Eco Fashion World

Kim and I met on our way to Izmir, Turkey, one warm September afternoon, just about three years ago. We embarked for our first Organic Exchange Global Conference. She was part of one of the most exciting projects on sustainable fashion that was taking place in The Netherlands, and I had just dropped into the organic textile world. The image of those intense days together, amidst so many special and inspiring people, thought provoking speeches from leading international companies and fun evenings by the sea, come back to me today as I get the confirmation from the Organic Exchange (OE) itself: I will start working as its business development manager in Europe in a few days. I can’t help the excitement! OE is an international organization committed to expanding organic agriculture, with a specific focus on increasing the production and use of organically grown fibers such as cotton. Its long term goal is to grow the amount of certified organic land farmed for fiber production by 50% per year. To support these efforts, the OE brings together brands and retailers with their business partners, farmers and key stakeholders to learn about the social and environmental benefits of organic agriculture, and to develop new business models and tools that support greater use of organic inputs. Consumer awareness is also one of its aims. So it seems we closed the first part of the loop…back together through EFW, let’s see what comes next!

They are all over the place now…I’ve seen them on store windows together with ethical shoes Veja in Bilbao and also side by side with Levi’s at a new shop behind our fashion school in Madrid. It seems that, at last, mainstream agents do see the opportunity in spreading the availability of cool conscious brands. Ethics are mushrooming… it’s up to us to make them hit the bottom-line as well.

I had never heard any of the ‘conscious’ designers and fashion entrepreneurs talk about sex before I met Peter. Mr. Ingwersen, as they might have called him at the European headquarters of Levi’s in Brussels when he was chief a few years ago, decided he wanted to make Corporate Social Responsibility sexy so he founded NOIR. And he made it! Then, he decided he wanted to have his own certified organic cotton and help farmers in Uganda have a better life, and founded Illuminati II. Peter was the key speaker at the second Sustainability & Style session at IED Moda Lab Madrid last Friday and I could see students totally spell-bounded from the very first opening slide. Not because he talked about sex and how we choose our outfits to be desirable, but because he made us laugh, reflect and clearly understand why and how he set up NOIR – his edgy fashion brand which, by the way, is also fairly produced and environmentally conscious. Hot and meaningful fashion. Thanks Peter!

They flew in from across the Atlantic on a sunny Thursday morning. While they were speaking in front of over a couple of hundred heart-taken fashion students and professionals for two complete hours non-stop, I tried my best not to hug them compulsively as I translated their intense experiences building up SANS, a very personal and groundbreaking sustainable brand based in NYC. Awarded the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award last year, SANS combines Lika’s vision on form and functional design with Alessandro’s know how on eco-conscious textiles such as soy fiber, bamboo, organic cotton and wild silk. But beyond materials, they search for real meaning, genuine sustainability and functionality, bringing about beautiful aesthetic pieces. They both act sweet and plain as if their minds and hearts were not filled with the most brilliant ideas and avant-garde concepts in the fashion world today. That is who they were, just Alessandro and Lika wandering around the city streets in Madrid…Now, THAT is luxury…