Fall 2010, D2: Paris Ethical Fashion Week, the longest standing ethical fashion event. Public day, bureaucratic panel discussions, and publicly funded social projects.
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.
On September 12 to 14, I attended the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN) yearly conference in Lille, France. The theme of this year’s edition was ‘License to Operate’.
I and my colleague Ilaria Pasquinelli, both presented a research paper, focused on sustainability and value generation in the fashion industry, and the status quo of knowledge on sustainable consumption habits respectively.
Last week I had the opportunity to speak at Sustainable Brands Istanbul about the risks and opportunities related to sustainability for textile and fashion businesses. Turkey is a key global producers of textile and garments and the export of these products account for roughly 20% of the country’s overall exports.
Everyone seems to join in for the treasure hunt called Christmas shopping. Are the 'ethical' Christmas fairs worth it? Only for discoveries - such as these 3 tiny brands.
Ethical fashion, finally!. In addition to the fashion category, even in 4 of the 11 remaining general Observer Ethical Awards categories ethical fashion made it onto the short list.
The Guardian Sustainable Business & Observer Ethical Awards 2012 edition in fashion terms. Cradle to Cradle is becoming popular in the nitty gritty of the carpet industry, Puma's Profit and Loss Accounts get credit, and Kids imitate Katherin Hamnett's 1980's slogan T-shirts to raise awareness.
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.
Visiting the Paris fashion trade fairs raises once again the eternal question: When if bad design is omnipresent, why is it that ethical fashion is blamed more frequently than others? Some insights.
The RITE Conference's 2012 edition showed that the challenges for the industry are clear, and so are the general directions that need to be taken. But there are some marvellous and challenging mountains to climb, and they cause a notably sensation of paralysis.
Winter 2011, D2: TheKey.to, Berlin. The discovery of the ethical sourcing platform Source4Style & a global textile waste mapping campaign 'Trash2Trend'.
Fall 2010, day 1: London Fashion Week, the dream destination of fashionistas. Impressions - and 1st hand info and pictures from the 1st ever sustainable catwalk.
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'.
The RITE and Made-By annual conferences 2011 pinpointed the importance of supply chain ownership. A trans-disciplinary group of speakers introduced ongoing activities in their respective specialities, and illustrated the positive impact of collaboration.
Shirahime has been pronounced the winner of the Observer Ethical Award in the category 'ethical blog'. Time to look back, and to publicly renew this blog's commitment.
On May 3rd 2012 the 2nd Fashion Summit took place in Copenhagen. Bringing fashion industry key people together to discuss sustainability with them, yet without using the term itself, is already a considerably achievement. Ilaria Pasquinelli attended and reports on her insights.
I had the chance to speak at the Green Business conference last week in Istanbul about future market scenarios for the fashion industry. The conference is an event of the Sustainability Academy in Turkey.
Key highlights from the event
"Made in [your country]" is an ongoing attractive topic in the contemporary sustainable fashion discussion. In many cases, one that borders - or is even right in the middle of - some rather right-wing nationalist sentiments. Europe as a whole does not need that - there is enough quality design and craftsmanship to be proud of without getting into shallow waters.
London Fashion Week is feeling the effects of the global 'austerity' programme with fewer brands participating overall. The gems are still there and worth hunting for. Sometimes though, the gems of previous seasons remain the headlines.
A phenomenon: National borders segregate markets. Ethical fashion brands don't know much about what is happening abroad.
2nd of 2 part posts, incl. event listing.
