DETOX isn't just for January!

A new investigation by Greenpeace shows that our children’s clothes are riddled with toxins. It’s not just the cheap brands that are effected either.

Hazardous chemicals are lurking in children’s clothes and shoes made by major brands, including Disney, Burberry and Adidas. This is according to a new investigation released today by Greenpeace.

Testing was carried out on products sold by 12 brands across the industry, including American Apparel, GAP, Primark and Nike for the report “A Little Story About the Monsters in Your Closet”. The findings revealed levels of hazardous chemicals in clothing made for children, who are particularly vulnerable to their the effects.

Chih An Lee, Detox Campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia, said: “This is a nightmare for parents everywhere looking to buy clothes for their children that don’t contain hazardous chemicals. These chemical ‘little monsters’ can be found in everything from exclusive luxury designs to budget fashion, polluting our waterways from Beijing to Berlin. For the sake of current and future generations brands should stop using these monsters.”

Among the results, one Adidas swimsuit contained higher levels of PFOAs than permitted in their own Restricted Substance List, while printed fabric on a Primark children’s t-shirt contained 11%phthalates. Once released into the environment, many of these chemicals can have adverse impacts either on human reproductive, hormonal or immune systems.

When the Detox campaign first launched, people power forced brands like Zara and Levis to go toxic free. We can do it again.

>> Visit the Little Monsters website to find out how to put the pressure on brands to Detox

Happy New Year!

Another New Year's Eve celebration still to come.... 

                                                                                              more trend info at allsmallthings.net

Chinese New Year is on Friday, January 31, 2014. It marks the start of the Year of the Wood Horse in the Chinese zodiac.

the year of the Wood Horse 2014. If you are interested in where the tradition comes from and what it is based upon, we will look into that, too!

2014 is the Year of the Wood element - the Wood Horse - so to be in harmony with the energy of the year and befriend the ruling Wood Horse energy, it is recommended to wear the colours of the Wood feng shui element - all shades of green and brown.

In addition to Wood feng shui element, you can also wear the colours of the Water and Earth elements, because these two elements support the Wood in its growth and well-being. So, colours blue and black (Water element colours) as well as all earthy tones (Earth element) are also good in the coming year of the Wood Horse 2014.

You can wear not only clothing, but all sorts of accessories in the green-brown colour scheme, such as jewelry, belts, scarfs, etc. To make it even more powerful, you can choose jewellery with natural crystals and stones with the presence of Wood energy, such as green jade, agate, green tourmaline and malachite.

Also good are crystals and stones with the presence of Water element energy - such as turquoise, aquamarine, pearls, kyanite, lapis lazuli and moonstone. Or, go for black colour ones, such as black obsidian, black tourmaline or black onyx.

Are there colours that are best to avoid in the New Year, or at least for the New Year celebration? Yes, for sure. Least favourable colours in 2014 are the colours of Fire and Metal feng shui elements, respectively all whites and grays, as well as purple, orange and red colours.

However, because Horses are considered to have the energy of fire, it is OK to wear accessories in Fire feng shui element colours.

More Chinese New Year blogs to follow.....