This week saw the great and the good of fashion descend on the capital for London Fashion Week but amongst the frocks and flashbulbs there were encouraging signs that the industry is starting to take sustainability seriously. One of the biggest surprises was the numbers that turned out for the Reclaim to Wear show – a label headed up by From Somewhere designer, Orsola de Castro, and works on collaborative projects with everyone from M.I.A to Central Saint Martins. The label focuses on upcycling and using the industry’s unwanted surplus materials to create new and exciting pieces. The textile and fashion industry has long been vilified as particularly wasteful, but brands such as Reclaim to Wear are helping to reduce unnecessary production, limit environmental damage and prevent unwanted fabrics from ending up in a landfill or incinerator.
Working together with Central Saint Martins, Reclaim to Wear’s creative director Orsola de Castro challenged teams of second-year BA students to design and make an ethical, upcycled capsule collection. De Castro’s brief was simple: create a blend of catwalk and commercial pieces using only stock, remnants and off-cuts as material. The student’s designs were then presented to a judging panel made up of some of the biggest names in British fashion, including Anna Orsini, Jessica Bumpus and Cecilia Chancellor. The panel’s favourite pieces are now on display at the Estethica section of the London Fashion Week exhibition, located at Somerset House. So, if you’re interested in what the future of green fashion looks like, go see for yourself.
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GREEN LIVING Fashion special: And this season’s colour is… green From local manufacturing to natural textiles, times are changing in the fashion industry. What’s more, the new look eco fashion isn’t just green – it’s seriously cool as well. Ruth Styles reports from London and Copenhagen |
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GREEN LIVING The Ecologist meets… Orsola de Castro The designer and Estethica founder chats to Ruth Styles about upcycling, showcasing new green talent and why eco-design has earned its place at the top table of British fashion |
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GREEN LIVING PHOTO GALLERY: Copenhagen Fashion Week Whether organic cotton, local wool or Scottish cashmere, textiles were all natural, with Danish designers proving that sustainability and style can mix, says Ruth Styles |
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GREEN LIVING The Ecologist meets... Copenhagen's The Baand In part one of our Copenhagen Fashion Week special, Ruth Styles talks sustainable style with Stine Bauer Boskov and Julie Villumsen – the brains behind hot Danish eco-brand, The Baand |
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GREEN LIVING Safia Minney: fashion’s impact on the earth In an exclusive extract from her new book - Naked Fashion - the People Tree founder looks at the environmental damage caused by modern fashion – and sketches out a radical new way forward |
