March 22, 2012 : Araisara has completed her last runway show at Japan Fashion Week, and is preparing her collection's launch in Paris in October 2012. But while fashion shows are important, it is the people that remain the one single most important source of inspiration for her brand.
This current post is looking at supply chain risk in the light of the Europe wide ‘Horse meat’ scandal. It remains to be said that the results found so far not only suggest that undeclared horse meat found its way into cheap and low quality, possibly prepared meals. But that there is a much more general, and widely spread problem with meats of different types ending undeclared on the shelves for consumption.
Recently, my colleague Ilaria Pasquinelli and I had the opportunity to participate in a, generally speaking, consumer facing product showcase and trade show.
For the purpose of this research, we built an interactive task which required the visitors to cut off one of their garment labels (i.e. the washing instructions), and then pin it to a map attached to a cork board according to 2 dimensions:
– ‘Made in‘: Where the garment was manufactured.
– ‘Made from‘: What the primary material the garment was made of.
Parents complain about the prices of school uniforms. Yet - are they also considering that too cheap a price may actually ... get them school uniforms for their children, made by children of that same age?
There are several things that come to your mind when visiting Estethica at London Fashion Week this February. To start with, the new venue , in the West Wing of Somerset House, adopted since last edition, is really sophisticated. Exhibitors are accommodated in rooms with a neat aesthetics that has one aim: making collections the only protagonists. Further, it is interesting to note that, besides the usual “aficionados” like Ada Zanditon or Henrietta Ludgate, there are some interesting international emerging talented brands.
Japanese historic textiles, as much as their modern version, are famouse for their distinct colour ranges. What few know: all 1052 of these shades are created with natural dyes (only!), and each has its own distinct name.
In the discussions within companies around risk management and indispensable moves towards more sustainable processes and business practises, there’s habitually unmentioned elephant in the room, namely: Where, in all what needs to be done in the corporate world, does the responsibility of the individual factor in?
Nordic countries have been recognised for their advanced sustainability practices, particularly at a business level. The Nordic Ecolabel is a voluntary certificate 100% made in Scandinavia that was established in 1989 by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The original aim of the label was probably to respond to the needs of the new “green consumer” movement that strengthened in the 80s after the environmentalism wave of the 1970s.
Fashion that has been produced by people who work reasonable hours in safe conditions and are paid a living wage.
5 years ago one Araisara's customers brought in a long Miyazome-dyed handkerchief. The designer fell in love with this beautiful dye technique. As soon as she could, she visited the Miyazome-dye atelier in Utsunomiya City in the northern Kanto region, some 2 hours from Tokyo on the Shinkanzen bullet train. The atelier was run by just one man, who was well into his 80s.
Supply chain transparency is – as it happens – among the prime concerns of investors when considering their risk. The news is though, that it really isn’t any news at all. Supply chain transparency has been called for for at least a couple of decades – for reasons that are entirely aligned with profitability, customer service, competitive advantage, product quality and so on and so forth.
For most of us within the small professional circles of sustainable fashion, the terms ‘upcycling’, ‘recycling’, and ‘downcycling’ flow aeasy over our lips. However, while there are a few simple definitions of what these terms means – to follow hereafter – the concept demands a bit more attention when drilling down into material streams related to fibres, in particular
In this article a very brief run down of the main varieties of ‘better’ cotton that exist: Cotton made in Africa, Better Cotton Initiative, Organic and Fairtrade cotton, and 2 more generic good practise farming systems.
The Spitalfields taylors Alexander Boyd is London's last shirt maker. All their shirts are made at the Rayner and Sturges factory in Kent. Impressions from the factory, and the 'making of' a bespoke Savile Row shirt.
Panipat is an ancient and historic city in the Panipat district, state of Haryana, India. The city is the global centre of “Shoddy Yarn”. It is a business that is worth 1 billion dollars world wide. 85% of the volume is for the domestic marketm 15% for export. But the industry has more shadows then there is light ...
One of the challenges of sustainable fashion is the wording used to define it. We commonly associate adjectives like “sustainable”, “green”, “eco”, “responsible”, “conscious”, “ethical” with the word “fashion”. The question is: are certain words more popular than others? Or are some others nowadays outdated? How do consumer talk about sustainable fashion? And the industry?
Khadi is an Indian fabric par excellence. Hand-made from start to finish it has for centuries been the livelihood of rural communities. But the industry is in decline. Interview with Shailini Seth-Amin, CEO of MoralFibres, a company set to re-invent Khadi.
Dutch design is defined as “minimalist, experimental, innovative, quirky, and humorous”. This sophisticated and open-minded taste, typically northern European, is consistent across product design, architecture and fashion. This article looks at the landscape in the Amsterdam specifically.
In Medieval times the location of a tannery was heavily based on the requirements of a nearby river or stream, cattle which could supply the hide, and of course oak trees which would supply the bark needed for the tanning process. In the present, because of the demand for luxury at the cheapest possible prices, the industry is pushed out to where it is easier to ignore the moral and environmental reek.
How can environmental sustainability benefit from small and micro units? And, how can it be ensured that the associated skills sets are unique, yet valuable to the global fashion industry as a whole? Through 2 designer case studies from the UK, and a co-operative in India, we show how different potential solutions could look like.
