Frames From Recycled Tin

Artists Margaret Taylor and Simone Wilson make a variety of folk art and home furnishings from reclaimed and re-constructed materials which are sold through Miss Taylor’s Atlanta-based company, dryads dancing.
The one-of-a-kind, pastel quilted tin frame pictured is made from antique ceiling tin, house molding and beaded board.
available in pink, blue, or green and various sizes up to 16×20″ priced ranging from $38 to $250 @ dryadsdancing.com

Time to Sit on the Floor

Does your back ever begin to crinch after spending time on the computer? Check out these low-rider, funky, eco-friendly rockers that find your own, unique balance point. These are all constructed of FSC-certified wood, natural latex, organic cotton and steel screws, with hemp twine used in assembly and a recycled paper instruction manual.

The Bean Rocker Series is a family of bean-inspired, body conscious, low rocking seats designed with balanced posture and ease of breathing in mind.

It just might be time to get out of your high-chair and onto the floor.

comes in 4 sizes in green, chocolate or black prices range from $150 to $250. Find them at koend.com

San Diego Shop Sets the Pace with Trendsetting Eco Chic Boutique

SAN DIEGO – MAY 1, 2008 – Factory Vintage Store in San Diego, California is an eco friendly boutique that brings a whole new edge to green fashion and art. “We wanted to start out by making it easily accessible to everyone, so this way our eco conscience shoppers can walk or ride their bikes if they want.” say’s owner Sean Leonard. In order to this, they moved their shop to Bay Park right next to San Diego bike paths and just a mile down the road from the Old Town Trolley and Transit Station. It is safe to say that at Factory Vintage, location is only where their revolutionary concepts begin. After a brief look around the store, it becomes apparent that this independent San Diego shop might have a few things that they could teach the big boys.

Factory Vintage is located of Moreno Rd, in a space in that used to be an old warehouse and Dive shop. The store preserved much of the raw vintage warehouse feel yet stepped it up a notch by interlacing it with recycled fixtures, light boxes, organic displays and natural plants. They call it third world surf layout meets urban jungle, like what you may see in a beach town in the tropics, except they turn recycled materials into apparel and accessory displays. “We know that the product is what matters, with that in mind it’s amazing what you can get away with to display things on.”

Factory Vintage’s chic collection of eco-friendly clothing is what matters. They combine a mixture of recycled vintage clothing, re-constructed used clothing, and eco-friendly and responsible clothing brands. Half of their apparel collection is authentic vintage clothing consisting of hard to find vintage t-shirts, dresses, blazers, and a collection of Levis that would make a denim designer blush. Another 35% of the store is reconstructed vintage collections from, Particle Clothing, and Factory Vintage’s in-store label CCVintage. Each piece is a one of kind creation for both the fashion forward and eco conscience shopper alike. With the exception of a couple of other clothing labels uniquely sold at Factory Vintage, the rest of the merchandise in the store is recycled hand bags, boots, jewelry and more. Factory Vintage also features accessories and artwork from local area designers.

Originally coming from a Southern California and spending some time in both Dallas and Central America, when the founders of Factory Vintage were asked why they chose San Diego for their location, one said, “ We wanted to go somewhere where people would understand what we were doing so that we could make a difference.” I took note of an event flyer in Factory Vintage from a clothing drive they are doing for local homeless shelters, “Individuals throw away 67.9 pounds of used clothing and rags each year. Collectively, Americans discard two quadrillion pounds (that's a two with fifteen zeroes) of used clothing and textiles into the landfills each year.” With innovative shops like Factory Vintage mak setting the pace, the concept of recycled fashion might not be that far off from leading trends in the future.

Factory Vintage Joins the festivities at San Diego's Earth Fair

On Sunday April 20th Thousands of people saw varying shades of green at EarthFair yesterday at Balboa Park in San Diego.

On a nice cool, cloud-free day, the 19-year-old festival that organizers call the largest environmental fair in the world probably lived up to its billing. Traffic backed up for miles on state Route 163 before noon with visitors trying to reach the fair.

When people finally arrived, they found showcases for green technologies, artwork made from recycled materials, a children's parade, live music and “The Cleaner Car Concourse,” featuring vehicles that run on alternative fuels.

They also may have spotted a vine-draped child on stilts, free belly-dancing lessons and a few environmental juxtapositions, including gas-powered generators spewing fumes next to the Zero Waste San Diego booth.

Exhibitors form the heart of EarthFair, and this year there were more than ever – nearly 340. Some, including the Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club, have well-established emerald credentials. But a new crop of startups – a fair-trade-chocolate maker, an eco-caterer and a soy-candle maker – were there trying to make green names for themselves.

Aslo amoungst the participants A new Vintage Clothing store in San Diego named Factory Vintage attracted a number of patrons to their booth with a bright colored spinning wheel, and wonderful prizes including sun flowers and Gift certificates to their eco-friendly shop. Once the wheel was spung you might loose a turn, hit the jackpot, or have to answer a question related to textiles and their effect on the environment.

“There's been an explosion of green businesses,” said Carolyn Chase, one of the fair's founders. “It really demonstrates to us the green movement has arrived in the marketplace. Green capitalism has taken root.”

But the green hues with some of the exhibitors were not always easily spotted. The San Diego Union Tribune pointed out that There was the chiropractor offering free computerized screenings, and the San Diego Middle Eastern Dance Association showing people how to do those belly dances. They were selling reusable tote bags.

Northrop Grumman, a $32 billion defense and technology company, had a booth in the children's activity
area to help children make paper airplanes. Next door was Bank of America San Diego, where children spun a wheel for a chance to win pencils, an Earth Day necklace, sunscreen, lollipops or Frisbees. The flying disks were made from recycled tires.

All in all it was a great time

Teens Turn to Thrift as Apparel Prices go Up

Another like-minded friend of ours turned us on to this Article in the Associated Press about Teens Turning to Thrift as Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise. The Article was written by ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, with contributions from Writers Lisa Cornwell and Marcus Kabel of the Associated Press. It touched on the subject of kids having to turn to thrift shopping and DYI projects to adjust to the flailing economy. You can view the article in its entirety at Yahoo Business News.

The Article states that, "The souring job market and rising costs of the usual teenage indulgences — a slice of pizza, a drive to the mall, the hottest new jeans — are causing teens to do something they rarely do: be thrifty.

It's a far cry from the freewheeling spending of recent years, when teens splurged on $100 Coach wristlet handbags, $60 Juicy Couture
T-shirts and $80 skinny jeans from Abercrombie & Fitch.

Now jobs for teens are less plentiful, and parents who supply the allowances are feeling the economic pinch themselves.

The stalwart retailers of teen apparel, such as Abercrombie and American Eagle Outfitters Inc., are reporting sluggish sales, defying the myth that teen spending is recession-proof: It holds up longer, but can eventually fold.

It's even becoming cool to be frugal.

Last week, Ellegirl.com, the teen offshoot of Elle magazine, launched a new video fixture called Self-Made Girl, which shows teens how to make clothes and accessories. The first video offers tips on how to create a prom clutch.

"It's a little tacky in the economic unrest to tote a big logo bag," said Holly Siegel, the site's senior editor. She said it's no longer about teens "one-upping each other," but rather where they can get it cheap.

Teen hiring has slumped by 5 percent since March 2007, with many mom-and-pop stores, which typically hire younger workers, laying off employees. Hiring in the overall job market fell by just 0.1 percent during the same period.

That's still not as bad as the 13 percent drop in teen hiring in the early 1990s. That means that if the larger job market mirrors the last teen hiring slump, "we're not out of the woods," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Secondhand clothing chains have seen business surge this year as teens and their parents buy popular brands like Gap, Banana Republic and Juicy Couture at a fraction of the regular price.

"It is way cooler to get a super deal on that shirt rather than being able to spend the most money on something," said Anna D'Agrosa, director of Consumer Insights at The Zandl Group, a market research company focusing on teens. "Kids are becoming really aware of what is happening to their economy and to their families."

Perhaps something good can come out of this, that will stick with he teens in to their adult life.

-MILO

From the Ground Up :: Part 1

These notes are the beginning stages on how to take an average building and turn it into a Sustainable Vintage Clothing store.

First off you have to locate a building that will cater to the purpose. It is much easier on the budget if you can find a building that has little or no finish out needed. As far as major electrical and plumbing go. In this case we found a building that needed a little work, but not so much that we would have to take out loans just to turn on the electricity. We were choosing between two buildings we found that both had their pros and cons. One building was taking over a year lease in a high foot traffic shopping district in an artist neighborhood. The other building was quite a bit larger with a great rental rate next to the beach communities. We opted for the second location with the better rate. Because the building had sat vacant for the past few months we decided to negotiate early off in the lease to have the land lord bring the building up to code with Certificate of Occupancy. In order to get the land Lord to go along with this we agreed to pay a slightly higher rent to help subsidize the land lords expense. We also wholesale vintage clothing as well, so we needed a slightly larger location in order to have space to work in. We opted for a location outside the shopping districts but with with easy access from all directions, and good visibility. This first picture is what the building we found in Mission Bay San Diego looked like when we found it.

Once we got everything worked out with the lease we gave the land lord a little time to finish up what was left of the plumbing and electrical while we started collecting and processing our merchandise, and getting the inside ready.We have learned in the past that it is important to start collecting your product as soon as possible. When you get you shop ready you don't want to have to wait on a vendor to get your order ready last minute. You don't have to go rummaging through estate sales and border towns either. You can use a intermediate supplier like Dust Factory Vintage to locate and supply all your product, but you will still need time. You should start collection and washing you product a month or two before you plan on opening the doors.

After the walls were finished we started picking out the color samples,
and then began painting. (not our green)

 

 

 

A Pretty N.E.E.T. Magazine

N.E.E.T. Magazine captures the essence of recycled fashion and jewelry as a new form of art. They put eco-garage hipster style artists on the map with their creative and intuitive sense for trash can aristocracy.

Recycled Bath Tub Lounge Seat

After cruising around some other blogs I found this post on Alternative Consumer that was unique and cool. Someone had a vision and it begat Max the bath tub chaise. U.K. based Reestore dubs this a twist on the sofa briefly featured in breakfast at Tiffany’s. Created from a vintage cast iron bath and upholstered in fabric of your choice.

Repurposed as a single seater sloucher or a cozy sofa for two.

allow 4-6 weeks for delivery