Kindred Gifts' Blog

Love fashion? Love the planet? …Matthew Paroz, founder of great Aussie blog HowBigIsYourEco helps you to enjoy both by showcasing a range of labels who manage to combine style with sustainability.

HowBigIsYourEco cherrypicks the coolest bits from around the globe along with a directory of favourite labels from Australia and New Zealand.

Matthew is associate editor of GQ Australia. He has worked in publishing and PR in Australia and the UK on titles including InStyle, vogue.com.au, Peppermint, marie claire and blogging for Rosemount Australian Fashion Week.

We were excited to be able to ask Matt to share the story behind his super stylish fashion blog and got the goss on his eco life....

Q. Tell us a little bit about the business/company (including when you started), and what was your inspiration for starting?

A. HowBigIsYourEco.com.au is a fashion blog and directory that I created to challenge the perception that eco equals ugly. As a fashion journalist I don’t believe that style and sustainability are mutually exclusive—and to have any real impact, they mustn’t be. Who’s going to buy ugly clothes?

Q. What has been your greatest/proudest achievement so far?

A. Quitting a cushy magazine job to start the blog and go freelance was a bit of a risk, but it was the best thing ever. Professionally, things are going gangbusters—I’m now associate editor of GQ magazine: dream job. And I still have the freedom to do projects like HowBigIsYourEco and blogging for Rosemount Australian Fashion Week.

Q. What makes you smile, laugh, feel good? What brings you happiness?

A. Travelling—taking a big chunk of time to disappear somewhere completely removed from everything you know. It’s grounding and puts things in perspective.

Q. Do you have any new projects/products coming up soon?

A. I’m about to launch a site dishing out style and etiquette advice to grooms, www.essentialgroom.com.au. There’s nothing like it in Australia.

Q. Strangest or funniest work story?

A. I once jumped on a trampoline with Delta Goodrem. I was worried we’d have an accident and I’d have to tell my editor that I knocked her teeth out.

Q. If you weren’t in this line of work, you would be instead:

A. It’s not very eco but I’d have loved to be an automotive designer—I’ve always drawn cars since I was a kid. Even now I’ll be on the phone and randomly sketch one. They all look a bit alike, so maybe it’s just as well…

Q. Where did you grow up? What was the best part of growing up there?

A. Gladstone on the central Queensland coast. I’d like to say I grew up surfing but it’s a harbour city and the water belongs to coal ships. Mum and Dad used to take us on road trips and camping for weekends and holidays, which I loved. My favourite camping spot from that time is a private housing estate now, of course.

Q. The three things you can’t leave home without are:

A. As long as I have my key, I’m happy. Although I often don’t, which is why I have spares planted at friends’ houses. I’ve learnt the hard way.

Q. Growing up you wanted to be:

A. When I started school, a bus driver, as I got a little older, an actor. By the end of high school I wanted to be a fashion designer. I’d sketch formal dresses for all the girls during study period. So I ended up doing marketing and PR at uni. Go figure.

Q. Favourite movie and/or book:

A. Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll took me away to another world as a kid, I’d read it every summer. And I’ll never forgive Tim Burton for taking liberties with such an incredible tale. His movie stinks.

Q. Favourite place/way to relax:

A. Maybe it’s a throwback to our family road trips, I love a a weekend away on the New South Wales south coast. I have friends with a gorgeous, lo-fi country shack close to the beach. The only things to do there are nap and eat.