In Bloom London

Phwoar this is a little steamy!

In Bloom. A lovely name, even lovelier undergarments. This is a brand that goes beyond the simple experience of buying an item of clothing- In Bloom empowers women as well as dresses them and one can become part of that community by purchasing one of their beautiful bras or knickers- all 100% organic cotton. Now has a store on 281 Portobello Road. Hot stuff.

MIA

At the Source EXPO, I was struck by the colour and material contrasts of Mia Nesbit’s work

and particularly enjoy her gathered and backless dresses made of old shirts and ties- I think wearing one of those would epitomise the ‘play time after work’ feeling. Her pieces fuse recycled fabrics with traditional Malawian textiles and use local Malawian labour in their creation. I am not sure the creations are for the mass market as some of them are fairly daring, however, as an observer they appear as wearable art.

My LAVUK

Always impressed with a truly desirable, yet sustainable product, I enjoyed my conversation with designer Natasha Gindin from Lavuk, based in Los Angeles. They use a range of eco-friendly materials and plant a tree for every purchase made. Charming!

The SOURCE Exposé

This Monday, I attended the SOURCE Expo: the only showcase of ethical fashion suppliers in the world. I saw a few familiar faces from my work with the Ethical Fashion Forum, but also saw a few new ones. I will highlight the ones I felt most innovative and sexy in the next few blog posts.

Meanwhile, a comprehensive description of exhibitors, seminars and speakers can be found here.

"Tweet Tweet!" It must be October.

Wowzer things have been hotting up lately. Highest temperatures in autumn for 100 years I hear you say?! You can tell it is October now as there are both blackberries and The Crack Fox (plus family) in my London garden.

I am halfway through my ‘2 half marathons in 2 weeks’ fortnight: I had a great time on the first one running with a friend the whole way. I was just pleased to make it round the course (partly thanks to blue PowerAde) having seen hundreds of people stop and walk, stop altogether or even collapsed on the side of the road due to the heat! Thank goodness it looks like things will be a little cooler for next weekend’s race. Please don’t forget to sponsor me! Every donation is much appreciated and goes towards Article 25.

Marvellous birdsong accompanies this glorious weather we are having and I have felt compelled to tweet along. This slightly excuses my pitiful recent blogging record; as an alternative I have taken to the faster-paced Twitter like a swallow swift and blue on PowerAde. You can see my tweets here.

As you will see, a lot has been going on in the world of sustainability lately. We have just had World Green Building Week, there have been protests against the increase in motorway speed limits and the mock Ecocide trial took place in the Supreme Court only yesterday.

I have been lucky enough to attend some exciting events and meet some fantastic people in the past fortnight. At a Gaia event I heard the inspirational Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of Friends of The Earth International, speak of the perils of Shell gas flaring and oil spills in Nigeria. At a Heart Of The City event I heard from the Director of Mace, who contracted the London 2012 Athletes Village construction sustainably and from the Director of BioRegional who provided the guidance on how to make it The Greenest Games Ever. At Guardian Sustainable Business Quarterly I sat cringing at the comments of L’Oreal’s Head of Sustainability on how L’Oreal products have made 40-year-old women, ‘who usually look really old’ by the way, appear much younger, in reaction to a question about how L’Oreal are dealing with the recent dig on airbrushing in their marketing campaigns.

All of this and more I am tweeting from a high-up observational perch in the sustainability tree overlooking the world. Keep your ears out people and you might just hear me.