If you’ll be in London next month, make a point to stop by the U.K. Aware 2010 exhibition from April 16-17. This is the third annual event and this year features 200 booths and 50 guest speakers who will show you how to give your life a green makeover.

E.S. friend TRAID will be there to lead DIY projects to update your old closet workhorses.

According to the event organizers, the £6 cover charge will net you the following perks:

• The Green Machines Expo: the UK’s largest showing of low carbon vehicles.
• The Green Business Start-up Surgery: an oasis of solutions for budding entrepreneurs to help make dreams become reality.
• Clothes swapping party: a chance for anyone to get a completely new to you wardrobe without damaging the environment or spending a penny.
• Kids area: shows and interactive activities designed to inspire young minds…a perfect Easter holiday outing!
• Morsbags: an oasis of creative surprises and haberdashery delights — voted best feature by our visitors last year.

Register here for the early-bird discount!

If you’re one of the lucky few who get to be in Vancouver right now for the Olympics — or if you’re planning to join us at Vancouver Eco Fashion Week in April — you’ll want to check out the Los Angeles Times’s round-up of the city’s best secondhand-clothing stores.

We particularly liked the intro:

A few years later, lesson learned, I packed carefully for my trip to Vancouver last autumn: my smartest New York-bought parka, layers of excellent textures, skinny cords, comfy walking shoes of real leather, and sneakers for the gym only.

Puffed with pride, I strode the chilly city until, on a corner in the Kitsilano neighborhood, the zipper on my parka broke and I faced an Angeleno’s dilemma: spending a fortune on a replacement I might wear a few times a year versus getting something blah and forsaking my fashion-plate look.

The solution was just down the block at a consignment shop called In Again (1962 W. 4th Ave., [604] 738-2782). I walked in with a dead parka and walked out with a gently used but still très chic Hugo Boss blue suede shearling for a fraction of its original price.

So who feels like shopping?

Don’t think you can DIY? Courtesy of the ever-fabulous Ashley at Monsterbites365.com comes this incredibly easy, foolproof DIY circle-scarf project that absolutely anyone can do.

All you need is a cozy XXL men’s tee-shirt or fleece (bonus points for thrifting an old one) and a sharp pair of scissors:

Directions:
1. Find a super soft, super big XXL men’s T-shirt with NO seams along the sides.
2. Fold the T-shirt in half length-wise to help you cut out your scarf.
3. First, cut a straight line along the bottom hem.
4. Then, cut a straight line just under the armpits of the T-shift (see diagram below).
5. Finally, experiment to your heart’s content with this versatile fashion accessory.

Need advice on how to wear your fancy new scarf? Check out our guide to chic neckwarming.

Have you heard of ThredUp.com? We hadn’t until today, but as soon as we got this tip from E.S. reader Ali in Canada, we knew it belonged on the blog.

Here’s a common scenario: You’re looking through your closet for something to wear and realize all your best stuff is in the laundry. So instead of pulling out those trousers you swore you’d live in when you bought them months ago, you throw a load into the washer so you can re-wear the same pants you last wore on Monday.

But now you can rehome those trousers and get stuff you will actually wear. ThredUp.com seeks to pair you up with a style twin to expand both of your closets in three easy steps:

1. Tell us exactly what you like. We shop other people’s closets to find you hidden gems in your size that we think you’ll love.

2. Let us know the great items you’re no longer wearing. We find thredUP members who are interested in items like these.

3. We manage the peer-to-peer exchange. You send and receive items using our pre-paid envelopes – no trips to the Post Office, ever!

We are chronic sufferers of nothing-to-wearitis, but this sounds like the perfect, no-muss solution. And don’t you kind of wish you could meet your style twin?

Interested in the idea of swapping but want to be able to try stuff on first? Check out model Lucinda Story’s tips for organizing a swapping party with your friends.

Being a woman of my word, I like to put my money where my mouth is (when I can afford it!) and personally shop some of the boutiques and brands we feature here on EthicalStyle.com. The beneficiary of my investigation this month was CovetShop.com, a newcomer to the online consignment scene that we profiled in November.

Consignment is awesome because you can get brand-name goods in great condition for a fraction of the price of new. Ethically, it’s a version of reduce-reuse-recycle, since you’re buying something that already exists instead of requiring new materials for the cardigan or shoes of your dreams.

Unlike thrift shopping, consignment boutiques generally limit themselves to a few choice brands, and because they specialize in certain brands or designers, each piece has been thoroughly evaluated for quality and authenticity by the boutique’s staff.

CovetShop.com specializes in upscale contemporary designers like Diane von Furstenberg, Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs, Milly, Balenciaga, and more — typically for hundreds of dollars off the original asking price.

My first foray into online consignment shopping brought us a shift dress by 3.1 Philip Lim for the megasteal price of $90 (it originally sold for $425). It’s in pristine condition, precisely as described, and it shipped across the country in less than five days (including a holiday!). Such a versatile dress — I envision it making many an appearance at brunch this spring.

Consider me a new convert to Covet.

We love a good before-and-after photoshoot as much as the next gal. Tearful weight-loss photos revealed on Oprah, those home-renovation shows, the-ugly-duckling-becomes-the-swan montage in prom movies — makeovers are always inspiring.

Right in line with those big reveals are the handcrafted bags by reMade USA, a San Francisco-based company that reinterprets leather jackets as beautiful new handbags. And not just any old jacket — you can send in a personal selection from your closet for repurposing as a sentimental take on the recycled leather purse.

As designer Shannon South puts it:

The most beautiful bags are those that have embedded personal stories and sentimental value. Creating a bag from your personal jacket gives a second life to the piece and an emotional connection far greater than a store-bought bag. We’ve had multiple customers bring out-of-style jackets from memorable trips to Italy, one customer used her father’s old Peace Corps jacket, a husband made a bag for his wife from his 20-year old motorcycle jacket, another made two clutch bags for herself and her sister from their fathers old jacket that he got on his honeymoon. So many people have leather jackets sitting in the back of the closet- out of style, but too valuable to give away.

ReMade created a photo album on Facebook of its bespoke bags so you can browse photos of the befores and the afters. Looking at these makeovers might just be enough for you to finally clean out your overstuffed closet.

(via @reMadeUSA)

We’re still recovering from jet lag, but we wanted to bring you our shopping recommendations from London as soon as possible! This post goes out to the bargain-hunting vinties we know and love.

We have four must-stop shops for vintage hunters, both seasoned and newbie:

• The Oxfam charity shop near the Victoria Tube station (15 Warwick Way, London SW1V 1QT) was packed on a Thursday afternoon — we can’t even imagine how busy it must be on the weekends. Here you’ll find sweaters and coats galore, including a rabbit fur–trimmed blazer for only £35. We bought: a black multistrand beaded bracelet for £3.49 (about $5.87 in USD).
• The antiques market on Monday mornings in the Jubilee Hall at Covent Garden (30 The Piazza, London WC2E 8RA). The Jubilee Hall hosts a general market Tuesday through Friday and a handmade crafts fair on the weekend, but the Monday morning antiques set-up is what you really want for vintage costume and fine jewelry. We bought: earrings made from peacock feathers for £1 ($1.68 USD).
• Old Spitalfields Market (65 Brushfield Street, London E1 6AA) has won the Best Fashion Market award by Time Out London for the past two years — with good reason. Mixing food stalls and purveyors of handmade and vintage goods, this sprawling market gives you an excuse to stay all day. Stalls are open Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays. We bought: a handmade silk blouse for £10 ($16.80 USD).
• Not far from Old Spitalfields, the Vintage Market on Brick Lane is a weekly pop-up store chock full of vintage clothes, shoes, and accessories. It moves around so look for the VM signs. We regret not buying: chevron-striped Charles Jourdan pumps for £5 ($8.41 USD).

Hello patient E.S. readers!

We apologize for the delay in getting up some fresh blog content for the past few days, but we promise it will be worth the wait. We just finished up five days in London, one of the best shopping and design destinations for followers of eco-fashion (especially vinties!).

In the coming days and weeks, we’ll debrief you on everything we found here: the cornucopia of bargains at Oxfam’s charity shops; the beauty-product candyland that is the Organic Pharmacy in Covent Garden; the overwhelming flea markets; and interviews with a couple of up-and-coming designers who are certain to spark some heated discussion about waste in the fashion industry (and the world that exists beyond it).

Check back tomorrow for your first taste of eco-London!

Christene at Refinery29.com showed off this fab 1980s braided belt find from eBay this morning, and it got us thinking about our readers. We bet you all are total rock stars at sniffing out the best deals on vintage and preloved clothing.

We’re relative newbies but we’re learning: In July, we scored some like-new vintage Frye Dorian riding boots in a rich cognac color for only $100. If you’re a pro at eBaying, share your stories of your best-ever find in the comments!

Are the consignment shops in your area more “meh” than magnificent? Then you’re in luck: Sift through pages of preloved name-brand clothing in perfect condition on CovetShop.com, one of the web’s best online consignment boutiques.

Among our finds in just five minutes of browsing:

• Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche’s belted twill military jacket in size 6, $295.
• Abaete’s burnout silk dress in size 10, $250.
• Gucci’s horsebit logo clutch with chain strap, $248.
• Narcisco Rodriguez’s vintage boatneck wool dress in size 6, $90.
• Jimmy Choo’s pleated grey leather pumps in size 36, $104.

Yes, that is real Jimmy Choo quality for less than what you’ll pay if you camp out for the brand’s big H&M debut next week. The advantage of shopping here for used clothing is the sort-by-size feature and loads of clear photographs and detailed descriptions. No surprises, except for the deals you’ll find on designer duds.