Uba Kontrovasie

Zazzling Zoom

I was surfing the web for t-shirts today, just looking and not buying. I want to print my own, there are so many Banksy tee’s available but no Binoy Varghese tee’s or any of the artists that I like.

Anyway I stumbled upon Zazzle.Com, which at first looked like any other t-shirt website, however, after some exploring I discovered the neat product zoom feature on their home page.

I haven’t seen it anywhere before, but I think it’s pretty dang cool because it eliminates the need to leave the product gallery in order to zoom in on products. I didn’t delve into how they’ve done it, probably some ajaxery at play.

Tags: ajax, art, Design, e-shop, ecommerce, fashion, online shop, tee shirts, usability, web design

Geek Chic

Pixel art knits made in England by Office Lendorff, essential winter kit for any Geek. On my wish list already!

Tags: fashion, geek chic, knits, office lendorff, woollies

Primark and Sweatshops

With all the hot water retailers like Primark have got into, I became intrigued by all the press and media attention.

Sweatshops have been around for years, manufacturers such as Nike and GAP have also come under fire for using cheap labour in their overseas factories, providing employees with miniscule wages and diabolical working conditions.

The corporations claim they are supporting local economies by paying workers peanuts for manufacturing hundreds of garments each day, locals say if they didn’t work in the factories they wouldn’t have any other sustainable means of income.

Places like India have “fair trade” factories where the unit costs can double, however foreign fashion buying powers scrutinise over price and they prefer cheaper manufacturers.

My personal opinion is where possible do buy fair trade, why? Well…it may not make a huge difference to the grand scheme of things but you certainly do get what you pay for. A piece of clothing part assembled by hand and made with good material is sure to last you longer than something mass produced with cheap materials and more importantly cheap labour.

If one quality, fair trade garment can last you the same length as three cheap garments that’s three sweatshop produced pieces of clothing you do not need to buy.

Adding weight to one argument also attracts attention to another, what does “fair trade” really mean? If a company is putting together garments with an ethically managed workforce, where are they sourcing their material?

Is managing their workforce ethically coming at the price of land, which has been cleared for mass cotton farming? Are the factory owners buying cheaper materials that are being produced by another slaved system? Are mass cotton farms wiping out small cotton farmers? Is cotton unnaturally grown, genetically modified or sprayed with chemicals?

The truth is no consumer can un-earth of any this via the shelves of department stores and shopping centres. What we really need is more “fair trade, organic” ranges in stores. Great! I hear people say here goes another hippie…and they’re probably right. Realistically how feasible would it be for the majority if not a whole country to wear “fair trade, organic” garments? Not very!

So what’s the solution to the problem? Buy less! Buy for need! Easier said than done, we are all (including me) victims of fashion or have a degree of desire to conform to the sartorial expectations of the people around us.

Like everything else it is our opinions and lifestyles that need to change over time for any real difference to truly materialise. With me personally a certain degree of “needs analysis” does go through my mind when I go shopping, if not for the sake of my wallet than for the sake of the bigger picture.

Tags: chemicals, ethical clothing, fair trade, fashion, GAP, India, media attention, Nike, organic