Fashion for Development

Ecco Domani adding sustainability to Fashion program

2008-07-17T15:26:00.001-05:00

Ecco Domani is adding "green" to its annual Fashion Foundation program.

The winemaker kicked off the eighth season of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation on Monday. The initiative provides emerging designers in women's wear, men's wear and accessories design with a $25,000 grant toward their fashion week presentation. As in previous years, Ecco Domani will award four women's wear, one men's wear and one accessories award.

For the 2009 edition, the company is adding a sustainable design category to its lineup, which is being made available to a women's or men's wear apparel designer who, through their work, is committed to the environment, social equity and economic viability.

From article in WWD (Thursday 17th)

Fashion & Recycling

2008-06-16T15:26:00.001-05:00

Recycling and reusing in fashion, two shopping practices that are eco-chic and high on style

Looking ahead to the summer collections? Keen to trade in your winter coat for a summer frock? Well you can, by organizing a clothes swap. Raiding the wardrobes of your friends, family and even your grandmother, can be worthwhile in finding some of those one-off key vintage pieces. Every fashionista knows that clothing constructed and sold off the rack before the mid-1960s was top quality, which is why much of it is still in excellent condition in your mother's or grandmother's closet, or around the corner in the local thrift or vintage shop. Even if your salvaged garment is from the mid-'80s (instead of the mid-'50), your sense of style, the influence of current trends, and a fresh interpretation of an old look can bring new life to even very inexpensive thrift-shop buys.
Every year in the UK alone, consumers purchase 2.15 million tonnes of new clothing, shoes and accessories. In order to make room for all of the new, we are throwing away the old! Over 900,000 million items of clothing are thrown away each year in the UK alone. Discarded clothing and shoes are typically sent to landfill. Textiles present particular problems in landfill. Synthetic (man-made fibres) products do not decompose.

Meanwhile, the fashion industry is producing new styles and trends for the high street at a frantic pace. This is having a negative effect on the environment as virgin resources are being used faster than they can be produced, toxic pesticides and other chemicals are being used to grow cotton and energy is being used to transport products around the globe. Specifically, the grasslands of the Alashan Plateau in China have been turned into a dustbowl due to over grazing of goats for cashmere. In Uzbekistan, 85% of the Aral Sea has disappeared as a result of drainage for cotton production.

One example of large scale clothes swaps is the Visa Swap in London. For the second year running, Visa is teaming up with textile recycling banks to organize Visa Swap, an innovative way for unwanted clothes to be re-used. Visa Swap invites all fashion lovers to gather unwanted designer and high-street clothes, shoes and bags and swap them for those that you do.
All reused clothing is green, since – by being salvaged – it doesn't find itself piling up in a landfill for all of eternity. It may take a little time and patience to hunt for individual items, but when you uncover those truly one-of-a-kind pieces that rival many of today's most popular designers, second-hand shopping is totally worth all the work. So go ahead and shop with wild abandon in your local thrift or vintage clothing store.

Primark - something didn't add up?

2008-06-16T15:05:00.002-05:00

I haveto admit that I have bought the odd thing or 2 from Primark, but even I am shocked at the recent investigation uncovering Primark’s use of child laborers. When I go into my Primark I often scratch my head at how cheap some of the items are in there, surely something has to give?

A Panaroma investigation recently proved my suspicion. They found that child laborers in India were being used in carrying out embroidery and sequin work. Illegal sub-contracting had taken place, and Primark stated that it only accounted for 0.04% of the retailers sourcing.

Primark says that it will terminate relations with suppliers guilty of transgressions and those unwilling to make changes.

Unfortunately the addiction that people have to shopping is having damaging effects, we are buying 1/3 more clothes than a decade ago and we are paying for them at ridiculously cheaper prices than ever before. Places like Primark are filling that demand, but we as the consumers need to stop and think that buying clothes will have to cost a bit more if they are going to reflect their toll on the environment and people who make them.

Visa Picks Up On Swap Trend

2008-06-09T11:21:00.001-05:00

VISA SWAP’ is a 3 week pop-up swap shop opening on London’s Brompton Road. A collaboration between Visa and TRAID to ‘encourage sustainable fashion through ethical swapping’, this promises to be the biggest swap event yet. Drop off your old clothes in the first 2 weeks (from May 31st ‘07) and in return you get a Visa Swap chip card which is charged with redeemable points. The more expensive your donated item is, the more points you earn. Then on the 3rd weekend (16th & 17th June ‘07) it’s Party Time: you can spend all your points on other items in the pop-up store! Kylie, Phoebe Philo and Giles Deacon have already dropped off their old clothes! And as if that’s not exciting enough, there’ll be customizing workshops as well as stylists and hair and make up artists on hand to make you look even more beautiful in your new free clothes!

2008-05-19T11:22:00.000-05:00

People are always asking me, what does ethical mean? What’s the difference between fair trade and eco clothing? Also, how do I shop ethically? We are all confused, why should we buy an organic T-Shirt and who will benefit.

So this month F4D gets down to nitty-gritty to give you some facts and shopping tips.

THE FACTS

Firstly there is the human element and the effect clothing production has on underpaid, mistreated workers. Then the environmental impact that comes in multiple forms, such as the use of chemicals. At least 8,000 chemicals are used to turn raw materials into clothes, many
of these are toxic and pollute the environment, local water and also cause lasting harm to workers. Polyester is mass produced cheaply, however it is not biodegradable. Cotton has become the focus of media debate as it makes up 40 percent of world fiber consumption yet has to be treated heavily with damaging toxic chemicals.

According to UNESCO, growing enough cotton for one pair of jeans requires 2,867 gallons of water and a dose of some of the
world's most hazardous pesticides.

That’s the same volume of water carried in a C-130 firefighting
plane. A simple T-shirt requires 719 gallons (the water in one small fire truck) and a cotton bud requires 1 gallon! Growing cotton accounts for 24 per cent of global insecticide use and is believed to account for one million cases of poisoning and as many as 20,000 deaths a year.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Eco – the most “woolly of all terms. It takes into account the environment, health of consumers and working conditions of the producers. It is not necessarily organic or fair trade.
Ethical – companies that follow the “Ethical Trading Standards” and subscribe to the following, no child labour, living wages to be paid and no discrimination of excessive working hours. However members are not obliged to meet these standards.
Fair trade – pays fair prices to producers reflecting true cost of production, promotes gender equality commits to long relationships to provide stability and invests in social and environmental projects.
Organic – not sprayed with pesticides, fungicides herbicides or chemical fertilizers, which is better for the environment and workers

HOW TO SHOP ETHICALLY?

Know before you go – get online and do your own research before you leave the house
Buy less cheap fashion – if someone is charging $10 for a top, think about where it was made, who made it and under what conditions
Ask about provenance of a garment – how, where, when was the product made?
Ask yourself whether a product is organic, renewable or recycled?
Recycle all the clothes you own already or organize a clothes swap with your friends

J Brand Green Label

2008-04-23T11:27:00.001-05:00

Promoting environmental awareness, J Brand introduces J Brand Green Label, offering your favorite fits with a smaller eco footprint. Two classic (and much beloved) J Brand styles, the Monroe Wide Leg and Love Story bell bottom, are crafted from organic cotton and culled from pesticide-free fields.

Each pair comes with an online exclusive Green Label canvas tote (pictured above) printed with helpful eco-living tips, which you can also check out here. Use the tote in lieu of plastic bags and make a difference, one bag at a time.

http://www.revolveclothing.com/brandpages/JBrand.jsp?&d=5&sc=Green+Label

Earth Day - The price of being "eco"

2008-04-23T09:12:00.002-05:00

"A silent tsunami which knows no borders sweeping the world".

That is how the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) summed up the global food shortages. An extra million people have been plunged into poverty due rising food prices across the world.

Why have food prices soared? The prices have risen due to high fuel costs and large demand for bio-fuels. Agricultural land is being used to grow biofuels, such as wheat, to meet the global demand led by China and India. This is land that would be be used to grow crops for food. In turn this also means less is available to be exported to countries which rely on food imports.

It is obvious now more than ever that a review is needed for bio-fuels policy. On Earth Day, when everyone should be thinking of ways to limit their carbon footprint, we should also remember to do this in a thoughtful and logical way.

The BBC has a some interesting statistics to report on the global food crisis. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7361945.stm

2008-04-14T10:24:00.001-05:00

The Future of Fashion?

You couldn’t have passed 2007 without wanting last year’s biggest selling bag. Anya Hindmarch’s “I’m not a Plastic bag” started out as $15 canvas bag. The bag retailed for 5 pounds in the UK but quickly fetched $400 Ebay. San Francisco just banned the use of plastic bags a few months back and Vogue recently spoke about the new "it" accessory of the season being a bag with sustainable style. Knock off’s of the bag quickly came into the market, proving that if you can’t appeal to people’s sense of morality, you can seduce them by making morality fashionable.

We each use 290 carrier bags every year. We continue to buy more and more clothes – and why wouldn’t we when a vest top costs less than a latte. Do we ever wonder how so little can be spent on design, manufacture, distribution, packaging and retail? If something is available s so cheaply, who’s really paying. Can the odd Fair Trade T-Shirt make up for our other more extravagant purchases? Every high street store is rolling out their own ethically aware line but is it any attempt to be seen to care and be aware? Can you really carry your conscience in a handbag.

Ecological and Ethical are now fashion’s biggest buzzwords: the hottest thing to have this season is conscience. Sales of fair trade cotton will increase by 50% in 2008. Everyone from H&M and Barney’s is going green. We can easily make planet, and people friendly choices that don’t compromise our style. We’re all socially conscious consumers now. Our desire for fashion has a positive effect in providing jobs for millions of people in the world’s poorest nations.

In February 2008, 29 major designers created one-of-a kind eco looks at Future Fashion Show in New York. Thanks to Earth Pledge (an non-profit organization) and Barney’s idea of having a group of major designers be equipped with a portfolio of innovative fabrics , including banana and pineapple plant materials (from South east Asia) man-made bioplastics (the United States) wood-plup derivatives (Austria) and hemp (China), organic fashion went from granola hugging to haute couture. On a wooden runway made from naturally felled SriLanken trees a crowd of fashion’s biggest names ogled sophisticated looks by the likes of YSL, Stella McCartney and Calvin Klein.

The fashion industry, long fearful of being called hypocritical, hasn’t exactly been the first to embrace green design. But with fashion as the second largest industrial consumer of water worldwide and cotton responsible for 25 percent of all chemical pesticide use, designers and fashionistas evrywhere are realizing it’s time to make a change.

International Ethical Fashion Show

2007-09-13T18:19:00.000-05:00

You all know about the last one so come and support this one. This time were are branching out from just fair trade in to an "Ethical Show" which encompasses eco chic.

The Ethical Fashion Industry is worth $80 million in UK alone and is growing rapidly in the USA too. Buying organic produce, hybrid cars, and fair trade coffee used to be cutting edge, but it's now common practice among environmentally conscious consumers to be eco fashionable too. It’s now chic to be green and with hemp, organic materials and ethnic jewelry all the rage, there is no better time for fashion to embrace social awareness. The mainstream fashion industry is actively looking for eco and fair trade brands, following a clear demand from consumers for more socially conscious clothing. The International Ethical Fashion Show is the first mainstream fashion, in Washington DC, to focus solely on ethical brands. With the right mix of international cultures, glamour, and development interest, Washington DC is fast becoming a premiere location to shop for ethical fashion brands.

The International Ethical Fashion show is proud to be supported by the Washington DC Fashion Council. The WDC Fashion Council was founded in 2006. Its mission is to brand DC as a consumer friendly destination by creating a thriving fashion industry, promoting the city's unique retailers and fashion designing talent and helping it's members grow their businesses.

Nicole Rochford - Graphic Designer

2007-09-13T17:51:00.000-05:00

I wanted to give a mention to up and coming graphic designer Nicole Rochford who designed our logo and is also designing the program for the International Ethical Fashion Show

Our logo was designed by Nicole Rochford. Nicole is a graphic designer based in Ottawa, Canada. Nicole's created this with a story behind the design. She says "it communicates protection of the circle behind the ribbons. Working well at a large and small scale, this logo offers the most versatility. In a softer green or gold, it becomes softer, perhaps a bit masculine, but is a strong logo".

www.nicoledesign.ca

Banana firm 'exploits migrants'

2007-05-23T09:26:00.001-05:00

It's sad to see that the actions of a few can tarnish the good work of so many.

The BBC reports that a leading supplier of fair trade fruit has been accused of exploiting Eastern European migrant workers in the UK. Workers at Pratt's Bananas in Luton, Beds, say they have to work excessive hours, six or seven days a week, and fear losing their jobs if they refuse.

It opens the debate about whether there is likely to be a black market in "fair trade" in the growing consumer concept of ethical buying.

2007-04-15T23:50:00.000-05:00

Priya in the Washington Post - April 15th 2007

Fair Trade Fashion: Items for Auction

2007-03-23T10:23:00.000-05:00

Ethical Shoes

2007-03-15T10:32:00.000-05:00

www.beyondskin.co.uk

The stylish but ethical vegan shoe company, Beyond Skin, which boasts Natalie Portman and Chrissie Hynde as fans. All their footwear is hand-made in England and produced in a manner that is non-exploitative to humans, animals and wherever possible the wider environment.

Beyond Skin was established by Natalie Dean in 2001. A former make-up artist in the music and fashion industry, she set up the label out of pure frustration; she found there were no footwear brands dedicated to designing style-led shoes for fashionable but also ethically conscious women.
The brand’s overall objective is to be the leading producer of fashionable, ethical footwear with an identifiable eco message to both businesses and consumers worldwide. Dean endeavours not to exploit animals, humans or wherever possible, the wider environment. Dean is attempting to eventually phase out the use of PU fabrics and replacing them with eco-friendly and organic alternatives. She is also pursuing the use of hemp plastics and other sustainable materials and is trying to raise awareness of non-leather alternatives. The shoes here have been developed for the exhibition and herald a new direction for Dean as she experiments with using old fabrics to create new shoes.

Press on F4D's Fair Trade Show with DC Fashion Week

2007-03-12T09:42:00.000-05:00

Daily Candy - 1 March 2006
Washingtonian article - 27 February 2007
PR Couture Article
FFP
Radar Magazine
Black College Magazine - 02/27/2007

Fashion For Development: Fair Trade Fashion Show

2007-03-07T16:16:00.000-05:00

DC Fashion Week Photos
Fashion Show Program

F4D Best & After

Knaf Couture - courtesy of An Van De Wal (www.lumierephotography.net)

Fair Trade Fashion Show - courtesy of An Van de Wal www.lumierephotography.net

F4D Fair Trade Fashion Show - Audience

What is the point of Fair Trade?

2007-03-06T10:28:00.000-05:00

Article and comment

London and Paris Fashion Week goes Ethical

2007-03-05T10:20:00.000-05:00

http://news.sawf.org/Fashion/33517.aspx#Priya

Paris Fashion Week has had an area devoted to ethical fashion since 2006 and features around 70 labels this year - www.ethicalfashionshow.com, including La Redoute

From lingerie and jewellery to handbags and shoes, ethical fashion is increasingly a la mode, as outfits on display at London Fashion Week showed Thursday.

Estethica is an area devoted to eco-friendly clothing which has been set up in the temporary tented village outside west London's Natural History Museum which is hosting fashion week, running until Friday.

Some 21 mainly young designers are showing off their work for the 2007 autumn/winter collection there, compared to 12 at September's spring/summer show.

To be included, they must meet at least one of three ecological golden rules: use fair trade products; use products which have been produced organically or use only recycled materials.

The aim is to show that it is possible to make cutting-edge clothes while being kind to the environment. Designers in the ethical range included Jewellery designer Vivien Johnston who sources her gold from mines in South America with strict rules on employment conditions and the environment. Another label, Makepiece, uses wool from its own herd of 60 sheep and 20 goats which graze metres from their base in the picturesque Yorkshire Dales town of Todmorden, northern England for a range in each of their collections.

Project Kenya: Faces behind the stories

2007-03-01T17:59:00.000-05:00

http://www.alfa8.com/wp/2007/02/26/kenya/

This is a short film that Illiad my partner on my recent trip to Kenya produced.
We visited the Khaame group, a community based initiative set up to help HIV orphaned children based in the Eastern Province of Kenya. The initiative has helped single parents by giving the women jobs making baskets and the men jobs weaving ropes. The profits they make on the selling of the baskets and ropes is then shared amongst the orphans and their families. In addition, on World AIDS day they make special HIV ribbons which you will see on the models and volunteers in the show.

The impact of the profit share isn’t just a direct benefit to the children’s life, but to everyone around them. Parents can afford to send their children to school, pay health costs and even educate themselves. In addition community based initiatives like this one are also teaching people how to save and manage their earnings and giving them access to newspapers or radios, little things that we take for granted.

The film presentation is entitled the Faces behind the stories and starts by presenting the community from which the Khaame basket weavers come from, and it ends by specific images of orphans and a family that have benefited as a result of the group’s efforts.

Initiatives like this give people the dignity to help themselves out of poverty, and in turn help those around them in the community. Young people can grow up knowing how to make a living instead of holding out their hands for charity. We can see that the small amount of money we spend on a piece of clothing or jewelry can have a massive impact on these producers, their family’s lives and their community lives.

Fair Trade Sports in F4D fashion show

2007-02-22T18:22:00.001-05:00

http://fairtradesports.com/

Fair Trade Fashion Show

2007-02-20T11:27:00.000-05:00

Fashion for Development at the World Bank, which I set up last year, is holding a fair trade fashion show in collaboration with IFC's Grassroots Business Initiative. The fashion show will feature designers and international retailers working with microfinance initiatives and fair trade in developing countries and is featured in DC Fashion Week.

I hope that you will come and support the event. For more information please contact me at fashionfordevelopment@gmail.com or visit www.dcfashionweek.org

Fashion Show - Pre-Party 1 February 2007

2007-01-31T10:43:00.000-05:00

We are holding a party to raise money and generate interest for the upcoming fair trade fashion show with DC fashion week on 28th February.

A recent interview for PR Couture Fashion Haute Spot

2006-12-20T12:00:00.000-05:00

Interview for PR Couture

Capelette - I love this

2006-12-19T17:02:00.000-05:00

Just had to share this item as I love it so much from Be Sweet (www.besweetproducts.com)

Great men's label: Fair Indigo

2006-12-19T16:54:00.000-05:00

I am always on the look out for new brands and came across Fair Indigo, their men's collection is great.

Fair Indigo has searched the world for the best factories and co-ops producing the highest quality clothing and accessories while paying their workers fairly and treating them with respect.

Rib 1/4-Zip Pullover - $49
This Peruvian factory understands fair trade. In addition to fair wages, employees earn a generous bonus each year as part of a profit-sharing program. In addition to paying fair wages, shares its profits with its employees, provides them a free hot lunch, and supplies free on-site medical care for workers and their families $49.00

Alpaca Long Scarf $39

Alpaca is the key to helping more than 150,000 of the poorest families in the Andes Mountain region of Peru who rely on the alpaca for their prime source of income. Many of these herders have recently banded together to sell to factories in bulk, cutting out middlemen and receiving a higher percentage of profits. Made in Arequipa, Peru.

www.fairindigo.com
In addition to paying workers fair wages Fair Indigo believe that the best way to help developing countries prosper is through education. As a result, they have established the Fair Indigo Foundation — a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving educational opportunities in the developing countries where their factories and co-ops are located.
Fair Indigo is donating 5% of its profits to the Foundation to support its educational projects and programs. Plus, 100% of the net proceeds from the Fair Indigo Logo Tee go directly to the Foundation’s programs.