Blanket Approach

Boutique Ethique is launching ‘The Blanket Approach’ this autumn.  Working together with uk textile mills and manufacturers, we will be collecting woolllen off-cuts and sample lengths.

These will be manufactured into a variety of products including bags, cushion covers, throws and blankets.  They will be made by a recycling project based in Bristol called Silai for skills.

Silai is an important resource for unemployed women in the culturally rich and diverse area of Bristol’s Easton district. Women come to Silai for all sorts of reasons; from a search for new skills and creative inspiration or simply social interaction.  A large number of these women are refugees wanting to gain skills which will lead to employment.

Each item sold will buy part of a blanket which will be given homeless shelters this winter.

We want to ensure that the Blanket Approach gains maximum exposure in the press, in order to be of benefit to the many homeless individuals who are in need of direct support during the winter months.

Boutique Ethique’s founder,  Linda Row, is a pioneer in Ethical fashion, having started the label Clothworks in 1997. Linda feels that in the current economic climate it is essential that we all pool our resources to help those who have difficulty helping themselves.

Boutique Ethique is launching ‘The Blanket Approach’ this autumn.  Working together with uk textile mills and manufacturers, we will be collecting woolllen off-cuts and sample lengths.

These will be manufactured into a variety of products including bags, cushion covers, throws and blankets.  They will be made by a recycling project based in Bristol called Silai for skills.

Silai is an important resource for unemployed women in the culturally rich and diverse area of Bristol’s Easton district. Women come to Silai for all sorts of reasons; from a search for new skills and creative inspiration or simply social interaction.  A large number of these women are refugees wanting to gain skills which will lead to employment.

Each item sold will buy part of a blanket which will be given homeless shelters this winter.

We want to ensure that the Blanket Approach gains maximum exposure in the press, in order to be of benefit to the many homeless individuals who are in need of direct support during the winter months.

Boutique Ethique’s founder,  Linda Row, is a pioneer in Ethical fashion, having started the label Clothworks in 1997. Linda feels that in the current economic climate it is essential that we all pool our resources to help those who have difficulty helping themselves.

Fashion and Politics

Fashion designers are not supposed to bother themselves with politics but I have always been bothered. It seemed very obvious to me, when I started my green clothing label, Clothworks, that the financial system we have been living with for the last 50 years had overrun itʼs time. So fragile a system, based on the stability (or lack of it) of those at the
epicenter.

The main driving force behind my work has been the belief that we are, as individuals, still able to make small changes to the systems we live within. Ethical consumerism as an example of this, has grown to be quite mainstream over the past few years.
Whilst most of us are more concerned, right now, with getting through the next few months of financial turmoil with ʻwho knows whatʼ? around the corner, one positive strand to draw from it all is that we, as consumers, can actually decide where we will place our much much smaller disposable incomes.

In a survey of Credit Crunch shoppers, a recent Feel survey found that 92% of consumers still claim to be willing to pay extra for a products perceived to be ethical and 76% said they would choose products benefiting people rather than the planet.

The changes that are occurring on the high street are a direct result of consumers being more selective about where they spend their harder earned cash. Where we choose to consume in the future will shape the new high street.