As you can (hopefully) see, we’ve sorted out the commenting security issue.  Now you have to sign in, BUT you can sign in with a number of your existing accounts because they all use “OpenID” under the surface to make sure your ID is protected and just yours.  You can log-in with your Gmail account, or Yahoo, or Facebook (if you let FB show your email address), or a number of others.

We think this is a good compromise:  we shouldn’t have large numbers of gross adverts all over our blog, and you don’t need to create another new account that you have to remember.  Just use what you’ve already got.  Hope that helps.

We did a photo shoot with them an and they got a lot of good comments from people at the shoot.  Mostly people like the quality and feel of the clothes.  The organic cotton is soft and sumptuous.  The cardigans have a really nice 40′s feel to them, and the shrugs have cute puff shoulders!  The bamboo clothes (dresses and leggings) are equally soft, if not more so, and look fantastic.  We’re really, really happy with the whole shipment and are excited to see what you all think about them too.  If you get a moment, feel free to let us know.  Thanks.

Watch this space to see new clothes from Frank&Faith, we have a feeling they’re going to be one of our biggest sellers.

I’m really happy with what we’ve got lined up. We had such problems with the bag when we were last active, back in March, that I said we should really take our time find some good stuff. It took a lot longer than I thought, but we’ve got some gorgeous, amazing jewellery. You won’t believe it’s as good as it is, until you see it for real. I know because that’s exactly what happened to us. We chose it because the photos were nice and because sales really help the jewellery artists back in Lima, Peru, but when it arrived we just stopped what we were doing and talked about it for ages! It’s lovely when that sort of thing happens.

A similar thing happened with our delivery of Frank&Faith clothes, and they’re also some of the most ethical clothes we saw anywhere – and that includes the ones that look like they’re made from hessian and jute off-cuts by a not-very-skilled person. We’re all for supporting re-use (as you can see from our bags and jewellery) but we’ve decided to leave the more soviet designs to others; we’re trying to do something that’s comfortable, beautiful and elegant because if we’re serious about living in an ethical, sustainable way, we should encourage design, skill and beauty. Like all art, it lifts us from the humdrum and makes us, and others, think.

MooFree bags are exactly that – free of cows – plus the cows remain free!  They’re a collection of fashion bags that make PU sexy, and extremely re-usable.  We think this is the best selection of leather-free fashion bags that we’ve ever had, and the sales have been really good so far, which suggests you agree.  Thanks, it’s not been achieved without a lot of hard work.  We like you.

We’d love to stock their stuff but: (a) they are doing a good enough job without us, and (b) we can’t afford to stock all those sizes in all those styles!  Maybe when we’ve been up-and-running for a bit longer, if they’ll let us.

The problem is, people like all sorts of bags and many people want bags that look like leather but are actually totally leather-free.  We started off with Rubber Cow bags, and they were great until we (and they) found out that some of the elements of the bag had animal products in them.  We’ve worked hard to find a replacement, and think we’ve done so with our MooFree bags.  As far as we know, and we’ve done a lot of sleuthing, they’re totally animal-free.  Nevertheless, they are made in China, which doesn’t have a good record in looking after its bag-making workers.  The company we’re working with is a good solid Newcastle company with good people, but it’s still not ideal.  However, we think it’s better to buy a leather-free bag, than a leather bag that probably made under worse conditions, but you may prefer have a look at dA-LaTA bags.  Hopefully, you’ll find something you like.

Our aim, however, is to make our own bags.  This is not easy.  We are not bag designers (though we do have a design background), or artists/craftspeople.  We need help.  If you’d like to work with us to make 100% fashion bags from recycled , animal-free materials, in the UK or under a fair trade scheme, then please, please tell us and we’ll do all we can to make it happen.  There are lots of jute bags out there, and lots of not-very-good recycled bags too.  Both good and bad get comments like, “Mmm, that’s clever”, or “What a great idea.”  But nothing about them is usually compared to genuine (but non-ethical) fashion bags.  We think it should be normla for an ethical fashion handbag to get comments like, “Ooh, this ethical thing’s pretty cool, actually.  I’ve got to have one of those!”

I just submitted this to Wikipedia about the Goldfrapp track, [[Strict Machine]].  It might not stay there long, but I think it’s interesting, so I want to record it here!  (I’m a big Goldfrapp fan)

—begins—

The track appears to contain backmasking. When played backwards, the reversed lyrics appear to say, “Eeeooh, eeeooh, something’s new. I love, you. I love, you.” There also seem to be hints that backmasking is present even when the track is played forwards. Vocalised elements from 1min:17secs to 1min:30sec from the end of the track are clearly reversed, and when those elements are played forward (i.e. when the track is played backwards) they turn out to be Alison erotically enthusing, “yeah, yeah, oh yeah.”^[15]

Alison has stated that the track is about a lab rat learning to love its pleasure centres being electrically simulated, but if there really is backmasking on this track then it is possible that this story was retro-fitted to the ‘hidden’ lyrics on the track, in much the same way Queen supposedly retro-fitted their story about Another One Bites the Dust.

—ends—

To begin with, we’ll just be selling some of the ethical maternity clothes found by our sister company, Cecily Plum.  They’re designed as maternity and breastfeeding clothes, but — interestingly — many of them are very useful as clothes for anyone.  For example, this tube can be used as a micro-mini, a belly band, or a boob tube.  Or this cami, which has had rave reviews and is worn by many non-mummies because it looks wonderful.

However, we are also in negotiations to bring two ordinary lines of clothing to Plum Ethical.  We can’t say more at the moment, but if all goes well, they’ll be here by the end of the the month (end of March).  Still, if you know of any ethical clothing manufacturers who make elegant, timeless clothes then let us know.  We’ll look into that too.

Still, we researched into alternative bag suppliers.  What we found was shocking.  Almost all bags that are made for sale in the UK are bound to contain exactly the same animal products EVEN WHEN THE BAG ITSELF PURPORTS TO BE VEGAN.  I’m not going to spell out what I’m saying, but it was quite a shock to us.  We had thought that it would be easy to find a 100% pure vegan bag maker who made traditional handbags, but it was not.  You know, handbags that look like the might be leather (but are actually really gorgeous non-leather that’s lighter and funkier If you know of a supplier of really nice handbags (something like a Prada bag) that are fully 100% vegan, please tell us!

Although it was easy to find bags made of nylon, or PVC or something else non-animal, we found that they all were made in a similar way, in similar factories, using the same techniques, and therefore using animal-based glues and dyes.  So, we had a choice:

EITHER: only sell re-cycled, hand-made bags (our current dA-LaTA, Neumatica, PlanetSilverchilli and E&KO bags), and not sell normal handbags.

OR: sell normal handbags that contained non-vegan glues and dyes.

Initially, we tended to the first option, but then we realise that this would mean many people would just go and buy a leather bag if they wanted something like an special handbag, since they had no choice.  So, we’ve gone back to our troubled supplier because we KNOW they care about promoting a vegan lifestyle – as someone related to their company said today:

“I follow a vegan diet myself at home and clearly understand and support this
further evolved aspect of preserving & caring for animals’ lives.  However,
when the majority of the public consume meat, sometimes trying to explain
veganism to them is like introducing yourself as an alien!  Animals are
slaughtered because people consume meat & wear leather not because we need
glues & dyes.  So I think the first port of call is to highlight the
benefits of reducing our consumption of the primary product of animal
farming and worry about glues & dyes further down the line, as public
opinion also shifts a little towards it.”

In other words, “let’s get rid of the major problem first, then we can focus on the other issues later.”  Imagine if everyone in the UK only bought leather-free bags.  Suddenly, there would then be an irresistible force to remove all animal products from all bags.  And before we ever reached even 10% of that goal, things would become much much easier to argue.  So, we’re working towards totally animal-free gorgeous handbags in this way.  Some of you may not agree with us, and we respect that, but that’s what we’re choosing to do, and we think – overall – it will help achieve really useful long-term goals.