Vera Viana is a Portuguese brand available at touch2give.com.

Vera Viana is a contemporary concept born from the inspiration of famous Portuguese embroideries from the village of Viana do Castelo.

The art of Portuguese embroidery is based on a craft dating from hundred years of tradition with great importance in the portuguese popular culture today.

From 500 entries, our brand partner, Kayu, has been selected as a finalist for the 2010 Earth Awards. The Earth Awards is an aspirational platform for consumer-driven ideas that challenge designers and innovators to build a new economy. Its is the only truly global awards dedicated to identifying viable designs which have the potential to improve our quality of life and build a new economy.

The Earth Awards Selection Committee is made up of world leading entrepreneurs, designers and thinkers, making the awards the very best in class. They all share the Earth Awards belief in building a new economy founded in innovation and design. Members of the Selection Committee include Diane Von Furstenberg, Sir Richard Branson, Karim Rashid, Philippe Starck,Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair and Yang Lan, the Chinese media moghul who is considered the Oprah of China.

Touch2Give continually scouts around the world to bring our customers the most innovative brands. We are proud of Jamie Lim, the founder of Kayu, who is the finalist in the Fashion entry and who will go on to compete with other innovators in different industries for the big prize. In September, the finalists will be showcased at HRH, The Prince of Wales’ Start Initiative to compete for a $50,000 to invest in their companies. Good luck Jamie!

This Autumn, I will be skipping NY Fashion Week and will be going brand hunting in Asia, instead.

I believe a new generation of talented designers will soon be coming from Asia. There is an artistic and cultural boom in Asia that is being driven by China’s cash. All the world’s top architects, luxury brand shops, museum and galleries are going there. This means that the new generation of Chinese will grow up experiencing the best design that money can buy and will be sent to the West to learn, further developing their eye. The time has come. After many years of consuming the best luxury brands, this new generation will be the new style leaders for the future.

Pre-war Shanghai was the Paris of the East and the Shanghainese, with their exquisitely tailored Chi Pao dresses, were considered the most glamorous and sophisticated. Just look at the clothes that the actress Maggie Cheung wears in the film “In the Mood for Love” by Kar Wai Wong to see the most stunning style. Naomi Campbell and most of the models you see these days could not carry these dresses off- you had to have an internal grace and elan that money can’t buy.

Let’s not forget about the Chinese tradition of foot binding for women. My grandmother was the last generation of proper young ladies who had her feet bound. Luckily for her, the imperial dynasty ended just in time and her feet were bound only for a few years and not permanently damaged. However, she did have to buy size 4 children’s shoes for the rest of her adult life. Foot binding was excruciating painful but women went through it because it was considered “sexy”. These women were all diehard Fashionistas.

After WWII, Sun Motoyama was a pioneer in fashion by being the first retailer in Japan to carry European luxury brands. They were the ones who introduced the Japanese to Hermes. They bought out my first collection when I launched my jewellery brand during Paris Fashion Week. (The head buyer walked to my booth and immediately said, “very Italian design look”. Yes indeed, but designed by someone Chinese). Joyce Ma was a fashion maven who opened her Joyce boutiques in Hong Kong and introduced Armani suits to the ladies whose mothers wore those elegant Chi-pao dresses a generation ago. Her family were the owners of the Wing On Department stores in China, before the war. The most brash of the first generation fashion entrepreneurs (noticed I did not use the word designer) is the cigar chomping Sir David Tang. He created the first “Chinese” luxury brand and was selling over $20 million worth of retro-Chinese style clothing from one shop in Hong Kong. He later sold the brand to Richemont in 1994. David was his own best PR agent and he wooed Princess Diana and every member of the royal family into his store.

My friend Gemma Choi was the original designer who established the “look” for Shanghai Tang and its line of posh gifts and accessories combining the sophistication of old Shanghai with what I call “Commie Kitsch Chic” with a waving Mao on the minute hand of a Shanghai Tang watch. Gemma reinterpreted the traditional Chinese men’s jacket to become the iconic “Shanghai Tang” Smoking Jacket, made with black crushed velvet and lined with luscious lime green silk. It became the “de rigueur” dinner party look for every investment banker in town.

When I was an art history major in NY and spending all my summers in Europe looking at paintings and visiting museums, I was the only Asian student doing so. No one believed that my parents allowed me to study Old Master Italian Paintings, as its terribly impractical. Later, I went to study design in Milan and many of the foreign students were Koreans!

Today, when I go to London or Paris and speak to the teachers at St. Martins or other European design schools- they tell me that many of their students are from mainland China.

Will the next Anna Wintour be Asian? Could the next Versace have Wong in his name? Its just a matter of time.

If you know any brand owners or designers we should meet, please contact us at feedback (at) touch2give.com.

M. Claire Chung
Founder & CEO
Touch2Give.com

True to their leitmotif “less is more” the accessories of the young German in-brand Gretchen embody a modern and minimalist design language. The unique expression of the handbags lies in their precise cuts and the unmistakeable clean shapes. These are skilfully underlined by the designer Anne-Christin Hofmann.

Gretchen Handbags put a new spin on leather with artistic design and creative outlook. From modernized structures to brilliant trapunto detailing, Gretchen has what it takes to push its way through to the crowd. Based out of Berlin, Germany, Gretchen has a fresh outlook on style and a new perspective on what’s in, what’s out and what’s worthy of wear and tear.

Equally extravagant are Gretchen’s gloves, belts and purses — they too fascinate with their exceptional design and top quality in material and workmanship.

July is one of the best months to be in London. Ascot, Wimbledon, and the Glastonbury Festival. This year, however, the most interesting event for me was to meet John Wood, the dynamic founder of Room to Read, our philanthropy partner.

John’s enthusiasm is contagious and reading his book, “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World,” was a great inspiration to me, both about the importance of the work they are doing as well as an example of how one person, who is sincere and passionate, can inspire so many others to join a movement that has impacted so many lives.

The Summer Drink’s party was held at the beautiful garden and home of Sindhu Venkatanarayanan, who is a Board Member of both Room to Read and the Ethical Fashion Forum, our other International Partner. She is charming and passionate about education and the potential power of uniting the fashion industry to use ethical production to impact lives. Hatim, our Finance Director is also on the Board of Directors of Thierry’s Wine, one of the UK’s largest independent importers of wine. Hatim also has read John’s book and was “converted” and kindly donated all the wine and champagne for the event.

John was in London to “rally the troops” to prepare for the big annual fundraiser in London in November. This year marks the 10th Anniversary of Room To Read. To date, they have educated more than 4 million children in Asia and Africa. John will surpass his dream of educating 10 million children by 2020. He will hit his target 5 years early and by 1015, Room to Read will have educated 10 million children and are currently building one school per day in a developing country.

John exemplifies the new generation of philanthropists who bring entrepreneurial spirit with goals and milestones to be able to impact the most lives. He started the organization with one cellphone and running it out of his spare bedroom. They have all their offices donated by Credit Suisse in London and Hong Kong and by the Financial Times in New York. One of the partners of Goldman Sachs donated 5 million frequent flyer miles to John to enable him to fly free around the world in order to keep operational costs to a minimum. Goldman Sachs, Financial Times, Quintesentially… the CEOs of all these companies have also been converted to “join the team”.

Why? Not just because it is a great cause but because of the way it is managed. A philanthropy has a different bottom line, and that is to increase the number of lives it affects every year. Room to Read meets the milestones they set in the most cost effective way to deliver results.

We are delighted that Room to Read will be our exclusive philanthropy partner until the end of this year and we hope that you will also “join the team”.

Mark Lui - 2009 Innovation Award winner

Deadline for applications: Sunday 13th June 2010 at 1700.

Our Partner EFF (Ethical Fashion Forum) is promoting its bi-annual competition for innovation awards in innovation in design and sustainability.

This initiative showcases inspirational new talent in Fashion Design and Sustainability and is aimed at supporting emerging designers and businesses in the ethical fashion arena.

Designers and businesses are selected for awards on the basis of outstanding design and product quality, as well as innovation in relation to social and environmental sustainability.

The EFF site:
www.ethicalfashionforum.com

More details on EFF INNOVATION:
www.ethicalfashionforum.com/INNOVATION/about-the-competition

Economist Augusto Lopez Claros discusses the importance of education of girls and integrating women into the workplace. He also speaks about how social responsible companies like Touch2Give are creating a new trend that puts ethical considerations first.

You can find Poupée Couture’s Blanket Clutch here.