There are still a few tickets left for the event at the Proud Galleries on 11th November, its an exclusive event hosted by Pearl Lowe and featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Ben Grimes and the Cheek, alongside a whole host of special guests from London’s fashion crowd. Please email Caroline.Barker@momentumww.com if you are interested in being placed on the guest list. Tickets are £30 but are available as complimentary to friends of LCF. It will be a great night, for a great cause, so if you’re free let Caroline know.

Joining forces with Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the Gucci Group has decided to eliminate all paper made from Indonesian rainforests and plantations and by controversial suppliers like Asia Pulp and Paper. The move is a first step in implementing an industry-leading paper policy and a continuation of the Gucci Group’s interest in stemming climate change, about twenty percent of which stems from forest loss.

“Standing rainforests are not a luxury, they’re a necessity if the world wants to stop climate change,” said Mimma Viglezio, Executive VP Global Communications at the Group. “Our actions are lowering our own carbon footprint, but we hope that they will also raise awareness inside the fashion industry that it’s possible for our industry to make a difference for rainforests and for the climate.”

The Gucci Group’s move commits some of fashion’s most famous brands, including Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Balenciaga to perhaps the luxury industry’s strongest paper policy. With its new policy, the Gucci Group has pledged to reduce the amount of paper it uses, eliminate fiber from high conservation value forests, and only to purchase recycled products or those certified by the Forest Stewardship Council by December 2010. With this policy, they are ensuring that all paper categories used by the group, from copy paper to shopping bags, do not come from endangered forests like those in Indonesia.

“The Gucci Group’s actions and commitments confirm its place as an industry leader,” said Lafcadio Cortesi, RAN’s Forest Campaign Director. “This move sets a bar for others in fashion and retail and demonstrates the foresight our society needs for our children and grandchildren to have standing rainforests and a stable climate.”

Since the beginning of Fall 2009, RAN has been urging the fashion world to more closely examine their paper supply chains and to sever any connection with paper suppliers like Asia Pulp and Paper who are actively destroying Indonesia’s rainforests. Gucci Group’s new policy puts them at the front of a growing list of major companies, including Tiffany & Co., H&M Group, Staples and Unisource who are taking concrete action to clean their supply chains of rainforest paper and severing relationships with companies who continue to destroy rainforests in Indonesia or elsewhere.

Worldwide, the degradation and destruction of tropical rainforests is responsible for twenty percent of all annual greenhouse emissions. The carbon emissions resulting from Indonesia’s rapid deforestation account for around eight percent of global emissions: more than the combined emissions from all the cars, planes, trucks, buses and trains in United States. This huge carbon footprint from forest destruction has made non-industrialized Indonesia the third-largest global greenhouse gas emitter, behind only the U.S. and China.

The Future 100 Young Entrepreneurs - 2009 Striding Out are searching for talented young entrepreneurs aged 18-35 who demonstrate entrepreneurial flair and innovation in progressing a responsible business venture to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009

The definition of responsible business, is one which demonstrates a balance between economic, environmental and social goals to achieve ultimate business success. The future of our world is in the hands of individuals who are committed to generating commercial and ethical returns.

The Future 100 Winners are provided with

• networking opportunities with public, private and third sector representatives

• media and PR training to help raise their profile

• business coaching, training and professional mentoring support where possible.

Striding Out is being supported by Business in the Community and the Media Trust to deliver these opportunities.

The 2009 Winners will be invited to an exclusive celebration party on Social Enterprise Day  - Thursday 19th November, with invited guests from the private and public sector.

Enter here!

Check out this great competition which could see your design being sold in Beyond the Valley. Design a laser cut/engraved Christmas card to sell in store – all the production and material costs are covered and you keep the profit.  See here for more details.

The Wool Pack – A Six week knitting club at the Fashion and Textile Museum. Wednesday evenings starting 28th October

This new club at the FTM is aimed at those who have little or no knitting experience but who have always wanted to learn the lovely art of knitting.

Taught in a relaxed environment you will learn the basic techniques and stitches required to knit. Once you have mastered the basics you will put them into practice on a class project which will mean you have a finished article at the end of the course.

Needles and yarns are supplied for use in the first class. Participants will need to acquire their own needles and yarns for the following classes and projects.

Cost: £110

Wednesday evenings,
28th October – 2nd December 2009

6.30 – 9pm

For further information and bookings phone 020 7407 8664 or email info@ftmlondon.org – or book online from here.

West Country based clothes swap website Posh-swaps.com is hosting its first Posh Swaps clothes swap party in Bath on 24^th November and it looks to be a really fun and eco friendly girl’s night out, for the ultimate guilt free alternative to shopping.

The party takes place at the Guildhall in Bath and offers swappers the chance to refresh their wardrobe and try out a new look. As well as the chance to get a stylish new outfit, the swap will also have a fashion and beauty market, a personal stylist on hand to give a few tips, wine and goody bags.

Clothes swap parties have become hugely popular recently with shoppers becoming more aware of the environmental impact and ethical issues surrounding the clothes that they wear. The recession has also played a part in the clothes swapping phenomena, with consumers no longer having the money to constantly update their wardrobe.

Director of Heathcote Communications and founder of Posh-swaps.com, Ceri Heathcote said “We wanted to create a place where people could find affordable and sustainable clothing. Looking stylish is not about following the latest fashions; it is about wearing quality clothes to suit the wearer’s lifestyle, personality, colouring and body shape. These clothes make people look and feel great without the guilt of causing unnecessary environmental damage. Clothes swapping is the ultimate guilt free alternative to shopping. The Posh Swaps clothes swapping parties will also give swappers the chance to relax, get some style advice from a personal stylist and have a frugal but fun night out Tickets cost £10 in advance including a glass of wine and goody bag and are available from here.

The details

When? 24th November 2009 7.00 -9.30pm
Where? Brunswick Room, Guild Hall, Bath
How? Just bring along 3 items of clothing that someone else would be delighted to own
Why? It’s fun, it’s frugal and it’s eco friendly, plus a great chance to refresh your wardrobe!
Cost? £10 in advance, £12 on the nightincluding…
entrance to the swap party and our fashion and beauty market
a glass of wine and nibbles
the chance for one lucky person to be styled by Personal Stylist, Emma McDonnell of Style to Wear
a reusable goody bag with fashion and beauty goodies
Why not arrange a girls or work night out? Buy 5 tickets in advance and get the 6th Ticket free!

For further information and to buy tickets visit the posh-swaps website.

David Miliband thinks so, so The Times reports. He was opening of an exhibition at the Science Museum in London, about Climate Change called Prove It.

The New Economics Foundation is curating an all day event tomorrow in LONDON. The Bigger Picture: Festival of Interdependence is a free interactive, living exhibition staged in the dramatic setting of the Bargehouse on London’s South Bank

There is so much going on – see more details here.

The latest report from Labour Behind the Label project Let’s Clean Up Fashion is now out.  It makes depressing, yet interesting reading.

War on Want have launched their petition Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops so sign that and get involved to change the fashion industry we all (nearly) take part in.