colour.me
nยบ 1 1
the black issue
special thanks Silene Kas, Vinicius Cipriano, Noelle Rodrigues, Luis Parisi, Ana Albanez
Dear readers,
Welcome to the first ever issue of colour.me, a fashion and lifestyle magazine with the mission to promote conscious consumerism. Conceived and developed in an effort to better understand the issues related to our time, it takes pride in fostering environmentally and socially responsible brands, studios and designers that integrate an accurate sense of aesthetics to their products, with creativity and innovation in their processes. An independent magazine, colour.me will use the power of fashion in projecting self and identity to propose the creation of an aspirational lifestyle, in which, through clothes that conduct and connect our senses, consumers will be able to embrace a long-term mindset. It will shape consumerism and fashion to serve as a base to draw together a greater and original scenario, where not only fashion consumers can emerge from current practices with stronger and more focused visions, but also with a new sense of values integrated into their lifestyles. As a publication truly dedicated to a more balanced, satisfying, and meaningful approach to life, colour.me will create a space to reflect and explore new horizons in fashion and culture to disseminate information and fuel interventions, experiences and the collective construction of new ways of living. A catalyser of change and a source for innovative actions from around the world, colour.me will present current topics through an original perspective, determined to go underneath surfaces to encourage stimulating discussions on its pages. Motivated to please its readers’ minds with new ideas, it will address present issues with curious eyes and an authentic, profound consideration of cultural values. The space between sustainability and fashion is an area with a lot of potential to produce new technologies and stimulate innovation, turning fashion, consciously and responsibly, into an important agent of change. The idea is not to achieve sustainability by attempting to wear clothing specifically labeled as eco, or green, or sustainable, but instead by shaping one’s personal style. In choosing to focus on style rather than trends, people can easily reach more sustainable practices and fulfill their desires to be unique in their self-expression. I invite you to join on this journey, to read and be inspired by the pieces in this issue, in which Brazil is in a place of honor, as it has shown great potential in changing lifestyles and moving fashion towards inspiring futures. Moreover, this issue will be highlighting how exemplary brands and designers are approaching to ethical and sustainable fashion with creativity, sharing their vision and business practices. I hope you will appreciate! Welcome to colour.me! Eloisa Artuso
Founder & Creative Director
Kowtow,
from New Zeland, works with 100% certified fairtrade organic clothing, ethically and sustainably made.
images: Kowtow
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Contents.
Fashion
Brands Overview 6 Thinking of Accessories 20 Shop: Centre Commercial 26
Brazil
Profile: Luiz Parisi 32 Des.Consumir 40 Add Value 42
Lifestyle
Millennials 50 Profile: Bรกsica Studio 56 Move.me 60
Next Season
NY Fashion Shows 64
images: Osklen, winter 2013
Fashion.
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Fashion.
Osklen. Osklen, based in Rio de Janeiro, is a brand that reinforces its image and identity with a Brazilian soul, and has its work grounded on the experimentation of new materials originated from sustainable processes. For this reason, since 2007 Osklen has been using e-fabrics, which comprehends materials and fabrics from sustainable, renewable or recyclable sources with low environmental impact during their production processes. The maintenance of cultural and traditional diversity as well as the promotion of ethical relationships with workers and local communities allied to commercial and economic viability are also values incorporated to the e-fabrics.
opposite page: Osklen, winter 2013
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Fashion.
Studio Jux. Studio Jux strongly values and supports good working conditions, and allies craftsmanship to sustainable materials to create every collection. Studio Jux’s designer moved to Nepal, where the brand has established its own factory to produce most part of clothing and, at the same time, to guarantee the Fair Wear Foundation’s labour standards. Since Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, it makes a relevant difference to bring employment to the capital, Kathmandu. The brand also shares the profile of the eight tailors who work at the factory on Studio Jux website aiming at approximating producers and consumers through clothes.
opposite page: Studio Jux, winter 2013/2014
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Fashion.
13 images: Studio Jux, winter 2013/2014
Honest by. 14
Fashion.
images: Honest by Bruno Pieters
Launched
in 2012 by Bruno Pieters, Honest by offers products with 100% transparency in price and manufacturing, creating a new paradigm in fashion retail. It is the first company in the world to share the full cost breakdown of its products. The concept behind Honest by is to trade collections from established and upcoming designers on a public platform, where they can share their own design processes and production information, from yarn and button origin to fabric and manufacturing details, including mark up calculations. An extensive research is conducted into the sources of the raw materials to be certain that every element in each garment is as environmentally friendly as possible.
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Calla. 16
Fashion.
Calla Haynes was born in Toronto and has been living in Paris for the past 8 years. In 2010 Calla was a finalist for the prestigous ANDAM award in 2010, France's largest prize for young fashion designers. In may 2012, Haynes was nominated again, this time for 2 ANDAM awards, the ANDAM Fashion AWARD and the First Collection Award. Prints are the foundation of every Calla’s collection. Honest by CALLA was Haynes' winter 2013 collaboration and Calla's first collection for both men and women, with 100% transparency, made in the most luxurious organic cotton and completely manufactured in Europe.
images: Honest by Calla, winter 2013
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Nicolas Andreas Taralis.
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Fashion.
Nicolas Andrea Taralis has worked at various Maisons, including assisting Christian Dior's Hedi Slimane with Dior Homme and presenting a collection for Cerruti. Taralis' vocational training has marked his personal design aesthetic, leading to the launch of his own label in 2004. Taralis´ label prides itself on maintaining its production in Europe, concentrating on research and experimentation with new fabrications. Taralis develops every piece he makes in a very organic and intuitive way, bringing an emotional quality to his work. This is the result of his collaboration for Honest by.
images: Honest by Nicolas Andreas Taralis
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Thinking of accessories. illustrations by Silene Kas
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Fashion.
Veja Veja was established in 2004 by Sébastien Kopp and François-Ghislain Morillion, and represents a new business model based on ethics and sustainability throughout its entire chain. The brand was set up to work directly with small producer co-operatives in Brazil, using materials such as organic cotton from Ceará, Amazonian rubber and acaciatanned leather to create sneakers and accessories for the European market. From the Brazilian fields to European shops, the company aims to achieve high social and environmental standards, promoting ecofarming and creating fair working conditions to support poor families. Moreover, it follows up the philosophy with social projects back in France. This holistic approach reaches every part of the supply chain, including transportation by a French social charity, recyclable packaging and use of renewable energy in the head office. Veja began by making one classic style called the Tauer, which has been its best selling trainer since the beginning. Along the years, the brand has slowly diversified and now it offers 12 trainer styles for men, women, children and babies. In 2010, Veja launched the Numero Deux project, which comprises a collection of acacia-tanned, leather and organic cotton canvas bags, wallets, and other accessories.
WeWood WeWood’s has emerged out of Italy as an emblem of eco-luxury and design, made from sustainably harvested or reclaimed wood, are a fusion of artisanal craftsmanship and modern technology. In collaboration with the American Forests organization, for every watch sold, WeWood plants a tree. The woods used are recyclable, biodegradable, toxic-free, and lasts forever. Besides requiring less fossil fuels than conventional watch materials such as gold, silver, platinum, or stainless steel, wood also traps carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In addition, according to the brand, for every tree used, 10 more are planted in its place.
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Fashion.
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Fashion.
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Shop: Centre Commercial
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Fashion.
Centre Commercial is the first shop established by the French shoes and accessories brand Veja. Located in Porte Saint-Martin, it comprises a collective cultural space that showcases Veja products and host talks and art exhibitions highlighting social and environmental issues following the brand’s philosophy. The Paris based concept store combines fashion with social commitment and artistic project with environmental concerns, Centre Commercial is a space infused by varied influences. It offers labels made in France, Great Britain and Denmark and houses second-hand bicycles, vintage furniture and art works, uniting local, social and environmental initiatives.
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Fashion.
image from: www.centrecommercial.cc
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Fashion.
images from: www.centrecommercial.cc
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Profile: Luiz Parisi
Talented upcoming artist from S達o Paulo, Luiz Parisi has based his work on recycling and reusing materials with an amazing creativity. His unique collages have been seen around the city on walls and exclusive bespoke furnitures.
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Brazil.
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Meu trabalho consiste em transformar paredes e móveis através da colagem, utilizando papéis de parede e de presente, todos vintage. Os padrões ou desenhos criados condizem com a personalidade e o estilo do cliente; devem enobrecer e trazer beleza ao ambiente. Tudo começou com um armário horrível que comprei pelo espaço interno e resolvi cobrir as portas com papel de presente vintage. Então, fiz as paredes do apartamento onde moro e, a partir disso, as pessoas começaram a me pedir. Por outro lado, para as intervenções sobre posters que encontro em caçambas de entulho, eu utilizo recortes de revistas. Tento ao máximo utilizar matérias-primas que foram descartadas ou esquecidas pelas pessoas. Tábuas, gavetas, posters, as revistas e os próprios papéis. No momento, estou desenvolvendo 4 biombos para o próximo SP ECOERA, evento de moda e lifestyle sustentável que acontecerá em novembro em São Paulo. Depois deste projeto, quero focar nas muitas gavetas que garimpei. Criarei pequenos nichos estampados para serem usados como prateleiras ou altares, com preços acessíveis a todos. Luiz Parisi
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Brazil. image: Parisi’s wall collage
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Brazil.
image: Parisi’s wall collage detail
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39 image: Parisi’s wall collage
Des.Consumir Artigo por Ana Albanez
É, chega uma hora que a consciência pesa... Uma única pessoa não precisa ter dois pares de sapatos quase iguais, com a única diferença de um ter salto 10 e o outro 15. Essa mesma pessoa também não precisa de 67 anéis pratas (e que por falta de coragem, nem contou os dourados). Então, essa pessoa é a mesma que resolveu contar os itens do seu guarda roupa, e entendeu que o consumismo não está a levando a lugar algum. Por isso, criei o projeto desconsumir. O plano inicial era desintoxicar, ficando 90 dias sem comprar nenhum item supérfluo (leia-se roupas, acessórios, bolsas, sapatos, esmaltes, maquiagens…), só itens de sobrevivência humana e de higiene. Os de higiene também tem limite, nada de um deslize na passadinha pela perfumaria só para comprar desodorante e sair com 4 cremes de cabelo, 2 shampoos, 2 tipos de algodão, 1 acetona extra, bem desses surtos que a gente
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Brazil.
acaba tendo quando tem um cartão na mão e um desejo interno de consumir qualquer coisa desse vasto universo feminino. Consumir acaba sendo, lá longe, uma necessidade, vira vício. Um tempo livre, um momento de passeio, uma visitinha na sua aba de favoritos na parte “compras”, e um dinheiro na conta, pronto, passos curtos para consumir de imediato. Comprar por comprar, por ter aquele item essencial (ahãn) no guarda-roupa. Então, depois de ter entendido tudo isso, achei melhor parar com essa história de gastar, e olhar para o que tenho e aproveitar. Vamos exercer essa cabeça (que não é só para colocar lenços, turbantes, tiaras e afins) e botar a criatividade para funcionar. Resolvi “desenterrar” peças que há tempos nem olhava e comecei a usar, às vezes, elas soam como novas. Reciclar também faz parte, pegar a peça e dar uma reformada, roubar uma camiseta do namorado e transformar numa regata, usar a blusa furada na barra por dentro da saia (ninguém vai ver que ela tá furada mesmo), e buscar referências, afinal de contas, a cabeça pensa. Desde que criei o desconsumir recebi, além de muitos incentivos para conseguir superar os 90 dias, mensagens de pessoas que também entraram no desafio. E que me mandam seus relatos de “tentação”. Virou meio um AA dos consumistas descrontrol. Interessante saber que você não é a única que comete suicídio com seu suado dinheirinho. Além desse desafio pessoal, o desconsumir vem para somar a consciência de consumo excessivo em todos os sentidos. E também para entender o que podemos fazer, depois desse consumo frenético, com as aquisições. Aquelas peças que não usa mais, vai fazer o que com elas? Bota pra reciclar! Troca com as amigas, ou faz um bazar. Fiz alguns; além de não comprar, também tirei do armário peças que não uso, e assim enxerguei melhor o que tem de “usável” e como diz minha mãe: circula a energia. Acredito que o desconsumir veio me ensinar a deixar de lado o consumo em excesso, aprendi a controlar os impulsos e pensar com consciência, me organizar e traçar prioridades. Não quero ser a chata sustentável, que vai viver com as mesmas peças durante 10 anos, longe disso. Só senti a necessidade de olhar com mais cuidado para minhas atitudes diante de mim mesma. Resolvi dar a minha cara pra bater, porque sei, que assim como eu, existem várias pessoas que não conseguem se controlar sozinhas, e pra isso tem o “desabafo”, meu blog, onde abro minhas angústias e aflições sobre o dia a dia de quem comprava muito mais do que o necessário.
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Add value. Article by Eloisa Artuso
How young and innovative designers are adding new values to their products and moving fashion towards more sustainable futures in Brazil
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There is a current desire for authenticity and quality combined to sustainable materials and ethical production processes, that is redefining fashion in Brazil. Economic, social and environmental challenges are influencing the world and changing the way business have been done so far, thus it is the right time to look for rich opportunities across the country. Strategies and new production models are being designed to help entrepreneurs take actions that will protect their future, the environment and improve suppliers, brands and consumers’ lives. Sustainable and ethical practices, as well as the return to traditional crafts, have been adopted all around the country as a validation of quality and as means to add new values to products, transforming sustainability into something economically viable and profitable. This article is an overview on what some of the young and innovative designers are proposing as new perceptions of value, and developing creative narratives that enable stronger connections between products and consumers. It shows how different opportunities and new solutions can encourage the Brazilian fashion industry to make positive and significant changes towards more sustainable futures. These up-and-coming designers and entrepreneurs are promoting the image of a new lifestyle, and slowly engaging more stakeholders, encouraging collaborations between different initiatives and agents in society. In Porto Alegre, South Brazil, the fashion designer Helen RÜdel, brings techniques from the past into the present. Helen and her business partner are very interested in the development of well designed and long lasting weaved garments; and by bringing together contemporary design with traditional craftsmanship techniques, they have settled the brand with a good position in the fashion market. The designer presents only one collection a year of delicate and carefully handmade products, which she develops very closely to artisans in order to support long-term social and environmental relationships.
image: Helen RĂśdel, MMXII collection
Flavia Aranha, based in SĂŁo Paulo, is interested in expressing her own lifestyle through her clothes with a timeless style, rather than following fashion trends. Her production processes are based on natural dye techniques, made with leaves, tree barks and herbs. Accessories made with fish skin and glass are also part of her collections. The designer works in partnership with craftspeople to bring a variety of materials and traditional techniques to
her products, combining them to a contemporary design with a Brazilian soul. Flavia Aranha products are exported to some countries in Europe and Japan. Zerezes is a new design collective formed by four young designers that see material’s disposal with a different look, bringing new meanings to what is no longer useful and transforming the end of life of products. Their first project presents sunglasses
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Brazil.
made of discarded wood, which reflects a desire for developing products with low environmental impact and a high sensory impact. Combining technology to environmental responsibility, and a careful manual process, all products are made one by one in order to ensure quality, durability and a unique aesthetic.
handwork, offering projects upon graphic and product design, including skateboards, bikes and backpacks. The brand proposes the development of ideas and products with a contemporary aesthetic properly addressed to current economic, social and environmental challenges. The designers aim at connecting Itsu’s products to people who look for a more sustainable lifestyle.
Itsu represents the combination of a design studio and a workshop that allies creativity to
image: Zerezes
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Brazil.
images: Zerezes
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Brazil.
all images: Itsu
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Millennials. Article by Eloisa Artuso
The catalysers of big changes
opposite page: illustration by Silene Kas
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Lifestyle.
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Young people are a barometer of social change, and as the author of Grown Up Digital, Don Tapscott says, this generation is remaking every institution of modern life, from the workplace to the marketplace, from politics to education, and down to the basic structure of the family. Youth see as its responsibility to engage in promoting change, and in effectively making positive difference in society, thus Millennials have an active role in establishing its culture and defining what the world will be like in the future. This generation is developing and spreading its own way of thinking and acting through digital technologies, and it will be very influential in constructing new lifestyles and promoting social transformations. Nowadays, young people represent a growing search for positive change, making an interest over social responsibility and engagement is one of its priorities. Young generation wants to connect their work with personal fulfillment, and this powerful combination should be considered a success in life. When work and happiness walk side by side, the new social environment is less focused on the individual, and more on the new collective gathering of the community. Millennials are also the faces of a new economy supported by open source, crowd funding platforms and independent initiatives with the power of Internet and its immeasurable impact and reach. Internet allows personal contents to gain gigantic dimensions and because of this digital and collective mindset, the young generation will affect the way people produce and work in the future. As they represent new languages and behaviours, youth can be directly influential on consumer habits as well. They are aspirational for those who are younger and inspirational for those who are older. Millennials also have considerable buying power when compared to previous generations and they influence each other and other
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Lifestyle.
generations in new ways, and traditional media are almost ineffective in reaching them and the way they make their buying choices. Millennials and their buying power Connected to each other by their gadgets and social networks, young people are, for example, interested in making difference by creating a new product that thinks about recycling or sustainability; or transforming the environment with new ideas. As consumers, they want to be ‘prosumers’ (the combination of consumer and producer, the term was coined by Alvin Toffler in 1980) – co-innovating products and services with brands, they value different characteristics of products and services, and they want companies to create rich experiences. Companies have been using more and more the Internet as a means to gather information from their target audiences and then improve products or services; consequently, the virtual space works as a free two-way dialogue between brands and consumers. Engaged consumers can become agents of positive changes in fashion industry, by helping and pushing brands to make the right choices and improvements in relation to the production of goods, based on real social and environmental needs. Millennials proved to be active consumers willing to contribute, co-create and co-build a brand, a product or a service. This generation wants to buy things anyplace, where and when they want, while helping shape the brand, and the product, where integrity will be one of the key elements to build consumer loyalty. Prosumers are keen adopters of online products and services, as the Web is a space that combine innovation, global marketplaces, and advanced technologies, changing completely the way people buy, retailers sell, and products are marketed. Social networking and other Internet-based tools and services allow people to stay connected whenever and wherever they desire, and for this reason, companies are becoming friends with online
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consumers by listening to what they have to say about their product or service. It is this connected lifestyle to which young prosumers are enthusiastic and early adopters. Young people and the collective power in Brazil This generation is engaging politically and sees government as a key tool for making changes and improving society, empowered by the gigantic reach of Internet, they are becoming influential social activists. They are the first to grow up with a powerful tool of unprecedented power to inform, engage, and mobilize their generation, youth is trying to achieve social changes by rethinking and remaking family, educational, professional, and economic and institutions. Emerging countries where social disparities are more evident, such as Brazil, urge the youth to act in a faster pace to transform their concerns into action. Currently, the country is experiencing a widespread social turbulence, where over one million people took the streets in about 70 cities across the country. Mostly young people marched along the cities’ main roads holding up posters with several political and social change demands. The protests began in June 2013, led by the Movimento Passe Livre (Free Fare Movement) against a R$ 0,20 increase in the Sao Paulo bus fare. However, the protests have moved forward and led youth to realize the urgent need to confront the Brazilian government in regards to other important issues such as economic equality, political reforms, and better public healthcare and education systems. The capture of the streets marks the return of the collective capacity to act and to create new political meanings. The protests, arranged mostly by university students through social media campaigns demonstrated that the youth, organised through Facebook and Twitter, played a fundamental role in shaping public opinion and using
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Lifestyle.
the Internet for social engagement. Young Brazilians strengthened their social bonds and created a strong sense of civic engagement and collective empowerment. The project O Sonho Brasileiro, developed by Box 1824, shows that people between 18 and 24 years old represent 25 million people and belong to the first globalized generation of Brazilians, and it refers to the term “new collective”, which represents a generalized feeling that restructures the way people act in the world, people who believe in small daily changes to impact positively in a local community everyday life. These young Brazilians, who already work for the collective well being, correspond to 2 million people, and take the role of catalysers of ideas, generating a new kind of influence between people and institutions. In 2012, the One Young World commissioned a global research under the theme of behaving in an ethical and responsible way within a broad political and economical landscape. It was developed among young people between 20 and 29 years old in 12 different countries, including Brazil. Some of the findings include that whereas most people in developing countries like China and India agree with the statement ‘environmental problems are a price worth paying for economic prosperity’; most people in Brazil disagree with it. Although Brazil is part of the BRIC developing countries, this contradictory statistics are also shown on the Yale University’s Environmental Sustainability Index, where the country is ranked as the 11th in the world on a series of measures to reduce environmental impacts, whereas India and China are ranked 101st and 133rd.
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Profile: Bรกsica Studio Based in Mexico, Bรกsica Studio was created by a group of friends that design and restore stylish bicycles.
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Lifestyle.
57 image: Bรกsica Studio
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Lifestyle.
images: Bรกsica Studio
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move. me illustrations by Silene Kas
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New York: Spring 2014 Fashion Shows 64
Next Season.
65 image: Calla’s Spring 2014 show, from style.com
Calla 08/09/2013 - Calla Haynes presents an ode to earlynineties surf culture on her Spring 2014 collection. The 90’s mood was revealed through colours and shapes such as a silhouette inspired by Body Glove's classic onepiece maillot, a neon-green swimsuit with an exposed zipper up the front, and an original skater dress made of an extremely thin fabric called Alcantara, which was ink-jet-printed with a lavender design and then crinkled. Alcantara is an innovative material made under ethical and social awareness with respect to the environment.
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Next Season.
image:s Calla’s Spring 2014 show, from style.com
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Cushnie et Ochs 06/09/2013 – For this season, DuPont announced the collaboration with Cushnie et Ochs, which showcased designs made with the renewably sourced SoronaŽ fibres. Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs, the CFDA/Vogue finalists took inspiration from straitjackets, and thus did binding, belting, and strapping make their way into the brand's image. The designers used the versatile, easy-tocare-for fabrics enhanced with Sorona to create 5 pieces: a sliced, one-piece swimsuit, a pale grey fitted strap jacket, a violet-purple dress, a white double-belted feather weight flare skirt and a black side-belt wide-leg pant. DuPont’s Sorona fibre is made in part from annually renewable plant-based ingredients, and its production requires 30% less energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 63% compared to the production of an equal amount of nylon. By replacing a traditionally petrochemical-based ingredient with one made with a renewably sourced material, designers can offer their consumers high fashion with an approach to sustainability.
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Next Season.
images: Cushnie et Ochs’ Spring 2014 show, from style.com
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Edun 08/09/2013 – Edun is the ethically sourced brand founded in 2005 by U2's Bono and his wife Ali Hewson, and is part of the Kering group (former LVMH). Danielle Sherman, the new creative director, came to give a different course to Edun’s image; redefining everything, from products to logo, with strong ideas to make it more than a do-good brand. As with much socially responsible fashion, not enough attention was paid to the actual clothes; however, as great as it is to buy ethically produced goods, consumers will only buy them, if they look good. Sherman's new definition of Edun is about "flattening" the silhouette: shirts, blazers and coats are collarless, given dimension through piping on pajama blouses and a handwoven basket weave on a crop top. Sherman is working with artisans throughout the world to develop the collection, she’s been to Africa to get the company's factories there on track with her new vision for the brand, so the strength of Edun's clothes can match the strength of its mission.
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Next Season.
images: Edun’s Spring 2014 show, from style.com
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