When Monica Mei graduated in 2007 from Ryerson University, she won the coveted Standard Broadcasting Corporation’s $25 000 Business Plan Competition to start her own designer label. As an extension of her personality, she coined the name Aime as a means of conveying her philosophy of “Love Yourself. Love Others. Love Luxury.”

With pieces that are versatile, comfortable, and stylish, one cannot help but wonder from where Monica draws her inspiration. To fulfill the needs and wants of the modern woman, Monica draws upon nature and her travels. Having traveled plenty in her youth with her parents, Monica continues to see more of the world. In what she calls her “digital detox,” the inspiration for the Spring/Summer 2010 line was found in the dolce vita lifestyle of the west Mediterranean where laughter and yachts lined the coastline.

Wanting to do her part to promote a more sustainable environment, Monica strives to use all-natural or more sustainable fabrics, such as Tencel, silk, bamboo, organic-cotton, and mother-of-pearl. In addition, production is overseen by the young designer herself as the line is produced Canada.

In addition to a welcomed presence at this past LG Fashion Week, Aime has received acclaim from many notable media outlets, including Fashion Television, FLARE, Slice.ca, and National Post.

Aime can be found in retailers across Canada and the US:

New York City – Martier
Chicago – Perchance Boutique
Miami – At Ease on Sunset, Kristine Michael
West Palm Beach – Rhythm Clothiers
Boca Raton – Martier
Winter Park, FL – Tuni
Toronto – French Accents, TNT Hazelton Lanes, TNT Eglinton
Vancouver – Eugene Choo, The Velvet Room, Body Politic
Montreal – TNT

For more information, please visit http://www.aimeluxury.com

Seems as though the word about JUZD is getting out! With success in Holt Renfrew, GotStyle and Green is Black more and more people are quick to grab the one-of-a-kind JUZD t-shirt. The fashion world is seeking new, innovative and eco-friendly designs and being the planet’s first bamboo designer label, it’s hard to avoid getting JUZD…

Original Article http://green.sympatico.msn.ca/article.aspx?cp-documentid=672500

Hot looks, Cool for the planet

We’ve found a dozen designers – many of them Canadian success stories – whose collections are carried in stores across Canada. Check out the green designer collections we’ve found that will make you green in heart while your friends go green with envy.

JUZD (short for Juiced) was the first bamboo designer label. Said to be inspired by the legend of 1898, when the African Mountain Gorillas were discovered, each shirt in the JUZD collection has an exclusive design and is made from organic bamboo fabric. All JUZD T-shirts, such as the ones above, retail for $100 at Holt Renfrew stores across Canada. You can also buy their shirts directly from their website at http://www.juzd.com/.

August 25^th to August 28^th was the MAGIC week in Las Vegas for 2008, North America’s biggest fashion tradeshow. This year JUZD Bamboo showcased it’s wears at the Pool show. When I first started I tried finding the clear difference between the shows but I was unsuccessful.

From my experience I can tell you the clear cut differences between each show.

MAGIC – The biggest show of them all, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Most of the major brands are here. The average size of the booths are at least 800 square feet. This show covers everything from sportswear to formal wear to big label streetwear and even an outsourcing section. If you are a small player don’t even think about it. You’ll be overshadow by all the oversize booths. Retail tees from $20-$70. Mainly the lower and mid range.

POOL – This is for new brands and brands tailor to the Threadless type of customers. The younger crowd who like clever graphics and saying on tees. A lot of the shirts are Blanks from American Apparel with prints over it. Each design and concept is different from another. In addition these brands don’t have their name or logo on it. I see all of these brands as commodities because of that. I don’t understand why buyers would choose one over another.

There were also big brands that chase after this market, brands such as TokiDoki and Alternative Apparel which once again was the major sponsor for POOL. Retail tees from $20-$40.

PROJECT – Project which takes place at Sands Expo has the high end streetwear. Aim at the contemporary market this is where most of the brands are found. And this show is happening. Most of the people I know are in this show and they tell me that it was crazy. The first day they didn’t even had time to have lunch. They were busy taking orders left and right. This is a major contrast to the floor at POOL, especially where we were at, it was like a ghost town. Retail tees from $40-over $150.

SLATE – This year MAGIC had a new section to compete with PROJECT. It’s called SLATE. This is where the higher brands are. This was created to compete with PROJECT I would guess but all of the shows are owned by the same company. The layout is strikingly similar to PROJECT with individual booths section off. Large company branding is not allow so each booth is similar to the next. However the brands here are gangster urban brands. Not the premium streetwear of PROJECT. Retail tees are from $40-$70.

Eco sections – POOL was known for their eco section until now. JUZD was in the POOL’s eco section and the traffic was dead. This year MAGIC started their own eco section and all the big and even the smaller ones showcased there. They had live performances of hippie music which made the place sound like a funeral than a lively clothing show.

Original article written by Jatinder Dhoot of www.toronto.cityguide.ca on Wed June 25 2008.

Ever wake up one morning and decide to create clothing line? It’s not an ordinary occurrence but Torontonian Jing Liu is not an ordinary individual. Liu, creator of Juzd clothing, which is promoted as being the first bamboo designer label, is the lead designer for the urban streetwear line. “I just woke up one day and decided start it up and just focus on doing this”, comments Liu on the origin of Juzd in April 2007.

The web designer amongst other things at the time, came up with the idea for Juzd–a name which had some influence from the much talk in the media of “juiced” baseball athletes doing steroids. Although aggression is part of the brand identity of Juzd, there’s an element of nature and environmental friendliness to the line. “Organic aggression”, comments Liu on what the brand represents—the bamboo being tied into the organic. “I thought about what would represent something natural and organic and I thought bamboo”, explains Liu. The choice itself was a natural one as the plant was a mainstay during Liu’s childhood years which were spent in China.

Despite the organic and environmental underpinnings to the line, Juzd isn’t spiritual retreat or vegan pot luck apparel. “I want it to be eco-friendly but not hippy”, comments Liu. The clothes are designed mostly for the fashion conscious 18-34 demographic of both genders, which Liu is passionate about channeling his creativity to cater to.

His enthusiasm for the line shines forth when he chats about the positive reception line has garnered and how he was an inch away from getting in Holt Renfrew; when he bounces off ideas with Deniz Reno, the model sporting his apparel in these pictures; and as he encourages me “Go Bamboo”, a personal catchphrase of Liu for his line. His excitement is indicative that his seemingly random decision that Spring morning in 2007 was a correct one.

If you would like to pick up some Juzd clothing and “Go Bamboo”, visit GOTSTYLE and Green is Black.

The JUZD team was at its first tradeshow, Green Living Show at the Toronto Exhibition place. And people there went crazy for the JUZD bag. People were dropping by ever so often saying “Here’s the booth with that bag.” They apparently saw other people carrying it around.

I was thinking, no way, everyone is giving away free eco-friendly bags, no way people will pay $2 for this.

The bags were supposed to be free with a purchase of a shirt. But some people were so fixed on getting a bag they didn’t want to hear about the shirts. I turned away many people before I realize I can make money from this. So we started charging $2 for the bags. I was thinking, no way, everyone is giving away free eco-friendly bags, no way people will pay $2 for this. But pretty much everyone that asked bought one. And we sold a lot of shirts too.

People were grabbing these shirts from left and right…

These types of tradeshows are littered with cheap clothing and big discounted shirts. I wasn’t expecting to compete and sell shirts. It was more for awareness and exposure purposes. But to my surprise people were picking up the shirts. What I found out was that people actually cared about the quality and efforts put into the shirts. People were grabbing these shirts from left and right, lots of other exhibitors were getting it, parents and aunts were getting it for their kids, and of course the fashion forward wanted to pimp it themselves. At the end we sold over 20 shirts, which was a big surprise.

“people want to pay for art, the bag is an art piece”

But the biggest surprise has to be all the people wanting to ‘buy’ a bag and buy other memorabilia. The bags were supposed to be a promotional item. People were paying to have my bag and promote the JUZD brand. But as I was told by a photographer “people want to pay for art, the bag is an art piece” she said. Then she asked if she can buy one of the signs to have it as the main entrance piece at her studio.

I was talking to a friend who have been in the fashion industry for a long time. He was part of the urban streetwear fashion scene when it first started in the 80′s. A very powerful thing he told me was: “fashion is superficial, this is different, when people wear a JUZD shirt they are making a statement, they are making a difference.”

Up to that point I never thought of our JUZD bamboo shirts being that. We didn’t start using bamboo because we wanted to save the planet. Nor did we use bamboo, the most eco-friendly fabric to jump on the eco-friendly bandwagon. Heck, I don’t even like the word “eco-friendly”…it’s just too happy…too friendly, I prefer eco-conscious. But I do have a lot of respect for nature and wanted to create a brand that’s organic that goes deep into the spirit and innate power of the individual. And using bamboo is part of that philosophy.

Two things can happen. One, people buy JUZD because it’s eco-friendly (They want to help save the planet or because it’s trendy). Or people feel passionate about the JUZD philosophy and brand and buy it for that reason. Either way I’ll be happy because you and I will have made a difference, intended or not.

Dedicated to providing a sustainable future, clothing designers have begun producing lines that make use of organic materials such as bamboo, wood-pulp, and seaweed. Joining in on eco-friendly train is Linda Lundström, women’s wear designer.

Slightly over a quarter of Lunström’s Spring 2007 collection can be recognized as a ‘Green Note’ item, which is an item in her collection that makes use of either bamboo or eco-Yukon fleece. Lundström aspires to have at least 50% of her clothing line making use of organic materials by Spring 2008. This spring, the bamboo jersey will be introduced into Lundström’s line as well as natural un-dyed laundered linen.

In addition to using eco-friendly materials, Lundström is also keen on following an old addage, “Waste not, want not.” In other words, reduce the need to cut excess fabric, and reuse the leftovers to create new garments. Lundström’s design team has come up with two pieces, which make use of the excess fabric – the Shabby Chic Scarf and the Labarka.

Aside from designing, Lundström recently served as Honorary Event Chair at An Evening of Sustainable style, which not only raised awareness concerning the negative impact of people’s choice for fashion but also offered green choices. It is this involvement with the community that helps us understand Lundström’s dedication towards minimizing our ecological footprints.

I was browsing through the Winter 2008 issue of FASHION when I came across a really interesting article on current trends of the fashion landscape and the movement of designer labels and Contemporary Fashion. Johanna Lenader puts it best when she describes contemporary labels as “brands that exist in the realm between H&M and Prada” (style and price) where an H&M shirt is $30 and a Prada shirt is $400.

Contemporary would be “the industry term for fashionable yet affordable new designer labels”. Which got me thinking… that is SO TRUE. Think the “Midway” designers like Arthur Mendonca, TIBI, Pink Tartan, Club Monaco, all which are fashionably chic and not overly expensive (by overly expensive I mean $15 000 for a evening cocktail dress) … which got me really thinking… and JUZD!

Although I wouldn’t say the JUZD collections are high fashion or couture inspired, we are definitely a combination of that which is inspired by high and low labels. The JUZD tee’s and hoodies are basics but made with bamboo fabric (high quality & eco-friendly).

With the designs being organically aggressive, the fabric unbelievably comfortable, the style and fit practical, JUZD is fashion forward and appeals to everyone. Could this be? JUZD has found a place in between the black and white fashion landscape as green and contemporary fashion.