HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE
Friends would know that in my recent past, I’ve not been into jeans. Without exaggeration, I would venture to say that’s it’s been over 20 years since I would regularly wear jeans or denim as part of my everyday fashion. And I’ll be the first to admit that back in the 1990’s, I would be wearing my favorite pairs of blue jeans at least five days of the week, and practically every night out. There was no conscious decision to stop wearing them, it just became an absent element of my life since the early 2000’s.
We’ll be mounting our 3rd Manila Bulletin Sustainability Forum this Nov. 19 to 20 at the University of the Philippines; and as an offshoot of the Forum’s annual success, launch our very first MB Sustainability Focus Session next month, Sept. 24, at the University of Santo Tomas. It’s called Focus Session, as the talks that day will center on ‘renewable energy and real estate in a green-centric future’. So of late, I’ve been on the lookout for any and all kinds of features or stories that speak of touch points of Sustainability with the general public.
I have featured The SM Store’s Green Finds in this column, and got curious about their Code Blue brand of jeans, as an article spoke about their being ‘green jeans’. What piqued my interest was the convenience and accessibility to sustainable retail. Too often, sustainability remains an elusive, or conceptual pie-in-the-sky idea that we all are in favor of, but find difficult to apply in our regular daily lives. Here was SM Store pushing that specific ‘envelope’; so that advocating sustainability, even in a small impact situation, could be a smart consumer choice. I loved that!
The SM Store Makati is the nearest to me, and during my visit, I appreciated the shades of blue and indigo that Code Blue’s ‘green jeans’ came in. For fashion and versatility, the shades available include Yale, Pigeon, Sky, Independence, Air Force, and Navy. And they come in a no-nonsense straight cut that accentuated the traditional jeans silhouette.
So why are they ‘green denim’? The answer is found in the two variants that we find at Code Blue - their repreve jeans, and their ecowash jeans.
Repreve jeans are created with fiber made with plastic bottles. Repreve is new technology that has the noble intent of keeping our oceans plastic-free. It emits fewer greenhouse gases, and conserves water and energy in the process. In short, it’s denim material that shares the characteristics we regularly associate with the woven fabric, but has recycled plastic waste as an element of the technology.
In all historic reading material extolling denim, we’ll read about how the cloth is pre-washed multiple times, and how it helps give denim the durable, all-weather quality it’s so proud to possess. With Ecowash, water usage is reduced by up to 80 percent, and up to 60 percent of the chemicals required in traditional denim laundry is eliminated. There’s an ozone machine that takes air from the atmosphere, converts it into O3 (Ozone), which then is used with the garment dye to lighten and bleach the denim, creating that washed effect. And if you were curious, once the process is completed, the O3 is released back into the air and recycled. This bleaching of the denim material is responsible for the variety of shades available at Code blue.
Code Blue is a green denim brand that we can all appreciate. As the photos attest, it got me back in jeans after a 20-year hiatus! Thank you, SM Store for being that everyday store with green finds - making Sustainability so accessible in our everyday lives.
A page in everyone’s story
Last week saw the launch of the second Book Nook on the 5th level of the Podium. This Book Nook now complements the first one that we can find at the SM Aura. A brainchild of architect Shereen Sy (she’s married to Chico Sy, and daughter-in-law of Mr. Hans and Carol), the Book Nook is the culmination of her dream to open a “free library” inside the mall, and thereby promote and encourage reading and literacy.
Designed by Royal Pineda, this nook makes creative use of the given space, with scroll-like mesh shelves, and nooks and crannies where enthusiastic readers can curl up and spend time with the books of their choice. In terms of subject matter, I noted how the shelves are quite diverse - with shelves devoted to children’s books, to Lifestyle coffee-table books, general fiction, and entertaining reference books. William Ti designed the first Book Nook at SM Aura.
The Book Nook relies on like-minded individuals who champion literacy, to donate and add to the titles we find at these Book Nooks. Especially for Moms and Dads who have to shop for essentials and brought their children, it’s an ideal place to deposit the kids and keep them occupied while promoting their reading habits - and not just depend on their devices. Congratulations to Shereen, and may these Nooks multiply. You have enough architect friends who’ll stamp each future Nook with a distinct look and character, and I look forward to the one you’ll personally design.