Pillow Talk

Hello darlings!

I hope that everyone is having a great day and that everything is going how they hoped their day would go.

Things are going wonderfully here at Vagadu because we've been working on new ideas and the final product is here! We've been experimenting with making pillows out of older fabric pieces that were too small to use for any of our large projects like the blazer vests and dresses. And these pillows have turned out great!

They are Scraptec Pillows made using a base pillow cover and then we've added the Vagadu touch! Like the blazer vests these pillows have the most wonderful fabrics on them like Italian silks in very beautiful patterns.

I know how hard it can be to find accent pieces for new homes or maybe an older couch that you wanted to spice up. Instead of spending loads of money getting it reupholstered or trying to find a slip that doesn't make the couch look dumpy you can buy a Vagadu Scraptec Pillow!

This is a great option because through the practices that Vagadu upholds, you too can be green. At Vagadu our products are made from 90% recycled materials, and everything is made by hand so there isn't any environmental damage caused by all of our products!

Don't hesitate to participate in some pillow talk tonight because that is the green thing to do!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu

Greenwashing: Beware!

Hello everyone.

I hope things are going well. And that everyone is having a good week and enjoyed their weekend.

Today I wanted to write about something kind of shocking that happens at some fashion events all over the world and that is "green washing". Green washing is when a company temporarily changes the way that they produce their product in order to gain good press from someone who honors green fashion.

Green washing isn't limited to the fashion world either, it happens in large corporations all over the world. An example of what a corporation could do is change all of the light bulbs in their corporate headquarters and then they call themselves "green".

Both fashion companies and other companies are then able to take advantage of tax reductions, good press and a new customer base. This is crazy that some people are doing this because they are taking advantage of people and also taking away

business from people who are truly green!

Fashion designers "green wash" their company through producing a new articles of clothing just for a certain event. After those clothes are donated or sold the company resorts back to how they were before.

Before investing your hard earned money in a new

company, even if you are just buying a "green" T-shirt, you should research the company! Make sure if they are saying that they are "green" that they truly are "green" all year round.

Don't making buying clothing a chore though, this should be an activity that you love to do! Just be aware that some companies are not 100% honest with who they are!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu

Sleeve What's Up At Vagadu!

Hey!

I'm not sure if any of you have wondered what happened to all of the blazer sleeves from the blazer vests that we create but if you have then today I'll answer!

We reuse those sleeves!

And we do this through some of the newer pieces that we're currently creating! One of the pieces is going to become a blazer sleeve blazer/jacket. Isn't that cool? We're reusing old blazer sleeves from past blazers and turning them back into their original form only better!

This piece blends fabrics together through the use of the blazer sleeves. These sleeves flow through the garment, creating a touchable blend of neutrals and patterned fabric. The blazer/jacket has 3/4 length sleeves and falls at waist level making this look ideal for flattering any body type.

Another way that we reuse the blazer sleeves is to use them

in the creation of the blazer vest that the sleeves just came off of. The sleeves become an elaborate collar or a new waist line but they stay within the original garment, how great is that?

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu

Worker Bees at the Vagadu Hive

Hey! How is everyone's day so far?

This post is going to be all about the design interns here at Vagadu who work hard to make the wonderful items that you guys enjoy reading about! It is going to be a "Thank You" post and you'll get to learn a little about the behind the seams action.

Without the work that everyone at Vagadu puts in then things wouldn't get done nearly as fast which is always annoying! American culture is all about instant satisfaction and we know that, so we're working extra hard to make sure that can happen for all customers who are interested in Vagadu.

One thing that these women don't do is rush on the projects that they are working on. Each garment or accessory that they create, they work with until they completely understand the piece. They work with the garment making sure that everything lays correctly and that the colors all work together in a effortless way. The women make sure that they are putting their best work forward, so that you in turn get the best product.

It is great to work with these women because I know that

we all share a great passion for the clothing industry and for green fashion. The other women are all design interns at one of the design schools in San Francisco and some of them have already done their first fashion show (through their school)! Isn't that super cool? I am not a design intern, I am a marketing intern. I love seeing them work because I don't know very much about the behind-the-scenes part of the clothing industry but now I'm learning!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu

Why Vagadu?!

Hello everyone!

Isn't is cold right now in San Francisco?! When I looked at the weather for this week it said that it was going to rain more, which means that it is nearing a San Francisco winter! San Francisco is finally starting to act like San Francisco, horray! I hope that you guys like this weather as well.

As I'm sure you guys all know, here at Vagadu we rework clothing items using older vintage already constructed clothing pieces. What we do is deconstruct the item, breaking it down to the very basics. Then we rebuild the piece creating a blazer, vest, dress, or Obi-Belt using other fabrics that have been previously donated to Vagadu from many different places. Sometimes the fabrics come all the way from France or Italy!

We believe that buying items that have been reworked or recreated from previous garments is the best thing to do!

This is because those prices have already gone through the entire (lengthy) fabric treatment process and aren't causing any further environmental damage. Instead of following in our culture's past habit of abandoning clothing that is out of season or has fallen out of style Vagadu takes those items and breaths a new life. We work to create new unique pieces that are designed so that it will continue to be current even after the

current trends pass.

Buying organic clothing is a great step that can be taken to "green" up your closet but even organic fabrics have to be sent through a treatment process. This process is long and uses a lot of coal burning energy thus making the organic fabrics very controversial. There are many people

within the clothing industry that believe that buying organic and buying nonorganic fabric is the same thing. This is because of the environmentally harmful steps that both fabric types go through before they are able to be turned into the garment that we buy.

Another thing that Vagadu does which helps make our clothing surpass the current trends is that we use vintage pieces as the

base for our blazer vests. Vintage pieces are constructed at a higher standard than what most mass production clothing company currently have today. This means that those vintage base items are going to last longer and look better longer

because of the work that was put into the item. Vagadu then steps in and rebirths the item making it current with detailing and wonderful other fabrics!

I believe that everyone should try and do their part to help counteract the damage that has been already caused to the environment! If you do this through buying green (clothing, food, anything!), through donating old clothing or recycling and composting then GREAT!

Keep up the good work! Your planet thanks you!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu

Accessories For Every Location

Hello everyone! We cannot believe that it is already almost the middle of October! This year is moving so quickly! We hope that everyone in San Francisco is loving this Indian Summer as much as we are.

At Vagadu we've made these great new hair pieces! And this blog is going to focus on how many different ways you can wear them modeled on one of the interns at Vagadu. The hair pieces are super fun because there are many different shades of each color within the accessory making it so that you can wear these with any shade of color! The intern is modeling one of the pink ones, but there are many different colors like blues, golds, multi-colors, and neutrals!

One of our favorite things about these pieces is that we've made them using old scrap pieces that we have around the studio. Before we thought of this idea, the scraps were being used but often were too small for bigger projects like the vests. Now there is no scrap piece that is too small for these Scrap Hairpieces! Yet another way that Vagadu is staying green and making eco friendly clothing.

Anywhere that you could think of wearing one of these pieces, you can really wear it there! As a hair piece? Obviously! As a chocker or neckaccent? Yes! On your belt, blouse, shoe?! Of course! On your wrist? You Bet! You can pin it, clip it, add a headband to it, put a belt through it

and tie it anywhere that you think looks good!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu

Marguerite's Purple Recreation

Hello everyone! I hope that everything is going well for you!

Recently we created this beautiful blazer vest for Marguerite. Before the blazer went through it's wonderful

transformation it was a solid purple blazer by Donna Karen. It was designed sometime during the early 90s and had become a bit d

ated. Marguerite wanted to change the blazer into something that she could wear because the blazer was currently just sitting in her closet.

This is when Marguerite decided to contact

Vagadu and we set about the repurposing process. This blazer was already such a bright bold color so we decided not to add any dark accents onto the piece. We wanted to keep the bright purple the main focus, as per Marguerite's wishes.

To accent the collar of the blazer we used hand dyed silks in yellow and silver in order to make the purple pop even more! The flower was made from leftover fabric pieces from one of the couture gowns that we'd created previously.

To balance out the other side we added beadwork to look like someone had just tossed the beads onto the blazer. Marguerite was very pleased with the result of the blazer and she planned to wear it with a rust orange colored top underneath.

This is another great example of what custom can do for the old favorite or well loved pieces in your wardrobe!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu