Swelle Giveaway! Win a Supayana Top! + interview

Check out this great interview and contest from the Swellelife blog, featuring local indie fashion stars Supayana and Angie Johnson from Headquarters Galerie Boutique.:

Supayana is a Montreal-based clothing line run by designer Yana Gorbulsky. Her one-of-a-kind upcycled pieces have been featured in the New York Daily News, Bust magazine, Daily Candy, Montreal Metro and she was the 2007 winner of Fred Flare’s Next Big Thing contest. Supayana has been recycling fabric and clothing for many years and is committed to being eco-friendly in her professional and personal life. She strives to convince others that eco-fashion doesn’t have to be frumpy and boring!

How adorable is this plaid, ruffle sleeve, bow-tie top?

It’s from Supayana and you could win your very own ‘Parisienne’ top that’s made just for you!

To enter the contest please do the following:

1. Follow Supayana on twitter
2. Become a fan of The Swelle Life on Facebook
3. In the comments section of this post tell us how you would style your own Parisienne shirt!
4. For an extra entry re-tweet the contest announcement on twitter!

Anyone from anywhere can enter. The winner will be chosen at random. The contest runs until next Sunday, Sept. 27th and the winner be announced on Monday, Sept. 28th. Good luck!

*Before you enter read on to find out what makes Supayana designs so special:

What is that made you choose to rework clothing rather than create your designs with new fabrics when you started your line in Brooklyn, New York?

I think in the beginning it was out of necessity. I was a university student when I first started Supayana and second-hand materials were much more affordable than new fabric. Using recycling materials allows me to use high quality fabrics and still keep a low price point. Most of my clothes are $60 and under so it’s quite affordable for something that’s handmade, recycled, and made in Montreal. While using second-hand materials is cheaper, it is a lot more time consuming than showing up at a fabric store and buying a few bolts of fabric. I have to make many trips to scour thrift stores and recycling warehouses to find the materials I need. So, even though I save money on the material itself, I actually spend a lot of time sourcing it.

Do you think that the current popularity of recycled clothing is a fleeting trend or a preference that will endure; and do you think it could grow to one day compete with ready to wear?

I’m not sure that it’s a trend because a lot of people were doing it before it was fashionable to be green. I think it’s become more acceptable to wear something that’s ‘used’, so maybe that’s why it’s more popular now. I also think peoples’ awareness about the environment has grown significantly over the past few years, so a lot of people think about how they want to spend their money. Maybe one day it will compete with ready to wear…I still think we’re a long way from that. I’m going to the Ethical Fashion Show in Paris in a few weeks, so I’d like to see what kinds of things will show up on the runway.

You’re committed to eco-friendly practices in all aspects of your work and life; what kinds of measures can you suggest to readers for becoming more environmentally responsible?

I think if everyone made a few small changes in their lifestyle it could go a long way to making a difference. Here are three small things you can do to start:

1. Stop buying bottled water. You can buy a cute stainless steel bottle and use that over and over.
2. Try not to buy anything with excessive packaging.
3. Try to minimize your waste as much as possible. Whatever you throw away in your garbage bin doesn’t just magically disappear when the garbage truck takes it away…it ends up in a landfill or in the sea!

Thanks for the tips, Yana!

swelle.