I am a 4th year USC student majoring in International Relations. My hobbies include hiking, gardening, volunteering, reading, playing piano, eating, and writing. I am an active participant in my community, and through my activities, I aspire to better learn and understand the world around me.
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dowyung has written 6 articles so far, you can find them below.
By Dow-Yung Kou, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Sometimes a dream can go a long way. This cannot be more true for the 3 designers featured in this spread. Carrie Parry, Emily Factor, and Deborah Lindquist all at one point had a dream to create responsibly, and it was through their imagination and will power that they have created successful and beautiful lines that are trendsetting not just for the Eco-Community but for the world.
Candice Held dresses have inspired us at LuxEco Living to think outside the box when it comes to sourcing eco-conscious materials. Saving the environment is not just about finding rare and exotic eco-friendly materials. In fact, sometimes it can be as simple as extending the life of the clothing already in our closets.
By Dow-Yung Kou, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Vintage is a very affordable eco-alternative, because it is giving clothes a second life, while reducing the amount of waste both during production and post-consumption. What it boils down to is good old fashion recycling. An average American throws out 65 pounds of clothing a year, and cumulatively as a country we add 11.8 million tons of clothes to landfills a year.
By Dow-Yung Kou, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Have you ever been at a loss for what to do with tissue paper or wrapping paper that you get during the holidays. It usually just accumulates, and by the next year, the wrapping paper looks too tattered to reuse and you end up throwing it away. Well here is a perfect solution! Make ornaments out of them!
By Dow-Yung Kou, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
If you are looking to explore your eco-friendly sense of style, look no further than La Bomba Vintage clothing in Long Beach, CA! La Bomba is a vintage store located on an urbanizing block that meshes a little bit of new with a lotta bit of vintage. The up and coming area is full of vintage inspired salon’s, restaurants, and clothing stores, but hands down, the jewel of this block goes to a little shop by the name of La Bomba.
Forrest Gump may have been on to something when he compared life to chocolates. You really never know what you’re gonna get in a box of chocolates, do you? The truth behind chocolate is more bitter than sweet. The Ivory Coast produces 40% of the world’s chocolate, and it just so happens to also be notorious for this little thing called child slavery. Children, both local and from other third world countries, are sold to farms in this area where they are physically abused while working in risky and inhumane conditions. Some children are sold into the trade by parents who are tricked into believing their children will have better lives at the farm. Others are trafficked, stolen from their families, lured by the promise of…chocolate. In these farms they are forced to work 60 hour weeks with little or no food (depending on their performance on the field). These children lose their fundamental human rights when they enter these farms and “modern” society turns a blind eye to the atrocities. Every time we buy a box of chocolate that is not fair trade stamped, we (often unknowingly) endorse child slavery.
