This story category covers fashion trends, clothing and accessories—plus shopping and shops.

BACKPACK’S BACK ALL RIGHT

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Five not-too-expensive backpacks that are totally on trend right now.

 

zara suede rucksack

 

SHOPPING AROUND | “The next thing I know you’ll be sleeping with that thing,” my husband joked recently after glancing at the Fjällräven Kånken that I’d casually flung on our bed. I know where this observation is coming from. It’s been eight months now since I purchased the mini version of this iconic Swedish backpack (originally designed in the 1970s for school children), and not a day has gone by that I haven’t used it—because it’s just that practical and unobtrusively cute.

Not a day that is until this past Monday. Read more

Loopy Mango Cowl

Got An Hour? Knit A Loopy Mango Scarf!

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Super chunky yarn + giant knitting needles = the coolest handmade neck warmers on the planet

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EASY & QUICK | Got and hour? Why not make yourself (or someone you love) an arresting hand-knit cowl with gargantuan yarn from Loopy Mango. Clueless when it comes to knitting? No worries. Loopy Mango’s merino wool kits for infinity and super long scarves come complete with monster-loop yarn, giant birch wood knitting needles and instructions so explicit rank beginners will be churning out neck-wraps in no time.

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Boucoup de Baggu

Frugalbits Faves: Baggu & Nutribullet

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It’s never too early to be thinking about Christmas. Here are two of our favourite, inexpensive products to put under wraps for December.

Boucoup de Baggu

PRODUCTS WE LOVE | Of course we stand behind every one of the hundreds of stories we’ve produced for this website since we launched in April 2010—we wouldn’t have done any one of them if we hadn’t thought that the information would be of value to Frugalbits readers. But some of these posts have had more impact on our own lives than others—the following two, for example. —Team Frugalbits

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Oh Joy: 3.1 Philip Lim At Target In Canada Right Now!

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For the first time, Canadian fashionistas can indulge in Target’s fabulous designer diffusion collections right on their home turf—and oh joy: 3.1 Philip Lim is the introductory line.

3.1+PhillipLim forTarget

CHEAP & CHIC | Love the bags; love the scarves; love the lingerie, coats and dresses. I love almost everything about Philip Lim’s highly wearable diffusion collection for Target, which Racked.com so perfectly pointed out in pictures is pulled straight from the fashion designer’s award-winning 3.1 line. Most of all, though, I love the fact that I don’t need to drive over the border if I want first crack at the best of it. Read more

Puddle of olive oil

How To Remove Oil Stains From Clothes

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Here is a dead easy way to remove any cooking oil stain from clothing.

Puddle of olive oil

 

THIS STUFF WORKS | Quick, which home cleaning product has grease-cutting properties as a big part of its raison d’être? Anyone who has ever watched daytime television even once knows the answer is dishwashing liquid. What I didn’t know until this past weekend is that the grease-cutting effectiveness of liquid detergent on pots and pans can also be applied to clothing. I learned this the hard way, of course, when I dropped a big glob of salad dressing containing olive oil on my A&F Bermuda shorts. Read more

Holt Renfrew has teamed up Pal Smith to make some very classy mittens for a very good cause.

Paul Smith’s Charity Mitts For Movember

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Holt Renfrew has teamed up with Paul Smith to make some pretty classy mittens for a very good cause.

Holt Renfrew has teamed up Pal Smith to make some very classy mittens for a very good cause.

 

GET TO GIVE | Do real men wear mittens? I don’t know, but real women do. I could totally see myself mittening manfully (thanks Dylan Thomas) on all sorts of doors wearing these stripped hand warmers designed by—that’s right, you guessed it—Britain’s coolest menswear designer Paul Smith. Smith’s mittens, produced exclusively for Holt Renfrew as a Movember fundraiser to help support men’s health causes, come in three colour-ways and two sizes, the smaller one being most likely to fit my dainty lady hands. Read more

Swarovski Spiral Ring

The Swarovski Is The Bling Ring To Own

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With no more illustrious performer than Justin Timberlake furnishing a seal of approval, the Swarovski crystal spiral ring is now a must-have fashion accessory.

Swarovski Spiral Ring

 

CULT PRODUCT ALERT | Anyone yearning for a Cartier trinity ring or a set of Tiffany’s channel-set semiprecious stackers (both pictured below) will be attracted to the Swarovski crystal pavé spiral ring that featured prominently in Justin Timberlake’s recently released music video, Mirrors. And they’ll be even more smitten when they learn the price. Read more

nonwoven garmet bags

Keep Your Best Clothes In Nonwoven Poly Bags

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Who knew that nonwoven polypropylene could actually protect your best garments from evil clothes-eating moths?

nonwoven garmet bags

 

THE FIX | I’ve done a lot of things to rid my home of casemaking clothes moths (CLICK HERE for our Frugalbits how to) but, until recently when I read about it on goop, I didn’t know that a particular material used to make clothing storage containers might actually ward off these hungry insects. According to Gwynnie and, as it turns out, a gaggle of other Internet home-keeping pundits, breathable nonwoven polypropylene, the material found in those ubiquitous grocery shopping bags, may do just that. Read more

Postage on Package

How To Pick Up U.S. Parcels In Point Bob

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Why pick up your U.S. parcels in Blaine, when there is a more convenient and practical way to get them.

Postage on Package

 

EASY LIKE THIS | How many times have you tried to order something online only to discover that the company you’re ordering it from doesn’t ship to Canada? In the past, I found a way around this problem by having parcels shipped to Blaine, Washington, and then traipsing over the border to pick them up (CLICK HERE for our story). Now I have an even more expedient way to retrieve them. Read more

H&M’s New Fashion Recycling Program

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First is was M&S. Now it’s H&M. Major retailers are helping to make recycling the next big thing in fashion.

Joanna Lumley Goes Shwopping

 

PERK ALERT | Shopping + Swapping = Shwopping. Last spring, major British retailer Marks & Spencer joined forces with Oxfam to offer their clientele a place to drop off old clothing inside M&S stores—and they coined the term “shwopping” to describe the idea of giving away a piece of used clothing whenever you buy a new one.

Approximately 500,000 tonnes of clothing winds up in landfills every year, and M&S is hoping to help reduce this amount by donating the worn clothing they receive to Oxfam so the charity can reuse, recycle or resell it.

This winter, H&M began a similar initiative, only their recycling program offers participants a monetary incentive. Here’s how it works: Read more