Eco Fashion World

'There are 180 people in my year and 95% is nerd. They're glued to their laptops and are programming with all kinds of numbers all day long. It's sooooo boring! And I'm a girl you know, I love fashion. I need to do something else then this Banking & Finance Masters'. Selina is ready to write her final thesis and sits across me in her trendy outfit and with a paper full of questions about researching eco fashion. 'I'm not sure yet what I want to do in half a year, but I don't want to work for a bank. This climate is so depressing and I want to be hopeful and do something more fun. Do you think they need me with this background?'

I have the terrible habit of calling people by their name and then add 'sweetie'. Not people I haven't met before of course, but if I know them for one day, they might run the risk of being called 'sweetheart'.

As a yeti I walk into the beautiful university building of Oslo's business school. It's 8.30 and I'm meeting Eivind Ødegard of Fin that just received the prestigious Nåløyet award. 'Doesn't matter you look like you just survived a snow storm including red nose, messy hair and boots that leave a muddy trace, you're meeting with a girl, she'll understand', I tell myself. 'You must be Kim', I turn around and see a tall and attractive guy with brown curly hair smiling at me. Eivind?

What to do when you've been working for fashion glossy's for thirteen years and are tired of writing about the season's trends? You have a few talks with government officials and the founder of Oslo Fashion Week and give birth to NICE! I meet Tone Tobiasson in Café Bacchus in downtown Oslo where she passionately narrates about NICE. Although NICE started as a Norwegian concept, it has quickly moved to become the Nordic Initiative for Clean and Ethical Clothing. The collaboration between five Scandinavian countries aims to move the fashion industry beyond eco labeling with a comprehensive program involving fashion schools, new legislation and a Code of Conduct.

I regularly surprise people with my name: Kim is a common name for Chinese men. And then they meet me: a 2 meter tall and skinny redhead. It's not easy to be anonymous. I often joke that Dutch people are all tall, 'you know, when the water is coming, we still need to breathe…'. I could also say that I need my height to look beyond. Because 'kim' actually means horizon.

A university is like a factory of words and scholars come up with the funniest theories. Like ANT theory or Actor Network Theory which was introduced to me by my friend Nicholas. The first night we met, Nicholas unraveled the secrets behind this theory to me. I didn't understand much of it until he gave the example of his own PhD research. Nicholas is a fervent free skier and studies the free ski community here in Switzerland. When he misses a seminar, we always know he is doing 'ethnographic work' in the mountains. I've missed a chance this winter to see him jumping acrobatic moves while talking to his little tape recorder high on the slopes.

In need of a fashion statement? Call the fashion police! We're three ecofashionistas on a mission: fight all fashion crime in this world! Plastic fantastic? We'll bring you hemp! Child labour? Strip it! Pesticide cotton? Not in our knickers!

'When a butterfly claps its wings…..'

'The energy here is different from regular fashion fairs, I can't express it in words, it's really a feeling'. This is just a phrase by the founder of an eco fashion brand I spoke with at Ethical Fashion Show in October last year.