London Fashion week sets the bar once again for next season (Autumn/Winter 2018) with an abundance of bright and bold statement pieces saturating the catwalk. We’ve decided to investigate up and coming designers that implement environmental and social responsibility through the materials used within their collections.
After watching David Attenborough’s BBC series Blue Planet II, demonstrating the damage plastics are caused to the marine life, this led to an explosion in the media,, or perhaps has finally drilled in to public just how bad things are getting, and how the gastronomic damage of overconsumption of plastics is causing to our environment.
Fascinated by resourceful fashion designer collaboration ‘ Vin and Omi’ who stole the spotlight, with vibrant bold one off designs made from wool-like material and fibres, made from plastic bottles collected from the river and ocean-clean up projects. Not to mention the unique bio-degradable faux leather accessories made out of ‘chestnut skins’ which was enough to wow us.
Aware of the actions the apparel and textiles industry need to take to minimise the environmental impact, designers are starting to slowly look into technology focusing on biodegradable fibres and materials, especially as the UK alone purchases more than two million tonnes of clothing every year, and discards about a million tonnes of them, 50% of those ending up in landfill according to DEFRA’s 2011 report.
There’s a steady incline of designers focusing on taking on the challenge of using biodegradable materials. Take for example the fashion sustainability guru Stella McCartney, who doesn’t use any leather throughout her production line, and uses a range of bio-degradable materials within her shoe line, it’s the small steps that count.
We’ll be keeping our eyes out for the latest brands and designers taking on the challenge of working with sustainable materials that are biodegradable, and not taking up to much room, once they eventually hit landfill. One brand we’re keeping an eye on is a company called ‘My Coworks’ a San Francisco based company, who’ve developed a new technology using fibres from mushrooms to convert pant and wood fibres into a new leather alternative. A product we’ve been told is carbon-natural, organic and chemical free, not to mention biodegradable. Something vegetarian and vegans forgoing animal free products might be looking too in the future!
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