When I first announced here that I was restarting my efforts in the ethical clothing arena, I mentioned Nau as an inspiration, having read about them in an issue of Fast Company.

The news this week, of course, is that Nau have called it a day (more here and here).

Check over the fold for my further thoughts on Nau’s farewell.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Designing for the Social Web: the Book - Joshua Porter's book has been released - this is a must-read for me - will be grabbing a copy in my next Amazon order…
• Sustainable clothier Nau pulls the plug - "Nau Inc., the Portland apparel startup that tried to forge a new sustainable business model, said today it would cease operations." This is really disappointing news. Nau was a real inspiration for me.
• "Fuzu - Between Your Lines" T-Shirt @ RedBubble - My band now has a t-shirt! Printed on American Apparel tees and available in a range of colours for AUD$24.95
• Cutting-Edge Cardboard Interior in Greece - I really love the effect of this cardboard interior design.
• Optus scores iPhone: report - When the iPhone launched in the US I predicted a June 2008 launch. I'd hoped that 3 would get the deal, but it looks like Optus. Hopefully they'll have a kick-ass data plan… UPDATE: Seems initial rumours were jumping the shark: News Limited is reporting Vodaphone as the successful network.

These links are automatically posted from my del.icio.us feed.

• Lovethreads - Australian ethical fashion retailer
• Frasers Broadway: Australia’s Greenest Development - Is this really going ahead? Looks like an amazing development, though the artist’s impressions leave a lot to be desired…
• Adidas Originals D-Nizza, re-made eco style - "Now that many of the classic Adidas styles are back in vogue, the label has chosen to re-release them in its Originals range. … the retro items are being made with environmentally conscious materials."
• Eco-chic no passing fad - "Green fashion is more than a passing fad. It's a lifestyle choice, says Cynthia Spencer, a trend-spotter from New York."
• Hemp given green light in Australia - NSW has just passed legislation allowing industrial hemp to be grown in the state. Pity that most of our processing infrastructure (spinners and weavers) have shut down - this could be a great crop for them to boost the industry.
• Handcut Australia - Re-fashion house creating one off pieces from vintage clothing.

These links are automatically posted from my del.icio.us feed.

Ever since I first worked with Digital Eskimo (while I was working on the Future is man made site re-launch for WWF) I’ve really admired their approach to using qualitative research methods to underpin their work.

The research we did for the FiMM site was really valuable and useful - giving us a much clearer picture of where sustainability fits in people’s lives and what sort of site/support people would find most benefit in.

So, in starting down the path of launching a new business, I felt strongly about embarking on a research project to underpin the brand and product development.

Keep reading over the jump for more information about the research process.

Update: I was remiss in not mentioning that I was first introduced to the idea of ethnographic style research for business and the web by Stephen Cox, who is now doing great work at News Limited.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is just a little techy post for folks that use Ableton Live on an Intel Mac under Leopard (10.5). Just passing it on for the Google-bots - hopefully it’ll save someone a bit of grief…

I started getting major audio glitches the other night (not the good kind), and I couldn’t quite work out why.

I tracked down the problem to Apple’s IAC midi driver. I use the driver (which you can enable under Applications > Utilities > Audio & Midi Setup) to send midi notes from a track within Live to trigger a scene change.

When I enabled it on my MacBook I started getting major audio glitches in Live (6.0.10). After a bit of troubleshooting I worked out a configuration change in Live that (seems to have) resolved the conflict. A screenshot:

I was chatting to a friend of mine a little while back about my plans to start a label, and they mentioned that a friend of theirs was putting together a tshirt label with some cool designs.

I’ve also been wanting to find some more obscure tshirt labels since Threadless tees are seemingly popping up everywhere nowadays. Plus I wanted a bit of a change, given most of my tees are Threadless already.

In watching my Facebook news feed I saw they’d become a fan of the-affair, figuring that was the label they were talking about, and sure enough it was them.

I checked out the website and subscribed to the blog. I dig the tees and the branding, and the other week took the plunge and purchased two tees.

More about my impressions of the tees and American Apparel over the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Amnesty International: Expression = prison: Hu Jia.

Tibet has (rightly) been in the spotlight of late, but this is a timeline reminder that these human rights abuses continue to occur throughout the country. I dearly hope that the spotlight remains firmly on these abuses in the leadup to the Olympics.

It is these kind of sentences that create the culture of self-censorship within the Chinese community.

Rebecca McKinnon suggests that we can’t expect too much to change - I hope that at least the embarrassments and increased pressure do at least help move things for the better, at least in some way.

This from newmatilda.com today:

Environmental Leader highlights a Reuters report on the new geo-sequestration plant opening in Victoria.

The basic principle of the “plant” is to pump 100,000 tonnes of CO2 into the ground (and, I suggest, hope that this won’t cause unforseen and/or longer-term issues). I’m dubious about geo-sequestration generally, but that’s not my real gripe with this report. This is the lead:

A geo-sequestration plant, capable of capturing and compressing 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide which is stored two kilometers underground, has opened in Victoria, Australia. Researchers hope the project will help to significantly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

(Emphasis mine.) Whilst, technically, it could be argued that sequestration reduces the emission of greenhouse gases - because it’s funneling the emitted CO2 into the ground - it’s not actually reducing the emissions. Just storing them somewhere else for an indefinite period.

But the corker is when the voiceover of the report says:

… it uses experimental low-emission technology that has the potential to reduce the burning of fossil fuels.

This is patently untrue. In fact, a successful trial is likely to lead to a continuation, or even increase, in the burning of fossil fuels, as it delays the need for investment in truly renewable energy and allows the continuation of use of coal fired power stations and the like.

I’m astounded that an agency like Reuters would get this so wrong in their report…

• Comprehensive Medicare cover for complementary and integrative healthcare - I've long believed that natural therapies and complementary medicine improve overall health and thus reduce the burden on the health system. This petition is in support of Medicare cover for complementary and integrative healthcare.
• MADE-BY :: het label voor duurzaam geproduceerde mode. - An initiative established by Solidaridad to assist and promote labels producing sustainably and ethically.
• Remembering Val Plumwood - This blog was created by a friend of mine in memory of influential environmental thinker and author Val Plumwood upon her recent passing. A great example of the power of social media - 5 mins to setup and over 2200 visits - all thanks to WordPress.com.
• Ecogen: compostable plastic for the future? - "Plastic that lasts for years in your bathroom but biodegrade completely on your compost heap may sound like something out of Star Trek, but it's actually available right now, here in the UK."
• Organic Tees and Hoodies for Guys - Inhabitat review a few ethical/eco menswear offerings.

These links are automatically posted from my del.icio.us feed.