Africa · Eco-Chick

Browsing all posts tagged with Africa

Fairtrade Della Bags Connects Online Shoppers with the Women of HoeHoe, Ghana

Della Bags are a perfect compliment to this Summer and Autumn’s mad-plaid pattern-on-pattern trends. Well executed, with colorful, African-inspired motifs, they are quick and inexpensive anecdote to The Boring Tote, but crafted with a simple shape and strap so all the busyness is self-contained in a basic package, which is the key to working with extravagant colors and patterns.

Each bag is signed on the inside of the strap by one of the women-artisans of HoeHoe, Ghana who made it. This direct trade project enables the women who sew the bags to “gain financial independence by providing jobs, education, and skill training.” All the hobo bags (pictured here, and see more colors and patterns on the Della site) are made with vegan, sustainable, West African textiles.

accessories, Africa, bags, eco fashion, fairtrade, Fashion, trade not aid

Sustainable Style Makeover: African-Inspired Graphic Prints

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by Greta Eagan · 03/03/10

Style story: Why does this winter feel so long…? We are ready for the fresh bright prints of spring- and in many combinations. Get ready to play with different patterns and strike a careful balance of contrast and compliment with these bold prints. Keep the shoes and accessories neutral or slightly interesting with subtle pops of color.

Green story: Molly Sims looked absolutely stunning outside the DVF show during NYFW 2010, and you can get the look from ethical fashion label Suno. Suno produces their designs and patterns in New York and then works with a local group of talented artisans in Kenya to produce the garments- promoting fair working conditions, and social and economic growth.

Check out more Sustainable Style Makeovers on Fashion Me Green.

Africa, eco fashion, Fashion, Kenya, New York Fashion Week, sustainable

Eco Chick’s Heroines for the Planet: Danielle Nierenberg

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by Stephanie Rogers · 03/01/10

If it’s true that there are sayers and there are doers, Danielle Nierenberg falls firmly into the latter camp. Danielle is currently traveling through sub-saharan Africa to highlight stories of hope and success in sustainable agriculture and blogging about it at WorldWatch.org.

A Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute and co-Project Director of State of World 2011: Nourishing the Planet, Danielle is a widely cited expert in sustainable agriculture issues and the spread of factory farming. She knows better than most of us how our eating habits affect the world, and the experiences she shares on her blog will blow you away.

So of course, Danielle fits right in as an Eco Chick Heroine for the Planet! I talked to her about women in agriculture, global food issues and what we can all do to help.

SR: We were surprised to learn through your blog, Nourishing the Planet, that 80% of sub-Saharan farmers in Africa are women and that women make up the majority of farmers worldwide. What are some of the unique problems that female farmers face?

DN: Although women produce most of the food and raise most of the livestock in Africa, they rarely have access to land tenure, credit, agricultural extension services, and are under-represented in farmers groups, associations, unions. But by increasing women’s participation and representation in these groups, women and men farmers alike can work together to improve gender awareness, as well as improve their access to loans and agricultural inputs and land tenure. As a result, women are able to earn a greater income, which translates into better nutrition for their families. But womens voices often go unheard, or even ignored, and that has to change.

Africa, agriculture, Food, interview

A.D. Schwarz's African-Inspired Jewelry Debuts at Linhardt Studio in NYC

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by Starre Vartan · 07/20/09

Bracelets from the A.D. Schwarz collection; made from sustainably-harvested wood from Mozambique.

Clearly, the perfect Summer bracelet is elusive; tennis bracelets are pretty but boring (and where DO those diamonds come from?). Bangles after a few hours always manage to become awfully….bangly. Charm bracelets are only for days when you’re feeling charming, really. (And in the heat of the season, that is less and less likely.) But what about when you want some serious sleek, some sublime simplicity, something singular that nobody else is rocking?

The debut collection by A.D. Schwarz makes a great case for the revival of modern urban safari chic that has stayed with us the past few seasons (for good reason; styles and fabrics that work on the plains and in the forests of Africa also tough it out beautifully in the urban jungle).

The collection is not only eminently wearable (see eco model Summer Rayne Oakes below, who sported the bracelet at the top of the page, unforch just outside the image) it has that always-cool intensity which works as well with a crisp white short-sleeve shirt as it does with a hippie-print maxi-dress.

The line is almost as guilt-free as a green tea Pinkberry as it is made in Mozambique by a local worker’s cooperative from sustainably harvested wood. Now available at the Linhardt Studio in NYC. Lindhardt specializes in ethically-made jewelry and A.D. Schwarz is the latest addition to the creative and conscious jewelery there.

Summer Rayne Oakes at the A.D. Schwarz party; Summer helped bring the line to NYC.

Outside the Linhardt Design Studio, opening night for A.D. Schwarz’s line

Close-up of the gorgeous wooden cuff from the A.D. Schwarz collection at Linhardt Studio

Handmade decorative wooden plates are also part of the A.D. Schwarz collection

Africa, Mozambique, plates, Summer Rayne Oakes, wood

Green Sheep of the Bush Monarchy? “Lauren Pierce” Launches Eco-Fashion Line

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by Arina Vikdorchik · 10/13/08

Lauren (Bush) and (David) Lauren

Twenty-four-year-old Lauren Bush let the word out in September that she’s launching an eco-friendly fashion line, although her decision to name the line Lauren Pierce has raised some eyebrows.

But for George Bush’s neice, it’s probably not easy being green when someone like Robert F. Kennedy states that your uncle “George W. Bush will go down as the worst environmental president in U. S. history”! And Lauren Bush isn’t alone in having different strokes from her politically high profile family folks. Just look at Newt Gingrich’s activist sister Candace.

But I give Lauren Bush “cool” points for her principled achievements. As an anthropology student at Princeton University in 2005, Lauren went to Chad as a student ambassador for the United Nations’ The World Food Programme.

In 2007, Lauren Bush designed a bag for FEED Projects, which she started with Ellen Gustafson, a former UN Communications Officer. This raised recognition and over 5 million dollars for the UN World Food Programme. A portion of each “FEED 1” bag sold brings hope of an education to an underprivileged child and supplies him/her with meals for an entire school year. Each “FEED 100” bag (available at Wholefoods) provides 100 meals to children in Rwanda. Many celebrities have been caught rooting for the FEED bags, like Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross and Lauren Bush’s friend- PETA activist Elizabeth Berkley.

Lauren Bush is a serious Fashion Diva, as her modeling has been featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines, and with Tommy Hilfiger, Abercrombie & Fitch, Isaac Mizrahi and Gai Mattiolo. She is signed with Elite Model Management- the agency that America’s Next Top Model winners sign with. Although Lauren’s degree is from Princeton, she also studied fashion design at Parsons The New School for Design in NYC and Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London.

I find it interesting that Lauren’s taste for fashion and eco-adventure extends to her personal relationships. She’s now dating…

Africa, designers, ecofashion