Sustainable Fashion Design: Thinking Outside the Index (BSR blog)
“Slowly but surely the fashion industry is catching on to corporate social responsibility and sustainability… In the past several years, the fashion industry has faced intensifying criticism about its environmental footprint and has once again reacted both on a brand level, with many brands establishing their own sustainability commitments and strategies, as well as on an industry-wide scale with initiatives..”
Sustainable Innovation: The Vegan Shoe (New York Times)
“In 2010, the company [Unstitched Utilities] started making sustainable, durable Tyvek shoes exclusively, and it was in this mix of eco-friendliness and stylishness that the company seems to have found its success. Mr. Kane said sales grew 20 percent last year.”
Big Retailer Bans PFC Chemicals in Clothing (SustainableBusiness.com)
“Swedish retailer and fashion company H&M Group is pledging to stop the use of toxic chemicals – it will not use perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in any items it buys after January 1, 2013, following its early move to eliminate other chemicals from its products.”
Fashion Week Kolkata chooses ‘Eco-fashion’ as theme (Fibre2Fashion)
“Fashion Week Kolkata Event Director, Yudhajit Dutta said making a move towards reviving the fashion industry of Kolkata, the event would cherish the ethnic roots of Indian fashion with a special focus on weavers of West Bengal.”
H&M joins the Future Shaper (EcoTextile News)
“Swedish retail giant Hennes & Mauritz is the latest high-profile company to be highlighted as a ‘Future Shapers’, a series of case studies developed by Textile Exchange to celebrate its 10th Anniversary by promoting organic cotton agriculture.”
The fashionista’s dilemma: Cheap clothes (CNN International)
“ For the first time in history, we are consuming clothes as a disposable good, buying a cheap dress for a date night and wearing it but once or twice. These changing attitudes prompted me to write my book, “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion,” and what I learned about the fashion industry during the process compelled me to change.”
3rd Annual CFDA/Lexus Eco-fashion Challenge Winners Announced (Retail Digital)
“At an event at MADE Fashion Week [last month] in New York, attended by many well-known designers and fashion insiders interested in supporting emerging and eco-friendly designers, the winners of the CFDA/Lexus Eco-Fashion Challenge were revealed. The three winners of this year’s challenge are Pamela Love, Victoria Bartlett, and Melissa Joy Manning.”
Textile Exchange releases Content Claim Standard (Fibre2Fashion)
“Over a year in the making, the Content Claim Standard (CCS), written by Textile Exchange, gives companies a tool to establish a chain of custody for the materials in their products. The standard sets requirements to ensure that the identity and integrity of the ‘claimed’ materials are protected as material flows from source to finished product.”
KappAhl sets its sights on eco-friendly garments (Just-style)
“Swedish fashion retailer Kappahl Holding AB is ramping up the sustainability of its clothes, offering shoppers more options to buy clothes made from organic cotton, Lyocell and recycled fibres. The retailer says that in fiscal 2011/12 it sold over 11m garments with certified eco-labels – and has pledged that the share of certified sustainable fashion will continue to increase each year in its stores.”
Livia Firth: Fashion has to be a moral issue (The Evening Standard)
“People woke up sooner in the food industry, but things are starting to move in fashion too. Look at all the designers who have joined in. I think people are scared of change, but it’s actually quite fun.”
LFW: Green Cut (Fashion United)
“The initiative brought together the British Fashion Council and the British Film Institute for the first time and paired together eight fashion designers with eight iconic British films to raise awareness of a sustainable approach to fashion design.”
Sustainable Design at New York’s Fashion Week (ABC News)
VIDEO: “Designers go green inside the tents at Lincoln Center.”
Harvesting the Seed Corn (New York Times’ Suzy Menkes)
“The curse of London fashion in the past has been that the excellent art colleges have provided the seed corn for powerful fashion houses that are rarely based in Britain. Instead, there was a brain drain of talent, and a lack of structure for those who stayed behind.”
Green Is Great For Fashion Week Designers (Sky News)
“Fashion week launched in London with a message – green is great – and the woman who has made it her mission to spread the word is Livia Firth.”
Being Aware of Vanishing Beauty (New York Times’ Suzy Menkes)
“Ethical fashion has often been labeled superficial, but this summer 2013 season, designers are taking more than a surface interest in the planet.”
PPR sustainability team takes shape (EcoTextile News)
“PPR Group, which includes several global brand names and fashion houses such as Puma, Redcats and Gucci, is continuing to strengthen its long-term commitment to sustainability with the appointment of a new chief sustainability officer.”
Driving Innovation at Fashion Week 2012: Sustainability and Independence (Huffington Post)
“Fashion Week 2012 in New York this past week showed that the latest muse is sustainability, and that this values-driven focus is giving birth to a stronger independent streak as well.”
Eco fashion is no longer dull with the backing of heavyweight designers (The Metro)
“Eco fashion had a reputation for being worthy albeit a bit dull. But with the backing of heavyweight designers, including the former head of Hugo Boss Bruno Pieters, all that has changed.”
Heiress Amanda Hearst steps back in front of the camera to pose for supermodel Liya Kebede’s ethical fashion line (The Daily Mail)
“The 28-year-old great-granddaughter of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst has taken a pause from her post as associate market editor at Marie Claire to star in the new lookbook for Lemlem, supermodel Liya Kebede’s clothing line. Inspired by the traditional weavers in Ms Kebede’s native Ethiopia, the pieces, which are all hand-made in Africa, are just the kind of easy, wearable clothes that too-busy women can tie-on in 30 seconds flat, without compromising on style.”
Textile Manufacturer Finds Business Value in Sustainability Assessment (Triple Pundit)
“Central Textiles Group, a leading textiles supplier in Asia recently becomes one of the first Asian major textiles suppliers to complete the Supplier Facilities Module assessment of the newly released Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) Higg Index 1.0.”
Gwyneth Paltrow To Collaborate Fashion Label Chinti and Parker on Ethical Knitwear (Inhabitat)
“This week, Paltrow announced that she is teaming up with British ethical fashion label Chinti and Parker to create a pair of cashmere sweaters for her ecommerce-site, Goop.”
Activists Stage Flash Faint-Ins at Clothing Stores in Europe to Protest Sweatshop Conditions (Inhabitat)
“Activists from the Clean Clothes Campaign took to clothing stores throughout Europe last week and staged “faint-ins.” Appearing to pass out on the floors of Zara, H&M and the Gap, members of the campaign sought to highlight instances of mass fainting in sweatshops in Cambodia.”
Taiwan’s eco-friendly textiles in focus at Texworld (Fibre2Fashion)
“Everest Textile Co. Ltd., Danken Enterprises Co., Fabric King Tech Group, Handseltex Industrial Co. and New Wide Enterprises Co. were among the Taiwanese producers who participated in the four-day event held in Paris. The event mainly showcased eco-friendly products and items prepared with the help of green technology.”
Eco-fashion: 2013 Red Carpet Green Dress challenge begins (The Los Angeles Times)
“The annual Red Carpet Green Dress competition, which challenges designers to create a gown made entirely of sustainable materials with the winning design to be worn on the Oscars red carpet, just opened and will accept designer submissions until Nov. 5.”
