Eco Fashion World

On Oct 28th Holt Renfrew Vancouver was pleased to welcome TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie at his first ever Canadian in-store personal appearance.

PHOTO BY SARAH PEET

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and a group of women volunteers has launched a new national non-profit called Swap for Good - a project to encourage people to host clothing swaps as a way to help raise money for domestic violence shelters.

Super model Erin O’Connor has exchanged the catwalk for the cutting table in a new venture with stylist Kate Halfpenny launching this month.

The London-based friends have created a collection of statement t-shirts and bags under the moniker She Died of Beauty. Pieces are all produced in an earth-positive manner, meaning they are climate neutral t-shirts and bags made with organic cotton through fair trade practices.

If it seems like a natural fit, you are absolutely right! The perfect balance of ecological initiatives and high fashion, Eco Fashion Week Vancouver’s Presenting Sponsor AVEDA keeps a cutting edge style that is all their own.

It’s essential to have the hair and makeup look of the season; it completes the outfit. To make sure of this, AVEDA’s artistic team will be backstage at Eco Fashion Week ready to add the finishing touches that bring the show to life as they send spring/summer 2011 beauty trends down the runway. AVEDA’s goal is to compliment the garments but also give the audience a glimpse further into the designer’s inspiration for their collection. AVEDA may be derived from botanically-based ingredients, but this isn’t your mama’s beauty product from her flower child days. AVEDA represents a new wave of stylish naturalists, proven by the many AVEDA Institutes popping up across Canada - the latest being here in Vancouver. It can even be said AVEDA is reviving the 60’s YouthQuake movement, that is spirited, youthful and now all about our planet!

Supermodel, environmentalist, and glowing mom, Gisele Bündchen is piercing the surface of another green endeavor. The Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment for Eco Fashion Week Vancouver is adding Co-director of a water bottle design project to her long list of planet-saving projects. Eco Fashion Week Vancouver and SIGG Canada are joining forces with Gisele on the launch of an exclusive bottle that will be handed out at the opening to Eco Fashion Week Vancouver this September. With Bündchen’s all natural skincare line, Sejaa and eco friendly sandals, Ipanema already under her top model belt, Gisele has taken on this project to help endorse Eco Fashion Week’s ‘plastic bottle-free’ event.

As the green revolution continues, we search for an established standard to look to, a rule of thumb to measure against, a blue print for green standards. GreenBlue, a nonprofit institute founded in 2002 by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, is currently working to establish those standards, armed with industry specific research and information. The organization is staffed by scientists, engineers, design professionals and business strategists who ask: How can we design, prototype and realize better products and systems?

The Thread Loop, founded in March of this year by social entrepreneur Jo Blundell, is a retail store that brings together an impressive assortment of fashion forward ethical labels. The Global Volunteer Network Foundation (GVN), based in the United States, offers volunteer opportunities in community development projects throughout the world, giving people a chance to affect change globally. The Thread Loop has partnered with GVN Foundation’s annual fundraiser, Eat So They Can (ESTC), to raise funds in support of their work with marginalized women and children in Africa, Asia and South America. The Thread Loop will donate 10% of its profits from every sale between now and 17 October 2010 directly to the ESTC fundraiser, with shoppers automatically entered into a drawing to win one of four $50 shopping vouchers.

The little black dress recently experienced a sustainable make over ala Eliza Starbuck’s ‘Little Black Dress’ (LBD) for Bright Young Things. The premiere edition of this timeless fashion staple was launched two weeks ago at Maryam Nassir Zadeh in NYC, and Bright Young Things were on hand to demonstrate their creative interpretations of a garment that already has quite an impressive track record. The cool black dress at the heart of Bright Young Things was conceived in 2009 by independent fashion designer Eliza Starbuck when she teamed up with Sheena Matheiken, founder and fashion plate for the 365-day challenge called The Uniform Project. This now legendary fashion experiment involved wearing one dress every day for an entire year in order to raise charitable funds as well as highlight the potential for maximizing on a single garment via creative accessorizing and the clever use of fashion finds buried or forgotten in one’s closet.

The British fashion industry is to organise a campaign calling for businesses which operate ethical fashion policies to be rewarded with tax breaks . At the vanguard of the initiative is Harold Tillman, the chair of the British Fashion Council and owner of the Jaeger and Aquascutum brands. According to Tillman, offering an incentive to eco-friendly fashion companies would “make sense for businesses and consumers” across the fashion sector.

If you are a fashion designer - anywhere in the world, you have great designs and you are considering the environment and the people behind your product, Ethical Fashion Forum wants to put you in the spotlight! This season The Fairtrade Foundation has teamed up with the Ethical Fashion Forum. For the first time the competition will run a Fairtrade cotton category sponsored by Tesco, which will be judged by fashion model Laura Bailey. The winning entrant will be invited to work with the F&F brand at Tesco.

Good news on the policy making front: several governments have issued guidelines to produce fashion in a sustainable way.

In London, the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has launched a consultation process to update the Green Claims Guidance often used by UK apparel brands, retailers and manufacturers. Defra‘s current Green Claims – Practical Guidance was issued in 2003 to assist businesses in making clear and accurate environmental claims in their marketing and advertising. Since that time, however, marketing about the environment has changed in response to increasing public awareness about sustainability and climate change and although the broad principles are still useful, Defra admits that the content of the current guidance is behind its time.

How happy we are that mainstream media are more and more often featuring ethical fashion. Not long ago, Eco Fashion World was mentioned by founder Sally Bjornsen of The Great American Apparel Diet as the place to go to learn more about eco fashion. TIME Magazine interviewed six participants of this great project who don't buy any new clothing during one year.

The new H&M 'Fashion against AIDS' collection and the EDUN YOOXYGEN line of designer T-shirts!

After Angela Lindvall and Summer Rayne Oakes, YOOXYGEN and EDUN LIVE present a new edition in the ever.green series with Elettra Wiedemann, top fashion model best known for being the face of Lancôme and holding green causes close to her heart.

Paris' ethical design collective ANDREA CREWS needs a new space. If you know anything, contact them directly!

Several UK designers organize sample sales this week, so come on down and grab yourself some mid season bargains!

London May 20-23 (different opening times)
Foundation is holding an Ethical Fashion Sample Sale in Shop 14 in the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane from Thursday 20th May to 23rd May. The sale will feature samples and past season stock from some of the best ethical fashion brands such as Howies, Komodo, Kuyichi, Equa Boutique, BIbico, Monkee Genes, Outsider, Julia Smith, Where shoes and many more. Womenswear, Menswear, shoes and accessories in a variety of sizes will be available for up to 80% of retail prices, starting at £ 5.