On the Street

Articles & Press Releases

Please, no toxic perfume this Valentine’s Day  Eco Fashion is growing….is that a good thing?            See articles at the bottom of the page...

Style Magazine             Sunshine Coast Daily   March 2008  Features Debt Culture Ladies & Men's Tshirts

October 2007

Rip It Up Magazine New Zealand July 2007 Features all 4 designs and promo shot with Indie Blues Band - Soldiers of the Sun.

Canberra Times                            RELAX Magazine FASHION April 2007 See article below by Karen Hobson

RELAX Article - The truth about T Shirts The illustration on the T Shirt is eye-catching - a beautiful woman, a bottle of perfume and a couple of words in flowing script. And, as Kristy Zenk says, it’s a far cry from run-of-the-mill “message” T shirts which, in many cases, are far from fashionable. In the case of the perfume T shirt, the message is in the words ‘parfum toxique.’ Zenk says while perfume may be fun and indulgent, most users probably haven’t given much thought to its ingredients and whether they are harmful Zenk is the found of Planet Truth, a new Australian eco T Shirt label which is aiming for ‘edgy awareness.’ Often the message, like parfum toxique, will be subtle. Sometimes it will be cryptic — ‘debt culture’ is a skull and barcode. And other times, it will be confronting and aggressive like the ‘Don’t F* with Nature’ design. Zenk says it’s about making a difference without having to make drastic changes to your lifestyle. The T Shirts are organic cotton, designed and made in Australia and can be “the start of intelligent choices for the planet.” But while every T shirt will make a point, it won’t be at the expense of the design. “The customer has to love the design first, the cause and the message are important but not at the expense of the design.” Part of the reason for this is the age demographic she’s aiming at - 18-30. Odds are if they don’t like the T Shirt, they won’t wear it, no matter what it says. “I want to appeal to everyone in that age bracket. Younger people are leaning this way, but they do not want it to be an all-or-nothing choice. They can still have their lifestyle and be a bit political. They just have to make the choice between one T Shirt and another.” She agrees that older people may be turned off, but is pitching to sit with the surf and streetwear labels. “The label is about environment, about issues, about sustainable business ethics, about eco fashion.” She comes up with the ideas - her head is full of them - then works with illustrators and artists to bring them to life. The debt culture and nature T Shirts have been created by illustrator and graphic designer Ben Spiby. Parfum is by illustrator Rebecca Wetzler, who has worked with designers such as Mimco, Marnie Skillings and Vicious Threads. She plans to bring out new designs every six months, with possible themes including the facts about artificial sweeteners, desertification of land and whales. Zenk’s background - and current full time job - is in marketing and public relations. She works for the Organic and Natural Enterprise Group, which develops certified organic skin, body, hair, oral, cosmetic and health products. She said there’s no doubt the decision to start Planet Truth has been influenced by her job. But why T Shirts? “They are fun and it serves the purpose of getting the message out there. Everybody wears them. It’s an item probably 90 per cent of people would wear.” The T Shirts are sold only online and are dispatched with an information sheet containing Zenk’s thoughts on why the message is important to her and references on where consumers can go for more information. Karen Hobson - Assistant Editor Canberra Times

MAP Magazine Brisbane February 2007

Sun Herald Melbourne February 20, 2007 Features Don't F*** with Nature Organic Cotton T Shirt

Debt Culture               T Shirt released to the Press January 18, 2007

Soldiers of the Sun   Brisbane Indie Blues Band

Shot by graphic designer/photographer:  http://kylenielsen.com/

Press Release             Featured on blog hugg.com

Please, no toxic perfume this Valentine’s Day      February 11, 2007 Gold Coast Australia:                                    The perfume industry is a multi-billion dollar industry but what are you spraying on yourself?                                                                      Rosslyn Beeby revealed in the Canberra Times article ‘Lottery in a make-up bag’  that “A recent report by global lobby group Health Care Without Harm and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation tested 34 leading-brand cosmetics for phthalates, synthetic chemicals linked to decreased fertility and reproductive defects and now one of the most abundant industrial pollutants in the environment. Laboratory tests confirmed the chemicals were used in 80 per cent of products, with more than 50 per cent containing more than one type of phthalate. According to the report, none of the products listed phthalates as an ingredient on the label.” http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?story_id=542116 So even if you are aware of the ingredients to watch out for how can you protect yourself if companies do not list their ingredients? For some people the effects of these toxic chemicals are devastating. There is “evidence identifying fragrance as a key trigger in health problems such as migraines, asthma and allergies. Other studies have linked them to unrelated conditions, from sinusitis through to dizziness, depression, vertigo, irritability, reproductive problems, hypertension and irregular heartbeat.” http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/08/1089000294168.html?oneclick=true                                                                                The extent of the problem is quite alarming, “up to 72% of asthmatics report their asthma is triggered by fragrance. Asthma is a serious respiratory disorder involving constriction and swelling of the airways. It is reaching epidemic proportion with over 155 million people world wide having asthma.” http://www.fpinva.org/FragranceReview.htm  Children with developing lungs and bodies are often the most at risk with a 160% increase in reports of asthma between 1980 -1994 in children of the ages 0-4 years in the USA. www.childenvironment.org/factsheets/asthma.htm   So this is serious stuff given that in our daily lives we use so many things that are fragranced – hand cream, face cream, shampoo, detergent, fragranced candles, room freshener, bathroom deodoriser, soaps and of course perfumes, aftershaves and colognes.                                      A new organic T Shirt Label - Planet Truth – is aiming to increase awareness of the toxic chemicals in perfume with their edgy ‘Parfum Toxique’ design. page13.php Creator Kristy Zenk says “the whole purpose of Planet Truth is just to open people’s eyes to the real truth, as their health may depend on it.” Many moons ago perfume was extracted from flowers, however now its mostly synthetic substances many being untested toxic chemicals which are not required to be revealed on the label (www.ewg.org/issues/cosmetics/valentine). So please this Valentine’s Day, if you love your partner give anything but perfume! For more information contact Kristy at truth@planet-truth.com

 

Press Release   February 2008

Eco Fashion is growing….is that a good thing?  It seems to be coming from everywhere… green is the new black… in the UK and USA eco fashion is huge, so what is it, what does it do and where is eco in the Australian fashion scene?  It started with organic food, the fear of pesticides/insecticides compromising our health creating disease. Then personal care products caught the organic bug with reports that the skin can in fact absorb certain harmful substances which may be accumulating in tissues and organs, again causing health issues.  So then it seems fashion caught this organic conscience bug; the personal health perspective may be the catalyst as it is suspected that pesticide residues may be absorbed by the skin from clothing, however eco fashion seems to transcend a wider range of consciousness taking in human health, environmental concerns, affects on animals, the ecosystem and use of finite resources.  We have organic cotton, hemp and bamboo fabrics popping up as the pillar of sustainability saving the planet, insects, birdlife, animals, and waterways from the destruction of pesticides/insecticides and when you look into it, even just a little, you can see why the ground swell is building…  - Five of the top nine pesticides used on cotton in the U.S. (cyanide, dicofol, naled, propargite, and trifluralin) are KNOWN cancer-causing chemicals. All nine are classified by the U.S. EPA as Category I and II— the most dangerous chemicals. - In California’s San Joaquin Valley, estimates are that less than 25% of a pesticide sprayed from a crop duster ever hits the crop. The remainder can drift for several miles, coming to rest on fruit and vegetable crops, and farm- workers. One year more than one hundred workers fell ill after a single incident of such drift onto an adjacent vineyard. - In California, it has become illegal to feed the leaves, stems, and short fibers of cotton known as ‘gin trash’ to livestock, because of the concentrated levels of pesticide residue. Instead, this gin trash is used to make furniture, mattresses, tampons, swabs, and cotton balls. The average American woman will use 11,000 tampons or sanitary pads during her lifetime. - The problems with clothing production don’t stop in the field. During the conversion of conventional cotton into clothing, numerous toxic chemicals are added at each stage— silicone waxes, harsh petroleum scours, softeners, heavy metals, flame and soil retardants, ammonia, and formaldehyde— to name just a few.  Reference: http://www.ecochoices.com/1/cotton_statistics.html  So that’s just the potential damage to you, what about the environment and all living creatures – its not good news.  So avoiding the conventional farming ‘health and environmental’ disaster via fashion is absolutely noble and necessary; considering that in 2004, the Australian fashion industry was worth approx $9 billion – that’s a huge impact, even if part of it turned green.  Eco fashion embraces many perspectives; there is a recycle, reuse, vintage and remodel stream which takes the cause a step further. This trend, it would seem, results in an even lighter footprint on the planet as no more is produced, only existing materials are used. There are old tyres made into footwear, old clothing revamped to give it a modern twist, vintage items or fabrics used again and people simply exchanging their clothes!  Here are some local Australian examples: www.huntergatherer.com.au and www.clothingexchange.com.au  Then, included in the genre, is ‘fair trade’ which ensures that the workers who put your clothes together, where ever they are in the world,  are paid fairly, are not abused such as made to work 18 hours a day or harassed by their bosses and work in reasonable conditions.  We take this for granted but the ‘fair trade’ movement started for a reason - the reality all over the world is disappointing.  And to round it all off there is an anti – consumerism part of eco fashion, which tackles the overall burden on the planet’s resources of massive consumption, which is ‘want’ based rather than ‘need’ based. What can you do with 49 pairs of shoes and 23 pairs of jeans – it’s not like you can wear them all at once. So the idea is buy the few things that you need and only replace them when they wear out, putting less pressure on our finite resources.  Internationally all this conscience tapping is having an impact; a big impact with organic, sustainable, fair trade and conscience clothing labels popping up all over the place – public demand is all powerful along with star power such as Bono, Stella McCartney and model Summer Rayne getting into the eco fashion scene. Also there appears to be an unspoken rule that for eco fashion to be acceptable by any conscience mainstream the fashion has to be real fashion, not Birkenstock wearing tie tied hippy looks that appeal to only the few.   So what of our Australian market? The green fashion vibe seems to be on the slow train, however we are getting there. Labels part of the Australian fashion green team include:- www.saravictoria.com.au - organic designer fashion www.gorman.ws - organic basics www.skinandthreads.com - designer organics www.bassike.com - designer organics www.birdtextile.com - sustainable fashion www.planet-truth.com - edgy organic T Shirts www.purepod.com.au – organic basics www.tierraecologia.com – designer organics As with all markets, the sustainable, eco fashion industry in Australia will expand when the demand grows; and is green fashion a good thing? Many who have been affected by the toxic practices believe so. Next time you are on your fashion shopping spree, ask yourself:  am I part of the solution?  References: http://www.lib.rmit.edu.au/guides/sustainable-fashion.html http://www.ecochoices.com/1/cotton_statistics.html