Conscionista Series: Ecouterre

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Ecouterre's mission - " Change people’s minds about what “fashion” design entails beyond fleeting fads and mindless consumerism. Like any good product design, clothing production can be accomplished in a better, smarter, and more socially and environmentally sustainable way. And we’re not the only ones who think so. Organic clothing, produced without toxic pesticides and dipped in low-impact dyes, is gaining popularity across the globe."

Ecouterre dedicates themselves to the future of sustainable fashion. Started in 2009 by Jill Fehrenbacher, founder of Inhabitat.com, Ecouterre gained traction when it began to take a more serious approach to sustainable fashion. Her goal is for consumers to realize the gravity of unethically produced clothing, and begin to change the way they see sustainable fashion.

A main theme throughout the blog is the fight against stereotypes of eco-friendly enthusiasts. The ragged poncho-wearing hippie stereotype of sustainable fashion is uprooted and replaced with a sophisticated, educated, intelligent and compassionate one. Having been credited in Vogue, Businessweek, New York Times, and People, Jill takes eco-fashion very seriously and finds it upsetting that people would consider fashion to be a trivial matter. 

What we love most about the blog is the variety of content - it is divided into seven sub-blogs: Women, Men, Shoes, Accessories, Beauty, Textiles, Tech, Designers, Re-Use, DIY and Vegan Style. There are multiple writers who are passionate about sustainable fashion that write for Ecouterre, giving it a very genuine quality, as well as an overwhelming amount of information available to its readers.

Take a look and let us know what you think about our friends over at Ecouterre! 

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London Fashion Week Brings New Eco-Friendly Materials

Monday, March 05, 2012

The London Fashion Week is a world-wide event, but this year, sustainable designers took matters into their own hands to raise awareness of ethical fashion.

The London Fashion Show is a highly regarded event in the industry, but this year it had less eco-friendly collections submitted to the show than ever. This was surprising until it was soon discovered that most of the sustainable designers took matters into their own hands and joined together to raise awareness of ethical fashion for their own show called "The Good Fashion Show." This exhibition was free, open to the public and turned out to be the largest off-schedule event of London Fashion Week. 

For the first time the University of East Angila (UEA) hosted a green fashion event in conjunction with London Fashion Week. Scientists, branding experts, environmentalists and designers all came together in an effort to exchange ideas on the future of fashion as well as discuss suggestions on how the fashion industry can overall reduce its carbon footprint. According to industry reports, over one million tons of fabric are thrown away every year, 25 percent of which are recycled. 

Liliya Serazetdinova from InCrops (one of the eco companies sponsoring the event) said:

Designs have the power to reduce the carbon footprint of products through material selection, development of energy-efficient processing, and improved end-of-life options, and to develop prototypes for using natural materials in mainstream products.

The goal of the event was to showcase new materials that can be used for making eco-friendly goods such as shoes, accessories, clothes, home and car interiors. Examples are a pair of stiletto heels made completely of pistachio nuts and coffee beans or fabrics made of wood and orange peel. To find out more information on The Good Fashion Show visit www.thegoodfashionshow.org

Here are some of the designers seen at the show:

 Hetty Rose: re-using and re-working gorgeous vintage materials to make sustainable, well-fitting shoes.

Joanna Cave: Recycled silver and ethically sourced pearls.

NV London Calcutta: Handmade and Sustainable designs from Indian culture.

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