The name of the Parisian fashion label refers to article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that says:
“(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.”

The designers from Article 23 not only take to heart, what the United Nations couched in 1948, they also walk the talk. The collection-pieces are made from 100% organic fabric and are sewed within a development aid- program in the Slums of South India. The sewing-manufactory already employed 250 women who escaped from terrible social and economic circumstances. The women not only get fairly paid, they as well get schooling and education as secure housing and living space. Combined with the designs from Article 23, the evolving collections do not only meet the qualitative and aesthetic expectations of the modern fashion market - they can also be marked with a label of extra merit regarding materials and production.

Inspired by the glamorous golden twenties the spring/summer collection of Article 23 builds a bridge from then to now. First-class materials like jersey, silk, satin, cotton and poplin are felicitously mixed and vitalize the collection that is kept in white, black and red. This is how modern fair trade fashion looks. Keep in mind! Buy!

Photo credits: Article 23

Enamore do stuff for under and over, above and underneath for top and for bottom - Enamore is absolutely nothing for faint-hearted but definitely (the right thing) something to fertile your dude´s imagination. Optically it doesn´t hurt - haptically it might be beneficial that the vintage-inspired small pieces are made from organic materials like hemp, silk and soy and are manufactured in mother country United Kingdom. Dot.End. Done. The photos speak volumes. Exclamation mark!

Photo credits: Enamore

Grey, straight cut, frontprint. A T-Shirt “exclusively” designed for an unnamed client by the Berlin online shop Quartier-Deluxe. Better: 5€ per sold T-Shirt are donated to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that stands up for saving the rain forest. In the press release is written: A highlight for all fashion-enthusiasts, that like to show off both - a sense for hip and current fashion and ecological awareness. Responsibility proves taste and taste has to be shown!
Tssssss….don´t exaggerate. In fact, the T-Shirt is no artistic masterstroke but nice to see. Grey is the new black - especially in Berlin where people combine it with an adequate scarf. It´s questionable, if I will ever stand in a club with a striking “I saved a tree” on my breast, but though, I honor the “good deed” and regard the selling price of 25 € for very acceptable. At the end, there´s only one more soft-spoken question… did Quartier Deluxe bear in mind to produce in an ethical and ecological exemplary way, did they use organic cotton, did they check production preconditions or….

Photo credits: Quartier Deluxe

High spirits dresses out of the recycling pot. Already in 1997 (more than 10 years ago) the London based designers Orsola de Castro und Filipo Ricci started with their small label “From Somewhere” to develop fancy collections from industrial waste-products. Therewith the designers pole position in recycling-heaven should be save. The colorful patchwork dresses of the spring/summer collection evolve from sewing fabric remnants and second quality fabrics in an artistic manner. The cuts are clear and pure, the fabrics bright and joyous. Soon the dresses will be available in the “From Somewhere” Online Store - then, nothing stands in the way for the summer-sun-dresses-pleasure.

Photo credits: From Somewhere

When I think of social fashion projects, inevitably images of grandma´s knitgroup and their christmasbazars or woven, gaudy textiles in Third-World Stores cross my mind - The social fashion-project Affentor disabuses me in having nothing in common with that.
Themed with “Holly Golightly meets Mary Quant” the label Affentor shows a high quality, well elaborated und at the same time enchanting beautiful spring/summer bag collection, composed of laptop-, pouch-, handle- and tote-bags for ladies and gentlemen. Alone, the collection is mentionable - especially the notebook bags are outstanding beautiful, but if you pay attention to the fact, that but that there´s a exciting social-fashion project behind Affentor it makes the brand even more attractive and recommendable.

In 2001, Eve Merceron and Christian Jungk founded Affentor based on the idea that emerging designers should be supported in producing and merchandising their products. But Affentor is way more than an umbrella brand for young designers pieces - Germ cell from Affentor is the socially conscious project run by the non-profit organization Werkstatt Frankfurt. Affentor, which developed out of the Werkstatt Frankfurt sewing workshop, offers long-term unemployed people the opportunity to become qualified in fashion-sewing, and consequentially improve their changes to find reemployment. The in-house workshops produce items designed by emerging designers, who have been selected on the basis of their creative merit. The sustainable concept is fulfilled by the use of fabric remains and old drapery stockings for limited editions and unicums and shows, how fashion biz could work it out for better.
Affentor embraces the philosophy that there should be a more conscious attitude towards social and ecological issues in regard to individual consumer patterns and the fashion world as a whole. When style does good - it´s Affentor!

Photo credits: Affentor

Gym teacher Bernd Dörr is the only one who make bags from recycled sports equipment leather and gym mats. His new brand “Zirkeltraining” (Ciurcit Training) is since October 2007 on the market and was presented on the “Blickfang” in Tokyo. Retro gym teacher reinforced his efforts about the gym equipment, so the collection grew bigger with models like handstand, crouch, roll, pommel horse and buck. Every piece is handcrafted and unique, extreme resistant, carries sweat - inducing and informatory memories with it and is not only interesting for sport freaks.

You can buy “Zirkeltraining^TM” in selected bag shops in Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Japan and Austria. My personal favorite is the laptop sleeve made from old gymnastic mats. It brings my first kiss on my mind. In second grade. Covert. In the room for gymnastic mats at elementary school. Do you think, the bags smell like these old gymnastic mats? Mmmhhh…I should feel it out…

Photo credits: Zirkeltraining

In the Abteil atelier in Stuttgart, Germany, new and recycled truck tarpaulins, air mattresses, mail bags and other inventive materials are used to craft high quality, handmade bags in various designs and sizes. There are day and night bags, bags for notebooks, bags for travelling and for shopping. Custom orders are also always possible. On the photos, there are the shopping-bags made from new truck tarpaulins, with a special latch, two small pockets and one pocket for mobile phones, and…last but not least, a carabiner for keyrings. Huuuu….they produced with brain! Here, you can get the perfect citytravelbeach-companions.

Photo credits: Abteil

Eco-Fashion, green fashion, g-living and green lifestyle - terms that have its source in the LOHAS Community (”Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability”) and mark a trend that conquered the key markets tourism, trade, food and health by storm. Especially in fashion it´s nearly impossible to elude this subject. Reason enough to set up the category “eco-fashion” on what´s wrong with the zoo. But, before starting with the clubbers, we make an excursion into the terms of LOHAS, to understand, why not only emerging designers and small labels, but also the big brands hit the roads to the “political correct” way of producing and selling. Today: the megatrend “LOHAS”

“Lohas are individualists- sometimes also characterized as moral hedonists - that on the one hand live and consume in a conscious, sustainable way, and on the other hand merge with their lifestyle the so far conflicting wants like sustainability and indulgence, environmental orientation and design, ethics and luxury.” (Source: Understanding the LOHAS Lifestyle, By Laura Everage)

Environmental concerns, human health, and human rights do not completely describe the LOHAS consumer. The definition continues, “The holistic world view of the LOHAS consumer is a belief in the interconnectedness of global economies, cultures, environments, and political systems, as well as the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit within individuals in order to achieve full human potential. Personal development is of outmost concern to LOHAS consumers. Spirituality is no longer relegated to the New Age periphery but has immigrated to the center.” As opposed to a typical demographical group defined by age, income, or other definitive means, the LOHAS consumer cuts across those boundaries and is representative of more “higher-being” ideals. Their social consciousness, rather than their generation or socioeconomic status defines these LOHAS consumers, thereby posing unique challenges for retailers seeking to market to them.”

This is the first global lifestyle that came across the US to Europe and registers a growing amount of followers. This is not only concerning authors and journalists - also in economics and trend-scouting there have been a lot of researches, writings and discussions until the scientists and researcher came to the conclusion that the LOHAS are neither empirically measurable as a generation or a social milieu, nor by a political orientation - but still are the economical “Megatrend”.
According to the last year study “target group LOHAS” by German future institute, LOHAS are so called “cultural creatives” that rather want to be involved in an active way than to be persuaded only to by a product. Purchasing criterias are no longer status and luxury symbols, LOHAS care more about Design and positive product experiences. To make it short: It´s all about values like quality, aesthetics and sustainability. The “more” is no more important, the “better” counts.

In Europe and the US, the LOHAS market is to be projected at 63 million (30 percent) and culminates in the euphorical forecast that in a few years, nearly the half US- and European population is part of the LOHAS community. PUUUUh..sit down, take a breath. Lots of information all of a sudden!

I, for my part discover some LOHAS-lineaments in my personal lifestyle and consumer behavior, but I definitively DON´T order a LOHAS-Shirt from one of the numerous offerers. I would never describe me as a LOHAS - maybe, because I usually avoid hooking up with movements and communities or maybe, I just don´t want to be part of a “megatrend” target group. In general, I have a lot of sympathy for the approach to live and consume in a sustainable way and I like a lot, that themes like “economic correctness”, “justice” and “sustainability” are touched on consumers and producers consciousness. …but to be honest…I miss the depth, I miss more critical voices and I hope, that consumers will be not satisfied with a simple “eco” sticker on the new bought shirt. Especially in fashion industry it will be a long, rocky way …