The future of fashion: Sustainable and loving it
by Angela Thornton '11
Tuesday February 19, 2008
We are fucking up the environment. Global warming, greenhouse gases, landfills, oil spills, using plastic silverware…basically, being a person at this point in time is screwing with the planet. That being said, there is a lot we can do that won’t aid in the eventual (and by eventual I mean fast approaching) destruction of the earth. I have always been one to recycle compost and turn off the lights when I leave a room, but over the last couple of months I’ve become increasingly interested in carrying my concern for the environment onto a greater scale. So, realizing that my clothes are one of the major facets of my life, I decided to look into eco-friendly, sustainable fashion.
As I was trying on a great pair of black riding boots the other day at Martin + Osa, I was thrilled to learn that they were made by Corso Como which is a “socially conscious company which ensures that the rights of its local workers and the environment are respected.” I bought the boots.
Only a few years ago, eco friendly fashion was primarily catering to not-so-mainstream customers, but recently the “high-fashion” world has become much more involved in the movement towards sustainable and eco-friendly fashion. As British designer Katharine Hamnett put it, “It’s got to be fashion and not what people perceive as ‘organic fashion’- those hippie, oatmeal type of clothes- they have to be gorgeous clothes. Otherwise, no one would buy them.”
I’m personally excited that mainstream fashion is buying into eco-fashion, and just as excited that there is a push from their customers to make this change. As well as the many companies that are solely dedicated to eco-friendly clothing like Loomstate (uber hip men’s and women’s clothing; their collections can be seen at www.loomstate.org) and Livity (a company that sells sustainable clothes and accessories, and whose website lists sustainable foods and methods of living- you can check them out at www.livity.org), many of fashion’s big names are getting involved in the movement towards sustainable fashion.
On Jan. 31 the annual Earth Pledge Future Fashion show took place in Manhattan, generating a lot of press, and showcasing designers including Mark Jacobs, Versace, YSL, DVF, and Threeasfour. In addition to being expectedly hip and fashion-forward, all of the designers developed each piece of clothing using sustainable, eco-friendly materials.
As the world’s trendsetters are becoming more involved in this movement, many companies that you and I purchase regularly from are following suit. About a year ago Gap began selling 100% organic cotton jeans and t-shirts which are made without bleaching or the addition of any chemical dyes, according to the Organic Consumer’s Association (www.organicconsumers.org).
Nike announced on Jan. 9 that its newest line of Air Jordans is “made to sustainable standards” using “recyclable materials, and without solvent-based glues”. There are also tons of companies which are solely focused on producing sustainable clothes and accessories, such as Brelli (www.thebrelli.com), an LA based company that makes 100% biodegradable umbrellas. Don’t worry, they won’t disintegrate in the rain because they are made from bamboo (both a biodegradable and renewable resource) and a biodegradable form of plastic, which takes one to two years to degrade in a normal landfill setting. Plus they look really chic. Now, if you carried a biodegradable umbrella,would you wear underwear made with seaweed?
The German creators of a new material called Seacell think the idea is fabulous. They combined a wood pulp fiber and seaweed to create a fabric that is both eco-friendly and (theoretically) good for your body. Seaweed contains heaps of beneficial nutrients that will supposedly be released into your body when wearing the fabric. An interesting concept if nothing else.
Promoting the use of reusable shopping bags is also a fad that the fashion industry is cashing in on. London fashion designer Anya Hindmarch approached the issue of environmentally conscious bags by creating a limited edition “I’m not a plastic bag” canvas tote, which turned out to be so popular among celebrities as well as the rest of the world that in many places the bag sold out within hours. In an interview with The New York Times Hindmarch said, “To create awareness you have to create scarcity by producing a limited edition. I hate the idea of making the environment trendy, but you need to make it cool, and then it becomes a habit.”
So will going green be a continuing movement in the fashion industry? It’s a good question, one that even fashion insiders are not yet sure of. Thomas Busuttil, a head honcho at PPR (the company that owns Gucci, YSL, Bottega Veneta, and more) put it this way: “Will it be sustainable, durable behaviour that will last, or is it just something trendy right now? For me, it’s still too early to answer that question.”
