Howies

When you Google 'howies' the tag line is: 'howies is an active clothing company that believes in making higher quality, lower impact products for our sports and day-to-day lives.'

This pretty much sums up howies, but there is much more to them. I say they, because there is very much a family of people who make and sell the clothing based in Cardigan, Wales. I was first introduced to the company during Art Foundation for their inspiring catalogues, which not only sell their products (really well too!) but also give space for articles on things they believe in. 

In the most recent magazine, one article, 'Clean yourself up' looks at the process of dyeing fabrics. The factory howies use in Portugal has this season moved from traditional batch dyeing to 'jet dyeing'. 'Now, instead of the fabric being dipped, it is sprayed with dye by high-powered jets. This uses a lot less water - just 3 litres per kilo of fabric.'

Another article looks at their products and subsequent carbon footprint, in a practical and honest way, in 'howies Carbon Homework'. The article is a double page graph of paint footprints comparing two seasons of clothes - A/W 08 with S/S 09. 

The clothes are made of organic cotton, and denim where applicable, and every product listing states the materials and where it was made. Coming out in the summer is the Hemp Jean.

'These jeans are made by mixing organic hemp with organic cotton.

Hemp is twice as strong as cotton.

Hemp does not require conventional pesticides or herbicides like cotton does.

Hemp does not deplete the nutrients in soil.

Hemp is less thirsty than cotton.

It uses less water (around 2300 litres).

That would be enough to fill 8 baths of water.

The hemp jean will be out this summer - £225'

We are used to fashion on the highstreet being far cheaper than this, but the quality is significantly less, therefore dubbed 'throw-away fashion', and the impact on the environment significantly worse. We need to re-evaluate the true cost of the clothes we buy, how much is it costing me? how much did it cost to make? how long will it last? what impact has this garment had?

howies have also recently introduced a line called Hand-Me-Down -' These products have been made to last. So that one day you can hand them down to someone else. And they can carry on their little journeys.' 

The range currently consists of a male and female version of a jacket at £400 and 3 types of bags, with a 10 year guarantee. The jacket is described as being 'designed to look timeless. So it doesn't either come in or go out of fashion. So not only will the jacket last the test of time but so will its design.'  

I think this is a great idea, and another, cheaper way to continue a garment's life span is to buy from a charity shop and learn to mend and adjust your clothes. However, the product itself needs to be reasonably well made, and I think howies are spot-on with the lengths gone to craft durable and long-lasting clothing. 

Knitting

When beginning this project I was pointed in the direction of Kate Fletcher, eco fashion and textile extraordinaire. On the 'PLAY' section of her website she promotes knitting.

Knitting is not just the preserve of 

our grannies!

It's cool, creative, empowering and so promotes values shared by sustainability. It can also be done with minimum of stuff, on the hoof or with your mates in the pub.

Send me pictures of your wooly creations or you and y

our friends knitting and purling!

(here)

So, I thought, why not? Having never knitted before, I saw it as a good opportunity to learn. I spoke to a couple of people before deciding to head to a local shop with a good reputation. The Wool Shop, in Armley has been running 58 years and recently taken over in June 2008 by a husband and wife duo. 

I walked from the bottom of Cardigan Road, Hyde Park to the shop, which took half an hour. Upon arriving I was met by the friendly owners and I explained I knew nothing about knitting. I was talked through what I was after and how to go about it. The shop can order in organic wool, or alternatively, stocked 'Chevy' Aran wool. The colour is dependent on the breed of sheep and when it was shorn, as the wool is not treated. I bought 3 x 50g balls at £1.50 each, some 5mm needles (I hadn't thought to recycle by getting them from a charity shop) and given a how-to knit card.

Off I went, excited to get knitting. However, I struggled trying to understand the card and resorted to a youtube tutorial from cyberseams. This video contained everything I needed:

• Casting On
• The basic knit (garter stitch)
• Binding Off

My first piece of knitting was interesting. I recommend counting how many stitches you cast on, and keep checking you have the same amount and that you haven't slipped a stitch, or in my case, split the yarn into two every now and then, and added stitches.

Here's the results of my first attempt.

But, practice makes perfect! I took my knitting back to the shop and was encouraged that apparently I had neat stitches, and bought 2 more balls of the same colour wool having decided to knit a skinny boy scarf.

Here are the results.

(garter stitch throughout, approximately 113g of wool, roughly £3.35)

From the hours spent knitting, I've gained a new skill and discovered lots of people are keen knitters which has led to evenings spent knitting together. So, it really is sociable!

Knitting a garment is quite laborious and this in itself has made me appreciate the work that goes in to making clothes. It made me think more about how and who by my clothes are made and of what materials. I definitely recommend knitting to anyone who can not yet, or who hasn't picked up the needles in a while.

Link to map for The Wool Shop.