Baby It's Cold Outside

It's getting cold out there and some of us have turned on the heat and are looking for something warm and woolly to wear. It's a tricky topic, the sourcing of wool, because with the growing world demand, animals are being raised on a vaster scale, in poorer conditions and their grazing is adding to the desertification of once-fertile plains. It's best to look for home grown wool or at least wool that has a known source. Some designers grow their own but these are serious luxury items.

Chunky is big this year. Ruth Cross makes exquisite hand-knit sweaters and accessories from Scottish wool using British knitters and local studios. Nicky Dupont has a beautiful cable knit cardigan (pictured) with wooden buttons, hand-knit in grey--a perfect (ethical) autumn fashion statement. Buying from a good ethical company can yield some glam stuff too. Favourite treehugger brands such as Traidcraft have belted charcoal cable knit cardigans hand-knit in Peru. People tree has a chunky basket-knit cardigan from Nepal and Karen Cole has a cable cardigan of New Zealand Merino wool. :: new consumer