For the past three years, the Ethical Fashion Forum has held the INNOVATION Awards annually, injecting inspiration into the burgeoning sustainable fashion industry. EFF are delighted to be able to give official recognition and support to emerging designers and businesses in the ethical fashion arena. Past winners have included Beautiful Soul, Christopher Raeburn and Ada Zanditon, all of whom are leading sustainable brands that have made a positive impact on this niche market. Such designers also play a significant role in the mainstream fashion industry and have achieved commercial success, indicating the potential for this year’s winners.
This year’s entries were all of a high standard, making the judges’ decision a difficult one. The final winners all excelled in both quality and design, and innovation in social and environmental sustainability.
The judging panel were made up of some of the foremost important leaders and experts in the fashion and sustainability industry, including Dolly Jones, Editor of VOGUE.COM UK who said of the competition: “VOGUE.COM is committed to supporting the INNOVATION project and its goals and the team is proud to be involved.”
The panel included leading fashion figures in Goodone’s Nin Castle, Courtney Blackman, founder of Forward PR, From Somewhere designer and Estethica curator Orsola De Castro, Young British Designers’ Debra Hepburn, PositiveLuxury.com’s Diana Verde Nieto, Pure London’s Katy Davis and SIX Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Alina Raetsep.
The judges were extremely impressed this year by the large number of applicants, so many of which were of a very high standard. To recognise this, the Ethical Fashion Forum, along with our partners at Pure decided to introduce a number of new awards for 2011.
EKO and Chichia for Made by Africa were the two winners of the PURE AWARD, with their main prize being the opportunity to showcase at Pure London in August 2011. Earth Kind Originals (EKO) is a beautiful womenswear brand based in Cornwall; they exude the outdoor, laid back lifestyle. They were chosen for their strong ethos, with sustainability and wellbeing forming an integral part of their brand identity. Their simple, yet inherently individual garments fill a gap in the sustainability market for affordable basics. EKO produce soft, tactile garments using luxury eco fabrics such as washed organic cotton, which are designed to sit close to and comfort the skin. EKO work closely with their suppliers in Portugal and Turkey to develop sustainable fabric solutions. They also use leftover production fabric and are currently developing recycled fabrics to incorporate into future collections.
EKO’s latest collection “alludes to an aspirational but achievable lifestyle that is active yet intuitively connected to the natural world.” This is reflected in designer Helen Davies’ own transition in life, moving back to Cornwall after living in London for many years.
Meanwhile, Chichia for Made by Africa is an exciting fusion of London-based womenswear brand, Chichia, working in collaboration with concept jersey label Made by Africa. They were chosen for this award because of their fresh and unique designs as well as the hugely positive social and environmental impact in Africa. The collection brings together a wonderful array of bright and colourful African printed cottons combined with organic cotton jersey to create modern basics with a Tanzanian twist. Made by Africa collections are manufactured at Kibotrade Textiles in Tanzania, the first factory to be awarded SA8000 in East Africa. Christine Mhando, designer of Chichia tells us, “Our trick is balancing between keeping things fresh and new without being too trend driven, therefore making each piece timeless.”
The judges were extremely impressed this year by the large number of applicants who were of a very high standard. To recognise this, EFF, along with our partners at Pure decided to introduce a number of new Awards for 2011
”Due to the large number of Accessories applicants this year and their high standard, EFF and Pure agreed that they deserved to be assessed in a dedicated category, and so created the PURE ACCESSORIES AWARD. This has been awarded to Caipora, who will also get the chance to showcase at Pure London in August 2011. Caipora is a British jewellery brand who works alongside a small team of Brazilian designers, supporting over 130 artisans and communities from Amazon Rainforest, Tocantins, Sao Paulo and Sao Jose do Rio Preto. The name Caipora is “synonymous with environmental responsibility and comes from a mythological entity, meaning ‘the forest protector”’.
Sustainability is at the heart of Caipora, which is reflected in the materials used for their products. These are carefully selected to ensure that they are not depleting natural resources and include seeds and grasses, as well as recycled materials from other industries. One such item is golden grass, which is a grass with natural golden colour and only exists in a small area in Brazil. There are strict rules for its annual harvest to ensure that it does not become commercialised as a raw material and instead is able to support the local people who depend on a living off this and other such materials.
Another new award which EFF and Pure are pleased to announce for 2011 is the PURE SPIRIT AWARD. This was presented to A.L.A.S., a playful and feminine Australian sleepwear and loungewear brand – and the judges felt that A.L.A.S. met a definite gap in the sustainable fashion market. Their prize includes the opportunity to showcase at Pure Spirit in August 2011. This will be a fantastic occasion for A.L.A.S. to open up their brand to the European market. The A.L.A.S. collection uses 100% certified organic cotton which is exclusively grown, spun, woven and dyed in India using environmentally friendly methods which avoid the use of harmful AZOs and formaldehyde. The acronym All Light All Shadow (A.L.A.S.) represents to them the nature of change: day to night, sleeping to waking.
The INNOVATION IN DESIGN AND SOURCING AWARD, presented by Ethical Fashion Forum, is another important new award for 2011. The prize for this award is the chance to showcase at the Designer Pavilion at the Ethical Fashion Forum’s SOURCE Expo in October 2011. This award has been presented to ULTRA in recognition of their use of emerging sustainable fabrics, their unique business model as well as the innovative design and cut of their collection. ULTRA is the fashion project of the ‘We Are ULTRA’ sustainable collective. Their innovation draws upon the concept ULTRA 10: a ten piece modular interchangeable wardrobe, designed to dress a woman for a year and reject the “two seasons a year format”. The brand ensures they keep waste to a minimum, by producing garments on a made-to-order basis. They are building greater social relationships, working with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to give refugees production opportunities. ULTRA’s website also offers the opportunity for customers to upload pictures of how they have created a brand new look using their ULTRA 10 collection.
As part of EFF’s commitment to support emerging designers and businesses working in ethical fashion, we recognised the number of brands applying for the INNOVATION Award who had such talent and creativity but would really benefit from support in one area or another. Therefore, we devised an award that would support one of these brands to help them reach the next level with their business. One such brand and our ONE TO WATCH AWARD winner for 2011 is Genuine Article, a womenswear label who create unique one off garments constructed from upcycled leather. Their vision is to be an “antidote to unsustainable mass production.”
The brand mix conceptual deconstructionist design with traditional craft technique, working with a socially and environmental responsibly CMT (Cutting, Making and Trimming) unit. They were the winners of the Best of British Open Call in 2010 in partnership with Liberty and are now looking to expand their reach whilst developing their brand.
EKO, Chichia for Made by Africa and Caipora will all be exhibiting at the UK’s largest womenwear trade show, Pure London. A.L.A.S. will also be showcasing at Pure Spirit in London, which promotes trend led young fashion brands.
For a chance to see these leading sustainable brands, please register at: www.purelondon.com. And for more details on all the winners and those shortlisted, check out the INNOVATION homepage at ethicalfashionforum.com/INNOVATION. If you’re interested in applying next year, keep an eye on the page for details of the 2012 competition.
