London Fashion Week September 2010: Day 4 – Off-track: Quietly sustainable brands - Pamela Ravasio

Yesterday: Day 3 – Best of EstEthica.
Tomorrow: Summary – Sustainability and Fashion: Lessons learned at LFW Fall 2010.

One set of questions that has hunted me in the up run to this autumn’s London Fashion Week is:
Are there apparel and/or accessories brands out there, that just go quietly about doing ‘the right thing’, without shouting about it? That just are ethical, sustainable by how they define their business without giving it a second thought? Or that even rather not be associated with EstEthica because, despite their commitment, they fear – or are even certain – that talking too loud about their ethics will backfire?

Truth be told: Using terms such as ‘sustainable’, ‘green’, ‘eco’, ‘ethical’ as attributes to the noun ‘fashion’ in many cases immediately still evokes a whole collection of old, and by now totally ill-founded, stigmas:

Stigma 1 – This is all for and by hippies: “No thank you, I don’t want to smoke my shirt”.
Stigma 2 – ethical = ethNical: “Well, you know, I’m not too fond of these indigenous colours and those baggy cuts” (usually followed by Stigma 1).
Stigma 3 – it must be bad quality: “It’s all patched-up at home. Will it withstand daily wear and tear?”
Stigma 4 – the legacy of eco-fashion in the 1980s: “I’m sure eco is good for the planet, but I cannot possibly go to work in ‘eco’ colours and cuts”

Sustainable fashion in 2010 is light-years away from the hippie fashion that indeed unfortunately was called ‘eco’ back in the 1970 and 1980s. For a proof, just have look at the pictures in the Day 1 and Day 3 reports of this LFW Fall 2010 series.

The result of my scouring the maze of hallways and exhibitors stands in Somerset House for quietly sustainable brands was successful.
I’m able to present here (exclusively?) a number of brands who had satisfying answers to my rather tough, sometimes slightly politically incorrect, questions about how they source, where they produce and under what conditions, the type of dyes and materials they use, the education and training of their workers and more. I draw my hat before these brands – they’ve successfully made a business case for the feasibility of a committed stand that benefits all of the stake-holding parties.

On a side note:
In the NewGen pavilion I discovered an interesting piece of a garment by a young designer called J.W. Anderson.
The amazing thing about this piece was: it looked like hessian (jute, or the like) – but it turned out to be silk woven in a way so as to give it a hessian-ish look and structure, but without even remotely featuring any of hessian’s habitual scratchiness.

– Angel Jackson – bags and handbags. This brand has the entirety of its collection made on the Indonesian island of Bali. The company was founded in 2005 when sisters Katie and Millie Smith, during a visit to the island, realised the devastating effects the 2002 terrorist bombings had had onto the island’s economy, and notably on its highly skilled artisans and craftsmen. Angel Jackson bags are made from snake skin – an upcycled waste by-product from the Bali food industry -, and the leather is dyes using natural and/or vegetable dyes. The bags are produced in a company owned factory by highly skilled Bali artisans and craftsmen, which in the aftermath of the bombings had been left without a source of income. The factory is not fairtrade certified in the present, however, the company is comfortable and transparent about its business practices.
– ST•ERASMUS – Jewelry. Owner and head designer Pieter St. Erasmus’ jewelry is by all accounts a bit over the top. Lots of pearls and beads, lots of crocheted Zari thread. In short, jewelry that calls for a very much dressed-down style to dress up. Yet, what only few people know: ST•ERASMUS’s collections are all made in New Delhi in the company’s own workshop. Women due to the crocheting, men the task related to the beading. The brands heavily draws from Indian jewelry and textile skills.
Pieter recounted the story of how difficult it was for him to find people who would want to work for him. He tells the story of big boys networks among apparel manufacturers, social pressure not to hire employees that have previously worked, and possibly resigned, from a peer’s factory. And he tells the story of how wages are artificially being kept irresponsibly low by this type of monopoly, workers being only bread winners of their families, and how his workshop gained reputation among the local workers as a desirable place to work due to its working conditions and fair wages paid. ST•ERASMUS, in short, beyond being clearly a luxury jewelry brand, is also a New Delhi community project championing fair labour conditions and wages for skilled work.
– Swedish Hasbeens – leather + wood clogs & shoes, leather bags: This Swedish brand of shoes and clogs, while part of the general LFW exhibitors track, makes it very clear what they’re in business for right from the start: “Better shoes for a better world”. All their shoes are produced either in Sweden (clogs) or Italy (boots) and are made of bio-degradable material. They source the Swedish alder wood and Italian lime-tree in accordance to the Swedish’s ‘regulation for the preservation of the forests’; the leather is chrome-free natural grain leathers tanned using chromium-free vegetable dyes; they use rubber soles rather than PVC and are currently converting to using natural rubber – it remains to be seen if this rubber will be from fairtrade cooperatives; the shoes are hand-made following recipes of old craftsmen ship intended to be easily repairable and to last a life time; they reduce carbon footprint by not shipping between production steps, but only directly from the factory to the customer using the method with the lowest carbon footprint available.
– Rae Jones – leather shoes: Rae Jones shoes catch the eye of the beholder in the beginning through a rather unusual combination: Shoes that look, casual and business at the same time, and yet invite to be worn all day long without that fear of aching feet after barely arriving in office. The leather is tanned with natural dyes in Italy, and the shoes are produced in Portugal.