With the launch of the Ethical Fashion Source Expo, sponsored by and held along side the RITE conference, finally, London – and with it the UK – has a dedicated trade show in support of ethical sourcing, offering a wide range of products: from fabrics to accessories, fairtrade manufacturers that only work with organic cotton, silk co-operatives and much more. (full exhibitors list)
And that the event hit the nerve of its time was evident judging by the stream of visitors: A total of close to a 1000 visitors was counted, and the queue of visitors waiting to be handed their badges only finally seemed to shrink for good in the late afternoon.
Conversation were lively, focused and – even in the case of those just browsing the show – well informed and productive. The hourly seminars – well visited, but it needs to be seen how much of a lasting impact they had on the attendants – ran smoothly with not a single nasty technical surprise.
And with the designer pavilion, show casing cutting edge designers ready to talk about their work approach and experiences, from a visitor experience point of view the circle was complete.
Judging by on-site visitor feedback I overheard when walking around and stopping here and there for an informal conversation, the event had met, or even gone beyond, all expectations. Requests to release next year’s date as soon as possible were made more than once, or to even run the event twice a year in-line with the buying season.
Not everything was perfect however.
The fact that the premium stands were in the same room, and literally immediately next to, where the seminars were held, and with no physical or sound barrier in between, was far from ideal. And the location – in the basement of the Westminster Hall – with a cramped layout was not favourable to directing the stream of visitors either. Personally, I think that there were too many of the seminars, with most of them being short and superficial, rather than acknowledging the professionalism of the audience and allowing time to delve deeper into the subjects. But inspite, or maybe because, of this overall rather cosy setting, the ambiance was infectious, highly energetic and decidedly professional.
And here are, very subjectively, MY personal favourites among the exhibitors:
- Animana http://www.animanaonline.com: Animana is a social business that works with rural communities across the whole length of the Andes, and supreme textile expertise these communities traditionally have. Their designs comprise womens, kids, and menswear, as well as an interior decoration range. The products are made from different types of wools and other natural fibres (such as Alpaca, Guanaco etc.), and the quality truly represent the lifelong experience the artisans have acquired.
- Offset Warehouse http://www.offsetwarehouse.com: The launch of Offset Warehouse has been in the makes for nearly a year now. And the timing of their launch – 2 days before the Source Expo – could not have been any better. This online retail site caters to small designers, students, artisans and others that make small quantities of clothing. They offer a whole range of ethically sourced and produced fabrics (from cotton to silk, over bamboo, hemp etc.), a resource site, and notably a directory of professionals active in the Ethical Fashion scene.
- Artisan Life http://www.artisanlife.co.uk/: This company that collaborates with highly skilled crafts people in Colombia was THE a surprise to me. To be more specific: They attracted my attention by their amazing range of buttons made from Tagua, a plant material, also called ‘palm ivory’, it is often used these days instead of unsustainable original. Buttons are one of the harder items to source ethical and design-wise original, so Artisans Life may well become soon more than just an insider tip. They importantly also produce numerous other accessories made from renewable plant materials – all of them very unique, in cool designs and colours.
- Moral Fibre http://www.moralfibre-fabrics.com: This social business specialises in Khadi cloth, hand spun and woven my cottage workers from cotton, silk, wool, blends and organic cotton. The Khadi they offer comes in a wide range of textures and weights, from whites and neutrals to soft colors using natural dyes and printed patterns. The beauty of Khadi is the fact is that a very ‘natural’ cloth. One of its key features is that is wrinkles slightly when being worn and hence lends a special kind of personally to the garments it is made into.
- The silks from Mai Savanh Lao (Laos) and Sawang Boran (Thailand) [http://www.maisavanhlao.org & http://www.weaving.sawangboran.com]: From the silk worm through to the spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing of the cloth, all is done in the respective communities. And the designs (notably Sawang Boran’s Thai Ikat) and colours are just simply astonishingly beautiful. To the point that it feels plain wrong to even think of turning them into a piece of garment, no matter how haute couture it may be.
- Norman Hangers http://www.normanhangers.com: Made from recyclable and recycled paper they are finally a sensible alternative to the plastic stuff you usually see in the shops (and end up taking home for the lack of better alternatives). The great thing about them – from a business perspective – is, that they can be printed and branded (a thought through printing concept is in place) . And they’re cool – I’d have taken some home if I could’ve. They’re currently only being offered wholesale only, however, coming year they’re bound to launch for retail as well.
