August 19, 2012 |
Personally, the idea of going green has never really appealed to us. Firstly, we don’t do green. Looks terrible on us. Secondly, it’s messy and time consuming. Have you ever tried sorting the recycling on a Wednesday night after a gin and tonic or two? Takes forever. Things spill. Things smell. We are counting down the days until someone comes up with an automatic trash sorter, a sort of junk filter like you get with email accounts, but one that sorts glass from plastic and paper. Thirdly, and most importantly, this whole green thing is extremely costly – the only way to really make a difference is to install a wind turbine in your garden and some solar panels on your roof and that’s not cheap. But to be totally honest, this whole giving thing has never really appealed before. Why would you give when you can take? Well, now you can do both, courtesy of Edun. So, technically their mission statement is more about sustainable fashion and the promotion of trade with Africa and, obviously, we’ve yet to grasp the finer points of both green and sustainable, but we’ll gloss over that for now. The clothes here are inspired by the, and we’ll quote, “traditional dress codes of Scottish clans and African tribes”, which leads us to conclude that this is what you get when you cross Trainspotting with the Serengeti. Imagine young boy with spike plugs in his ear and quiffed hair. He’s dressed in a leather biker jacket. It may look distressed, but don’t let that distract you from its suppleness. Such softness does not come from any cow. Only one reared on the greenest of pastures. He wears this with a tartan shirt layered under a printed knit. The print is African inspired, slightly tribal. It isn’t simply printed upon the sweater, it is knitted in. This requires skill. Our boy likes quality craftsmanship and this is a reflection of that. He is sitting in a travel agency. Behind him hangs a poster of the Serengeti. There are antelope running across the arid landscape. He wants to buy a ticket to Africa. He’s bored of trainspotting (never really liked those nylon anoraks). He’d much rather go and give something back. He would if he could afford to buy solar panels, but the flight’s cheaper. And somehow it feels right. He’d like to do something more than just wear the clothes.
by Natalie Dembinska
