Plastic is everywhere. It is used across a spectrum of applications from durable industrial equipment, household appliances to throw-away single-use items and even the clothes we wear. This wide...
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Artist Amy Rusch gives time to plastic bags
Three ethereal artworks made from plastic bags are currently on display at SMITH Studio, an art gallery in Cape Town’s city centre. Amy Rusch made the pieces “giving time to plastic bags 1-17” as...
An open letter: Let’s tackle plastic waste and pollution at source
This open Letter, penned by Ellen MacArthur, Erik Solheim (UN Environment), Stella McCartney and nine other significant industry players, calls on businesses and governments to work together to draw...
Looking for local, sustainable brands? Find them at The Ethical Market in Joburg
After two successful Cape Town-based pop ups (and many requests for a Johannesburg-based one), THEM or The Ethical Market will open on Thursday evening at the Bamboo centre in Johannesburg. This pop...
Erin Hooper has woven a narrative about textile workers
As the academic year draws to a close, fashion design students have been busy finalising their end-of-year collections. For her fourth-year project, Erin Hooper not only considered the environment...
Meet the woman saving endangered forests from becoming viscose
Nicole Rycroft is one of a growing crew of people who work tirelessly at changing how we impact Earth. Most of her work has focused on protecting ancient and indigenous trees from becoming wood...
Our favourite looks from the Green Carpet Fashion Awards in Milan
https://youtu.be/vlkVfXIBPaU At a star-studded fashion event in Milan on Sunday night, the latest sustainable trends and innovation in fashion were on show at their luxurious best. Gowns,...
A film celebrating secondhand clothes wins first prize at Bokeh Film Festival
The 2018 winner of the best film in the fashion category of Bokeh Fashion Film Awards is Picha Marangi. This two-minute long film starts with seconds of smoky, depressing landfill imagery, but...
Finding rubbish in paradise. How we cleaned up Dassen Island
When the boat pulls up at the island’s jetty we’re all talking about the water. It’s bright turquoise, crystal clear and the sand below is white. We're not in the tropics. We’ve sped 10 km across...
Q+A: Hanri Taljaard on the slow clothing consumption habits of South African women
With a passion for the natural environment and a fascination with the secret language we all speak through our clothes, Hanri Taljaard is currently knee-deep in a PhD study, focusing on “voluntary...
Redress Design Awards finalists turn waste into want
On the first day of New York Fashion Week, slow fashion had its moment in Hong Kong. Last Thursday 11 emerging sustainable designers from around the world showed their collections at the Grand Final...
This kickass Slovakian sneaker brand pulls at our heartstrings
Shoes aren't an easy product to make sustainably. Most mainstream mass shoe manufacturing involves toxic glues and plastics and unsustainably-sourced rubber and leather. A few companies have...
Damned if we don’t
Wrapped in post-consumer plastic, Rati Lekalakala imagines being an animal in the same situation. This is not much of a stretch of her imagination: high concentrations of plastic materials have been...
Why clothes are one of the greatest sources of plastic in the ocean and how to prevent this
In this extract from How to Give up Plastic: Save the world one plastic bottle at a time, author Will McCallum gives us the lowdown on plastic and our clothes. You'll be surprised by what he has to...
Who has pledged to Rethink The Bag this Plastic Free July?
Making very public commitments to give up single-use plastic shopping bags, influencers (including musicians, actors, public servants) reached thousands of people. For Plastic Free July 2018 one...