hippyshopper

Cheap organic bags (and a whole lot more)

These here organic cotton shopping bags are going for £11 in Bishopston Trading's summer sale. They're just one of Bishoptston's dozens of products - clothes, homeware, kids stuff - made from organic cotton grown in north India and stitched together by a well-paid bunch of tailors in south India. UK West Country denizens can head down to one of the eco-tailer's five shops, or you can order via email from the company's website.

Super recycled saris

Despite being an open-minded bloke, I don't quite have the metrosexual Beckham swagger required to wear a sari, let alone a sky-blue jacket made from recycled saris. I do have several ladyfriends, however, who have already swooned over this 1950's-style quilted number made by Sari from vintage saris. It's not cheap at £178 (£185 inc delivery) but it is unique, gorgeous, encourages recycling and is made by a company that gives ten per cent of its profits to a rotating group of childrens' charities. Sari also does nifty handbags and lampshades made from recycled saris and reclaimed wood. Peruse for yourself at Sari Couture. [found via Anti-Apathy]

Tees: hummers are a bummer

Nope, this t-shirt's not made from organic cotton. It's not hemp either. Bamboo? Er, no. It is, however, made in America - not a sweatshop - and comes replete with a very simple message. As its maker, Fat American, puts it: "There is no justification for buying a vehicle like this [the Hummer H2]. H2 owners have no regard for their fellow man, the environment, or our troops who are giving their lives to secure Iraqi oil" (a sentiment taken a step further here). The tee's one of several eco and ethical-minded slogan shirts that you can import for £10 from Fat American's online store.

New eco-tailor on the block

Check this girl out. She's about 5 years old and is already doing her bit to save the planet by wearing this £45 tunic dress made from 55 per cent hemp (a green, usually chemical-free material) and 45 per cent PET (recycled plastic bottles). The dress is one of several dozen organic cotton and hemp outfits for kids and adults from the newest eco fashion shop on the block - By Nature. For blokes, there's a cool hemp shirt; for ladies, there are some pretty hip tank tops (if that's not an oxymoron. I'm sure tank tops are back in fashion, no?). The site's also home to some superb homeware products that'll be appearing here shortly.

American Apparel expands, adds organic

If you've not seen American Apparel's clothes, chances are you've read about them. American is the company that says "our goal is to make garments that people love to wear without having to rely on cheap labor". It's the fashion label that actually makes clothes in America - central Los Angeles - rather than a sweatshop in China. The good news is that it's expanding in the UK and has just launched a 100 per cent organic cotton range. The new shop opens in Shoreditch on 8th August, and the organic stuff is called the Sustainable Edition and consists of splendid tees, vests (trainspotters will note the Rib Boy Beater Tank modelled in the photo), absurdly cute baby hats and thongs that would do Rio beach proud. If you're outside London, you can order from American Apparel's online shop.

Tantrum recycling (and organic tees for kids)

Squint a bit - or be all twenty-first century by clicking on the image - and you'll catch the sassy slogan on this kids t-shirt from HUG. "I recycle my tantrums" is one of Hug's very cool new range of Little Green Radicals tops for 0-6 year olds, in amongst other natty designs such as "I only eat organic turnips", "wind farm" and "vocal in the fight against noise pollution". In addition to the eco messages, the tees are all made from organic cotton. Personally, I'd like a version that's suitable for 25-35 year olds. In the meantime, these ones cost around £15-17 each and come in lots of different purty colours. HUG's website. [Also worth a look for organic cotton kids' clothing - Tatty Bumpkin]

Bespoke vegan shoes

I've extolled the virtues of trendy veggie footwear before (story here), but these girlie Ghillie ones from Green Shoes go one further - they're vegan. Yep, the leap I've failed to take because I love halloumi too much. As well as being animal product-free, these handsome Devonshire cuties come bespoke - you can pick the colour, sole, width and length. They're yours for £82, or £88 if you're size 6 to 11.5. You can order via phone or mail order - details are on Green Shoes' website.

Diva-friendly recycled bags

Take one 1960s' tablecloth, one 1950s' bedspread and vintage earing, one portion of 1990s' fabric, add a leather belt and what do you get? Spotters' badges to everyone who guessed the 'Gallon sack' in the picture. It's just one of several dozen gorgeous, fairly hippyish recycled bags by the insanely talented Margaret Prodanov. This particular handbag can be found in the pint&gallon/cream green flower bag section of her site - and you can buy it for around £80 plus postage. Salvationsacks' website.

Organic baseball tee

£22 to you, guv. One hundred per cent organic cotton, brand new, exclusively available in red or blue. Now that's what I'd say if I was flogging this to you at a street market down London town. As it happens, I'm not. However. Organic clothing etailer, Terramar, is selling the #7000 Baseball Shirt along with a dozen other t-shirts and hoodies for men, women and kids. All its clothes are made from organic cotton - which, as Terramar points out, is usually softer than the chemically-grown variety - plus the range is  apparently made by workers paid a proper wage. There's no official FairTrade stamp or equivalent ethical badge, so you'll have to take Terramar's word for it. As well as the UK online shop, there are European and US versions on Terramar's website.

Soapbox organic tees

I know, I know, I've banged on about Howies' organic streetwear before. But in this case, I figure you really can't have too much of a good thing - I've just got my hands on this Oil War t-shirt made from 100 per cent unambiguous political statement and organic cotton. As well as looking superb, it feels lovely - thick and soft - is well cut and includes welcome details such as an externally stitched label. It's one of a range of 14 politically-minded tees that include anti-GM, anti-obesity and - the ones I'm not mad on - painfully anti-American designs. You can buy at Howies online store for £25 each (S/M/L/XL) or from various stockists across the UK.

Send tips, win an organic tee!

You read it right - this is your chance to win one of the best-designed organic t-shirts that money can buy. Every time you email Hippy Shopper a tip, you'll earn yourself the chance to win a fantastic organic cotton t-shirt  from Glo4Life. There are some testimonies to how good the tees are over here. So email me when you see any green or ethical products, events and services and you could win! The 5 best tips sent between June and end of July will each win a tee - I'll email the winners to ask for sizes (design and colours depend on stock at Glo4Life).

Gorgeous organic vintage

If you're constantly sniffing around charity shops, warehouse shows and trendy markets in the hunt for vintage clothes, call off the search - I've found the perfect home for you. It's a label called Enamore, and it uses recycled materials and eco-friendly materials to make girly vintage outfits such as the unique skirt on the left. This one's for skinny girls only - it's size 6-8 - and the price tag is a meaty £110 but it looks superb and is lined with a hemp/ramie (China grass) fabric. Enamore also has a fine selection of floaty dresses, figure-hugging tops, showy dresses and a couple of cool coats for sale on its website. Plus you can buy from stockists (again, listed on Enamore's site) in Somerset, Belfast, Newquay and Brighton.                                                                                                                  

Hemp hoodies

Hoodies don't look like they're going to be dropping off the agenda any time soon, so I thought I'd shamelessly jump on the bandwagon with these tasty hemp ones. They're sold by the Natural Collection which, sadly, doesn't have a store in Bluewater. In addition to looking cool - in a safe, Gap-ish kinda way - they have impeccable green and ethical credentials. Green because hemp's tough and can be grown without chemiclas; ethical because they're made in good conditions in Romania, one of the poorest countries in Europe. You can buy a black or natural (pictured) one for £40.

Solar watches minus tacky plastic

Most solar-powered watches tend to the plasticky sports end of the chrono rainbow. Happily, there are exceptions to the rule, such as these two Citizen Eco Drives. They'll never need a battery and both look nice, even if the blokes' one does have a chintzy City boy strap. They work via a photovoltaic solar cell behind the dial that powers the watch's rechargeable battery - broadly similar to the tech in bags like this and this. Citizen says you'll get a "lifetime's use" from the battery, which - when fully charged - should run without light for somewhere between 45 days and 5 years. In another words, you're fine unless you live in a dungeon. As well as these designs (the £270 BL8000-03A, right, and the £130 EG2100-55E, left) Citizen flogs several dozen Eco Drive styles. Have a look on eBay - there were 92 Eco Drives for sale when I searched today. [found via Treehugger]

Wacky washing powder alternative

A box of these UFO-shaped Eco Balls turned up in the post last week, so I switched off my snakeoil radar and started using them to wash my clothes. The balls apparently produce ionized oxygen which in turn causes a chemical reacton with water, thus removing dirt from your laundry. How they work is beyond my GCSE science, but work they do - at least in my experience - removing light stains and generally proving as effective as Ecover washing powder. For £35 and a claimed lifetime of 1,000 washes, they also compare favourably against £6 for a box of Ecover that'll manage about 25 washes. There are, however, a couple of caveats. The balls don't leave your clothes with a nice/unpleasant (delete according to your preference) washing powder fragrance  and they also make a bit of a racket bouncing around in the machine (about the same noise level as washing a pair of trainers). They're available online from The Insight EcoStore.

Bong! Hemp bag that looks good!

Hemp, as even monkish politicians know, is what we call pot when we're not smoking it. It's green because it's tough and doesn't need loads of chemicals to make it grow, and it's cool because it can be spun into funky £12.50 shoulder bags like this one (pictured). It's one of 60 handsome bags sold by PureSativa, along with over a dozen wallets, purses, baseball caps and a bum bag that dare not speak its name (it's labelled a 'wasit bag'). You can, of course, also order multiple bongs, vaporisers and 'smoking accessories' from PureSativa, too. Orders are via email or calling 0208 964 1717.

Organic ice cream tees

Until I stumbled across Ben & Jerry's website today, I had no idea the beardie ice cream makers were also a couple of eco-warriors. They're doing a lot of green good, including selling organic cotton T-Shirts such as this Woody Jackson-designed one. Personally, I'm not mad on the design - you'd look a bit like a walking ad for Ben & Jerry's - but £15 including delivery is mighty cheap for an organic tee. If you're 18-25, you should also hop over to B&J's Climate Change College - your chance to become a global warming ambassador (it's in conjunction with the WWF). Last but not least, the eco dessert duo have a useful beginner's site on the dangers and prevention of global warming.

Superfly recycled flip-flops

I know the hot weather over the bank holiday was probably the end of the British summer, but my eternal optimist is going to order a pair of these recycled flip flops anyway. They're made in the US by Splaff from recycled race car tyres, old bike inner tubes, regupol and hemp. There's not much to report, except that they look great, come in three different styles and cost roughly £20. Join me in the hope of more sunshine and order a pair online.

 

Luxury eco-ethical clobber

You gotta love a fashion label that recommends wearing coats with nothing underneath and also produces organic leather certified to Soil Association standards. Gotta love it, provided you're gilded or spend most of your cash on clothes. Romp's only mens' garment currently on sale, a waistcoat, is going for a cool £49,000. The classic womens' raincoat in the picture, however, is a relative snip at £745. In fairness to Romp, its womens' clothes do look superb and the company's commitment to"good animal husbandry, environmental respect and civlised labour law" win it plenty of greenie points. You can buy bespoke and pret-a-porter stuff online and in Dublin and London. [found via Treehugger]
 

Terrific tarpaulin bags

HippyShopper's not become The Bag Lady this week - I just seem to have been deluged by very cool-looking green bags! These Freitag ones are made from used tarpaulin, seatbelts and inntertubes - all sewn by happy folks in Switzerland, Portugal and Tunisia. The four pictured are the Laura (handbag), Donna (sadly, there's no Tracey or Sharon. This one's a shopping bag), Cooper (a bigger, 23.9litre shopping bag) and Bob (shopping bag with a satchel carry option). You can buy online or in person if you live in London or Liverpool.

Sloane ranger eco bag

I know I'm not the target audience for this Redizioni shopping bag because its £225 price tag makes me blanch. Once I've got my colour back, however, I can't help but love it - it's a simple but very, very handsome design. It gets its eco points by being made from old textile scraps, although it is also partly made from plastic. You can order one online or buy it at a Conran shop. Or you could check out this (far cheaper) recycled Wayne Hemmingway bag instead.

Fully organic tees

Being a bloke and shopping for well-designed organic clothes can be a depressing business - most are aimed at women, with a few happy exceptions. New to that list of exceptions is glo 4life and its superb 100% organic cotton tees. They're made by a husband and wife team - one a product designer and one a graphic designer. The result is eight very cool illustrations in four colours, available online for £25 each + P&P. Added goodness: the organic cotton's certified by Skal, the company takes an "ethical, environmental and social stance in all it's proposed business activities" and - the deal-maker - the labels are stitched onto the outside instead of the inside.

[found via Treehugger]
 

Happy campers

In my little, highly subjective book, a pair of Campers are about as cool as a pair of Hi-Tecs. I'm an open-minded soul, though, so these Wabi Campers might be the pair to change my opinion - apparently they're more recyclable than most shoes. Camper says the secret is that most shoes are made up of 40 components compared to the Wabi's three.  There are 7 different types in the newest range - 3 that look like the sort of jelly shoes my aunties used to wear at the beach and 4 flip-floppish ones. There's more info on Camper's (highly annoying, Flash-heavy) site here; you can order them online from Camper's 'e-shop'.

[Thanks, Janelle]

Organic outfits for sproggs

Considering how much organic baby stuff you can buy off the peg - food, clothes, bathing bits - there's not a massive amount for young kids. Which is why is one of the reasons I love Tatty Bumpkin, a purveyor of very cool, colourful and 100% organic cotton kids clothes for sproggs aged 1 to 7. The dyes used are enzyme-free, plus the clothes are designed to stand up to the sort of activities you see in Persil ads - football, rolling around in the garden, eating like an animal etc. The ranges varies from skirts, trousers and hoodies to accessories, pyjamas and tees (such as the £15 orange one, pictured). Have a look for yourself over here.

Bagsy some solar - part II

Well, what do you know? Solar bags are like buses - you wait an age for one and then two turn up at once. And while this one doesn't accept Oyster cards or have a gaggle of kids causing trouble inside it, it does charge gadgets via solar panels, adapters and a built-in rechargable battery. In fact, Eclipse Solar Gear's solar-powered bags look very similar to Voltiac Systems' dead impressive one. The main difference is that Eclipse's bags are much cheaper at £70+shipping, though the solar panels on its bags  appear to be smaller (and presumably take longer to charge your electronic toys). Eclipse is also about to start flogging a satchel-style Messenger Bag (pictured) in addition to its existing backpack.

Recycled high couture

Trashback - not to be confused with Nathan Barley's Trashbat -  has just unveiled its summer 2005 collection. The high fashion label's an expert at making new clothes from old, and this new range is no exception - it's inspired by patchwork and uses old track suits, trench coats and checked material. The clothes are mostly womenswear, though there is also a smaller selection of mens' bits. Like TRAID and Howies, Trashback's stuff is definitely a case of well-made, good-looking fashion that incidentally happens to be green and ethical. Go buy from Question Air in Notting Hill (about halfway down the page on this link).

Ms Bono's green outfits

The first lady of stadium rock, Ali Hewson, has just launched her own "ethically-made" fashion label - and it looks pretty good. It's called Edun (nude - nudE? - backwards) and is definitely aimed more at the Jimmy Choo sandal brigade than the hemp sandal troop. The ethical part is that the people making the range (in Peru and South Africa, amongst others) get paid a decent wage. UK style mavens should head down to Selfridges on Oxford Street, while Stateside hipsters will find Ali's stuff in Saks Fifth Avenue.

EcoBay & Bayraider

I love eBay, even if I have accidentally bought several boxes of tat in the past simply because of impulsive bidding. So it's with glad tidings - and a slight anxiety about accruing more tat - that I tell you about Shiny's newest blog, Bayraider. It's an A-Z of the zany cool stuff on eBay and it features a life-size Yoda, so it's alright by me. In honour of Bayraider and the joys of eBay, I've fished out a link to one of the many green gadget bargains that can be had - in this case, a Seiko Sportura Kinetic. Its green because it runs on perambulation power - you'll never need to replace the battery - and it's currently a bargain at £36 (the usual price is £550). It happens to look bloody gorgeous, too.

Very nice vegan Vans

In bygone days, I bought Vans' trainers in the vain hope of looking like a skater dude (I can't board to save my life). These days, I still buy them in an attempt to look like a skater but also because I've discovered all its shoes are made from vegan materials. Whether you're into the vegan thing for the ethics or the green thing - or both for that matter - Vans has some damn fine shoes, and it's just brought out its summer 05 range. I'm loving the gloriously look-at-me Geoff Rowley Slims (pictured - £60 from Kates Skates) but there's also plenty of more cool, conservative stuff like the brown Escobar Espressos. For the veggie shoe-minded, Vegetarian Shoes is also well worth a look.

Organic skater clothes

There's a lot of impressive indie fashion coming out of the UK right now, but the new stuff from Howies is easily some of the coolest of 2005. That most its clothing happens to be made out of organic cotton is, of course, a very big bonus. The new boys and girls range has everything from boxers, slogan tees and shirts (such as this £45 Ernie one, pictured) to hoodies, waterproofs and bags. I particularly like the organic denim jeans and the jumpers made from 100% recycled cotton. Have a look for yourself on the Howies website.

Organic Tesco cotton for junior

Good news for Mums and Dads watching the pennies - Tesco's just started selling babywear made from 100% organic cotton.  The clothes are made by Green Baby, who've been in the business of selling organic outfits to chubby-faced British kids for six years, so it should be good quality stuff as well as cheap. The range is being stocked in 40 stores - see if there's one near you here.

Nike's ethical shoes

No, we've not turned into The Onion for the day - Nike really has released a range of greener and more ethically-sourced shoes. It's called Nike Considered, and consists of five pieces of footwear - a boot, climbing shoe, trainer, open-backed trainer and sandals - designed by Richard Clarke. Apparently the shoes are easier to recycle, solvent use is reduced by over 80% compared with Nike’s "typical products" and all the materials are sourced within 200 miles of the unnamed factory. Nike also reckons the Boot, Rock and Gem shoes create 63% less waste than a comparable Nike light hiking shoe. All of which is commendable whatever you think of Nike, but does beg the question: how much chemical crap is it sticking in its "typical products"? And more importantly, why does most of the range - with the exception of the pretty cool Gem shoe, pictured - look so damn hippyish? The boot and rock shoe are on sale from Footpatrol in the UK.

Veggie trainers

Down in Brighton at the weekend, we rediscovered Vegetarian Shoes, a brilliant shop that's been around now for 15 years. The name refers not to the eating habits of the shoes themselves - though, so far as we know, there may be a few carnivorous loafers amongst them - but to the fact that the shoes are all made without leather and any other animal materials. We picked up the olive and red version of these brown Puma-esque trainers for £55 and haven't stopped wearing them since. The shop also sells everything from sneakers and sandals to boots and high heels online.