from brands, suggests that inclusion in the Fashion Transparency Index has motivated major fashion brands to be more transparent. We are seeing many brands publishing their supplier lists and improving their scores year on year.”

Amongst the 98 brands reviewed in 2017, 2018 and again in 2019 there has been an 8.9% increase in the average score since they were first included in the Index.

11 brands have increased their scores by over 10% this year, showing significant efforts to be more transparent, and data shows that more brands are embarking on their journey towards greater transparency.

The report shows the following findings:

·         Brands are disclosing very little about their efforts to empower women and girls and achieve gender equality, despite the fact that women make up the majority of the workforce in the fashion industry from factory to shop floor.

·         Some progress has been made on disclosing equal pay policies and the gender pay gap by major fashion brands, but little is published about how brands are addressing gender-based labour violations in garment factories.

·         55% out of the 200 brands are publishing the annual carbon footprint in the company's own sites, although only 19.5% disclose carbon emissions in the supply chain – where over 50% of the industry’s emissions occur.

·         Given that major brands are expecting trust and transparency from suppliers, they too should share more information publicly about their own commitments and efforts to be responsible business partners. Only 9% of brands disclose a formal process for gathering supplier feedback on the company's purchasing practices and just 6.5% of brands publish a policy of paying their suppliers within 60 days. 

The highest scoring brands in the Spotlight Issues section this year are H&M, Adidas and Reebok, Patagonia as well as Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius and Zara (all owned by Inditex), ASOS and C&A, respectively.

Sustainability is today a buzzword in the global apparel industry; Fashion Revolution Week 2019 (22-28 April)

News that more and more global fashion brands and retailers are striving to tackle sustainability continue to emerge as we enter Fashion Revolution Week 2019 (22-28 April) which promotes greater transparency in the fashion supply chain.

London-based eco-footwear brand
Po-Zu  uses sustainable materials.
On Monday 29th April, Po-Zu founder, 
Sven Segal  will be speaking on the 
Nature Of Fashion panel, one of many events 
organised by Know The Origin for their 
Fashion Revolution 2019 pop-up shop. 
Photo by Lucia Carpio.

For one, US-based jeans brand Wrangler, owned by the VF Corp, has launched a new Made-in-USA denim collection that supports five US cotton-growing states – and takes the brand towards 100% sustainable cotton adoption by 2025.

Elsewhere, US retailer Walmart is teaming up with international bank HSBC to roll out a sustainable supply chain finance programme that pegs a supplier's financing rate to its sustainability performance.   Under the new scheme, suppliers that demonstrate progress on Walmart's Gigaton or Sustainability Index Program can apply for improved financing from HSBC based on their sustainability ratings.

Meanwhile German sportswear giant Adidas has launched a 100% recyclable performance running shoe called the Futurecraft.Loop, which is made without glue and from materials that can be broken down and reused to create a brand new running shoe.

And a company that produces sustainable textile fibres made from waste materials has raised EUR3.7m (US$4.2m) in funding from investors, including global fashion retailer H&M, to scale up production at its plant in Finland.

H&M announces bringing Product Transparency to Scale allowing customers to make informed choices.

H&M urges consumers to join its sustainable fashion future by launching transparency layer for all their garments on hm.com starting April 23.  By sharing extended details on where their garments are made they make it easier for customers to make more informed choices when shopping.

H&M's sustainable commitment began in 2013 when they were the first global fashion retailer to publish our supplier list online and starting in 2017 they tried out the transparency layer at a smaller scale on their Conscious Exclusive collections.

They are now taking this work one big leap further by launching product transparency for all garments on hm.com. In addition, the majority of H&M HOME interior products sold on their website will have this as well, according to their statement released today.

For each of their garments, H&M now share details such as production country, supplier names, factory names and addresses as well as the number of workers in the factories. In addition, customers can find out more about the materials used to make a specific garment.

“We are so proud to be the first global fashion retailer of our size and scale to launch this level of product transparency. We want to show the world that this is possible. By being open and transparent about where our products are made we hope to set the bar for our industry and encourage customers to make more sustainable choices. With transparency comes responsibility, making transparency such an important factor to help create a more sustainable fashion industry”, says Isak Roth, Head of Sustainability at H&M.

As of April 23, the transparency layer will be available in H&M’s 47 online markets. Customers can also access this information when shopping in their physical stores by using the H&M app to scan the price tag on a product to see its details.

Elegant, ethical and eco-friendly shopper baskets from Lola & Mawu

Hand-crafted baskets are all the craze.

The Bulga baskets from Lola & Mawu are hand-woven by female weaving cooperative in the Bolgatanga area, Northern Ghana.  The elegant shoppers are made from natural straw and finished with PU leather handle.

Lola & Mawu's Summer collection of Shopping Baskets are beautiful alternative to plastic bags.  They also all the boxes for ethical consumers as they are fair-trade, sustainable, and vegan.

The baskets come in a multitude of designs and various sizes, with a choice of classical natural straw or bold designs with bright colours.

Made in Ghana, these eco-friendly Bolga baskets are patiently handwoven by all-female artisan collectives. Each shopper takes three to five days to complete.

According to Lola & Mawu, an ethical décor and lifestyle brand based in London, the baskets are fair trade, and every purchase provides vital income to the makers.

Lola & Mawu is committed to working with artisans to create homeware and accessories that combine traditional techniques with modern tastes.

The name of the brand is a symbol of the partnership between Lola, who founded the company, and Mawu, the African goddess of creation.

Lola & Mawu also has a collection of Bolga baskets, made exclusively for the brand, which come in a range of fabulous colours, which can be used as planters or for storage for your craft projects, knitting, newspapers, toys or even fruit and veg.  The baskets are 100% straw and cruelty-free! (The tags are faux leather).