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Tuesday 15 November 2011

This Month's New Eco Fabrics!

What's Happening?

New FabricThis month, not only were we shortlisted for the "Unique Enterprise" award, as part of The Fashioning the Future Awards, but we've also been working hard to expand our selection of fabrics and the information in our resources area.  
At Offset Warehouse, we bring together lots of suppliers, to be able to offer the most variety of ethical fabrics & haberdashery, alongside a broad range of ethical fashion and interiors research, to make your life a little easier!




 New Sample Book

New Sample Book


New Sample Book: Overview (UK)
£24.99/Sample Book

Another fantastic overview and variety of the different fabrics we have on the site, this sample book comes in a big, chunky pack to sink your teeth into. 


Includes: Fair trade & organic coloured patterned and plains; Denim; Herbal dyed; Cord; Velvet; Herringbone; Basketweave.. and loads more!

NEW Ethical Fabrics & Raw Materials
Organic Cotton Canvas Blue Streak Organic Cotton Voile Linen

Organic Cotton Canvas

£13.69/ yard

White Organic Cotton Voile

£4.74/ meter

Sparkly Silver Coated Linen

£15.60/ meter
Faux Iguana Cherry Fleece Wild Silk Ripple

Faux Iguana - Grey

£79.47/ meter

Red Cherry Fleece

£11.94/ meter

Wild Silk Ripple

£29.80/ meter 
Ethical Jersey Dark Pink Fair Trade Cotton
Organic Poplin

Natural Hemp Cotton Jersey

£5.45/ yard

Dark Pink Organic & FT Cotton

£9.54/ meter

Organic Poplin - Poppy

£17.69/ yard
New Raw Materials

Organic Net New Ethical Material Horse Hair

Organic Net - Black

£4.79/ meter

Organic Cotton Wadding

£9.54/ meter

Horse Hair

£39/kg




Email:
info@offsetwarehouse.com


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Friday 11 November 2011

What Happened At The Fashioning The Future Awards 2011...

As you may know, we were thrilled to have been shortlisted for the "Unique Enterprise" prize, for the Fashioning the Future Awards 2011.  Last night, we attended the ceremony at the East Wintergarden, Canary Wharf, to bask in some runner-up glory.


The third annual ceremony was inspired by the UN's International Decade on Biodiversity, and saw applications from all over the globe submit projects for sustainability in fashion, to compete for six awards, including The Body Shop One to Watch recognition award.


Dark ambiance of the evening. Speaker from the UN takes the floor.


The event was set in a stunning venue, with lots of delicious canapes and champagne flowing, and boasted a really fabulous mix of social entrepreneurs and fashion designers.  Most notably, we got chatting to Miranda Kaloudis, who chatted to us about her notions on sustainability.

 
©Miranda Kaloudis 2011

But the most exciting part of the event was seeing number of Offset Warehouse customers exhibiting there!  There was a fantastic array of innovative and stunning designs incorporating Offset Warehouse fabrics, which demonstrates just how far designers are pushing the boundaries with ethical fabrics, to change the common perceptions of ethical design by creating both wearable and unique, innovative clothing.  They are continually proving that ethical does not have to mean unchic and untrendy.


©Ceri Jones 2011


It made us proud to know that by bringing together lots of suppliers and therefore offering a wider variety of beautiful, ethical fabrics and haberdashery, Offset Warehouse is making beautiful, ethical design, accessible and possible for young, innovative designers!

Makes it all worthwhile!

Take a look in the Fabric and Haberdashery section of Offset Warehouse to browse our ethical fabrics.

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Sunday 2 October 2011

Trends Without Spends


Trends Without Spends ... 40's Glam!
We love our customers to be at the cutting edge of fashion and to do it ethically, so here are some fab tips to turn heads this autumn, whilst saving some pennies in the process. 

The Forties trend is a glamorous, full-ensemble affair - fur, shrugs, pearls, gloves, hat and a slim belt are necessities.

Frida Giannini, head designer at Gucci, refined all the ritzy glitz of the decade into her show with a mix of fedoras and pussy bow blouses. 

We particularly loved this look from Gucci:

 Recreate Gucci's Look:Trends Without Spends- 40s Glam

Plum Silk Hemp Blend - £12.70/yd
Trends Without Spends- 40s Glam


Raspberry Cotton & Hemp- £7.65/yd
Trends Without Spends- 40s Glam


Get The (Faux) Fur:

  New Ethical FabricNew Ethical Fabric
Purple Rabbit Fur- £12.99                Cerise Short Faux Fur - £6.95/m


And Accessorize...

Trends Without Spends- 40s Glam  Trends Without Spends- 40s Glam
Floppy Hat in Merlot - £49              Maggie Hunter Necklace - £39.99


Can't Sew, No Time To Sew!
Get The Look Ethically From Our Ethical Boutique...

Trends Without Spends- 40s Glam


Organic Cotton Adela Dress - £95




Trends Without Spends- 40s Glam



Trends Without Spends- 40s Glam 


Light Grey Faux Fur Collar - £30         Shelley's Knitted Furry Cardy- £32


Email:

info@offsetwarehouse.com

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Friday 30 September 2011

Our New Eco Fabrics This Month

New Organic Silk
Organic Silk - Butter: £33.52/mFrom our new selection of certified, organic silks.

We're pleased to present a new range of ethical fabrics at more affordable prices, and new additions to our raw materials sections in particular. 
To help you navigate the site, we've updated our fabric categories and added new sections: Mediumweight plain colours, mediumweight textures & patterns, faux leathers!


NEW SECTIONS WITH LOADS OF NEW PRODUCTS: Interior Products & High Performance Tested!

NEW Ethical Fabrics & Raw Materials

New Ethical Fabric
New Ethical Fabric

Plain Weave Canvas

£6.59/ meter

Basket Weave Greeny Grey

£8.34/ meter

Eco Fabrics New Ethical Fabric
 £9.90/roll

Bamboo Silk - White

£8.34/ meter


New Ethical Fabric New Ethical Fabric

Short Plush in Dark Grey

£6.20/ meter

Twill Weave Calico

£6.59/ meter


New Organic Silk Fabrics

New Organic Silk
New Organic Silk

Organic Silk - Nagas

£54.48/meter

Organic Silk - Cream

£35.20/meter

New: High Performance Tested Eco Fabrics 


New Ethical Fabric
Outdoor, Bleachproof Fabric: Fire

HIGH PERFORMANCE TESTED:

Suitable for high-end manufacture, we have introduced a category filled with ethical fabrics that are thoroughly tested, so they can be used in industrial interior settings and to ensure the highest quality in fashion and accessory items.

These fabrics have been bought by hotels, interior designers, high fashion installation artists and footwear designers, to name a few, proving that ethical can be accessible by everyone.
Testing includes: VOC levels, lightfastness, wear, tearing and breaking.



 

Email: info@offsetwarehouse.com

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Thursday 28 July 2011

RESOURCES| The Ethics of Wool

Wool is surrounded by a lot of ethical controversy - it's a natural fibre and a by-product, but is it really a by-product when we're importing it in and discarding our own?   Is it still environmentally friendly, even though it needs toxic chemicals to be cleaned?  How can it be cruelty-free when so many farmers still practice museling?



The processing of wool involves four major steps:
  1. Shearing
  2. Grading and sorting
  3. Cleaning and scouring
  4. Carding

1. Sheering: In most parts of the world, sheep are sheared once a year, in early spring or early summer. The best wool comes from the shoulders and sides of the sheep.  The lesser quality comes from the lower legs (which would be used to make rugs etc). 

2. Grading and sorting: Workers remove any stained, damaged or inferior wool from each fleece and sort the rest of the wool according to the quality of the fibres. Wool fibres are judged not only their strength but also by their fineness (diameter), length, crimp (waviness) and colour.



4. Carding: After the wool dries, it is carded.  The carding process involves passing the wool through rollers that have thin wire teeth. The teeth untangle the fibres and arrange them into a flat sheet called a web. The web is then formed into narrow ropes known as silvers.
In order to both prevent this felting and to make the wool more comfortable to wear, many producers use chlorine to “burn” off the scales.  The burning doesn’t remove all the scales, but once also coated with a synthetic polymer resin, which essentially glues down the scales, the wool is then able to be machine washed without felting, gets rid of the shrinkage of the fabric associated with felting and is also much more comfortable.  This is the chemistry behind Superwash wool.  The tradeoff, of course, is that this chlorination process is highly toxic.
  • Carding length fibres are used to make woollen yarn.  Woollen yarn feels soft, has a fuzzy surface and is heavier than worsted.
  • Combing length fibres and French combing length fibres are made into worsted yarn.  Worsted wool is lighter and highly twisted, it is also smoother and not as bulky, which makes it easier to carry or transport about.




Other Bad Bits:
  • British farmers discard the wool from slaughtered sheep (because the legal licensing costs to sell it on far outweigh what they can sell it for), while Britain imports wool from Australia and New Zealand.  How ridiculous!?
  • Mulesing: where folds of skin around the sheep’s anus are cut off with shears during the wool shearing.
  • Live export of sheep to halal butchers when their wool production becomes minimal.



At Offset Warehouse we carry a selection of ethical nettle wool along with normal wool, take a look!