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December 15th, 2010

Our Holiday Debut: Everlasting Luxe is Here

Click here to RSVP on our Facebook page!

With the holiday season upon us, shopping can be a stressful venture – a constant barrage of glitz and flash. But here at Substance we like to do things a little differently. See for yourself how much better it can be and come help us celebrate the unveiling of our holiday gown this Friday. Your weary eyes will thank you as they find respite in the soft graceful folds of brushed cotton poplin, and demure ruffles of silk. Mix and mingle while enjoying refreshments and sipping on a cocktail, and gaze upon our award-winning holiday window.

The Everlasting Luxe gown was lovingly designed and crafted here in the store. Should you fall head over heels, rest assured that is available for custom order. Take a peek at one variation of the versatile frock in the latest episode of The Real i – a monthly internet show dedicated to promoting “creative and emerging” talents.

So stop by this Friday anytime between 2-8pm and give yourself a break from the holiday shopping grind. Looking forward to seeing you!

- Emily

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November 30th, 2010

An Everlasting Gift: Substance + Trees for Life International

nest

With Black Friday behind us and the holidays ahead, we’re starting to feel the cheer here in the shop—and with a new Design Lab masterpiece in the works, Everlasting Luxe, the holiday season couldn’t be looking more elegant. Though you’ll have to wait to see this one-of-a-kind gown when it unveils on Dec. 17th, our window display is ready to show it off.

You may have noticed us working away in recent weeks, crafting our own couture Christmas tree from a hefty branch, and a full skein of yarn. After lots of finger cramps, the tree is ready and waiting to frame the much anticipated Everlasting Luxe dress in its branches, and in the meantime, it also serves as a symbol of our commitment this year to the environment and the global community, through a gift that you can help us make to plant trees in areas in need.

We are so proud this year have made a pledge to Trees for Life International, an organization that not only plants fruit and forest trees in developing countries, but teaches local people to care for those trees, and to spread the seeds throughout their community. For every purchase you make of $100 or more, we will donate a tree to this wonderful cause. It’s an everlasting gift of true Christmas trees that you can help us give this holiday to communities near and far.

Posted in Around the Store, Design Lab, Eco-Friendly, Events, Things We Love | 1 Comment »

October 29th, 2010

Couture With A Conscience

vogue

Despite my obvious love for all things sustainable, fashion-wise, I have to admit: I’m a Vogue addict. Now, we all know that highbrow, fantasy-tinged couture doesn’t always play nice when it comes to the environment. So how refreshing to open up November’s issue of Vogue, and find pages and pages featuring environmentally-friendly, sustainable fashion being made by some of the biggest names in the biz!

The November issue takes a close look at conscientious couture, showing pieces such as Vera Wang’s hemp and “violence-free” silk bustier (no silk worms were harmed in the making of this designer garment), a coffee-and-tea-dyed dress from Bottega Veneta, and Marni necklaces with flowers made from recycled and repurposed plastic bottles. “Granola” goes glam, and the results are to die for (to dye for? I guess I’m not the first to make that joke…).

And as an added bonus, on page 268, one of our favorite lines here in the store—organic cotton pioneers Stewart+Brown—makes a surprise appearance with their chemical-free-wool cardigan, right next to Tommy Hilfiger’s organic cotton canvas and recycled rubber thigh-high hiking boots (one word: yowza). I think I know where you can find some lengthened tees to match!

- Cate

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October 20th, 2010

October is Fair Trade Month…

acholi-detail3

…And we couldn’t be more thrilled! This year marks the 7th Annual Fair Trade month, as promoted by Fair Trade USA, the only third-party certifier of fair trade products in the US. This year, October’s theme is “Every Purchase Matters,” helping us keep in mind that the fair trade items we choose to purchase act as a kind of “vote” for the world we want to see. To do our part, we’re highlighting some of our favorite things here in the store that are made with the principles of fair trade in mind: fair working conditions, fair price, business transparency, community development, and environmental sustainability. We are so proud to offer a number of fair trade options, such as soft fall knits from certified fair trade supplier Indigenous Designs, as well as our season-less staple Acholi beads, handmade by women in Uganda. We also love lines like Emilime Handcrafted knit accessories and organic cotton pros Stewart + Brown, who make business transparency and fair manufacturing a top priority. These are the clothes you keep, and they’re making a difference before they even reach your wardrobe.

We like to celebrate and promote fair trade all year round, but in honor of the 7th Annual Fair Trade Month, “Every Purchase Matters,” we are offering a special online and in-store discount on our favorite fair trade products: during the month of October, when you purchase $100 or more of our fair trade items, we’ll take an extra 25% off. And just in time for the chilly days of fall—cozy knitwear, perfect layering tees, and wear-everywhere jewelry that ensure an exchange that adds to the wellbeing of craftsmen (and women!) all over the world, and beauty to your personal wardrobe.

Learn more about Fair Trade Month, and what you can do to promote fair trade around the globe, at fairtrademonth.org.

Posted in Eco-Friendly, New Arrivals, Things We Love | No Comments »

October 5th, 2010

Proud to Present: Feral Childe

We are crazy about this dress.

gamma-blog

In our search this year for fashion-forward fall garments that align brilliantly with our sustainable, eco-friendly outlook, we struck gold with Feral Childe. The designers behind Feral Childe are Moriah Carlson and Alice Wu, who met as young artists in New York City, where the collection is manufactured. The two take inspiration from each other’s drawings and collages; using those, they turn 2-dimensional art into wearable pieces that proudly experiment with color and silhouette. The name, Moriah and Alice say, was given to their label because these clothes represent a woman who has some wildness to her, and knows her way through life’s jungles. But there’s an undeniable elegance to Feral Childe’s creations as well – a kind of savage beauty. All told, we are proud to be bringing some of the most unique, yet universally appealing clothes out there to Columbus this fall.

Though we’re offering several pieces from Feral Childe in the store (including a luxuriously soft long-sleeved embellished tee, in the richest Sienna Red color), my favorite piece is the cleverly reversible Gamma Shift dress, made from tie-dyed silk jersey and cozy organic gray cotton, from the label’s Fall/Winter collection titled The Lightning Fields. The silhouette of this sumptuous dress is simple and elegant, while the weight and softness of the two fabrics working together make it the hands-down most comfortable dress you’ll see at any holiday party. On one side, a neutral gray that goes perfectly with any leggings, boots or heels; on the other, a transcendent pattern full of rich green and blue hues that evoke the shimmer of light on water, the Milky Way, the night sky. When it comes to Feral Childe, we’re star struck.

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September 8th, 2010

Sneak Peek: Grey Gardens

gregarden-blog

It started with the name: we saw fall neutrals interlaced with subtle pops of color, peeking out in the form of soft petals. “Grey Gardens”–to us, it meant pleasantly cloudy fall afternoons, and the last few flowers left, holding strong. It was a beautiful name that to us suggested colors, a season, elegance. But then we remembered–isn’t there some movie with the same name? Isn’t that a house somewhere? Netflix to the rescue!

Grey Gardens, is also the name of a 1975 Maysles Brothers’ documentary film, about “Big Edie” and “Little Edie” Beale, a mother and daughter pair, cousins of Jackie Kennedy. Big Edie and Little Edie lived, at the time the film was made, in a dilapidated house in East Hampton, NY with dozens of cats and the odd raccoon, reminiscing about the old days, singing, dancing, and embodying what you might call “oddball chic.” It’s hard to put into words what the experience of watching this film is like, but its enduring appeal is entirely due to the strange camaraderie and offbeat charm of these two women.

Now, we know what you may be thinking. These women? The inspiration for a fashionable, sustainably made clothing collection? But the thing that stands out to us about the Edie Beales, both junior and senior, is that through the layers of wear and tear, these women have gumption, and pizzazz. They are, in Little Edie’s words, “staunch. S.T.A.U.N.C.H.” Plus, we just love a woman with her own unique fashion philosophy:

We can relate—don’t we all have to “think these things up” every day? That’s the fun of fashion!

So even after we made the discovery that our collection was about much more than a color palette, we didn’t back down on the name. We remained staunch, in the hopes that our customers might recognize our nod to a cult classic and, if they chose to discover this film for themselves, that they’d love Big Edie, Little Edie, and their peculiar sartorial choices just as much as we do.

Our own Grey Gardens is a series of tops that beg to be layered for fall—cardigans, cozy sweaters, vests and unique tees. Because of our no-waste philosophy, this latest Design Lab collection is made up of material that has undergone its own wear and tear as well: the vests, tees, and cardigans of Grey Gardens were constructed using salvaged materials from the store that needed some TLC, and the chance to bloom into something new and lovely. These tops feature hand stitched silk and cotton appliqué, as well as reverse appliqué, a technique we’d been dying to try out. In our version of Grey Gardens, you can see bright, beautiful pinks and greens holding their own through gray knit, just like the last flowers of fall, or the unflinching spirit of two staunch women. These one-of-a-kind pieces are for those who love to experiment with fashion as much as we do—after all, you could always take the cardigan off and use it as a cape.

gregarden-blog2

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August 16th, 2010

Treasure Hunting

rings

Last night, during the melee of Gallery Hop, an excited customer approached me at the counter, long before she was done with her clothes shopping, and asked me to safeguard a particular ring with my life. I felt a little like Frodo.

I just don’t want anyone else to get it, she said. Good thing, too, because the ring she was so enamored of is one of a kind, and not just here in the store. The ring in question was a delicate piece of spiraled silver with two antique coins at each end—real coins (hers were Indian coins from the 1800’s, if memory serves) and made into beautiful, wearable art. We love finding pieces that are not only well designed and interesting, but that our customers will truly treasure. And these rings really are treasure, too! After seeing how happy that customer was with her purchase, I felt I had to share some more information about this little ring collection with you.

The Double Coin Ring was a part of a small group that we’ve just gotten into the store, all unique, all made from real antique coins, with dates ranging from the AD period to the mid 1800’s, and small porcelain pieces (Tibetan gambling pieces, who knew?) that have a feel of buried treasure about them. My favorite: the simple silver band framing a real Roman coin that dates about 330-350 AD. And because all of these pieces have weathered the test of time, no two are
quite alike.

It’s repurposed fashion on a historic scale!

- Cate

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June 25th, 2010

Black Study, our next Design Lab Collection™ … the back story

BlackStudyFinal

It happened again earlier this week. I was working with a customer, focused on getting some tops for the season that will work well with things she already owns. She says repeatedly that she doesn’t want to buy any more black for her wardrobe. I graciously obliged but thought to myself, “Don’t fight it… we all know it’s hard to own an article of black clothing that goes unworn.” She even went so far as to describe to me the shoes and pants she had envisioned wearing while in the fitting room admiring one of our black tops. Since we have the same top in heather grey she decided to leave her comfort zone and introduce wildly divergent grey to her closet. Funny though after we’d completed the transaction she sheepishly asked me if would not be too much trouble to exchange the heather grey she had just purchased for the same top in black.

This whole incident plays out over and over again at Substance. That’s why it was so refreshing to hear one of our favorite regular visitors, Lori, announce that she was looking for black fabulous pieces to add to her wardrobe. Lori gets it. Not only is she one of the most deeply thoughtful and generous women you will ever meet, she is gorgeous with the same remarkable sense of style. Her chic and well edited taste looks effortless because she invests in pieces that do the work for her. For those of us that are time challenged, or just don’t want to waste endless minutes deciding what to wear, the color black always works. Honestly, we can all find better use for a few extra minutes than standing in front of the mirror.

BLACK = LOW MAINTENANCE CHIC

With our Design Lab Collection™ we are unveiling next week titled “Black Study,” we want to end the pointless quandary on whether or not to add more black to your wardrobe. For this collection we used bold, sculpted textures and contrasts of silk and cotton alongside linen and leather. Our designers added nuances of color with spirited stitch work on dead stock denim. The silhouettes are figure flattering and feminine all with expert finishing inside and out. It’s a magnificent collection of predominantly black statements pieces that offer timeless, effortless style to any wardrobe.

We are excited to showcase the design talent of our summer intern Sarah Ivancic. She joined the team at Substance just last month and quickly found her flow in our creative process that draws inspiration directly from the customer experience. Sarah is also committed to our sustainable direction and philosophy of no waste. She has taken that conviction a step further by designing an accompanying collection of a crocheted jewelry made entirely from repurposing salvage material. Sarah’s named this collection of all black jewelry “Oil Spill,” recognizing the current event that is endangering the environment. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this jewelry will be given to The National Audubon Society, an accredited charity active along the Gulf Coast in its efforts in animal relief related to the 2010 BP Gulf Oil Spill.

- Christina

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March 3rd, 2010

The Amber Dobby Gift that Inspired a Collection

amber-dobby
Because of our location in the Short North, a walking neighborhood, and our large front window to the world we get to bear witness to random acts of kindness every day. One day last year we were on the receiving end of one of those random acts of kindness. A neighbor who lives in the building just across the street from us dropped by to give us an entire bolt of gorgeous amber colored dobby cloth.

The first thing you notice is the color. It’s vivid and modern but in a pop vintage sort of way. It has the natural mineral-like quality of amber gemstone. When you touch it you are surprised by the softness and can surmise it contains a touch of wool, most likely cashmere. But you quickly stop trying to determine the fiber content because you become intrigued by the texture of the weave. It’s a weave of squares within squares so small, that from a few feet away all you notice is a luster from the light on cloth.

The beauty of the amber dobby gift inspired a collection. The introduction of other warm and cool tones give this fabric a diverse playground. Silk lining, tea dyed muslin, recycled silk sari patterns, repurposed tee shirt knits with hand stitching all unite for a celebratory revival on the latest soft pant silhouette, fitted flirty dresses and cropped jackets. All compelling garment design starts with great fabric. With this gift we knew we had to create something special.

Something special it is. It’s the first collection that we’ve dedicated more than 4 weeks to producing. We learned late last year when we moved the design studio into the front window of the store, the spectacle of the design process on display slows down our productivity. So this year’s in-house produced Design Lab Collections™ will unveil quarterly instead of monthly. The longer stretch between unveilings gives us time to make the collections larger with more tailoring and clever touches.

On the evening of March 31st, with sweet anticipation and the sense that we’re making good of a thoughtful gift from our neighbor, we will unveil our 2010 first quarter Design Lab Collection™, The Amber Dobby Revival. This first 2010 collection, made here in the store, is our best ever and deserves a formal collection stage. The format will honor the pieces in a gallery like setting with still and live models allowing our visitors to get up close and personal with the craft.

Please join us on Wednesday, March 31st from 7-8:30pm for the unveiling of our 2010 first quarter Design Lab Collection™, The Amber Dobby Revival. We’ll have a champagne toast to celebrate our 4th year at 783 North High. We hope to see you there.

- Christina

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November 12th, 2009

Beautiful November

melie-bianco

This month has been wonderful so far! Sunny days, cool evenings, and lovely colors everywhere. Our holiday tidbits are flowing in, including cozy scarves and glittering jewelry (none of which will break the bank). Our Levi’s are re-stocked, our final Indigenous Designs and Stewart+Brown fall shipments are here, and we’re gleefully consuming hot chocolate and delicious cupcakes. Good thing we love drapey tees and sweaters.

Speaking of lovely things, check out the photo above. It’s our Ziggurat Bag from Melie Bianco, from an amazing Short North retail collaboration effort: a cohesive lookbook. Below, a plaid silk shawl from Nusantara handsomely blows our minds. Taking bits here and samples there, it pulls us all together for a wonderfully stylish glance into the fall windows of the entire neighborhood. Each item is tagged as to the shop it came from, giving those of us who always frequent the same boutiques an imperative to shop around for the perfect thing to complete a look. A ton of work was put into it, for beautiful results. Thanks to everyone who participated and worked on it!

Download the lookbook in its entirety here: The Style List: Volume 1

Also, don’t forget our November Facebook Contest. Enter to win one of two $250 Substance giftcards!

nusantara-scarf

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