Eco Fashion World

If you’re looking for seasonless classic pieces like a cardigan, a black dress and a white shirt made of natural and organic fabrics like silk, cashmere, Tencel and organic cotton that you will love for years, don’t look any further! Toronto-based label Aime offers all this and more as showcased in the most recent seasonal collection at LG Fashion Week. ‘I decided to design a colorful pastiche for Spring/Summer 2010 as I was inspired by various Mediterranean cultures. I traveled to picturesque coastal cities including Monte Carlo, Nice, Capri, Palma de Majorca, Florence and Barcelona so it was hard for me to stick to one style for this group. But the next collection will return to the deceptively simple chic classics with intricate cuts with a more neutral palette, which has become synonymous with Aime.

Global citizen Monica Mei is only 28 years old, but has seen the world and thankfully uses her travels as the main inspiration for her collections. ‘I have a love for the romantic art-rich culture of Paris, modern in thought yet rooted in history, which brought me to the name of my label. Aime is derived from the French word ‘to love’ and embraces the Aime philosophy to‘love yourself, love others, and love luxury’. It is also a phonetic play on the initials of my name and a moniker of mine since childhood’.

Monica makes conscious decisions to choose eco-friendly fabrics and produces the line locally to ensure quality control and support the local economy. All of her pieces have ‘Made in Canada with Love’ on the label. She reflects on her upbringing which brought her to design consciously. ‘I am a consumer through and through and fortunately or unfortunately, growing up my mum took me shopping every weekend. When I moved to the city, I quickly learned that closet space is prime real estate. I had to purge a lot of my clothing which came to about nine garbage bags for donation. It was a wakeup call for me to live a more minimal lifestyle. Fast fashion quickly gets discarded, so with Aime, I decided to design quality quintessential pieces that women can leave in their closet for all-seasons and years to come and that she can dress up or down with accessories to reflect her mood, destination and identity.’

With her fine taste and focus on luxury fabrics and designs, it is hard to believe that Monica was always more of a tom boy, playing lacrosse and fieldhockey after school. The Ryerson Fashion Communications graduate, finished her Strategic Management degree at the University of Toronto and got a jump start as an entrepreneur when winning the Ryerson University-wide $25,000 Business Plan Competition for her designer label in 2007. With winning this award, she was entitled to a loan from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) which gave her the seed capital to launch Aime. ‘With that money, I was able to travel to the United States and sell my first collection directly to stores. I took advantage of this great deal from Air Canada which allowed me to travel throughout North America on a set rate. After doing market research I chose the boutiques where I wanted to be in and just went there. The result was that in my debut collection, Aime went international and sold in specialty boutiques in the US and Canada’.

She plans for Aime to be a lifestyle label for women who appreciate quality with integrity. She is in the middle of updating her website to create a new collaborative Aime community online. She balances her venture like she balances herself on the sky high heels she wears: confident and optimistic about a bright future.

Images: courtesy of Jenna Wakani, Joseph + Jaime and David Hou.

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