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This week Starfish designer Laurie Foon was lucky enough to become a test pilot for the Mitsubishi i MiEV Evaluation electric car.

The car was brought to New Zealand with the support of Meridian as part of a step towards creating a better personal transportation future.

New Zealand is one of the first countries in the world to host the i MiEV outside of Japan. The car employs a high energy efficient electric motor powered by recyclable lithium-ion batteries and produces NO EMISSIONS. When we combine this with renewable electricity generators we have a carbon zero transportation.

Now there is a real alternative to the being dependant on foreign fuel imports for our transport needs. Guilt free, quite motoring! 

To register your interest or find out more go to www.imiev.co.nz

” Entitled HEIRLOOM, and in shops over the coming months, the Winter ‘09 collection is inspired by Rita Angus Life & Vision exhibition currently touring the country. Channelling the 50’s silhouette, Foon has placed the focus firmly on the waist. This is balanced out by masculine style jackets, voluminous batwings and high-waisted pants created in the softest wools, merinos and, a particular Foon favourite, a lustrous blend of hemp, silk and organic cotton.

All Starfish garments are made in New Zealand, even though Foon could no doubt fatten her margins if she moved production offshore. She uses organic cotton, recycled rubber and buttons, vegetable based dye, reuses all plastic garment bags and coat hangers and carry bags are made from recycled chlorine-free paper.

‘See, you can be fashionable and still save the planet,’ Foon says with a smile.”

Your Weekend, January 2009.

” Clean, green and Kiwi. New Zealand is fortunate to have a bountiful crop of true eco-heroes – men and women making a difference both economically and ecologically. They inspire through their ability to prove that being green does not mean you have to run your company in the red … far from it. A passion for their exceptional, successful businesses is matched only by a desire to educate others about taking care of the planet.

Starfish designer – Laurie Foon.
Wellington designer Laurie Foon has always wanted women to be eco-savvy style queens, without looking like paper-bag princesses. Read the rest of this entry »

Fashion is frivolous? Hardly. Textiles are a multibillion-dollar industry that employs one-sixth of the world’s population. And what we wear matters. Our clothes communicate how we feel, how we see ourselves, and how we want to be seen. So what are you wearing? Who made it? And what is it made from?

Try the truly wonderful fibre – HEMP. With half the ecological footprint of cotton, hemp could be grown in NZ – and with barely any irrigation or pesticide. Hemp fibre is naturally rough, but new processes and fibre blends have created soft, strong fabrics that look … smokin.

Image features Starfish NEW DYNASTY DRESS – Hemp / Silk / Organic Cotton blend. Designed and made in NZ.