With all the buzz about going green and being eco-friendly, I decided to see how living green could be applied to the fashion industry. I quickly learned there is a lot more to the topic than I originally thought and that the post I was planning would be best split into multiple parts.

“Going green” or being eco-friendly are tems that relate to products and/ or lifestyles that are environmentally friendly. This can mean consuming less natural resources, using sustainable resources, using organic products, recycling, creating less waste, and much more. The more septs in the production process that are eco-friendly, the “greener” the end product.

In fashion, the most effective way to be eco-friendly is to simply buy less clothing, shoes, and accessories. The next most effective is to purchase used items from garage sales or thrift stores, reducing the amount of new products that need to be manufactured, keeping goods from ending up in landfills, and often making a charitable contribution at the same time. Another good option is to Freecycle which is a great way to get (and give!) free stuff locally. With the average American throwing out 68 pounds of clothing and textiles a year, it is easy to see how these options can make a huge difference.

Now, I am not denying these are great options, but in my fashionista heart of hearts, I love clothes, I love shoes, and I certainly love my handbags. Most of all I love shopping, the thrill of the hunt, and capturing that elusive great deal. For shoppers like me, there is still a glimmer of hope. Team Treehugger gives the following tips for building a green wardrobe on Planet Green. (more…)

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Do you even wander through a store, or click through a website, looking at clothing and wonder how it will fit? The description says it is a junior item, but what does that mean? Is there a difference between even and odd size numbers, if so, what is it? Is XL the same as 1-X? If this sounds like you, you are not alone. This post discusses the difference between womens and missy sizes. For even more information, check out our post on missy versus junior sizing.

Knowing the difference between missy and women’s or women’s plus sizing is an important part of knowing your correct sizes. When you know which category you fit into, you are able to find a better fit and more flattering styling.

While not every rule will fit with every design, here is a basic framework to help you decide which sizing style works best for you.

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Do you even wander through a store, or click through a website, looking at clothing and wonder how it will fit? The description says it is a junior item, but what does that mean? Is there a difference between even and odd size numbers, if so, what is it? If this sounds like you, you are not alone. This post discusses the difference between junior and missy sizes. For even more information, check out our post on missy versus womens sizing.

Knowing the difference between junior and missy sizing is an essential part of knowing your appropriate sizes. When you know which category you fit into, you are able to find a better fit and more flattering styling. So what is the difference?

While not every rule will fit with every design, here is a basic guideline to help you decide which sizing style works best for you.

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With a down-turn in the overall economy, shoppers around the world are looking for better deals on the items they love to buy. Many big name brand retailers such as Banana Republic, American Eagle, Victoria Secret, Gap, Bebe, True Religion, and others liquidate their excess inventories and sell to discounters who send that same merchandise through the supply chain and these items end up in many non-traditional areas such as discount stores and discount websites such as http://www.myfashioncorner.com/.

The liquidated merchandise, the very same items that were sitting in high-end department or specialty stores, often ends up being sold at deeply discounted prices since the original sale from the manufacturer to the discounter was carried out at a fraction of the original price. It is not uncommon to see discounts of up to 75% off the original retail price. Can you imagine buying exactly the same luxurious cashmere sweater your fashionista neighbor bought at full retail for up to 75% less?

Obviously, such discounts are not seen favorably by the big retail chains, so they place conditions on the sale and distribution of the goods in questions. A common practice is to limit, by contractual agreement, the areas to which the liquidated goods can be circulated, thus helping preserve control of the brand and its authorized distributions. This method is often seen as one of the most desirable for the liquidators since it preserves the most control with regard to distribution of their originally manufactured product.

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Pashmina wool is special because of its rarity and quality, especially in the western world. This luxury fiber has softness equal to or greater than cashmere. Pashmina wool holds color beautifully, is among the highest quality wools, and is very light.

From the Persian pashmineh or pashm meaning wool, pashmina refers to a particularly fine type of cashmere wool. This wool comes from the underbelly of the changthangi or pashmina goat, a special breed indigenous to high altitudes of the Himalayas found primarily in Kashmir and Nepal.

The goat sheds its winter coat every spring. One goat sheds approximately 3-8 ounces of the fiber. Harvesting the fiber once meant combing the mountains surrounding Nepal or Kashmir to find the shed wool of the goats, frequently caught on thorn bushes. Thus, collections were minimal.

Because pashmina wool accessories set the fashion world on fire in the 1990s, efforts have been successfully made to raise the mountain goat in the Gobi Desert area in Inner and Outer Mongolia as well. With very similar weather patterns, the Mongolian import now is an excellent source for pashmina wool. The quality of the wool produced in the Gobi Desert is just as high as that produced in the Himalayas, but the costs are much less.

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