February 19, 2008 by guyhutch
Panda’s are notoriously difficult to get to breed in captivity. The increasingly desperate attempts of Chinese zoo’s to get our bamboo loving comrades culminated in the Chinese authorities piping sexing education videos – but, apparently, with some success.
Well our monochrome buddies from east may be facing a whole new challenge as their much loved bamboo looks to be subject to new demands. Numerous ethical retailers are embracing bamboo as a new ethical fibre with some pretty handy qualities. As you might imagine those skimboarding dudes at Akwa Industries are at the front of the queue. Their new range of Bamboo T-Shirts are perfect for the beach as they have natural anti-UV properties which help to protect your skin not to mention anti-bacterial properties to stop odors. The economics can’t be too bad as they are knocking them out at twenty Canadian dollars a throw.
But don’t tell Bai Yun of the forthcoming shortage he’s wound up enough with that VCR running 24×7.
Posted in bamboo | Tagged akwa industries, bamboo, t-shirts | Leave a Comment »
February 14, 2008 by guyhutch
The only thing you’ll ask yourself is how much will ‘I like’ (to borrow a Boratism). One minute you’re enjoying the comforting feel of your cool new belt – next minute you’re down at Sam’s S&M store getting trussed up like a turkey.
But it might be worth the risk cause this is a great product. Each belt is unique and handmade. Each comes with its own history etched into the tread through the scars of every mile travelled and the wear and tear that nearly put the previous owner into the back of a bendy bus.Check them out at zoozoo2.com but beware the slippery slope …..I don’t think the gear they stock at Sam’s is ethically sourced.
Posted in belt, recycled materials, recyled tyre | Tagged belt, i like, recycled tyre, recyled materials | Leave a Comment »
February 9, 2008 by guyhutch
After the groundbreaking Great Green Goods (and if you are reading bare in mind that mimicry truly is the greatest form of flattery) featured this wallet made from reclaimed leather I had to have one. In fact they only did a run of 45 of them and I have the only one in the UK – not that I’m remotely smug about this.
Akwa Industries are usually busy knocking out skimboards to the cool sun kissed kids of the American west coast. But they took a little time out, drew upon their ethical ethos and produced this great little wallet made from a reclaimed leather jacket. This wallet is perfect for those nights out when you just wanna bring a couple of cards, ID and some cash. Every one is different as they each carry their own original seam lines of the jacket they were made from. The fabric under the label is material left over from the pockets of the jacket. It even comes in a unique cassette case holder – which is about as clever as it gets when it comes to packaging.
But the coolest thing is what happens if you take this product line to the next step. Think of all those 1970’s celeb’s with a wardrobe full of god awful leather that truly deserves a new life. Somehow I suspect I’m not the only one waiting for Akwa to roll out the Rod Stewart collection.
Posted in recycled materials, wallet | Leave a Comment »
February 5, 2008 by guyhutch
Dramatically increase your odds of surviving the rising levels of the oceans with this beautifully crafted lamp based on a handcrafted Thai fishing net. Just think – calming ambient lighting for your home this year, essential survival tool for next.
Posted in recycled materials | Tagged Fish trap lamp, lamp, recycled materials, The Day After Tommorow, The Day After Tomorrow | Leave a Comment »
February 2, 2008 by guyhutch
Lets be frank about it cuff links are the cop-out gift for men when you can’t be arsed to engage your brain. There are some cool ones out there but there’s a shed load of rather naff ones too – some of which are made from recycled materials. It seems that when it comes to cuff links the main driver seems to be if it was originally the size of a coin then it has a great chance of being turned it someones cuff link at some point. The downside of this is that you end up with a whole bunch of highly unlikely themes. So for the record, coins (too bling, surely), bottle tops (make you look like the pub landlord on the way to the brewery annual dinner) and god know what other junk happens to be the right shape or size.
I’d love to whole hearted advocate this neat bit of product development. At £18.95 they aren’t painfully expensive and they are available in four different colours at boystuff.co.uk.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged circuit boards, cuff links | Leave a Comment »
February 2, 2008 by guyhutch
The US celebrity endorsed grocery concept store opened up last year in the old Barkers building. I visited for the first time last weekend and was a little surprised what the fuss was about. It was lunchtime but the ground floor was pretty much deserted. Perhaps not too surprising baring in mind the layout isn’t too far removed from school dinners with various offerings available for punters to scoop buffet style. They have choice that’s for sure but if the footfall I witnessed is typical they will have to bin three quarters of it each day – or worse still the next days platters are not quite as fresh as you might imagine. So I was delighted to find that they run a little ethical products store on the first floor. They stock some great products including some cool model cars made out of recycled tin and aluminium. Also a nice line in jewellery made from recycled glass of various shades. The book choices were also quite inspiring and prices all round were a little less than you would expect. Mrs H even bought an ethically sourced T-shirt with a funky design offered at a fair price.
I’m not sure if the chattering classes of Kensington and Chelsea are quite ready to have their buying decisions challenged further than selecting the organic spinach. But from my standpoint Whole Foods could do a lot worse than dedicate a bit more space to this side of their portfolio and go a little easier on the ostrich eggs.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged t-shirts, tin can models, whole foods | Leave a Comment »
January 31, 2008 by guyhutch
The minute I spotted these fabulous messenger bags in Japan in 2004 I knew they were going to be a huge hit. The ultimate in urban-industrial style. Freitags are assembled from recycled truck tarps, tyre inner tubes and seat belts for straps. And I mean assembled this isn’t some run of the mill production manufacturered product. It’s a finely tuned piece of kit.
Have had my one for a few years now and it just gets better with time. Practically indestructible it seems to soften and develop a nicely honed patena over time. I’d love to get a new one but I could never bring myself to ‘retire’ my current bag – I guess its a companion for life. I expect to expire before it does.
The brothers Freitag have extended their range extensively over the last few years and produced more than 150,000 bags last year alone.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bags, Freitag, Tarpaulin | 2 Comments »
January 30, 2008 by guyhutch
Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
