Are natural perfumes the panacea for sustainability in the fragrance industry? Are there good sides, not only bad ones, to synthetics ingredients in perfumes? And what about health impacts? A brief overview of the most important issues.
The reaping (black market) trade in reptile skins for the luxury fashion and accessories market is an openly talked about, albeit ugly, reality of the present.
The recently published UNCTAD BioTrade report and toolkit provides useful and pragmatic info for designers.
Financial accounting is rather ill suited as well as ill equipped to deal properly with a system that has finite natural resources. Else, why would it not record the environmental losses that come with e.g. extracting bauxite? And what about ESG? Well it turns out, ESG is just more of the same (growth) just in a shade of ‘green’. It is for a reason that the Global Materials Footprint has kept growing in alignment with the much coveted GDP growth. Despite all green efforts. ESG – investing in ‘greener’ tech and businesses – is definitely NOT ‘Sustainability’ as we need it.
As a consumer, we have a basic understanding of “Ethical”. We know that buying such a product is supposed to alleviate some of our guilt, by doing a little bit of good, but what does it actually mean?
The British textile industry, chances are, never would have reached its former pre-offshoring movement glory if it was not for immigrants. In fact, if it had not been for the Huguenot influence on silk weaving – and by means of cross-fertilisation, cotton and wool – the industry would have served a pure domestic purpose for the 18th, 19th and first half of the 20th century.
Interview with Shazia Saleem, a London-based couture fashion designer, who specialises in hand woven textiles & works in cooperation with Varanasi brocade hand weavers.
Bryan Whitehead is one of the few remaining textile craftsmen in Japan who not only rears his own silk, but masters the whole textile process. Just as he as learned from seasoned crafts people, he now hands his knowledge on to his students. A plea to best of craftsmen and women cherish their expertise by teaching.
Within the EU, legislative requirements have lead to implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes (EPRs) in the following industries so far: packaging, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and automotive industries.
In this article, we would like to look sidewise, and see what can be learned from the electronic and electrical equipment industry, as they have been ahead of the curve – although not always voluntarily, since the 1995 laws came into place – when it comes to the implementation of EPR.
The effect of plastics in our oceans has been repeatedly hit in the news over the last few years.
A hazard in two forms: as a plastic in totality; or as a microfiber/micro particle, which also carries chemistry (pollution) into the environment, from the product they started life as. Research to date shows that this pollution cannot be exhaustively blocked through wastewater treatment plants, consequently micro particles are ending up in our global waterways.
On May 24th 2020 Rio Tinto blew up the Juukan Gorge rock shelters in Australia, which ancestors of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people occupied over the course of 46’000 years.There are a multitude of lessons to be learned from the entire process that lead to the disastrous blast of a site of such archaeological importance. But also from how the scrutiny in its aftermaths and the have been.
Here a selection of just a few to think about.
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 ...
Wool is slowly recovering some of its former popularity. While for some it is an old acquaintance, for many others in our industry, and in this current time and age, it is a new, or maybe better novel, material for the portfolio. And what about Recycled Wool? This report answers many of the key questions.
Twice a season the fashion circus congregates in Paris not for showing their own achievements off, but rather to get inspired for their own 'what comes next'. In this article, I'll give a brief overview of 2 locations, and 3 shows: Paris' Première Vision and TexWorld, and Italy's Milano Unica.
The textile supply and production chain is complex. With this in mind, the ‘Handbook of sustainable textile production‘ is a unique resources: bit fosters knowledge acquisition across the different disciplines and specialities in the textile production chain, it prepares the ground for a factual, holistic discourse, and dissemination of best practise.
Cork is one of the most sustainable natural materials extant. Portugal supplies about two thirds of the world's cork, but the increased use of plastic bottle stoppers for wine, instead of cork, poses a threat to the country's industry. This post presents some data around cork and describes the bigger picture. The follow up post will look at how innovative uses of cork find application in fashion.
Itchiku Kubota is possibly the Japanese Kimono artist par excellence. None of his contemporaries have created such a body of work. At the same time, the artist brings the value of craftsmanship, today often ignored or under-rated, to our attention.
The current fashion and textile landscape is fairly limited in terms of what types of materials are being used. Innovation is key, and products such as Tencel, Sorona and Ingeo proof that industry is investing heavily in R&D. Spider Silk may be one of the few natural fibres of the future yet to see it hayday.
I've recently resurrected my knitting skills. I've learned since that the lack of skill and ability to make our own, leaves us with a complete wrong understanding of the efforts required when making clothing.
The second Future Fabrics Expo was hosted at the London College of Fashion on November 7th – 9th 2013, and was attended by a rather large number designers, buyers and students. Roughly 650 fabrics with a reduced environmental impact stemming from around 50 textile mills world-wide, were showcased, along with inspirational and/or interactive videos and information panels.
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
