Alpaca Makes it to NYC Fashion Week

Monday, February 13, 2012

It's Fashion Week and for designers, journalists, entrepreneurs, and fashion enthusiasts alike, NYC fashion week means blistered feet, no sleep and permanent bags under the eyes. However it is one of the most esteemed and looked forward to events in the fashion world. This year, multiple designers committed to greener fashion. Here's our run-down of all the action in the growing eco-fashion category at the NYC Fall/Winter Fashion Week 2012.

Over the course of a week the runways host multiple designers that are incorporating all organic and recycled materials such as bamboo, alpaca, plastic and natural dyes to create awareness of the ethical and environmental consequences of traditional methods. 

Above: The brand Assembly NY incorporates alpaca and terra cotta dyes into its winter sweater collection.

Above: John Patrick designs his Winter collection with digitally printed organic silk, biodegradable quilted materials, hand-loomed cashmere and vegetable-tanned leather.

Above: A piece by Former Project Runway winner and green-enthusiast, Gretchen Jones (and coincidentally Emily's former boss), further pushes her confidence in sustainable fashion with an all-natural handmade collection for 2012. 

Above: Designs by Titania Inglis, who won the most recent Ecco Fashion Sustainability Award for 2012. She uses all vegetable dyes and all natural and recycled fabrics. 

In other news, Emily just made it to Peru to work on some new designs over the next few months. Check back here to get more updates from Emily as she makes her way to the jungles of Peru!

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Levi's new sustainably-grown cotton denim line

Friday, November 11, 2011

When you think of good ol’ American clothing companies, what comes to mind? Certainly for a lot of consumers, images of cowboys and railroad workers decked out in Levi’s jeans seem to be the picture-perfect match. In fact, the American-made label attached to the company was true for some time. In 1873, Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis received a U.S. Patent to make the first riveted men’s work pants out of denim: the first blue jeans. They appealed mainly to working people of the western U.S. until the later trends of the 1950s and 60s began to adopt this style of pants as well.

 Disappointment struck when in the fall of 2003, after over a century of being based in America, Levi’s announced it was closing its remaining factories in the U.S. and Canada and shifting the work to suppliers in 50 countries in Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The reason for the outsourcing was obvious: these are countries where labor and other costs are lower than in the United States. Since 2001, our country has lost nearly 3 million factory jobs because of this issue.

However, Levi’s is now going through a new transformation.  This fall, the company is releasing 2 million pairs of jeans made with sustainably-grown cotton to help reduce the company’s environmental impact and improve the lives of cotton farmers. This raises a lot of questions to those who have been keeping track of the company’s business decisions. Why the sudden shift from exclusively focusing on low costs?

 It’s hard to deny the recent trend of moving towards sustainable and organic materials. Levi’s turnaround is a perfect example of the tremendous effect this trend has had on our society; so big that the most profitable companies are tagging along. Levi’s mission began in 2007, when the company performed a lifecycle assessment to see what the environmental footprint was for a single pair of jeans. To their surprise, the process of growing cotton had the most impact on the environment (they assumed it would be the continual washing by the owner throughout the life of the jeans).

Because traditional methods used for growing cotton have negative environmental and social impacts, Levi’s joined the Better Cotton Initiative in 2009. This nonprofit teaches farmers crop-growing practices that require less water, improves labor standards and increases financial profit for farmers (sound familiar? Read about Fair Trade here.). Upon reading about their new coordination with a nonprofit, consumers once again feel comfortable buying from Levi’s, knowing that their money is going to benefit an honest worker and cause less harm to the environment.

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