A DIY for a Rainy Weekend

It feels like its about time for another do it yourself project. This one I am pretty excited about how it turned out. In my apartment there is limited counter space, and a small corner to keep all our liquor bottles never remained a small corner. I was considering putting a bar somewhere, but didn't know exactly where to put it or how to construct it. Headed over to pinterest, got some clever ideas and was thinking on where to start when I found a cast away piece of Ikea furniture in the laundry room, something like what I have posted beside, but with 5 shelves/cabinets and just under five feet tall.

So my roommate and I are looking at this thing trying to figure out how to make this into the best bar ever. A little figuring out later, I started taking it apart. The shelves tipped out,  so I took the shelf off the door and permanently secured it to the walls, so the doors can still tip out. 

 I bought some gold chain, a bag of small hooks and 5 magnetic door clasps and used the white paint I had left over from the rocking chair makeover. By attaching the chain to the wall of the cabinet and the top corner of each door, the door won't fall all the way down and it makes for a nice little platform to rest your beverage. 

 The magnetic clasps are a nice invisible way to keep the doors closed. I sanded the lacquered walls and applied a coat of primer.

Finally, I painted the doors the antique white colour to match the rocking chair, applied my own coat of laquer to protect it from spills and messes and topped the shelf with a piece of sticky-backed tile for extra beverage spilling protection. The last step was to load it up with all our bar glasses, bottles and shot glasses and there you go - a hidden bar in the corner of my living room! Perfect for hosting any party and having your guests entertain and serve themselves while out staying out of the kitchen. What DIY will you be working on tomorrow?

- Kim

Reclaimed/ Repurposed/ Really Amazing

As we have already stated a few times on our blog, we are a big fan of Eco Fashion Week (EFW)! So we have obviously been following along, and are blown away by how many of the designers showing at this seasons EFW are producing clothing using up-cycled/reclaimed/repurposed textiles. Everyone’s using these three terms, which all mean basically the same thing. Its that we, as fashion designers, are taking clothes, fabric, and other materials that would otherwise be thrown into landfills, and creating new amazing garments and accessories from them.

Fair JAKE has been doing this since day one;  it came naturally to us despite it being a challenge for us to find the right market for our one-of-a-kind products. We have been successful doing the market circuit and have had fun not only meeting other vendors but also the customers buying our one-of-a-kind creations. There are several designers, such as Preloved and Kim Cathers, that have been involved in the no-waste concept of design for many years and have figured out how to properly market themselves to succeed. They, along with all the new environmentally and socially conscious designers such as ourselves, will hopefully continue to grow and make this innovative way of thinking more main-stream.

That said you don't have to be a fashion designer to be a part of the process. Not only can you support those who do you can also "do" yourself. Many people already repurpose their hand-me-downs; I often hear designers and other creative-minded folk talking about the cost savings of repurposing old clothes, and this may be so, as long as you know how to sew. As an individual taking apart old clothes and recreating something new, it won’t only give you peace of mind but it is will also save you money and time shopping for that garment you have in your mind but can’t seem to find anywhere. Yet, I have found this is not always the case. As a designer, taking apart old clothes and repurposing them can be time consuming and costly which is where finding old fabric or bolt ends that will otherwise be discarded comes in handy. 

We find that it comes down to what we are designing. Having more options such as OSF (Our Social Fabric) have really helped the movement. Fair JAKE takes apart old ties and makes them into bow ties as one of our reclaimed products and every time I can’t help but think of Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink, or Marge Simpson in the episode “Class Struggle in Springfield”. In both cases, they are taking something old and changing it into something new. These processes have obviously been around for years and it is great to see that not only individuals are taking hold of this concept but the fashion industry is making big headway on the idea as well. As Fair JAKE moves forward to women's wear collections, we plan to keep the concept of recycled/reclaimed/repurposed textiles as a main feature in our company's designs.

Life Cycle Assessment

Hello again friends of Fair JAKE!

I just wrote my last exam of my undergrad in Natural Resources Conservation at UBC, and am super excited to finally be finished with school. That being said, I did really enjoy learning about conservation and I’d like to share a neat new(ish) tool for measuring sustainability called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).  LCA is a scientific method used to quantify the impacts created by products and services over their life cycle. The inputs, processes, and outputs are all taken into account, evaluated, and interpreted to make more informed decisions. I’ve been using LCA to look at the environmental impact of all sorts of products and services, including a cup of coffee, and hydropower dams, as well as to compare different biofuels. So, what about clothes?

Clothing is second only to food and beverages as a consumer good; it is purchased and replaced often. This, along with energy intensive use phases make clothing an important product to consider in LCA. LCA can help answer questions about clothing production, such as material comparisons and washing practices.

Levi’s is one company that uses LCA to measure their environmental impacts. They began using it in 2007 and now use it in the design process to base decisions on regarding fabric choices, washes and dyes. Nike is another company that uses the tool with the goal of reducing toxin levels and supporting more sustainable materials. Fair JAKE has made the decision to use sustainable and eco-friendly fabrics such as organic cotton and up-cycled fabric. It would be of interest to see how much of a difference those choices make with regards to their environmental footprint.

From the few LCAs I’ve looked at, consumer use appears to be by far the greatest source of energy consumption of a piece of clothing. Overall all fabrics have some sort of environmental impact. Natural fabrics seem to use far less energy than synthetics and emit less greenhouse gasses. However, natural fabrics, such as cotton and silk use more water in production. And natural fabrics have a greater impact on direct land use.

LCA offers valuable information for those interested in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact. Hopefully LCA will begin to reach consumers outside of the scientific community, and the fashion world will continue to shift to a more sustainable industry. I encourage you to check out some of the links provided and begin exploring this topic for yourself. Know your values and be a conscious consumer!

-S.

Links

CleanMetrics

GreenBiz.com

lLCA Links!

Levi Strauss & Co.

The New York Times

The Sustainability Consortium