Wanna hang out?

Just wanted to send a quick note to let everyone know about a round table discussion happening tomorow. (Monday Nov 30th) Its a bit short notice but if your free around @5pm come stop by KHS148. Were all in the labs this time of year so make it your coffee/dinner break, you deserve it. :) Where going to watch a 10min video on free trade & garment manufacturing to get the ball rolling and then see where the conversation takes us. We'd also like to let you guys know what kind of ideas we have for Ryerson in the coming semester and we'd love your input. If you have some time & want a bit of background info check out these articles

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/fair-trade/
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_48/b4011001.htm

Don't worry if you don't read the articles, you can still come out and talk about the issues.  Bring ideas, comments, and any questions you might have.  We look forward to see you there!


xoxoxo
DesignAWEAR

Eco-Friendly Artists Selling Stuff!

F.Y.I --> From today till Sunday December 6th the One of a Kind Show and Sale is happening here in Toronto at the Direct Energy Center, Exhibition Place. Open Weekdays 11am-10pm, Saturdays 10am-9pm, Sundays 10am-6pm.

Tickets are $10-$12 (but I remember Ryerson having access to student priced tickets last year? ask around!

It’s a fun way to spend a day with friends (the event is HUGE, takes all day) and do some Christmas shopping. They have a Green Living Section at the event where different artisans and crafts-people sell eco-friendly products, many of them made locally. It includes Jack and Marjorie, Toronto designers who make sweet bags from old materials from the military. Fluf which sells prducts made from hand-printed (water-based and biodegradable inks of course) fabrics on hemp and organic cotton. A few others selling eco-friendly children’s wear, also recycled leather goods from Rachel f.. Earth to Body which sells fair trade, eco-friendly, high quality skin products with natural and organic ingredients..plus lots moreeee.

<3>

Buy Nothing Tomorrow!

I came across a blog posting today from planetfriendly.net announcing that tomorrow, Friday Nov. 27 is worldwide Buy Nothing Day. I have heared about this day before but honestly never gave it much thought because a) I never knew what day it was on and b) was just too busy to make an effort.

I don’t think these are very valid excuses, so this year I am going to attempt to resist the urge to spend for 1 day to reduce my consumption…sounds simple enough!

Buy Nothing Day has been happening since 1992 and was started by a Vancouver artist, Ted Dave. The idea is that it is an international day of protest against consumerism and a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption (65 nations now participate).

It’s a an interesting concept that promotes the idea and practice of consuming less…which is key if we hope to change the current environmental state of the world!

Wish me luck!

<3>

Ryerson has a Telio Account

Finally!

For the past few years most of us have been under the assumption that without a business account, students cannot purchase from the Montreal based wholesaler. Well, when people -*cough* designAWEAR *cough*- get talking, emails get sent, and the right people connect. In case you accidentally deleted the most  recent  Ryerson fashion news email here's the guidelines:

Open mon-fri 9-5 (closed between 12 & 1)
Télio Toronto Showroom
219 Dufferin Suite 106 A
Book appointments a few days in advance - groups of 3-5
usually 10m minimum but they'll allow 3m min for students with $8 cutting fee
$10 delivery
bring credit card
can't cut swatches of everything so bring camera
questions? contact Jessica Bundy @ 416 532 9444


Now all we need is a membership to the FTA & we'll all receive a 10% discount from Telio's variety of  organic fabrics. (tencel, bamboo, cotton, denim, woven and knits)     If you don't have time for a trip to the showroom check out the resource binder in the fashion office for swatches of some of the fabrics available.

Love Forever,
Jamie

Ya, it's happening.

So I am going to have to give a little shout out to Ryerson in this blog, as they seem to be taking some strides in the sustainability movement. This wee Professor Lu Ann Lafrenz celebrated sustainability with a class open to all students and faculty. There was the screening of "The Story of Stuff" (http://www.storyofstuff.com/), Alex Fox from the Ryerson Chapter of Engineers without Borders, and a panel of great speakers. Professor Kimberly Wahl followed the next day, with an awesome lecture on what sustainability really looks like in the fashion industry. And just to toot our own horn, designAWEAR followed Kim's lecture with a kick ass presentation...I'm just sayin'.

And finally, today, in the top floor of the HUB there is a sustainability fair. There will be a bunch of Ryerson student groups focussing on sustainability and more. So come check it out.

So Ryerson, with my cyberspace beer in hand, cheers to you.

Much Love,
Jade xo

Cocktails and Competition

If your looking for something to do this weekend you might want to check out R4 Fashion. The Eco-fashion event starts with a cocktail party, moves to a documentary screening, and ends with a competition. It's happening Friday at the Atlantis Pavilions, on Lakeshore Boulevard. The event is an initiative from Sustainable Technology Education Project (STEP) at Waterloo University. Tickets range from $25-$40 and proceeds go back to STEP to help fund future projects. (see; wind turbine on the Waterloo Campus!) For full event schedule click here or check out the R4 Fashion site for more info.

Love Forever,
Jamie

designAWEAR.... we've just spent the last few hours putting together a board for sustainability in the hub at Ryerson and finishing up our powerpoint for a class presentation.
shout outs to the team! whoot! gettin' er done!
on a more serious note, putting this stuff together has really made me realize that we have accomplished a lot. i never would have thought we'd be doing a presentation to a class as part of the course outline or have a three inch book full of suppliers that offer envrionmentally friendly fabrics... cough* stored in Lorna's office cough* it's pretty cool to be apart of!
and guess what?! you can be apart of it too!
let me count the ways.....do your own research and comment on here, visit the links to the right of this post, add to the resource binder (still looking for info on printing, papers, packaging..the more communications side of things), come to our information session on November 30 at 5pm- location to be announced!
anyways.. it's late.. the final muslin is due this week... no links today.
come stop by our table at the hub this Thursday, November 19 between 11 and 3!
night.
jen

Fashion Sustainability Class!

For those of you interested in sustainable fashion at Ryerson, in Toronto, and sustainability and fair trade in general you should attend the Intro to Fashion Sustainability class happening Tuesday, November 17^th, in LIB72 from 3:00-6:00 at Ryerson. The class is open to all faculty and students.

This special Intro to Fashion class is dedicated to all things sustainable and DesignAWEAR will be presenting info on our organization and important resources. The class will begin with a screening of the short web movie “Story of Stuff”, followed by speakers from EWB Fair Trade, a Fashion Sustainability Panel and Q&A and of course a lovely presentation from DesignAWEAR! Also, Kelly Dennen from Fashion Takes Action will be speaking.

I mean really, what more could you ask for?

Alice

Business Cards

I cant tell you how much time I spent this summer trying to find a Toronto company to print good quality business cards. I had put the search on the back-burner until today, when on the FTA website, I came across this link for the 'worlds greenest business card'. The concept behind 'greening' your business card is that if you 'talk the talk' you better 'walk the walk' meaning any eco designer or communicator should be placing importance on even the smallest detail of running their business sustainably. These cards bear the symbol of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and each batch of 500 is said to save 3 trees, 875gal of water, enough BTUs to power a house for 7 days, 211lbs of carbon emissions, and 112 pounds of solid waste. Now, i haven't placed my order yet so i cant vouch personally for the quality of the cards but they've been featured by Green Living, Metro, The Globe and Mail, Direct Marketing News, and Design Edge Canada Magazine. Plus each order results in one tree being planted by Trees Ontario who remind us to "Take a deep breath...then thank a tree."

Love Forever,
Jamie

Hey gang! I just stumbled on a wicked website that you should check out. http://www.earthpledge.org/ Earth Pledge is an organization that partners with businesses and communities to create and practice sustainability. There a bunch of websites of initiatives they have started, one being FutureFashion. This initiative has a bunch of great resources such as textile certifications and what they mean, fibers classifications, techniques and more. They also have published a book called "Future Fashion White Papers," and guess what?! You can check it out at the RYERSON LIBRARY. Yup, that is a shout out to Ryerson.

Much Love,
Jade

Ecospun Felt at Fabricland!

I popped into Fabricland at today to pick up felt for a winter coat muslin. And what did i find? Felt made from recycled pop bottles (PET)! Poly fibres made from recycled PET generally have the same performance characteristics as those made from unused resources. (wow...i actually retained something from textiles II...thanks S.T-P!) The felt is made by Eco-fi (formerly Eco-spun) and actually comes in quite a few colours. Not sure if its at all fabriclands in the GTA but i saw it at Yonge and Bloor. Thought you should know. ;)

Love Forever,
Jamie

one more time. i figured it out. thank you for your patience.

http://www.allbusiness.com/asia/japan/1097562-1.html

yeah.. that link did not work.. here goes try number 2.

am i blogger? a green one perhaps

this is my first post.
i once had a blog about 5 years ago, back during the first blog craze, but only wrote on it once. that is all. so i cannot promise i will have an obscene amount of input, but i will do my best for the sake of designAWEAR! hoorah!
i discovered something today, among many things. i am currently designing a line of womens technical apparel and let me tell you, it is difficult finding fabrics that do not destroy the world. but i came across an article about a company in japan called teijin and they recently developed an environmentally friendly waterproof and breathable fabric! the first of its kind! it's called athtoma. of course they are in japan, so i won't be able to access it, but still it's in the right direction. teijin has worked closely with patagonia, the leader in wicked awesome outerwear in making their garment recycling possible and other things like that. so it's sweet!

here is the like for the teijin article (if i can make it work) should anyone be interested. it is exciting.. so be interested.
(i will warn you, the site is quite dull, but get passed it and read the words)

thanks all
jeno