Inspired by Braille, Laure Paschoud’s Ethical Garments are a Tactile Treat
by Kirin Rinehart, 02/22/12
IOU Project’s Kavita Parmar Offers New Business Model for Ethical Fashion
by Summer Rayne Oakes, Source4Style, 02/20/12
Ecouterre is the official media sponsor of DIY With IOU. Enter now at Source4Style to become the IOU Project’s next ethical designer!
The IOU Project isn’t just another fashion label; it’s also a revolution, an experiment in rethinking how goods are produced and sold in a way that benefits both people and the planet. Summer Rayne Oakes, co-founder of Source4Style, sat down with Kavita Parmar, IOU’s founder and creative director, to learn what goes into the creation of an IOU garment, why complete traceability is the core of her company’s mission, and how social networking is bringing artisan communities closer to the developed world.
Dame Vivienne Westwood: People Look Ugly Wearing “Disposable Crap”
“People have never looked so ugly as they do today. We just consume far too much.. I’m talking about all this disposable crap. What I’m saying is buy less, choose well. Don’t just suck up stuff so everybody looks like clones. Don’t just eat McDonald’s, get something a bit better. Eat a salad. That’s what fashion is. It’s something that is a bit better.”
—Designer …
Stella McCartney Explains Why She Doesn’t Use Leather in PETA Video
It’s widely known that Stella McCartney doesn’t use fur in her collections. Less touted, perhaps, is the vegan designer’s rejection of leather. In a new video from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, timed to coincide with New York Fashion Week, McCartney explains why she shed the use of animal skins. Leather isn’t a by-product of the meat industry, she says, but an important co-product that contributes directly to the ills of factory farming. But although PETA planned to run a truncated version of the PSA on taxi screens across Manhattan, fashion’s tastemakers will not, in fact, be schooled by McCartney between shows.
The “Flourish Approach” Uses Modular Construction to Unite Local Skills on a Global Front
For Sarah Dixon and Danielle Sponder Testa, what began as musings on sustainability soon evolved into a business model. The designers, who met as students at the London College of Fashion, developed the “Flourish Approach” to bring together community skills and resources from across the planet. By creating interchangeable components using techniques as varied as Estonian folk-knitting, Mayan weaving, and African batik, then seaming them together in one central location, Dixon and Testa envision modular garments that offer innumerable opportunities for customization.
Titania Inglis Wins 2012 Ecco Domani Award for Sustainable Design
Photos by Evan Browning
Hearty congratulations to Titania Inglis, winner of the 2012 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award for Sustainable Design, an honor that was previously bestowed to Tara St. James of Study NY, John Patrick of Organic, and Bodkin’s Eviana Hartman. The award, which comes with a $25,000 grant, is a major coup for any designer, particularly one as young as Inglis, who debuted her eponymous label with a lineup of rust-dyed, vintage-inspired playsuits in early 2010. Since her breakout collection, Inglis has come into her own, creating crisp, impeccably tailored looks that are as sustainable as they are immaculate.
Dame Vivienne Westwood Pledges £1 Million to Tackle Climate Change
Dame Vivienne Westwood has never been one to shy away from a sound byte, but the doyenne of British fashion is finally putting her money where her mouth is. After voicing frustration over the World Bank’s failure to distribute funds earmarked for climate change, Westwood announced she was giving £1 million ($1.55 million) of her own cash to prevent logging in the rainforests of Borneo, the Congo Basin, and Peru. Speaking on the eve of United Nations climate talks in South Africa on Monday, the designer criticized World Bank officials for sitting on the £4.2 billion ($6.5 billion) Climate Investment Funds, which was established in 2008 to help developing countries confront the effects of global warming by 2012.
Valérie Pache Creates Whimsical Dresses From Recycled Paraglider Sails
Valérie Pache is the wing beneath our wings…paraglider wings, that is. The French designer turns castoff parachutes, retired paraglider sails, and end-of-roll fabrics into sartorial flights of fancy. “This material is there, there’s a lot of it, and it’s free,” Pache says in a video interview with Shamengo. “And to offer it a second life—a good life—is something I can really put a lot of myself into.”
Manolo Blahnik, M. Patmos Make Eco-Friendly Shoes From Waste Tilapia Skins, Cork
A eco-friendly Manolo Blahnik shoe isn’t something we expected to see in our lifetime, but stranger things have happened. The luxury shoemaker, name-checked by Sarah Jessica Parker on Sex and the City, has teamed up with award-winning designer Marcia Patmos to create a collection of sandals for spring. Made from discarded tilapia skins, cork, and raffia, the two styles—a double-strap flat and a sophisticated open-toed pump—will be available in a combination of electric blue, black, ecru, and fluorescent yellow.
Join Us Tonight for the “Healthy Food In Fashion” Gala to Benefit NYC’s Youth
Come out in style for a healthy cause on Wednesday, October 12, as the NY Coalition for Healthy School Food throws its annual “Healthy Food in Fashion” fall gala. Hosted by radio personality Robin Quivers, the event will feature vegan treats from 24 vendors, along with cruelty-free styles from the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Heather Mills, VPL by Victoria Bartlett, John Bartlett, Novacas for Brave GentleMan, Thieves by Sonja den Elzen, Olsenhaus, Angelrox, Cri de Coeur, DLC Brooklyn, Vaute Couture, GUNAS, and Study NY by Tara St. James.
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