fashion

Wash Less // Emma Rigby transforms taboo through ‘Energy Water Fashion’

July 26, 2010
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Wash Less // Emma Rigby transforms taboo through ‘Energy Water Fashion’

“Wearing unclean clothes is a social taboo. Yet behind this everyday routine there are some major resource, pollution and social problems.” (Designer Emma Rigby, Energy Water Fashion) Emma Rigby investigates the nature of behaviours and rituals surrounding fashion and clothing, allowing a cross-disciplinary approach to best practices in design to help mitigate the negative impact of excessive laundering, in her work Energy Water Fashion. Rigby has used her transdisciplinary approach toward design to create a line of projects that reduce environmental impact: “ach garment incorporates a unique design feature to encourage the wearer to wash the garment less often.”...

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Aware of What We Wear

May 18, 2010
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Aware of What We Wear

Aware of What We Wear: an Ethical Fashion Initiative by Samantha Reichman, Secretary of the Student Ethical Fashion Organization, The College of William and Mary How can fashion, a multibillion dollar flashy, frivolous, fickle industry, created to appeal to the whims of the consumer possibly be ETHICAL? Students of “Ethical Fashion” have discovered the answer to this question over the course of the 2009-2010 academic year. The Sharpe Community Scholars Program at The College of William and Mary originated a service-learning, seminar-style course called “Ethical Fashion”, taught by Professor Regina Root.  Designed for students interested in combining their concern...

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VIDEO//Parsons School of Fashion sits down with Mary Hanlon to talk Social Alterations and Responsible Design

April 27, 2010
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VIDEO//Parsons School of Fashion sits down with Mary Hanlon to talk Social Alterations and Responsible Design

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of sitting down with Tamara Albu, Director of the A.A.S. Fashion Design Program at Parsons School of Fashion in New York to discuss Social Alterations, and the work we’ve been doing in developing free, open-source curricula for students and educators. Tamara asked me to sit down with her more formally and explain the project so that students and faculty at Parsons might get to know who we are and the work that we are doing.   Speaking with Tamara in this virtual space was a complete honour, and I am...

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Toxic Chemicals in Personal Care Products: David Suzuki’s ‘Dirty Dozen’

April 19, 2010
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Toxic Chemicals in Personal Care Products: David Suzuki’s ‘Dirty Dozen’

Credit: jypsygen via Flickr. The David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) has compiled a list of toxic chemicals to avoid in personal care products.   Research has shown that “one in eight of the 82,000 ingredients used in personal care products are industrial chemicals, including carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive toxins, endocrine disruptors, plasticizers, degreasers, and surfactants.” (DSF) You’ll notice that Formaldehyde has made the list. Please note that this chemical, a known human carcinogen, is widely used in permanent press fabric.   Here’s who made the list: BHA or BHT // Siloxanes // DEA // Dibutyl Phthalate // Formaldehyde-releasing Preservatives // Fragrance...

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Fashion High// Educating Youth on Responsible Fashion Consumption

April 14, 2010
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Fashion High// Educating Youth on Responsible Fashion Consumption

 I recently had the pleasure of stepping in as a guest speaker at Balmoral Jr. Secondary School, in North Vancouver (BC, Canada), to talk responsible fashion consumption with a fantastic group of Grade 10’s (thanks Ms. Thomson!). Why? We got to talking recently at SA about how many of the resources we’re aggregating for fashion designers/students/educators are easily translated into resources for youth (pre-16). In fact, thanks to groups like Fashioning an Ethical Industry and TRAID (to name just a couple), so many resources on responsible fashion dedicated to students within this age bracket already exist. Because we want to...

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FASHION EVOLUTION

April 13, 2010
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FASHION EVOLUTION

Our friends over at Re-dress in Ireland have been BUSY! In less than one month, Re-dress will present FASHION EVOLUTION, Ireland’s 3rd ethical fashion week: “Fashion Evolution aims to re-vitalise the spirit of the Irish fashion industry, with a schedule of exciting events catering for consumers, producers, retailers and supporters of fashion alike.” (Re-dress) “Our mission is to provide the Irish fashion sector with the tools needed to make more sustainable fashion choices.” (Re-dress) We don’t think they’ll have any trouble accomplishing this goal–just take a look at what they have planned! What: Re-dress ETHICAL FASHION CALENDAR LAUNCH When:...

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Eco Chic – Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion

April 8, 2010
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Eco Chic – Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion

“The fashion industry faces major challenges in both resources and labor, but designers featured in the Eco Chic exhibition strive to change the general attitude of fashion and consumption.” (Scandinavian House, on Eco Chic) Will you be in New York sometime this year? If so, you are in luck with so many exhibits, instillations, seminars and talks surrounding responsible design in the fashion industry, including a lecture by Matilda Tham on “Metadesigning Fashion – Scenarios for Sustainable Fashion Futures” (see below). You may remember we have spoken on Matilda Tham before on SA, as she and Nadira presented their...

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Sseko Designs: Social Change through Responsible Business

April 8, 2010
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Sseko Designs: Social Change through Responsible Business

Janette Crawford, who runs one of our favourite blogs, fashion loves people, has shared a wonderful interview she had originally done for KCFreePress.com. The interview is with Liz Bohannon, founder of Sseko Designs, an organization working to provide women with tuition money they need to attend college in Uganda through social enterprise. I encourage you to head over to fashion loves people straight away to check out the full interview. I wanted to share this video clip with you here, as a source of encouragement. Liz Bohannon speaks passionately on the power of social enterprise in creating sustainable change—her...

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Interview with Hare+Hart

April 5, 2010
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Interview with Hare+Hart

As I had mentioned in a previous post, I emailed Hare+Hart some interview questions which they promptly answered.  Company founders, Jennie Engelhardt and Emily Harrison, are doing some very inspiring work in the leather business and have taken the time out of their busy schedule (including moving and preparing for a two month trip to Argentina to work on their upcoming line) to answer our questions.  Thank you Hare+Hart. SA:  Let’s start at the beginning, how did you end up in Argentina making leather garments? H+H:  There are more cows living in Argentina than people.  Historically, Argentine culture is centered around...

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Call for Entries// The Earth Awards

March 26, 2010
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Call for Entries// The Earth Awards

The Earth Awards is a global search for creative solutions designed for the 21st Century. The award represents six categories: Built Environment, Product, Future, Systems, Fashion, and Social Justice. Dilys Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, has been included in the Selection Committee, and will be judging the Fashion category, along with other designers, architects, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, humanitarians, environmentalists and spiritual leaders. Here is the mission of the awards: Human imagination and ingenuity are the impetus of every good design. All across the world, people from every walk of life are generating...

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