The Swiss are not a chatty nation. A few facts in relation to sustainable fashion, the nation's importance for organic cotton - and addresses of Zurich shops for stylish eco fashion.
Part I of III. The jewelry industry is in many ways a messy one, marked by ecological degradation, disruption of social and economic order, child labour, even slavery and murder.
Minimum wage, living wage. Fair pay keeps being an issue in Europe & US. Whether illegal immigrants or recent graduates - increasingly even a humble life style is difficult to achieve.
Sustainability for Fashion := "Creating desirable products guided by principles that consider sustainability as a core component of the process. [...]"
When looking underneath the surface of the Japanese fashion industry, a fundamental shift is taking place: Production is shifted back to the Japanese home land.
London Fashion Week 02/2011 - Day 2: EstEthica is successful so it seems. But what is there going on behind the scenes? Some controversial and critical insights.
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 Or are some others nowadays outdated?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?
At the forefront of the Japanese ethical fashion movement, and commercially the most successful, are social businesses. They're principle strategy is to build a firm base in their own national market, but beyond that Asian markets are their principle expansion area. Design is flexible, but their business principle are everything but.
London Fashion Week 02/2011 - Summary: London Fashion Week and EstEthica in the bigger context. The Age of Austerity has reached the British fashion shores in all aspects.
London Fashion Week 02/2011 - Day 1: British Wool and its use in fashion. What is the issue with British wool and what brands are truly making a difference and how?
Fairtrade certified or WFTO registered: What's the difference? And what is this now newly emerging Sustainable Fair Trade Management System (SFTMS) all about?
"Sustainable Fashion & Textiles" makes it - beautifully - clear why the fashion industry, from the field to the consumer, needs change. And why design is key.
London Fashion Week 02/2011 - Day 4: Ethical fashion and the luxury sector. The high-end segment is awakening to its responsibilities. Or does it really?
The European wool industry has all but disappeared. Recently however, a grassroots trend is emerging. Mini mills now cater to small hold breeders, which turns wool source more transparent then ever.
Where and how was 'ethical fashion' invented? Who played key roles in the past? And where are we at and where are we going? A retrospective analysis that also looks into the future.
There exist basic assumptions that are commonly, but wrongly, accepted as universal truths. Shirahime has cherry-picked 6 myths and will examine them close up and outside in over the course of 3 article instalments. Part 3.
Winter 2011, D2: TheKey.to, Berlin. The discovery of the ethical sourcing platform Source4Style & a global textile waste mapping campaign 'Trash2Trend'.
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.
On June 9th, in a ceremony at the Londoner V&A, the Observer Ethical Award winners 2011 were announced. The judges are experts in their fields, but how were the winners of each category decided?
Animanà is a calling to give the world an alternative production model that connects the market with the artisans who live in marginal areas of the Andean region. A portrait.