Eco chic shop opens on Carnaby Street

By Patrick Smith

But do consumers care?

Howies, a Carnaby Street shop that sells eco-friendly clothing made from recycled and organic cotton, is soon to open.

Greenbang had a peek behind the scenes as refurbishment is underway. We were quite impressed.

All the wood is ‘wind-fallen’, which means it wasn’t chopped, but fell over on its own. (Did he fall or was he pushed )

Builders are also using something called ‘glaster’ – plaster made from recycled glass.

Another interesting feature is while Carnaby Street authorities insist shops keep window lights on at all times, Howies turns them off – but offers consumers the chance to have a late night peek by turning the lights on from outside for 30 seconds.

The builder behind the refurbishment, Matt Freeman, 38, said, “They’ve been strict about what we use.”

But do consumers care? An assistant at neighbouring store Muji said he hasn’t seen any change in consumers’s attitudes to green shopping recently, while a couple of shoppers we bumped into agreed.

“I don’t really know that much about green clothing,” said David Gonsalves a 19 year-old shopping on Carnaby St, although he just bought a pair of organic Levi jeans.

Greenbang tracks the explosion of the environmental industry, reporting on news of green innovation and thought leadership.

We blog on this rather than the environmental problems of the world because we are interested in the answers to climate change.