How To: Fun Friday in 4 Steps

Meet Sarah, Fairware’s Co-Founder

nickname: Sar

job: co-founder, glue

established: 2005

before fairware: teacher, community public art and design, e.g. Mosaic Creek Park

spare time: kids, family, food, sports – watching or playing, Glee!

ambition: to create a great place to work

bicycle: a good one, a bad one that embarrasses my colleagues, maybe a new one soon…not that I’m giving into the pressure

words of wisdom: you are your biggest fan

…what animal would you be: lion

fave fairware product: ceramic travel mug, though soon to be the double walled glass beverage vessel – stay tuned

fave fairware project: Science World padfolios made from reclaimed Science World banners

Meet Neville, Fairware’s Accountant

Neville on the Oregon Coast

Get to know Neville…

nickname: kid lok

job: accountant

established: 2009

before fairware: city of vancouver

spare time: biking, golfing, hiking, cooking, travelling

ambition: to go into space

bicycle: rocky mountain

words of wisdom: a life without cause is a life without effect

…what animal would you be: zebra

fave fairware product: organic sunflower seed packets

fave fairware project: CFS orientation week online store

nickname: Kid Lok

job: Accountant
before fairware: City of Vancouver
spare time: Biking, Golfing, Hiking, cooking, travelling
ambition: To go into space.
bicycle: Rocky Mountain
words of wisdom: A life without cause is a life without effect.

…what animal would you be: Zebra

nickname: Kid Lok

job: Accountant
before fairware: City of Vancouver
spare time: Biking, Golfing, Hiking, cooking, travelling
ambition: To go into space.
bicycle: Rocky Mountain
words of wisdom: A life without cause is a life without effect.

…what animal would you be: Zebra

From 2010 Olympic Banner to Tote Bag

Here’s a fantastic opportunity that we want to share with as many people as possible…Common Thread, a cooperative of Canadian social enterprise sewing programs, is producing a few hundred tote bags from re-purposed 2010 Olympic banners. If you think a re-purposed banner bag would be a good fit for your promotions, act soon and you could get a limited edition set (customized with your organization’s logo or campaign message).

What is Common Thread?

Common Thread sources street banners and other fabric for re-purposing into colourful and durable products such as tote bags, drawstring back packs, lunch bags, note book covers and more. Production is coordinated through a network of social enterprises (businesses with a social purpose as their primary motivation) and creates employment for newcomers to Canada and Aboriginal communities, among others. Many of the social enterprises have been started and continue to be hosted by non-profit organizations.

Last year Fairware worked with Common Thread to produce tote bags from SFU banners – that McCuaig and Associates, a client of ours, used instead of wrapping paper for their year end corporate gift.

If you’re interested in a high-quality, unique promotional item that is made in Canada and supports local communities,  act soon, material is available for about 600 bags. Give us a call (604-732-3247) and we’ll provide you with all the details.

Responsible Education

We’re happy to feature the following guest post from Mary Hanlon, Founder of Social Alterations, an education lab for responsible fashion design.

It is no secret that human rights violations run rampant behind the seams of the mainstream apparel industry, while environmental destruction remains unchecked (alongside unchecked environmental degradation). Seeing responsible education as the first point of intervention, at Social Alterations (SA) we’ve set out to design interdisciplinary learning resources and tools that strive to mitigate these wrongs; SA is a transdisciplinary, service-based learning organization, an education lab for responsible fashion design.

SA Co-Founder, Nadira Lamrad, on what organic cotton means to her at the 2010 Fashioning an Ethical Industry Conference in London, England

We deliver key insights into the social, cultural, environmental and economic impact (both positive and/or negative) of fashion products and systems. At SA, we argue that designers and design educators have a responsibility to consider the social, cultural, environmental, and economic consequence and impact (positive or negative) of fashion products and systems. They can do this during the design process by understanding the way in which their product interacts with each of these categories through every phase of that products life. This is arguably the toughest design brief out there,

Meet Denise, Fairware’s Co-Founder

A few things you should know about Denise…

nickname: eastend

job: co-founder and jill of all trades

established: 2005

before fairware: director of sustainability for mountain equipment coop

spare time: riding bikes, raising kids (to ride bikes)

ambition: to drive social and environmental change everyday

bicycle(s): a delicious surly cross-check; a 1957 vintage 1 speed CCM; a giant reignXO and an old trek XC bike I bought for 200$ from an apparel designer at mec.

words of wisdom: “there is no business to be done on a dead planet” – david brower

…what animal would you be: something that hibernates

fave fairware product: hydrogen fuel cell racer

fave fairware project: re-purposed fairware samples for the “rocker for street soccer”

Meet Stefan, Fairware’s Sales & Business Development Coordinator

Stefan in Patagonia, Chile

Here are a few things you should know about Stefan…

nickname: grizz

job: sales/business development

established: 2010

before fairware: direct B2B sales

spare time: hiking/camping, sports, beach & BBQs

ambition: to make a difference

bicycle: old raleigh road bike a.k.a. blue balou

words of wisdom: “that many had ventured farther and done so in finer style bothered me not. my journey was my own and I found it to be quite spectacular.”

what animal would you be: bald eagle

fave fairware product: magnetic doodad

fave fairware project: summerhill impact, retire your ride campaign

Meet Nicole, Fairware’s Production Manager

Nicole age 1. Courtesy of Nicole's mom.

Meet Nicole, Fairware’s Production Manager. Here are a few things you should know about her.

nickname: burndog

job: production

established: 2010

before fairware: organic clothing biz

spare time: photography, fashion, yoga, running, arts & crafts, travelling

ambition: to do my best!

bicycle: gigi the giant. it’s silver.

words of wisdom: how bold we become when we know we are loved

…what animal would you be: giraffe

fave fairware product: seeded paper wine tags

fave fairware project: translink cycling patch kits and bands

Intern Insights: Part 3

Flickr / meddygarnet

Time is money – How to get rid of timesuckers and be more productive

Last post we talked about saving money, but let’s face it, nothing is more valuable than your time. With Google at your fingertips (Ctrl+E in Firefox by the way for even quicker access to the quick search box!), it is easy to waste half a day accomplishing nothing online instead of researching a report.

Enter Leechblock, your new best friend against internet procrastination.

Your Leechblock friend will hold you where self-control fails, no matter what your addiction is, be it celebrity gossip on Perez Hilton, political blogs on Politico or “Will it Blend” videos on YouTube. And friends definitely don’t let friends Facebook stalk elementary school crushes for 2 hours.

After you enable this Firefox add-on, you can specify which sites to block and customize when you block them. For example, if your personal poison is going on additictinggames.com during work, you can block the site from 9am – 5pm, Mon to Fri, and let loose on weekends. Or you can establish time limits, such as only being allowed on Facebook 10 minutes a day. If you try to access specific sites during the block period, or if you have used up your time limit, Leechblock will prevent you from accessing the site, no matter how many times you futilely refresh the page. Conversely, you can also restrict yourself to task-related sites only. Further customization allows “Lockdowns” for 24 hours or more when it becomes mission critical to avoid internet procrastination at all costs. When it comes to staying on task – Leechblock really means business.

Drawback: For the cheaters, you can workaround the Leechblock by disabling it through Firefox options. But then don’t complain about not having enough time – you deserve the stress of procrastination purgatory! Regrettably, this is only for your Firefox. For highly addictive episodes of True Blood or Glee, I wish you good luck. It takes real willpower to tear away from vampires and show choirs.

Until next time,

Emily the Interm