FASHION & SUSTAINABILITY, Sass Brown

The Filipino Women Turning Rags into High Fashion

Interview with Nin Castle of Goodone

Nin Castle Interview for Urban Times from Ion Products on Vimeo.
http://urbantimes.co/2012/07/nin-castle-making-a-sustainable-statement/

Suzanne Lee @TED

Victorinox & Christopher Raeburn

From: http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/9592/1/victorinox--christopher-raeburn?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Barbara+Kruger+|+Royksopp+|+Marc+Jacobs&utm_campaign=Barbara+Kruger+|+Royksopp+|+Marc+Jacobs&utm_term=Victorinox+_26+Christopher+Raeburn

Sustainable Fashion Report - London

First episode of “Sustainable Fashion Report” presents key people, brands and organisations shaping the UK capital’s ethical fashion industry.

Sustainable Fashion Report - London from Lima Charlie on Vimeo.

Interesting insight into the consumer consciousness maturation cycle in the sustainable fashion movement; this takes into consideration how far ahead the movement has come in Europe versus the rest of the world...

Challenges and Solutions in Sustainable Fashion: Guest Lectures @ The New School NY

Click "Watch Full Program" to view the lecture (it is over 2 hours long) in its entirety.

Speakers' profiles:

Alice Demirjian

Alice Demirjian received her Bachelors Degree in Apparel Marketing from The University of Massachusetts. Her Masters of Science Degree in Fashion Studies with a Marketing Concentration from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science.
She has published a research study for apparel manufacturers and retailers on how to target young adults termed 'Gen Y'. Ms Demirjian is a Visual Specialist at Reebok International, coordinating and executing a visual merchandising and marketing program. She directed large-scale nationwide event; 'The Reebok Product Experience'.
While completing her graduate degree, she worked in merchandising at Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia for the women's buying team. Director of Marketing at DPI, 2000, an event and advertising agency. Worked on creative campaigns and focused on developing marketing opportunities while cultivating new channels for business. Ms Demirjian currently teaches full time at Parsons while working on freelance marketing projects, consulting and visual merchandising.

Julie Gilhart

As fashion director of the most forward-thinking big store in the city, Julie Gilhart is responsible for feeding customers a constant diet of the new and lust-worthy. She does this by trekking to designers' studios and then championing those she thinks have the proper balance of real design skill and luxury. She's promoted Alber Elbaz (now a star at Lanvin after a rocky few years), Proenza Schouler, Olivier Theyskens, Goyard, and Project Alabama, to name a few. And with Barneys expanding across the country, Gilhart's effect is going national.

Scott Hahn

Scott Hahn is the Co-founding Partner of Loomstate, a cutting-edge fashion label offering organic denim jeans located in the United States.

Helen Job

Helen Job is currently the US Editor for www.wgsn.com, the leading global trend forecasting service providing online research, trend analysis and industry news to the fashion, design and style industries. As US Editor, Helen directs coverage of the influential youth/junior market ages 8-24. She also works with a firm network of style setters and taste-makers throughout the industry to predict future trends in fashion, music, sport, and entertainment.
In addition, Helen speaks with people behind the business of fashion. From CEOs to sales reps, Helen works with them all to better understand the market from all angles. Originally from the UK, Helen came to New York in 2004 with a background in consumer fashion magazines and four years of trend tracking at WGSN headquarters under her belt.
Her expertise is widely recognized and she has been featured as a trends expert in international publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fashion Week daily, Star Girl, Bliss, and Shout magazines and has appeared on ABC and NBC news. Helen is also a professor on the Fashion Marketing AAS programme at Parsons School of Design.

Marci Zaroff

Marci Zaroff possesses a unique blend of commitment, compassion, business expertise, aggressive enthusiasm and timely experience. In addition to being the creative inspiration of Under the Canopy, Ms. Zaroff currently oversees and/or manages design, merchandising, strategic development, marketing, media and operations. She is an internationally respected expert and lecturer in the areas of organic food and fiber, a committed yoga practitioner, an artist, a devoted wife and the proud mother of two children.
Marci has been involved in the natural products industry for over 18 years. Having earned a finance and marketing degree from the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business, she spent six years as a licensed financial manager while creating a natural/organic foods catering service. She then founded and ran Gulliver's Inc. in midtown Manhattan, a living and learning center with a retail store, an Aveda Concept Spa and salon and an organic foods cafe.
She was also the publisher and chief editor of Macrocosm Magazine, a 92-page national bi-monthly wellness publication, and the founder of Sierra Natural Resources, an international exporter of natural products and services. These entities supplied health and environmental education and awareness to hundreds of thousands of people.
As Ms. Zaroff's reputation in the natural products, organic and health industries grew and she received continuous inquiries about her products and services, she recognized the need and desire for modern, comfortable, stylish and sophisticated apparel, bedding and accessories made from sustainable materials. This led Marci to create an upscale lifestyle brand of those products.
Early in 1996, she coined and trademarked the term "ECOfashion®" and the concept of Under the Canopy® was born. Marci Zaroff has been recognized as a pioneer of organic fiber fashion, understanding and reflecting the ideal "new mainstream." Through Under the Canopy®'s national mail order catalog, web site, wholesale and private development channels of distribution, Ms. Zaroff has revolutionized organic fashion and has demonstrated that quality, great fit, style, comfort, purity, luxury and modern aesthetics need not be at the expense of social and environmental responsibility.
As a leading expert in the organic fiber fashion movement, Ms. Zaroff has taught countless courses on organic fibers. She is a member of the Organic Trade Association's Organic Fiber Council Steering Committee defining the standards for organic fiber certification.
Marci also is an active participant and spokesperson in the global Organic Exchange, a worldwide collaboration committed to propelling the organic fiber industry forward. Ms. Zaroff is a member of the Direct Marketing Association, Coop America, Businesses for Social Responsibility and the Organic Trade Association.

Construction Inspiration: Kirigami Papercraft

Papercraft has totally invaded my brain...not only inspirational, but also easy, simple, harkens back to childhood, and so much fun!

Cut-out chains of little horses for a store window backdrop-hanging (with a Spring Racing Theme) are transformed into a fascinating ornament with staples:

Before: 

Recycle Republic - I work here.

After:

Of course, there are heaps are resources online to inspire and guide you. The one site that got me going was Golics' channel on metacafe, which sort of makes one tempted to replace or cover all the ordinary lampshades in the house with kirigami structures. The moveable transforming 3D paper toys are amazing!

Awesome Paper ! How To Make Paper Flower Lamp ! - For more of the funniest videos, click here

Experimentation with kirigami (beyond snowflakes and pop-up cards) can be a challenging exercise in mathematical precision and structural engineering, especially when attempting mobile, modular, 3D objects.

http://www.georgehart.com/kirigami/modular-kirigami.pdf

Of course, the art of kirigami easily lends inspiration to fantastic garment construction possibilities, which brings to mind the zero-waste cutting techniques of Mark Liu. 

Read more about this pioneer in Inhabitat's as well as Ecouterre's coverage of his impressive work: 

http://www.ecouterre.com/mark-lius-zero-waste-designs-use-every-last-scrap/

Even more exciting are the possibilities of combining origami and kirigami - folding, cutting and modular construction techniques, all based on simple geometrical shapes. Here are methods applicable towards the reduction of fabric waste, as well as utilising scrap/remnents/discarded pieces, all while you create animated new 3D structures from 2D materials and push the boundaries of convention in garment design...FUN.

Ethics Aesthetics = Sustainable Fashion at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery

Author: Geoffry Gertz

Excerpt:

"Reduce, Revalue, and Rethink" the 3 major themes that equal the exhibition's solution, builds on the established sustainable practices. Recycled, renewable, and organic fibers with the employment of fair labor have become integrated in fashion, with labels such as Loomstate, Alabama Chanin and John Patrick Organic. Ethics + Aesthetics is the first American exhibition to investigate the work of artists and designers exploring sustainable practices in the fashion system. Not only the ecological mantra, but the knowledge and emotional engagement toward clothing as the Slow Food Movement promotes a richer interaction.

"While the concepts of recycling and using organic materials are quite familiar in fashion, we are seeking to broaden the definition of what constitutes sustainable fashion by exploring ideas such as modularity, minimalism, and memory," explain the curators.

Read more here:

Ethics Aesthetics = Sustainable Fashion at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery

Posted using ShareThis

Also see varying perspectives on the same exhibition:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/pratt-presents-ethics-aesthetics-sustainable-fashion.php 

http://www.ecouterre.com/7200/the-4-rs-of-eco-fashion-reduce-reuse-recycle-rethink/

(The ecouterre site has more comprehensive links to the exhibiting fashion labels, artists and designers)

Perhaps someday we can have a similar exhibition in Oz!

Hemp clothing and fabric supplier

Interested in hemp clothing or fabric?

Well you might want to check out Margaret River Hemp Company. I bought some hemp fabric from them last year and was rather impressed. They also sell hemp clothing for women and men and have a children’s line.

Here are a few facts from the Margaret River Hemp Company:

• Hemp can be grown in most climates and is tolerant of a wide range of conditions including a high degree of salinity in the soil.
• Hemp requires little or no use of fertilisers, insecticides, fungicides or herbicides to grow successfully.
• Hemp can be used to make paper without the use of chlorines currently used in the wood pulp industry.
• When compared with timber, hemp can produce up to 4½ times more paper per acre.
• When planted as a "break" crop hemp outgrows all weeds and chokes them out leaving the field clean for the next year.
• Hemp has a deep taproot, which penetrates the soil raising nutrients towards the surface and aerating the soil

You can find out more at www.hempco.net.au

What are your thoughts on hemp as an alternative to the use of conventional cotton?

“Project Runway” Alum Leanne Marshall Unveils Eco-Chic Spring ‘10 Line

Author: Jill Fehrenbacher, 03/23/10

From Ecouterre:

http://www.ecouterre.com/14784/project-runway-alum-leanne-marshall-unveils-eco-chic-spring-10-line/

We’ve been enamored with eco-fashion visionary Leanne Marshall since she debuted on Project Runway back in 2008. (Marshall, of course, went on to win the season’s grand prize with her highly original sculptural designs.) So imagine our excitement when we caught wind of her sustainable Spring/Summer 2010 collection, “Basic Math.” In true “Leanimal” style, Marshall’s latest collection features fun, flirty garments (in organic cotton, silk, and hemp) that she embellished with accordion-style pleating and multidimensional origami folds.

NEW MATH

“Basic Math” is not only mathematically inspired, but it’s also based on a Whitelabel’s font of the same name. The architectural shaping of the garments more than echo the font’s typography—Marshall cut out the letters in fabric, then folded, pleated, and manipulated them to create her unconventional silhouettes.

“Basic Math,” inspired by Whitelabel’s font of the same name, echoes its typography.

Only four or five designs from “Basic Math” will be produced as ready-to-wear on April 25. The other pieces will be available for custom orders from Marshall’s Etsy store. (She’ll make them herself!) Prices will range from $140 to $525.

+ Leanne Marshall

Clothing at Tesco introduces 'From Somewhere, recycling since 1997'

goodone

goodone- a fashion label that is indeed all good.

Beautiful Soul

London College of Fashion graduate Nicola Woods is changing fashion for the better with her environmentally conscious luxury label Beautiful Soul.