We are excited to say the least! Our first catwalk and no better place to be showcasing ‘A Life Aquatic’ than at the Horn of Africa.

{sustain} will look at the journey of Eco/Sustainable Fashion, the exciting & innovative businesses it unfolds and the potent future it presents for our global Fashion Industry.

The column is now LIVE … Enjoy!

‘Sustainable Fashion is in Fashion’

Annegret
Designer & Founder / Choolips
[sustain} fashion-E-ditor / tribaspace.com

Hours 25 hours per week

Contract 6 months fixed term / Pay Rate £150 per week

This post is funded by the Future Jobs Fund / Eligibility: you must be at least 26 weeks unemployed & aged 18 – 24 years

Apply Please send us your CV along with a note to tell us why you would be hot to do the job.

Email: annegret@choolips.com

Job Description

We are looking for a young person to assist with our Marketing & Admin across the whole spectrum of activities within our business. We are keen to find someone with training and/or experience in Fashion Design or Fashion Marketing; someone who wishes to learn and develop their career within the fashion industry. It would be of great advantage if you have an outgoing, personable nature and a passion for sustainable fashion or the kind of talent that could see you sell the hind-legs of an old donkey with style.

Responsibilities

To help provide design, marketing and administrative support to the creative team, with:

• Assist in researching, identifying interested press and buyers
• PR and marketing activities to promote Choolips products
• Assist in promotional activities as and when required
• Assist in specific promotional campaigns
• Communicating with enquirers, buyers and press via phone and/or emails to confirm appointments, informant or press releases
• Manage and maintain database information
• Distribute press releases and develop and maintain relationships with the press and media
• Undertake research to identify new press and communication opportunities
• Updating the websites and Blogs with current news
• Assisting the company with basic administrative tasks such as: typing, filing, photocopying, ordering office supplies to postings
• Liaising with suppliers and manufactures via phone and/ or emails

Essential and Desirable Skills:

• Previous fashion design experience and/or training OR interest in the fashion industry
• A keen interest in the environment, sustainability and a desire to be part of a cause that makes a difference with beautiful clothes
• Confident verbal & written communicator
• Great attention to detail
• Friendly, personable and polite manner
• Reliable & sound time keeper
• Proactive & happy to contribute ideas
• IT skills including confidence in using Word, email and internet
• Ideally experience in using Photoshop/Illustrator & InDesign

Training:

Support and on-the job training, mentoring and guidance will be provided to the candidate

OPEN 17th/22nd September during London Fashion Week  – book your appointment now.

You are cordially invited to our 1st showroom in London. Our space has had a glamorous makeover and yes its time to show it off!

We are now open for buying appointments showing our SS’11 collection as well as our rolling range. So if you would like to buy & sell some Choolips we would like to welcome you at our Showroom, Whitechapel/London – by appointment only.

You are cordially invited to our 1st showroom in London. We are now taking appointments for viewings of our SS’11 collection & our rolling range.

If you would like to buy & sell some Choolips we would like to welcome you at our Showroom, Whitechapel/ London. We are based within easy walking distance to Brick Lane/2mins from Whitechapel Station.

If you are too far away or too busy juggling appointments simply get in touch and we will send you our Wholesale Price List.

email annegret@choolips.com or email sigrid@choolips.com

Photo: ollieharrop.com

Selected pieces of our High Summer collection are now available in ‘The Greenroom’ @ asos.com.

The Asos team has dedicated this special space to collections with a story to tell, pioneer brands with a social & environmental ethos. Check our best-selling Susie, Nicola & Vera shining in bold chique.

Might have to buy one for ourselves…

The Choolips’ are off to Berlin Fashion Week! East German born Annegret is skipping with joy … so thrilled that Choolips will be presented on her hometurf at THEKEY.TO Berlin’s stylish answer to Sustainable & Green Fashion, 8 – 10 July 2010.

Thursday night our dresses will be swinging along the catwalk & otherwise you will find us at stand B08.

Drop in and if you get a chance bring us an ice cream. We love a bit of a treat.

As a member of the YCE Club – Young Creative Entrepreneur Club, brainchild of the British Council’s Creative Economy unit – I have been invited to meet some of the brains behind the policies that shape the future of London’s cultural & creative turf. Next week on Tuesday, 15th June, I will be meeting Justine Simons, Head of Cultural Policy to Boris Johnson, Mayor of London. She will be presenting the new draft of London’s Cultural Strategy and discuss the future agenda that will shape London’s creative economy.

Email me any burning issues, concerns, questions and suggestions you may have regarding the future of our creative and cultural scope in the Big Smoke. I will have the opportunity to present a list of questions and at the end of next week I will report back to you on my blog. With Boris’ setting out the future vision and strategy - read here - for London while lobbying for a Harry Potter theme park, with Dragon’s Den, tycoon Peter Jones, proactively putting his money into Grant Schemes for small businesses to stimulate economic and innovative growth while huge spending cuts are looming over Britain, it’s the best time for us to be creative and shape it up!

Email me your questions & suggestions: annegret@choolips.com

Follow my visit on Twitter

Let’s be creative and shape it up.

They are stunning and a superb match to our dresses. Hence we’ve teamed up with our friends at Terra Plana to give away the following prize to one lucky winner:

1 Choolips dress
1 Terra Plana Choolips Bag & 1 pair Terra Plana Choolips Marti Sandals

Enter the competition  Here

We are proud to announce the opening of our online POP-UP boutique ‘Head to Toe’ go to and our first collaborations with Terra Plana & Funky Mutts celebrating Head to Toe Eco Fashion. Available for Spring/Summer, we have joined forces with the like-minded brands to make dressing head-to-toe in sustainable fashion easy.

Choolips’ online “pop-up” boutique will present our first exclusive collection of limited edition dresses available. The site, which will only be live for one month, will also feature a range of one-off Terra Plana shoes and bags using Choolips fairly-traded fabrics. These are only available online from 25th April through the Terra Plana website: www.terraplana.com

In addition you will be able to purchase matching accessories made with our fairly-traded for your Mutt or Mog from www.funkymutts.co.uk

You will be able to create a personalised dress; choosing from a combination of silhouettes, colours and prints, and then watch step-by-step as we produce the garment from design through to print and production. You can see first-hand the fair trade, sustainable supply chain that is making a real difference to our producers (batikers, tailors, seamstresses etc) in Ghana.

‘We all like something beautiful made especially for us – a proper exciting treat. Personalised products are my answer. To add to the excitement we like to invite people to get a real impression of what it takes to make their garment. This way we offer the best of both worlds – a personalised garment and transparency to our buyers, all the way through our supply chain. Our ethics run much deeper than this season’s fashion. The idea is to revive textiles traditions by building chic, fair-trade collections that make a conscious difference at grass-roots level, without compromising the thrill for good style.‘

Choolips & Terra Plana are currently working on a new “Head to Toe” collection for SS11.

Here at Choolips we champion Terra Plana and love their beautiful products.  This young, dynamic company is constantly pushing boundaries with innovative styles that respect traditional shoemaking, the environment, and the body. All products come complete with an eco-matrix to show the environmental components of each shoe. Check it out www.terraplana.com

We also love Funky Mutts for loving the four legged kind. Using a selection of Liberty &  Choolips delicious fabrics, Funky Mutts brings style to the ‘dog walk.’  All collars are carefully handmade in the UK by the small Funky Mutts team using locally sourced materials where possible.  The product range includes dog collars, dog leads, made to measure harnesses, matching hair slides and headbands for humans and cat collars. Visit www.funkymutts.co.uk

To visit CHOOLIPS ‘Head to Toe’ online Boutique