[gallery link="file"] Read the re-cap of the NY Fashion Week - NY Fair Fashion Runway Show on MagnifECO, which featured designs and collections from Soham Dave, DIGS.com, Marquet, Global Goods Partners and others. The Fashion Show was a success, bringing together sustainability, fashion and innovative style.
Read the full article HERE - MagnifECO
This is one of our favorite times of year, when we celebrate our designers and artisans coming together for social and environmental change. Working in sustainable, recycled or reclaimed materials reduces the environmental impact industry causes. Working with artisans using Fair-trade practices instead of factories preserves their craft traditions and gives them viable income which assists in alleviating poverty,giving them the ability to make better choices for themselves and their families.
Thanks for supporting Digs!
[gallery link="file"] The Green Shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was a stunning combination of high fashion and sustainable design and materials. DIGS was so lucky to be there and to be a part of the eco-friendly and sustainable high fashion revolution at New York Fashion Week.
The Designers and Companies that were featured were: United Bamboo, H. Fredriksson, Study NY, The Battalion, Luis Valenzuela, Anja Collection, Artists & Revolutionaires, Victoria Simes, Natalie Frigo, Nettie Kent, Erika Lauren Design, Ursa Major Collection, East Fourth Street, Shannon South, Collina Strada and The Sway.
To see more photos of the Green Shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, go to our Facebook Page: www.Facebook.com/digscom
Watch this GREAT short firm about the process and progress of Scarfitecture's scarves.
Produced by Gabe Rodriguez, an award-winning New York filmmaker. His new film Q To the 6 Train will be premiering at Anthology Film Archives this Wednesday.
Don't forget to join us at (Sustainable) Fashion's Night Out this Thursday, September 8 at the Textile Arts Center in NYC! The shopping event will be from 6-10 pm, and SCARFITECTURE will be premiering it's scarves! Get an up-close-and-personal look at these handwoven works of art. We will begin accepting bigs for the auction in December.
Hope to see you there!
Gulu, Uganda: In northern Uganda, thousands of girls have been kidnapped by a rebel army. After escaping an abusive life, these now grown women often return home as mothers. Unable to return to school because of their duties, they are left to fend for themselves. Many are trained to sew as part of their rehabilitation, and this- our latest and potentially greatest program to date- will further enable such women to MEND.
MEND has a sewing facility with 13 women, 1 Pattern/Fabric Cutter, 1 Technical Manager, and 1 Production Coordinator all based in Gulu, Uganda. All the women were former sex slaves, abducted very young & tortured for years by Joseph Kony's rebel army. Now they are all rehabilitated and have been given full time employment.
Mend is a new brand & handbag line by Revolutionaries at Invisible Children. Each Handbag has been individually created and sewn by a woman whose name is forever labeled within and will tell the story of the women who made it, and build into the healing and advancement of the war-affected areas of Uganda.
Special Designer Offer: Use code NL0804 to receive 20% off all MEND'S messenger bags! Available in black or army green, these spacious and comfortable bags are a back-to-school essential.
New York City: Marie Havens is a designer and photographer based in New York City. She moved here at 17 to study fashion design at Parsons New School of Design, where she graduated with honors and the distinguished Designer of the Year award. Marie has worked within the fashion and photography fields for over a decade -- traveling the world from Europe, Asia, and Central America to Mexico, Australia, and Africa. She is currently the Design Director of MEND, the new accessories division of the media based non-profit Invisible Children. Marie also collaborates and consults for celebrity photographer Patrick McMullan; a ten year working relationship that includes photographing events and designing his top selling photography book and exhibition: so80s: A Photograohic Diary of a Decade. As a result, her design and photography work focuses on extremes in society, which greatly parallels her life and experiences in both New York City and Africa.
Special Designer Offer: Receive 20% off Marie's Green and Black Messenger Bags! Use Code NL0308 at checkout!
Special Designer Offer ends Tuesday, March 15, 2011. While supplies last. Winners of previous giveaways may not enter to win. Winner will be named via email on Friday, March 11, 2011.
Raymisa was founded in 1981, located at 4,000 meters above sea level in the Peruvian Andes in the town of Tinki in the Cusco region. Its most important objective is to promote Peruvian handcraft, stimulate and preserve the creativity of artists and craftspeople, and also to promote the improvement of the quality of Peruvian products while respecting the cultural expressions and traditions in order to access the market.
Special Designer Offer: Receive 20% off Raymisa's Felt Bag with Long Strap inBlack or Grey! Use Code NL0222 at checkout!
Lima, Peru: Mery Luz Salva Diaz, a native of Lima, Peru, lives with her husband and daughter. As a fulltime working mother, she wanted to find a way to earn an income from home so she could raise her child. In 2006, with a curiosity in sustainable materials, she started to play with wooden beads, wire, fiber, and scrap felt from a toy factory in Lima. Designing and making her own "Bijouterie" got her many compliments and commissions. Later that year, she started a collection and showed it in local galleries, launching her home business. Today, she employs other mothers who make her jewelry from their own homes; allowing them to stay part of their communities, keep to their familial responsibilities, while still earning a fair wage to support their children.
In this weeks giveaway, we are offering Mery Luz' adorable Daisy May Pin! Enter to win by emailing your name and mailing address to info@digs.com. The winner will be notified on Friday, February 4.
Special Designer Offer: Receive 20% off Mery Luz' entire jewelry collection! Use Code NL0201 at checkout!
Patricia Juana Caceres 
has been connected to textiles since she was very young because both her parents are artisans. She studied at The University Mayor de San Andres in La Paz in Communications and later studied tendencies and quality control through the mayor's office of La Paz. She attended USAID program BCCN focus on designs, then a 2 year course on design and use of colours through COPROCA. Later she worked with international designer Brigitte Landawer.
Her main inspiration as a designer is "when you design you play with the imagination, forms and techniques of weaving".
Five years ago, she build her own workshop together with her husband (Carlos Soliz).
For Patricia working with Awayu means she can help in a direct way the community and especially the people of El Alto since they (Awayu) can give work to many artisans and at the same time she can help the artisans to improve their techniques and teach them them about tendencies and ways to improve the products that they produce.
See Patricias AMAZING handknit, superfine Alpaca products on DIGS.com