In THE SPRING BREEZE ISSUE

Rubana Ahmed from Ethika Boutique passionately talks to Kucha about the challenges and adversity she faced in making her business a reality.

Barbra Horowitz, British Vogue Online correspondent, guides you through Revitalizing your Wardrobe, with extracts from her new book - Closet Control.

Use UK share with Kucha their flair for blending reclaimed fabrics with stunning designs.

Cura Vie brings style and ethics to a garden near you.

Enter the Magical World of Chocoholly and let your spirits be lifted through chocolate.

Let Halo Skincare worship your body.

Frank & Faith urge everyone to use the power of the pound and shop with wisdom.

Embellished Truth brings us beautiful trans-seasonal accessories.

The Julia Smith Fashion House strips naked and allows us to see behind the brand.

If you're an Independent Thinker, you're going to love THTC's new cutting edge, celebrity-endorsed Capsule Collection.

Chocolate Alchemy, from the heart of West Sussex.

Animal Defenders International share with Kucha the animals they have helped take their first steps to freedom.

SPRING ADDITIONS - other fashion news from Use UK, Untouched World, Tammam, Julia Smith and Colonel Kilgore.

HOT AND NEW - Funky chicken doorstops by Refab in retro reclaimed fabric. Home Scents perfect range of gorgeously scented products for your home, pets and nursery. Great body care products at great prices from Sante and Logona. Bamboo comes alive at Tatty Bumpkin with new skirts, culottes, fleeces and sun shirts.

Win one of Use UK's signature designed '100 Thoughts' Recycled Notebooks.

News Focus, what's hitting the headlines in the Press AND

Walk the Talk, what to see and do until the next issue of Kucha.

We hope you really enjoy this issue of Kucha. Have a great week.
Rachel, The Natural Store x _______________________________________________________________

Red Marrakesh Tunic £89.99

CHALLENGES & ADVERSITY CAN EVOKE THE BEST CREATIVITY

'hhhm she's an Asian, Muslim woman with children, I don't think she'll go far' is one of the many negative responses and obstacles that Rubana Ahmed, founder of Ethika Boutique, had to overcame in setting up the fashion label. Here Rubana passionately talks to Kucha about her journey and the wonderful outcome, that is Ethika Boutique.

Click here to read

CLOSET CONTROL

Barbra Horowitz, the West Coast Correspondent for British Vogue Online, guides you through 'revitalizing your wardbrobe and revolutionizing the way your store it', with extracts from her new book 'Closet Control'.

Click here to read

USE UK AND THEIR FLAIR FOR
BEAUTIFUL DESIGN
Leather remnants from the furniture industry, fabric sample books destined for landfill, recycled cardboard and paper, cadmium free recycled spiro bindings - Use UK blends these raw materials with contemporary design to create timeless pieces such as cushions, bags, notebooks and their range of lampshades that are currently available in Habitat, Dublin.

Click here to read

Have a Fab home with Refab's funky Chicken Doorstops. Exclusive designs made in England using quality vintage and reclaimed fabrics. A fun way to keep your door open. £12.00

Beautifully scented All-Purpose Nursery Cleaner, creamy Beeswax Polish, lovely Laundry Liquid & Fabric Conditioner in their Signature Scents, even natural Dog Shampoo - there isn't much of your cleaning needs that Home Scents do not provide. From £4.25

Great Products at Great Prices. The Natural Store is now selling the Sante & Logona brands and by mid-May we'll be featuring their complete collections. Sante's lime Shower Gels & Deodorant Spray are already proving to be firm favourites. From £2.20

Tatty Bumpkin have come out with a fun to wear range of Bamboo & Cotton Fleeces, Skirts, Culottes & Sun Shirts. Perfect for this inbetween weather as the bamboo is warm but also allows the body to breath, is automatically anti-bacterial and UV sun protective. £16 - £22

CURA VIE - THE HARMONIOUS BLEND OF STYLE WITH ETHICS

Founder, Zenobia-Ann Bajina, talks to Kucha about how it is possible to inspire people who aspire to beautiful things, and how an integral factor for any designer is to be completely aware of the lifecycle of the product they are creating.

Click here to read >>

ENTER THE MAGICAL WORLD OF CHOCOHOLLY

Inspired by the film Chocolat, Holly Caudfield trained to become a chocolatier, her wish being to create the most intense and fulfilling chocolate indulgences using organic ingredients. Holly then covered these delicious chocolates in cardboard wrappings that depict her own magical and uplifiting paintings. Allowing everyone to taste and enter the World of Chocoholly...

Click here to read >>

WORSHIP YOUR BODY WITH
HALO SKINCARE CREAMS

Used by mothers who apply it on their children's sensitive skin, to daughters who buy it for their 80 year old mothers! Halo Light Moisturising Cream is affordable, natural, unperfumed, suitable for vegetarians and the first British skincare product to receive the HMC Mark from the UK Halal Monitoring Committee. Soni Zuberi Shah, founder of Halo Skincare, wants to make consumers aware of what they are applying on their skin.

Click here to read >>

BE PART OF World Fair Trade Day. This year's theme 'Fair Trade & Ecology'. The day calls on us to celebrate Fair Trade Organisations, buy more Fair Trade goods and to hold your own Fair Trade events. Click here for more info

BE AWARE OF The Green Party's Candidate (Sian Berry) & Policies with regards to the new London Mayoral Campaign and for party electives for the London Assembly. Click here for more info

BE RESPONSIVE Calculate your human footprint, by determining how much energy you have consumed and the impact you have had on the environment in your lifetime. Then view some tips of what you can do about it. Click here to calculate

	Organic Cotton 'Gaby' Cardigan, £45

YOU, AND YOUR SHOPPING HABITS, HAVE THE POWER!

The power to move companies, industries and countries towards ecological and socially conscious choices. Frank & Faith talk to Kucha about how their business began and how they have come to realise the power of the pound is a potent tool, that we should all put to good use.

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EMBELLISH YOUR WARDROBE WITH BEAUTIFUL TRANS-SEASONAL ACCESSORIES

Embellished Truth is a new accessories label focusing on environmental sensibilities through using the finest vegetable-tanned leather. The launch collection is of beautifully soft, large everyday handbags and petit evening clutches hand emossed with inspired Indian prints.
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HIGH-END FASHION, STRIPPED NAKED

A designer label that is fair trade, that believes in traceability from the birth of the garment through to the finished design, that has been awarded level 1 of the Green Mark environmental certification scheme, that makes socially responsible and environmentally friendly collections, that also make the wearer look and feel fabulous! Do you want the oppportunity to be different? Then take a look at the Julia Smith Collections.

Click here to read

Adore the Bag! Use UK have brought us 28 unique bags - from clutches to shoulder bags - individually handcrafted from super soft 100% leather remnants that are a by-product of the furniture industry. Also, don't miss out on Matt & Nat's vegan leather Spring bag collection in petrol blues and sage greens.

Untouched World - a lifestyle brand from New Zealand, new to the UK - has sustainability & design at the heart of their DNA. Have you heard of organic mountain silk? Then you'll want to check out their beautiful garments for women and for men (available soon)...

Indulge in New Must-Have Spring Fashion. We have new Spring Collections available from Amana, Julia Smith, Tammam, Enamore, People Tree and Seasalt. Coming to The Natural Store next month, May...for Snood's new range.

Embrace Surf, Sea & Sand this summer with Colonel Kilgore, organic cotton T-Shirts - NEW to The Natural Store. Be in T-Shirt Heaven and check out the Spring ranges from Tonic (Brucie T-Shirt), THTC, Third Transition, Edun, People Tree & Seasalt.

ARE YOU AN INDEPENDENT THINKER?

Pioneers of ethical streetwear, THTC (The Hemp Trading Company) design for independent thinkers and with street culture in mind. Nominated for Fashion Product of the Year at the 2007 Observer Ethical Awards, check out their soon to be released, cutting-edge, celebrity-endorsed capsule collection. Exceptionally-made to weather any ‘fast fashion’ trends with a clear conscience.

Click here to read

CHOCOLATE ALCHEMY

In the heart of West Sussex, The Chocolate Alchemist brings us organic, handmade, award winning chocolates packed with love and care.

Click here to read

ANIMAL DEFENDERS INTERNATIONAL (ADI) - STEPS TO FREEDOM

We all want to see animals content in the wild, safe in their natural habitat. Animal Defenders International (ADI) have changed the lives of countless animals through global campaigns and rescues, to end their suffering in the name of ‘entertainment’. Lions from Portugal, chimpanzees from Chile and Hampshire, and a whole circus from Mozambique including lions, tigers, a rock python, horses and dogs!

Click here to read the amazing story of ADI

Toto the chimpanzee in a Zambian Sanctuary with his adopted children after ADI rescued him from a circus in Chile.

NEWS FOCUS - What's being talked about in the Press around the Globe

Tread Lightly. Carolyne Fry from the Guardian suggests Stop buying farmed flowers. Click here for article.

Food Crisis - But It's No Surprise. From the riots in Mexico to the US dropping grain subsidies, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein reports for The Times how the signs have been there. Click here for article.

St David's In Pembrokeshire Is The First Eco-City. Christopher McCooey writes for The Times how St David's may become the first carbon-neutral city in the world. Click here for article.

Professional Investor: Ethical is good, but sustainable is the real deal. Hugo Shaw discusses for The Independent. Click here for article.

UK's First Nappy Recycling Plant. Karen McVeigh for The Guardian. Click here for article.

Eco Homes & Energy Saving: Taking the lore into your own hands from The Telegraph. Click here for article.

COMPETITION
Win a Recycled Notebook in a
beautiful, contemporary design by Use UK

To be in for a chance to WIN this gorgeous Use UK Notebook, simply tell us what was the first product created by Use UK (from their article 'Use UK and a Love of Beautiful Design' shown above? Then click on the 'Submit Answer' button. We will contact the winner and their name will also be listed in the next issue of Pecha Kucha. Well done to Kay Cameron who was the winner of the Figs & Rouge Camellia and Chamomile Hand Cream, suitable for vegans.

If there are any products or features you would like to see covered by Kucha, we’d love to hear from you! Click here to send us your suggestions