How big is your wardrobe? Mine just got bigger, a lot bigger… Why? Well, I’ve recently discovered the wonderful world of bigwardrobe.com and it’s fabulous. All I do is upload my item onto the website and wait for the offers to come rolling in. I’m currently pondering on offering £20 and some Rayban aviators in exchange for a Vera Wang dress advertised at £50…

But if you’re not into the whole idea of virtual swapping, Big Wardrobe’s Big Swish is coming to the real world with their first of its kind national roadshow. Just bring a bundle of items you’d be proud to exchange for preloved booty and swap to your heart's content...

Details: next Big Swish is October 15th at Manchester Uni and 18th Jan ’10 in London. (Touring all major UK cities) www.bigwardrobe.com.

Reviewed by Jess North

You never know what a treck through the urban jungle will uncover and this weekend you might just stumble across The Monkey Shoulder Tree House bar - a blink-and-you'll-miss-it 4 day pop-up drinkery near Brick Lane's Truman Brewery.

Made entirely out of recycled wood from whisky barrels by designers Cheeky Tiki, this temporary hipster hangout will offer whisky cocktails including 'Monkey Mule' and 'Show Me The Monkey' alongside backgammon and snakes and ladders.

Why not swing by?

When: 10th -13th Sept. 12-9pm

Where: Ely's Yard at the Old Truman Brewery, E1.

So completely and utterly excited about turning 2 this month, hip vintage boutique Paper Dress are throwing an Alice In Wonderland Tea Party - complete with mad hatter magician, fantasy window dancers, DJ, free gin tea cocktails and 10% off all stock. They'll even throw in a £5 voucher if you register online or email hannah@paperdress.co.uk

Where: Follow the white rabbits down to Paper Dress, 114 Curtain Road, Hoxton E2.

When: Thursday 24th Sept 7pm-10pm

Add a splash of colour and cuteness to your dish-drying ritual with Lisa Jones' brand new fairtrade and organic cotton tea towels.

Choose from two designs - the bright 'n ' breezy 'Town Towel' in bold yellow and the nocturnal midnight blue 'Owl Towel'...

£10 Lisa Jones Studio

We love, love, love this cool solid silver 'wolf' necklace by Oria!

Their new ethical jewellery range is based on endangered birds, blossoms, owls, lions and wolves - with 10% of their profits going to the IUCN Red List who work to conserve and protect these species.

And what's more, they're all made from Fair Trade silver purchased from artisan miners in Bolivia, who employ methods that shun the use of cyanide and mercury for extraction. Nice one guys.

Wolf Necklace £114 at www.ecoone.co.uk

Hurray! Julia Smith's fairtrade sundresses land in Topshop's flagship store in Oxford Circus this week.

The capsule collection of sweet summer frocks are produced in Gahna by a woman's co-operative which offers employment to African women and sponsors disadvantaged children, providing them with the opportunity to attend school.

Style with substance, just the way we like it.

Julia Smith fairtrade sundresses: £45 (exclusive to Topshop Oxford Circus, London)

The Hybird girls hit west London next month with another fun afternoon of clothes swapping, gentile music and a drinky-poo or two with their Feather Duster event.

Email info@hybird.co.uk to reserve your free space now and don't forget to take your fanciest preloved garms to swap.

Have fun!

4-6pm, Sunday 7th June at Adriadny's Nectar, 247 Latimer Rd, W10.

Mmm! Mmm! Mmmmm!

The most scrumptious package arrived at SWSU HQ this morning from Rococo, our favourite purvayors of fine chocolates. 8 Organic Mini Bee Bars where bound together with coloured ribbon to make up a gift set comprising a bevvy of tasty flavours...

The best? Ooh it's hard to say but the Organic Milk Chocolate with Sea Salt was pretty damn good, as was the Cardamom Organic White Chocolate and the Rose Organic Milk Chocolate.

Overall verdict: delish!

The Papered Parlour, a cool new craft venue in saaarf London plays host to What Goes Around... an exhibition featuring 3 exciting young designers' work.

What's on show? A bijoux collection of contemporary 'upcycled' mid-century furniture and reworked pre-loved fabrics by Clara Vuletich, Polly Burton and Katherine May.

Well worth a goosey gander...

2nd May - 2nd July www.thepaperedparlour.co.uk

Fashion alert!  News just in from Miami - a hot new eco fashion line is hitting the streets this summer. One half of Heatherette duo Richie Rich has teamed up with girl pal Pamela Anderson to design 'Muse', a collection of glam green togs including leather-free shoes and swimwear.

Bring it on...

Bubbling to the TOP of the recessionista’s favourite SHOP this week is Bibico.

Yep, this cute little ethical label run by Spanish senorita Nieves Ruiz, was so popular during its trial at Fairtrade Fortnight that it’s just been given a permanent concession at Topshop’s flagship store in Oxford Circus.

Each piece is hand-created by nimble-fingered women in fair-trade co-operatives in Mumbia, working together to create Nieves’ vision. And she loves that we love it, recently enthusing that "work has already begun on the next collection and it gives us the greatest sense of achievement to know that my friends back in India have a brighter future to look forward to.”

Power to the People! www.bibico.co.uk

Reviewed by Lorraine Johnson

Pennies to the ready!   The Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair's coming to town and lands at The Fym Fyg Bar in Bethnal Green. 

Snap up cheap as chips gladrags from the '40s through to the '80s, tantalise your tastebuds at Lady Luck's pop-up tea shop, get retro hair and make-up ideas from the Queens of Vintage and hop on board Rag & Bow's fabulous pink roving vintage emporium.

When: Saturday 4th April 11am-4pm

Where: 231 Cambridge Heath Rd, London E2

Info: www.vintagefair.co.uk

At Cape Town's recent Design Indaba Exhibition driftwood, plastic bottles, discarded packaging and second-hand objects were all re-worked by the magic hands of township artisans into groovy new eco designs....

Check out Liv Design's Afro Dutch Chest (pictured right) and other recycled designs at PSFK.

Walker's brand new, lip-smackingly good potato chips Red Sky are launching this month. 

Not only are they crunchtastically tasty but they've teamed up with Cool Earth on an ongoing basis so that each 40g bag bought will protect 5sq ft of endangered rainforest.

Good, eh?

Redskysnacks.com

One new high-top, four new colour-ways...

Ethical trainer brand Veja pulls it out the bag with these too-cool-for-school trainers made exclusively for OKI NI.

Constructed from ecological leather, wild rubber and with respect to workers' dignity your only dilemma will be which colour to choose: Orange, Blue, Green or Black?

Clothes hangers made from recycled newspapers?

Well, if you're going to give yourself an ethical makeover then you might as well go the whole shebang and show your new organic togs off in style.... 

Zilka eco-friendly clothes hangers: 10 Euros each at matteriashop.com

Valcucine's new 100% recyclable kitchen is a stroke of eco-stylish genius!

Constructed purely from recycled aluminium and glass, the kitchen unit system 'Invitrum' is easy to assemble / disassemble and doesn't even need glue thanks to the sole use of mechanical joints.

No toxic VOCs, super-glossy design and absolute natural resistance to water, steam and heat. Nice.

Usually pop-up boutiques burst into existence for about 5 minutes and then go 'poof' in the bat of an eyelash, never to be seen again....

Not so for 12 Degrees, the new ethical fashion pop-up store launching this week at Eco Age in Chiswick: 12 Degrees will be popping up not once, not twice but 12 times!  Once a month for a year, in fact.

A collaboration between The Guardian & Observer's green guru Lucy Seigle, Eco Age's Livia Firth, ethical fashion designer Orsola De Castro and stylist Jocelyn Whipple, each one will have a different ethical fashion theme and offer everything from the perfect eco party dresses to sewing with pineapple fibres workshops.

Read full post on Lucy's blog.

Chaps, we have to admit that it's a rare occassion that an eco-friendly menswear brand appears on our pages. Why? Well simply because there aren't that many that cut the mustard!

But.....

If you're on the hunt for some ethical threads this season then hop on to hipster shopping site Oki-Ni and check out Folk. Their SS09 collection is jam-packed with organic cotton and ethically sourced Alpaca wool fashioned into easy-to-wear styles. Look a little closer and there's some pretty cool detailing going on there too.

OKI-NI

Those fancy little designer / charity t-shirt collabs just keep on coming....

John Rocha, Zandra Rhodes, Giles Deacon and Allegra Hicks have come over all ethical and teamed up with The Environmental Justice Foundation to design 4 hot new eco-printed organic cotton t-shirts. 

£29 a pop at Adili.com