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.
London Fashion Week 02/2011 - Day 3: Sourcing ethically is all about knowledge. It's primarily about livelihoods and survival, beyond the 'Human-Rights factor'.
“When you do something wrong, don’t try improve upon it.” Instead you go back to design of a product, and fix the problem right where it went wrong in first place
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.
This article has originally been published online by ‘Japan for Sustainability’ (JFS) on May 30, 2005. It is the 1st...
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.
Traceability can be implemented at three different levels of stringency. Which level is implemented typically depends on the exact needs (technical, quality), legal and customer requirements – and last but not least also on the budget available.
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.
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 ...
Like its larger sister ISPO – normally taking place at the end of January or the beginning of February, half way between the two Fashion Week cycles – Performance Days feature a high-end portfolio of performance and sports wear manufacturers, many of which actively develop and push the innovation agenda of their industry.
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.
Cork is one of the most sustainable natural materials extant. Portugal supplies about two thirds of the world's cork, but the industry has been under pressure in the past few decades. This post shows how innovative companies have found application for the material in the realm of fashion.
Prato, a few kilometres outside Florence, Italy, is one of the country’s historic textile districts. With the launch of a range of carbon neutral fabrics the district seems to finally enter a period of experimentation of how to leverage its legacy in a positive way and for its future survival and competitiveness.
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.
Sashiko - a now extinct Japanese textile technique and tradition which for centuries was used to adorn as much as make garments more durable. A portrait.
Sawang Boran is a social community business in the Thailand. They use traditional skills to produce high-quality hand-woven silk ikat fabric made of golden Isan silk.
Interview with Shazia Saleem, a London-based couture fashion designer, who specialises in hand woven textiles & works in cooperation with Varanasi brocade hand weavers.
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.
This free introductory, extensively researched guide to ethically sourcing fashion from India, aims at small(er) ethical designers during the first stage of their efforts.
The Cradle to Cradle (C2C) idea has been around for a good decade now, longer if we’d track it right back to its inception. The first C2C fabric was developed sometime in the early 2000s, and flies now around the world as upholstery fabric on the A380 Airbus models.