Here's the rundown of today's movers and shakers - please supply your own drumroll.    more »

Wondering what your carbon footprint might be? Stuck for ways to reduce it?
I recently came across Edenbee, a sweet-looking site that helps you with both of these problems.
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One of the reasons we started up Catwalkgenius.com rather than a sweet shop or a theme park is because we noticed an opportunity to bring a growing trend ('crowdfunding') to an industry it hadn't yet arrived in (fashion).
I remain amazed that in the whole of the interwebby thing, we're the only ones providing something like the designer adoption scheme - and I'll enjoy it while it lasts.
However, I am noticing lots of other really cool interactive things starting to happen in a kind of 'Style 2.0' wave, so I thought I'd highlight some of my favourites.   more »

Amanda found this marvellous video of London fashion in the swinging sixties that I just had to share.
Sample quote: "They say London swings. It doesn't... But here and there among the conformist fat cats is a lean cat or two, looking like it might swing, given some encouragement." Groovy.   more »

Last weekend, Mal and I went over to visit Andrew, the fella who makes the web magic happen. He lives with his lady wife and half the contents of Noah's Ark in a lovely house in a beautiful village near the (presumably also very nice) Forest of Dean.
It's the kind of place where ladies drink organic milk and make good friends with cows, according to the brochure:    more »

Stuck for a birthday present?
You can now give your favourite people a slice of a fashion label by buying them an element in the form of an Adoption Gift Voucher!   more »

Amanda runs the show over at Fashion, Evolved – a blog devoted to snuffling out the very best of ethical stylishness.
I had a very nice chat with her the other day about what she was up to. Through the miracle of the internets, you can now find out what she had to say, simply by reading on…   more »

It's getting warmer, so we though it was time to take something off.
By using the following voucher code at the checkout page, you can get 10% off any of the products in our boutique.

GPYF94

The offer only lasts for one week and will expire on Friday the 23rd of May, so get them while it's hot!   more »

Kathleen from Fashion Incubator announces the 2008 Fabbies award winners (for some reason, the official site is still keeping it quiet at the moment). Did you vote?   more »

Our US reader has probably already forgotten Season 4, but TV time differences mean that I've only just caught: "Episode 6: Eye Candy". In a nutshell, the contestants had 5 minutes to source their garment's materials from a sweet shop.
Now I'm no expert, but I reckon Coco Chanel never had to knock up an evening gown from whatever she could grab in a 5-minute dash around her local patisserie.
But why fight it? Let's embrace the torture. For a while now a few of us have been dabbling with some challenge ideas in our 'Cruel and Unusual Challenges of Project Runway' Facebook group.   more »

Click on the image below to watch me create a product advert on Catwalkgenius.com. In the absence of any design skills, I'm selling my puppies*.

Have you seen this groovy search engine that plants 2 trees for every 1,000 searches?   more »

"Awlright Nicey*, you crazy rocker; who are the movers and shakers this week, great mate?"   more »

We've been thinking about ways to make things more interactive and sociable - you'll see what I mean if you click on the link to the survey. We kept it to 8 multiple choice questions so it's nice and quick.
If you leave an email address you'll be entered into a prize draw for a free adoption element and 15% of your next purchase. Nice, huh?
Take the 2-minute poll-daddy survey now!   more »

So we're all about adopting fashion designers - but what does that mean?
What:
* Buy a share, or 'element' in an independent designer's next collection.
* Each element costs 15 Euros, of which 14 Euros are invested in the designer's adoption.
* If you change your mind you can withdraw your elements (minus 1 Euro for processing) or switch designers at any time up until the designer hits their target.
* Once 5,000 elements have been sold, your designer is officially 'adopted'.
* They create a new collection and sell it on catwalkgenius.com.
* Profits from all these sales are split equally between you, the designer and us.   more »

Now I've been reading Susie Bubble for longer than my memory will allow me to recall.
That very same set of mis-firing neurones are pretty sure that this is the first time that her much-mentioned 'boyf' has been captured on film for posterity..   more »

If you're a designer who normally sells wholesale, it occurs to us that you might not have any packaging for shipping individual items or small orders to your fans.
If that's the boat that you're in, then take a look at these bad boys - now available in the buy packaging section of your account!   more »

WARNING: This post contains a little bit of gushing about Bono.
I say that because it's come to my attention that some people don't love him as they should. Well I do. How could I not? He comes from catwalkgenius.com's home shores, he's been writing genuinely belting songs since the middle of last century and the man can really wear a pair of sunglasses.    more »

So the webby magician has been waving his magic wand and here are some of the delicious by-products of his latest waftings:   more »

It's getting to that time of year when the big fiery thing in the sky hangs around for a bit longer and thoughts turn to heading to the beach for an icecream, a few sandcastles and a dip in the sea.
If you're heading to the beach any time soon, then you really should meet our friend Paula, whose Minnehaha collection is perfect for bringing some Brazilian glamour to Cannes, or indeed Cleethorpes.   more »

The third and final part of my Future of Fashion report is on its way, but in the meantime I had to make sure you caught these little gems...
1. Want to know how a t-shirt can cost €5,000 a day? Amanda at Fashion Evolved will tell you.   more »

...or, a 'tale of two acronyms'.

Mike Barry is the Head of Corporate Social Responsibility with Marks & Spencer. You may know him from such campaigns as 'Look behind the label' and 'Plan A' their 5-year, 100 point 'eco' plan - because there is no Plan B for the planet.    more »

On Friday I attended an industry seminar as part of Fashion Evolution (Dublin's Ethical Fashion Week) held by Re-dress.

It was a fascinating and thought-provoking day, with talks from: * Katherine Hamnett, * Christian Kemp-Griffin (CEO of Edun), * Mike Barry (Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at M&S), * Ingrid Schullstrom (Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at H&M) and * Simon Ferrigno of Organic Exchange.   more »

Get 'em while they're hot! These 5 beauties are each worth 1 adoption element and can be used for any opted-in designer like so:   more »

Who needs E! News? Who? With their superfluous exclamation mark and their angry protestations about the paparazzi hassling of Britney-esque celebs, when all the while they feed said paps with cash sandwiches and status frappe lattes? Well, let's be honest - I did.    more »

This is Lisa Anne, the designer behind La Jewellery. Her profile page describes a commitment to craftsmanship and the environment, along with a pretty sweet life amid the Welsh mountains. In our interview we learned how a TV repair man helped to get the whole thing started, why charity is so important to the line and what's big in the world of organic fruit these days...   more »

The deal is: 90 seconds of your valuable time to show you care about sustainable fashion. It is Earth Day after all.
The petition is here: Fashion, evolved.   more »

In many respects, Catwalkgenius.com is like our baby.
As such it is our parental right to choose not to let it grow up in any old, haphazard way. No way. Instead, like the best meddling parents, we plan to tweak it, prod it, give it singing lessons and generally muck about with it until it meets with the approval of as many members of the general public as possible.    more »

... and they're off! A few more adoption elements have been sold and so it's only right and proper that we celebrate this fact with a table:   more »

I wandered into deepest Dublin City this afternoon to check out the Re-Think Re-Dress exhibition: It forms part of the Fashion Evolution awareness campaign that's hoping to get a bit more focus on ethical and environmental issues involved choosing the clothes to go on our collective backs.   more »

If you’re a designer who’s new to Catwalkgenuis.com and you’d like to hit the adoption target of 5,000 elements sold to raise €70,000 for your next collection, then here are 10 tips to get you started.    more »

We particularly like designers who care about the planet, what with it being single-use and everything. Lucy - pictured - is something of a champion in this respect. Her couture jewellery line, seraglia, takes ethics and environment seriously and looks sufficiently gorgeous to win a prize on our launch homepage competition. Read on to find out more about Lucy, her life, philosophy and rather saucy taste in jokes.    more »

I'm just back from Galway Fashion Week, where Claire O'Connor launched her new Lil'c Couture line to a suitably impressed audience at Tosh nightclub.

More pics, chat and clothing from Claire next week - in the meantime, check out the first few items in her shop for a sneaky peek at the A/W 08-09 collection.   more »

Yipee and yatarr!

We're about as excited as it's possible to get, because our first designer is off the marks and on the first step towards the €70,000 adoption fund!   more »

Well this is awkward. Problogger have announced that today is Blogger Appreciation Day.

The idea is that bloggers everywhere should take a moment to cheer each other up, given that it's the most miserable day of the week and that commentators everywhere are pointing out the health risks involved in obligating oneself to an online journal all the live-long year.

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Does the world need Lol Dogs? Why, of course it does. Especially when they reference Project Runway.



Thanks to Amanda for the tip. Visit ihasahotdog.com for more of the same.