I couldn’t agree more!

“Environmental sustainability is the number-one opportunity for the fashion industry and it is something of which consumers are becoming increasingly aware,” states Judith Samuelson of the Aspen Institute (WWD, Predictions: What the Future Holds, January 2011). That sentiment has been reverberating off the lips of every sustainability consultant for the past year, and has finally reached the now listening ears of designers and brand CEOs everywhere.

In 2010, a report from KPMG found that for many larger firms the focus of sustainability programs have shifted from compliance activities to those that help differentiate and create competitive advantage. A solid 44% of survey respondents from that report believe that sustainability is, and will continue to be, a source of business innovation.

What started as a safe way to create some ‘good’ PR has turned into a brand necessity. Between consumer demand, cost effectiveness and new business opportunity, it is pretty clear why sustainability is becoming a integral part of any brand’s story. Some brands have sustainability right within their operating DNA, but don’t know it is there or how to talk about it. 

Identifying and defining your brand’s sustainability story is a crucial component to fashion brands of the 21st century. A perfect example is H&M. They were blacklisted by customers when their wasteful disposal of excess inventory (slashing new garments and placing them in the garbage bin behind their store) was unveiled by the media. In a valiant effort to right their wrong, H&M pushed sustainability and social responsibility to top priority. In April they will be releasing their eco-conscious line, as well as a set of t-shirts that speak out against gun violence. 

Every brand now has the opportunity to proactively connect with their customers and show them how they are contributing to the greater good. When you identify what is important to  you as a brand, and where your sustainability priorities lie, it becomes that much easier to talk about. It also gives you a sturdy leg to stand on for what you, as a brand, stand for.

To get to the core of your sustainability story, here are the questions fashion brands should be asking themselves:

1. What does sustainability mean to us, and how will we incorporate it into our label?
2. What is our inspiration and how does it link to our definition of sustainability?
3. Consider that producing fashion is a process, where do we want to start with our sustainability efforts… People (ethical)? Work environment? Energy supply? Material sourcing? Dyeing processes? Traceability and transparency? Lower carbon footprint?
4. Consider our position of responsibility, what will happen to our garments at the end of their life (landfill or recycle)? Are we designing for that?
5. If we could commit to one environmentally and/ or socially conscious initiative for our brand that would help define us, what would it be?

If you are a smaller brand or independent designer, there is a real opportunity to take on the task of defining your sustainability story and then integrating it into your brand’s DNA. The bigger brands are in a wonderful position to crowd source the answers to these questions and get internal feedback (from a company survey) and external opinions (from your consuming public) to help decide what sustainability story is strongest for your brand. 

When you answer these questions you begin to uncover your sustainability story as a brand or designer. That story will run strong through each and every collection and give your consumers something bigger to identify with and support in purchasing your line. Answer these questions. Draw out a master plan from them. Photo copy it and laminate it. Then post it on your wall and give to every new employee. Never loose sight of your story. It is the one thing that will pull you through hard days and make the good ones shine. Best of all, you will always be able to visually see how what you do every day helps make the world a better place, and that is a HUGE opportunity.

Tweet of the week is from @TheNaturalVixen: “I’m looking for a toxin-free face moisturizer that’s affordable, preferably with an SPF. I can’t find anything! Any tips?”

Obviously, you want to take into consideration what type of skin you have, but for a mid to lightweight moisturizer I recommend Pai Camomille and Rosehips Moisturizer. It is certified organic by the Soil Association (which is the highest grade) and suitable for vegans. 

For a moisturizer with an SPF, I am a fan of Juice Beauty Mineral Light Moisturizer SPF 30. You get a hint of color with chemical-free SPF.

Writing about eco-fashion was a natural progression. I was always attracted to the beautiful front of Beauty (skin care products and makeup) and Fashion. But as a wise man once said, what has a big front, has a big back. Meaning, nothing is quite what it seems and the more glamourous it is on the outside, the dirtier it might be on the inside. This definitely proved to be a true statement for Fashion & Beauty. As I began to learn about the democratization of fashion at the London College of Fashion, where I studied Fashion Marketing, I realized that I wasn’t okay with supporting such a big front at the cost of its ugly back.

I was in school at a time when fast fashion was really picking up. Unethical labor, as well as a crazy quick turnaround in production and use of our Earth’s resources was appalling to me. The more I learned about how the production and consumption of fashion today, the more I wanted to change it. I also knew, that I was not a designer (not yet in this life!), so my route would be that of raising awareness and educating myself and others through example.

That is when my blog really shifted to eco-fashion and sustainability. I already cared about what I put into my body, and after reading Toxic Beauty, I REALLY cared about what I put on my body as far as products go. The next step was to care about where the clothes I was wearing came from, what they supported and who.

What people don’t always realize is that you have power. You vote with your purchases every time you buy a new product of piece of clothing. And YOU can decide what you want to see more of and how you want it to be produced. It is a great place to be. 

The aim of GretaGuide is to share my journey of becoming a sustainable stylista, and providing a resource through my experiences and posts.

The blog, and awareness of my blog grew after I was invited to participate in the Weardrobe Conference in NYC in 2009. I was linked in with some other really amazing bloggers that put me on their site. I also kept putting myself out there, attending meet up and conferences. Everything kind of grew from there, and more opportunities have rolled in since then.

Also, one of the best things I did was start FASHIONmeGREEN. It helped me to network in the industry and build my credentials and reputation beyond being a blogger. It started as a sustainable fashion awareness project, which was not too intimidating and a little easier to solicit help from some of my mentors. ;)

Running FASHIONmeGREEN, opened doors for speaking on panels and getting my name out there in a bigger way. Aside from that, I am committed to blogging 3-4 times a week on GretaGuide and feel really fortunate to have built a strong and loyal audience. 

If you are blogging, make sure you are doing it for you. Don’t look at the numbers too often. Just know that there are people out there who are checking in to hear what you have to say, and if that number fluctuates, you will still be posting because you are doing it for you. You never know where your one post or multitude of posts will take you!

Photo Credit: Tom Olesnevich

For one, I would have to say that going to school has helped me with my blogging because it has helped me with my writing. I had to write an 80 page dissertation and quite a few reports before that! It helped me to develop my research skills and pull relevant quotes from published pieces that would support the points I wanted to make. I constructed a system of color coding what I was reading and marking up the texts with underlines and side notes. I found a way to devour literature and source it for my own work. That has been a HUGE takeaway.

The other thing that school did was make me an expert. My first day of graduate school, the Dean addressed my cohort and told us to carefully consider what topic we would choose to write our dissertations on, because devoting 8 months of your life to one topic signals to the world that you are specialized in that area. I took that very seriously, and began collecting data and literature from the beginning!

The end result was that I had the terrifying honor of postulating a new theory for Sustainable Fashion, and when I was finished, I certainly knew quite a lot about it. This has helped me to be seen a credible and educated source. I have been hired to write inserts for other publications based on this alone. 

So, now to answer the second question. My passion for fashion… As cliche as it is to say, I have been a fashion addict since I was about eight. My mom loves to tell the story of when I was in third grade and got dressed in my favorite floral (and very puffy) dress, applied a layer of bright pink lipstick and carefully tucked myself in between the sheets- the night before picture day! 

I did steer away from fashion for awhile though… I started my undergrad degree as a pre-med student. It wasn’t until I left University and was considering graduate school that I embraced my desire to operate in the fashion industry. From there, I found sustainable fashion as I was searching for something with a little more meaning behind the amazing creativity of the industry. 

My advice? Follow your dreams, for real. Don’t waste time on what people (including your parents) might think. It is your life, and you might be surprised to find that they support you and already know what it is you really want to do in life. Hang out in school and keep learning if you aren’t sure what you want to do, but always have an internship on the side, so you can get real life industry experience and build your contacts. Good luck!

(photo via: Geert Bollen)

Happy 2011 everyone! It is the start of a new year, and a great year! The best part about the change of the year is the attention it brings to what you have done in life, where you are going, how far off track you may be, and how to get to where you want to be in life.

Borrowing an exercise from the very successful and fearless Timothy Ferriss, I invite you to partake in a little Q & A with me. Perhaps you already have an idea about what you want out of life (to write a book, to start your own business, to start a non-profit, to live in a foreign country…), but you feel stuck… You are not alone. It seems, as human beings, we tend to get caught up in habits, routines and also let our pasts and fears dictate our futures. It requires a little invested energy upfront, but once you get the ball rolling in the right direction you are well on your way.

EXERCISE:

Get out a piece of paper and without lifting your pencil from the page jot down the answers to the following questions. This list if for you and you alone, so say what you mean and mean what you say- no one else is going to read it. The more honest you are the more able you’ll be to help yourself.

1.) Define your nightmare- the absolute worst that could happen if you did what you are considering doing. Here is where you answer all the ‘what-ifs’.

2.) What steps could you take to repair the damage or to get things back on the upswing, even if temporarily?

3.) What are the outcomes or benefits, both temporary and permanent, of more probable scenarios?

4.) If you were fired from your job today, what would you do to get things under financial control?

5.) What are you putting off out of fear? (Usually, what we most fear doing is what we need to do most… That phone call, that conversation, an action…)

6.) What is it costing your- financially, emotionally and physically- to postpone action? (Most likely you will see that it is costing you EVERYTHING. You are not living the life in totality that you dream of, nor are you becoming the person you want to be through inaction.)

7.) What are you waiting for? (Are you afraid? Think back to the costs of inaction, and overcome that fear!)

I did this exercise and was relieved to discover the simplicity of what was keeping me from fulfilling the life I want. When  you gain clarity of thought like that, it is so much easier to take action towards your goal.

(Photo via The New York Times)

Side note: I would recommend this book, The Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, to anyone. It gives you a great perspective on what you are actually doing with your life and includes step-by-step exercises to help you work through all the bumps that might get in your way.

Has anyone else noticed that somewhere, someone wrote a new rule about cordial correspondence and it says that if you are a) a girl and b) work in any creative industry (especially fashion) you MUST sign off your email with an ‘X’ or perhaps… Xx (that was my signature for ages…) and now it seems the Gossip Girl ‘XOXO’ is making a comeback…

Honestly- what are we doing with all these X’s?!

For the longest time I reserved them only for those whom I love. The X = love. Or so it did… Now it is thrown around without a second thought. Do I ‘love’ the PR girl who just reached out to me to see if I would cover something on my site? Um, sorry, but no. Though, I do appreciate our correspondence.

So, I got to thinking a bit more about this as I had good family chats over the holidays (and this X thing had been bothering me for awhile), and a new point was raised: when you are emailing- usually it is for business. Don’t forget that! In business we don’t hang up the phone and casually drop an ‘I love you’ before signing off with our accountant or web editor… so why do we drop one in our email?

At this point, I am just rambling, so I’ll stop. Though, I do urge you to think about it- are your X’s out of control?

Thanks so much to my reader, Megan, who asked this question! I am always happy to share my experiences- one of the main reasons I have a blog. :) So, here is my answer:

Blogging is my full time gig- though I mostly supplement my income with consulting, brand sponsorships, and write-ups for other sites and publications. 

Pretty much whatever you want to do in life, having a blog will benefit you. It allows people to see who you are. Read your opinion and it also shows that you can take initiative to start something on your own and follow through to publish it regularly.

I have had so many great opportunities come out of blogging, from guest blogging at Aspen Fashion Week, to riding a $2300 Equinox Derringer bike around Manhattan! 

It is ‘hard’ work though- and I put hard in ” because it should never be too much work, or else you won’t enjoy it and that will come across to your audience. Instead, I would say it is a nice balance between posting about interesting products, places and such, along with posting your opinion and perhaps advice on certain topics. My blog is known for being an eco-fashion style site. I stay within that realm most of the time, and let my readers get to know me a bit more with other personal posts that are based on personal experience or just highlight something that I think is cool.

If you can carve out a niche for yourself- that is best. If you are not sure what your niche is yet, just start blogging about what you like and soon you will find a common theme.

Once you build a name for yourself and are linked in with some other blogs (very helpful when you are building your audience) you can start to approach advertisers and talk about your traffic. More than simply having ads on your site (not my favorite or focus), you can also approach brands to sponsor you and your blog. This is the direction that monetizing a blog is moving in, so I would advise this method.

Beyond that, just do what you love and share it with your readers. Even if you don’t gain Garance Dore status, you will be able to leverage yourself and show future employers who you are on a different level that will give you an advantage.

Best of luck and let me know how blogging is working out for you, and if  you have any tips! ;)

X

(top image is of Emma Grady (fellow blogger) by Tom Olesnevich from a photo shoot we did in NYC.)

How to Change a Mood.

Moodiness seems to plague us all at one point or another and if you are like me, I don’t like when a mood moves in on my space one bit!

So, in an attempt to recover as quickly as possible from these thought pests I have a few tips to help get rid of a bad mood.

1. The easiest way to change a mood is to start doing something for someone else. The human spirit loves to wallow in self pity, but we all know that doesn’t get you any where. Instead, shift your consciousness to someone else and let your thoughts of doing something for someone else occupy your mind.

2. Use creative thinking and activity to change your thoughts. If you allow your mind to go to a creative place you more than likely won’t have any room left to think of your troubling mood and can use the creative process as an outlet.

3.Make yourself a list of ‘mood busters’ to get your thinking back on track when you feel a mood coming on. That way you will always have a go-to mode of thinking to relieve you of a less than desired mood.

(picture via staywideawake)