Designers and Labels

Bamboo knickers are the business! Bamboo is the world's fastest-growing plant and one of the most sustainable crops we have. People are hailing bamboo as the new cotton. The fibre contains bamboo kun, which apparently means that it has natural anti-bacterial properties and helps inhibit body odour.

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A site that does what it says on the tin - tell you about McQueen's collaboration with German sports company Puma.

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What a blinkin' shame. Wait ten years (yes, count them) for UK designer Shelley Fox to launch a website and when she finally does, it is a Flashed-up affair which, whilst beautiful in places, is ultimately a frustrating experience.

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www.cheapmonday.com

Set up in 2000 by Swedish geezer Orjan Andersson, who previously worked for Lee, Cheap Monday has gained a rep for making well decent jeans at affordable prices. But they do more than jeans - there are cool T-shirts, polos, bags, bonkers printed jogging pants, shirts for girlies and parkas for boys. Orjan is a self-confessed denim head and so while his shops in Sweden - called Weekend and Weekday - stock premium-priced denim brands, his own label is all about showing that good jeans don't have to cost £100+. With denim sourced from a single factory and a nice variety of styles costing around £40 including Pamper - brilliantly baggy in-the-crotch unisex jeans which are straight from the knee down - Cheap Monday is well worth checking.

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www.fukwit.co.uk

This is a clothing company which claims to be 'anti-brand' and all about 'less brand more beer'. No, it's not a range of dress for serious drinkers, rather surf-style casualwear and accessories including Beanies, sweat shirts with embroidered logo and 'less brand more beer' straplines, footie shirts, wallets and fleeces.

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www.kswiss.co.uk/main.php

January 26 sees the UK launch of KSwiss' Stripe Shifter shoes at Footlocker stores - two styles of men's trainers, the Fenley and the Kallin, feature stripes on the side which you can vary in height and length. KSwiss reckons this will constitute a new language and that the Stripe Shifter is a trainer "you can communicate with". Don't know about that, but you create your own code on the website now and you could get the design featured on the Wall of Fame as well as bag yourself a free pair (men's sizes only).

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www.vanssnow.com/

In addition to the incredibly comprehensive Vans.co.uk, the masters of extreme sports footwear and apparrel at Vans HQ have launched a new website dedicated to snow sports. Check out the range of hi tech performance boots (very fancy) and the cool graohic Tees and tops.

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www.keithhamiltongroup.co.uk/

Keith has felt the passion of creativity burning since he was 15 and while up until recently he confesses that he's had a tough time "existing", he says "nothing will stop my flame from burning." Confused? Let me clarify. Keith is a fashion designer who incorporates a fibre optic woven†light system called Luminex into his clothes. Have a look.

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www.lazyoaf.com/

Lazy Oaf is a north London-based T-shirt/sweatshirt label which draws on the etchings of Gemma Shiel. The Lazy Oaf reversible sweatshirt is the ultimate piece of lazy ware: drip your breakfast down the front and you just have to turn it inside out. Excellent designs at decent prices.

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www.isseymiyake.com/

Issey Mikaye passed on his own-name label to Naoki concentrate on his ever-evolving A-POC line. This very flashed-up showcase site features huge images from the men's and women's collections - as usual with flash sites, there is little required of the user and the navigation leads a lot to be desired. Not as interactive or innovative as you might expect from a website nominated for a 2004 Webby.

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