INSPIRATION – Women of the 1930’s & 40’s “Thrift is the spirit of the day. Reckless spending is a thing of the past.” The era’s of the 1930’s & 40’s were tough times. Many women struggled to look after their families and homes on very low budgets. Recycling, mending, upcycling, respecting & reusing became a normal way of life. Instead of throwing things away people looked after their belongings and only bought what was a necessity. This had been a carry over from The Great Depression of the 1920’s, creating the ‘struggle’ era, which carried through until the end of the Second World War. Before the WWII few women followed careers, most jobs were ‘traditional’ roles, such as nursing, secretarial, office or caring. The main role most women took on, was as -‐‘the homemaker and a mother.’ Only when millions of men joined the armed forces during WWII, women took on an active role outside the home and took on many paid jobs that previously had been held by men -‐ such as banks, salesperson, shipyards, steel plants, lumber mills or aircraft hangers. During this period an aggressive media campaign urged millions of women into the work force. Woman started working in factories – this was called the “Rosie the Riveter” phenomenon and possibly the dawn of the ‘female revolution.’ This is an era that we at Pure Pod are passionate about. The period that gave women a free voice and power to control and change their own lives. Especially as we work in a female dominated industry, being the fashion industry and an industry struggling to stave alive in Australia! As a way to lure young women into the factories, advertisers showed women workers as glamorous and even fashionable. They mentioned that women did not care much about their appearance while at work, but that they were still feminine underneath the dirt. Women wore almost male influenced denim overalls, pinafores, work shirts and even pants! Clothing became easier to wear, more masculine in some areas and under garments softer. Many families started to grow their own vegetables, had chickens and recycled as much as possible. The local governments encouraged people do grow their own food due to rations and shortages. This was a time to recycle, re-‐design (old garments) reuse and reclaim as much as possible! It was not a throw away society, like we have today. People respected what they had and did not over buy. Fashions were ‘SLOW FASHIONED’ and not ‘FAST FASHIONED.’ Pure Pod is a leader & pioneer in the eco/sustainable fashion industry in Australia. We are often inspired by older generations, music eras, past stories, art and fashion from these times. They did not use as much as we do now, without any respect from where it came from or who made it. Our world can be so disconnected from its natural beginnings that we can become no longer humble and happy in our surroundings. We, as consumers are continually pushed into thinking we need more STUFF to fill our homes & hearts, to be happy. The modern day person can often become overwhelmed with ‘NEW STUFF”, which is often imported, poorly made and follows fast fashion trends. These products do not often last, and they quickly become land-‐fill at a much faster rate than products made in past centuries. Polluting our environment and in-‐turn our health.
‘AUTUMN FOLD’ -‐ Pure Pods Autumn 2013 Capsule Collection has been inspired by this era of history and the inspirational women of this time such as Amelia Earnhart, Audrey Hepburn, or more importantly the very inspiring everyday women, who ran their homes, worked and looked after their families. Our collection is a modern take on the 1930’s-‐40’s clothing with an essence of work wear in the mix. The textiles used for this collection are GOTS Certified organic cotton, veggie dyed organic cottons, natural indigo denims, pure merino wool knits, soya bean, bamboo & organic cotton knit blends. Some pieces have been hand printed by local Australian textile artists, the organic cotton yardage prints with retro designs’ are from India and printed with sustainable low impact inks, all GOTS Certified. At Pure Pod we try to design our garments with ethics, quality & beautiful design as a base, with organically/sustainably grown natural fibre’s and lower impact processes, being the main ingredient to our collections. Our garments are designed to make the wearer feel fantastic and comfortable with a timeless style. The styles are kept simple so they can be worn for many seasons to come. The fashion industry is one of the highest polluting industries in the world including growing, dying, scouring, printing, manufacturing, and retailing. Throughout the normal fashion and textiles industry, many manufacturing processes have a high use of chemicals and pesticides used which effect peoples lives and environments. If we can try help reduce this effect just a little and encourage people to care about what and where they buy their clothing, we are on the right road to change this enormous polluting industry! Our planet is borrowed from future generations’, lets pass it on to them with respect, care and possibly the way we found it.