The last day of Eco Fashion Week, 6th Edition, was another busy one with three sets of runway presentations from a very diverse mix of designers, vintage curators, and artists. The first two runway shows were from vintage and second-hand collections in Vancouver; Hey Jude Shop and My Sister’s Closet.  Hey Jude Shop is a vintage collection curatored by two women and sold online and at pop-up shops around Vancouver. The collection they showed at Eco Fashion Week this season had a hard edge, deep colours, leather and sheer fabrics. It was a well put together collection, great second hand finds.

Day three at Eco Fashion Week in Vancouver was a busy one, packed with 9 runway shows. The evening was dominated by knitwear, with both classic and innovative pieces, and strong tailoring for Fall/Winter.

The second day of Eco Fashion Week this season was actually the first day of runway shows, and following the format of past events, was the Value Village sponsored Thrift Challenge day. The first runway show was the Thrift Chic Challenge where three stylists are given a $500 gift card for Value Village, only two weeks before the show is scheduled, and challenged to create an innovative collection.  The stylists did very few alterations to the clothing they selected, instead showcasing pieces through their creative ability in putting together the looks. 

For the first time, Eco Fashion Week in Vancouver kicked-off the event with the Seminars; a speaker series focused on building discussions around sustainability issues, challenges, opportunities and innovations in the fashion industry. The Seminars were moved to the beginning of Eco Fashion Week partly so there would be an educational and awareness context built as guests then go on to watch the runway fashion shows; helping to continue to build the story behind the clothes. Also for the first time, the seminars were live-streamed, and recorded for posting online.

A little girl once dubbed “Miss Vanderbilt” by her mother, for her natural and unmistakable eye for high-quality and high-priced fashion, grew up and went to work for corporate America for over 2 decades. Feeling a motivated call to change her path and make a difference, she completed a 30-week course, which comprehensively explored issues such as poverty, homelessness, and unfair trade.  Upon completion of the course, she immediately drew upon her talent for spotting attractive and stylish items, melded this with her passion for social justice issues, and launched US-based Fair Trade Designs in November 2011. That little girl was Stephanie King, now Owner and Founder of Fair Trade Designs.