Eco-Fashion

- What is the eco fashion ?

Eco fashion, also called sustainable fashion designs that has been created in an
environmentally sound way. Eco fashion takes into account the environment the heath of
consumers anh the working conditions of people in the fashion industry.
It is a part of the growing design philosophy anh trend of sustainability, the goal of
which is to create a system which can be surported indenfinitely in the terms of
environmentalism and social responsibility
- Eco fashion clothes :
re made using organic raw materials, such as cotton grown without pesticides and silk
made by worms fed on organic trees.
!ont involue the use of harmful and be leach as to colour farbrics
re "ften made form recycle and reuse te#tiles high-$uality garments can be made from
second-hand clothes and evev recycled plastic bottles.
Eco clothes are made from organic raw materials that are grow without pesticides. %o,
this reduces damage to the environment animals and people health.
History of eco-fashion:
It&s easy to forget that this island has serious fashion pedigree. 'he hills were once alive
with the rattling, whirring noise of spinning and knitting machines and automatic looms.
'he (ritish industrial revolution was based on te#tiles and fashion, centred on mills in the
)orth of England. nd until a decade ago brands and labels, including *+%, were still
producing on these shores.
,emember, fast-fashion is a very new invention. "ur grandparents lived by a system of
make do and mend -pictured left.. (ut if we were to do a &Who !o /ou 'hink /ou re?&
of ethical fashion, we&d trace most of its !) back to the 0123s eco movement4 it&s a
direct descendant. (ack then eco style consisted of a lot of sack and tent-like shifts,
woolly leggings and rugged tie-dyed fabrics that were hessian-and hemp-based. 'hese
outfits were based on thoroughly noble intentions - however, they were never going to
make it onto the runway. 5ids like me were still clothed almost e#clusively in synthetic
fibres that didn&t breathe but were cheap to produce.
(y the 0163s many more people had become concerned about chemicals in fabrics,
particularly flame retardants in the polymers of synthetics. In response to worries about
to#ic fabrics, particularly in 7ermany, labels began to appear on clothes to show they
were &natural& or &chemical&-free. 8ears about to#icity began to focus on cotton the crop,
which uses more pesticide in the growing phase than any other. 9+, for e#ample,
started to sell green cotton ranges in the early 0113s. 'o be honest, some of these early
attempts at non-to#ic fabrics and green cotton were motivated by fears over our own
health. (ut some committed pioneers began to understand what a raw deal producers and
workers in developing countries were getting.
In 011:, the ;% newspaper 'he 9hicago 'ribune uncovered stories of the iconic denim
brand <evi %trauss using sweat-shop labour. It was as if the floodgates had been opened.
"ne after another, the big brands - the ones we saw constantly on '=, in posters and
being endorsed by celebrities - were implicated. It suddenly dawned on activists,
consumers and the fashion industry -although it liked to keep negative fears $uiet. that
the big brands had lost control over their supply lines, and that cheap fashion had a very
dear cost.
(ritish 8airtrade fashion company Gossypium -www.gossypium.co.uk. began in 0116
when te#tile e#perts bigail 7arner and 'homas >etit realised that clothes could be made
better, with less chemicals, and in a far, far fairer way. 7ossypium linked up with
grocel, an Indian cooperative that puts the needs of the farmer first. With the World
?ealth "rgani@ation estimating that there were A million poisonings and :3,333 deaths
annually from pesticides, they decided to work with organic cotton, grown without the
e#pense and health ha@ard of lashings of agrichemicals.
In :333, )aomi 5lein published )o <ogo, a worldwide best-seller that told the truth
behind the label. It was enough to put millions of people off big brands - well, for five
minutes anyway.
(ut the stage was essentially set for the emergence of ethical fashion as we know it. We
now had health, environmental and labour rights reasons to change the clothes we
bought, and the way we bought them. 'he new ethical labels put workers& rights and
health before selling cheap-as-chips cardigans that are designed to be thrown away after
one wash.
We started to see a new type of fashion entrepreneur, such as %afia *inney, who set up
an environmental campaigning )7" in 0110 and went on to found People Tree, one of
the ;5&s leading ethical fashion brands. ,ather than designing a piece in <ondon then
going around the world looking for someone to make it really cheaply, she goes around
the globe working with impoverished communities, discovering their particular skills,
such as fine embroidery, and designing around them.
8rom there, ethical fashion picked up pace. Even (ono -the ;: frontman. got involved,
launching the Edun brand with his wife, li ?ewson, in :33B. Even that palace of fast-
fashion, Top Shop, began to stock three ethical labels: >eople 'ree, 7ossypium and Hug
- an organic '-shirt brand started by )ick >ecorelli, who used to write speeches for
7ordon (rown.
(y the time Estethica - the ethical fashion arm of <ondon 8ashion Week - launched in
:33C, those of us who like the environment but don&t want to wear a scratchy tent were
beside ourselves with e#citement.
8ast forward to now and the new eco labels don&t feel the need to shout their ethical
credentials from the roof-tops. case in point is Julia Smith, a young (ritish designer
whose glamour-filled take on everyday life uses clean production, transparent supply
routes, and even the odd bit of hemp silk. /et she doesn&t classify herself as an ethical
designer, Dust a designer. &I think that&s how fashion should be anyway,& she says,
reasonably.
Whether designers flaunt their eco credentials or get them out there by stealth, ethical
design has traveled a huge distance in the past five years. nd it&s going to develop at an
even faster and more furious rate with new resources, notably 'he <ondon 9ollege of
8ashion&s new %ustainable !esign 9entre.
I was thinking about how far we&ve all come at the recent *ake /our *ark fashion event.
It was the final of the competition and three very talented young labels were in the
running. t AA, behind *iss (ra@il and dressed in a lovely ,EE dress -*iawi was the
eventual winner., I thundered -rather too literally. down the catwalk myself.
-,eferences: http:FFwww.bbc.co.ukFthreadFfeaturesFcolumnist-3CF. date3GF06F:3300.
Materials:
- )atural fibers: )atural 8ibers are fibers which are found in nature and are not
petroleum-based. )atural fibers can be categori@ed into two main groups, cellulose or
plant fiber and protein or animal fiber.
- 9ellulose: 'here are a variety of fibre used to create ethical garments. %ome are very
familiar to us including hemp. "thers are invented by modern technology. (ookmark
9otton is one of the most widely grown and chemical-intensive crops in the world.
9onventionally grown cotton uses appro#imately :BH of the worlds insecticides and
more than 03H of the worlds pesticides. "ther cellulose fibers include: Eute, 8la#, ?emp,
,amie, baca, (amboo, %oy, 9orn, (anana, >ineapple
- 9otton: 9otton grown free of to#ic chemicals using biologically based and sustainable
growing methods -such as crop rotation. rather than with highly synthetic and destructive
fertili@ers, herbicides, insecticides or pesticides. 9ertified organic cotton must adhere to a
strict set of guidelines based on the scientific method of organic agriculture.
- (amboo: (amboo is the fastest growing wooden plant in the world4 it grows in many
different countries and climates. Its $uick growth -up to A-G feet a day. and its resistance
to bugs and sickness make it an ideal eco crop. ?owever, there is a lot of debate on
whether the processing of the bamboo plant into fabric is truly sustainable. (amboo
fabric is made of 033H bamboo pulp fiber. 'he fabric is naturally antibacterial and eco-
friendly. It breathes easier, is cooler than cotton in warm weather and has been said to feel
like a cross between cashmere and silk.
- ,amie: ,amie is a bast fiber, similar to fla#, taken from the stalk of a plant grown in
9hina.
- ?emp: long and very strong &base& fiber, hemp fiber has been used for thousands of
years to manufacture clothing. Its rapid growing $ualities and resistance to most pests
make it an ideal organic crop. ?emp has natural anti-mildew, ;= protection and
thermodynamic as well as hypoallergenic properties.
- (anana: (anana trees were widely used for making fabrics before cotton was
affordable and readily available. )ow IDusiJ banana fabric is made in only a handful of
places in %outheast sia. 'he raw materials come from the stem that farmers leave in the
garden after a banana harvest. 'he tree stalks and leaves are removed and processed into
a pliable fibre. !ifferent layers of the stem yield fibers for specific uses: the outer layer&s
fibers are generally used for tablecloths while the third layer makes the finest, silkiest
fabric, suitable for kimonos and saris. *any )epalese rugs are made from bleached and
dried fibers of the banana plant that are hand-knotted into silk-like rugs.
- 8la#: 'he plant from which cellulose linen fiber is obtained. <inen is used in apparel,
accessories, draperies, upholstery, tablecloths, and towels.
- %oy: n eco-friendly fabric made from a by-product of soybean oil production. It&s a
sustainable te#tile fiber made from renewable and biodegradable resources. It&s part of an
effort to move consumers away from petrochemical te#tile products and turn waste into
useful products.
- Eute: Eute is a bast fiber, chiefly from India, used primarily for gunny sacks, bags,
cordage, and binding threads in carpets and rugs.
- 5apok: 5apok is a short, lightweight, cotton-like, vegetable fiber found in the seed
pods of the (ombocaceae tree. (ecause of its brittle $uality, it is generally not spun.
?owever, its buoyancy and moisture resistance makes it ideal for use in cushions,
mattresses and life Dackets.
- >aece silk: 9onventional silk is made by boiling the intact cocoons and thereby killing
the silk worms after which the single silk strand is unwound onto reels. >eace silk allows
the silkworm to emerge from their cocoons to live out their full life cycle. 'he silk is
degummed and spun like other fiber, instead of being reeled. 'he resulting yarn is soft,
fluffy, and light like a cloud.
- >et: >E' fabric is made out of recycled plastic bottles blended with cotton. 'hanks to
technological innovation, the combination of these fibers enables the creation of a knitted
fabric that has Dust the same resistance, durability and fast colors as products made with
conventional polyester.
- >ineapplea: >ineapple fiber or >iKa is a strong white or creamy cobweb-like fiber
drawn from tall leaves of an indigenous pineapple plant. 'he fiber is hand stripped from
the leaves in lengths of about 06 inches to A feet, sun-bleached, hand knotted and spun.
s piKa fiber recovery is only about 0H, it can take si# months to gather enough fiber to
produce two pounds of spun piKa. 8or more background info on fiber, read this blog.
- %isal: strong bast fiber that originates from the leaves of the gave plant, which is
found in the West Indies, 9entral merica, and frica.
- http:FFwww.lohascouture.comFenFsustainable-fibre.html . date 3GF06F:3300.
- >roterin: wool, silk, an$oma, camel, alpaca, lama, vicuna, cashmere, mohair...
- ,euse: Wearing second-hand clothes - call them vintage if you prefer - never goes out
of fashion. 'here is something deeply stylish and original about rummaging for your
fashion finds. ItLs the ultimate way to be green because youLre using what is already in
circulation, avoiding the manufacturing and transport costs re$uired to make new clothes.
- ,ecycled fibres: ,ecycled or reclaimed fibres are made from scraps of fabrics collected
from clothing factories, which are processed back into short fibres for spinning into a
new yarn. 'here are only a few facilities globally that are able to process the clippings
and variations range from a blend of recycled cotton fibersMadded re>E' yarns for
strength to recycled cotton fibresMvirgin acrylic fibers which are added for color
consistency and strength.
- irdye: ,ecently, another alternative to sustainable fashion has emerged that uses
synthetic fibers with a process called ir!ye technology that eliminates all water from
the dyeing and printing process
ir!ye technology manages the application of color to te#tiles without the use of water.
It was developed and patented by 9olorep, a 9alifornia-based sustainable technology
company. 'he process of making te#tiles can re$uire several do@en gallons of water for
each pound of clothing. 'he ir!ye process employs air instead of water to help the dyes
penetrate fibers, a process that uses no water and re$uires less energy than traditional
methods of dyeing, 'he technology works only on synthetic materials.

Eco fashion is getting bolder and brighter.9elebrities, models, and designers such as
%tella *c9artney , ,ogan 7regory, >eter Ingwersen , li ?ewson, (ono ,
%tewartM(rown and %ummer ,ayne "akes have recently drawn attention to socially-
conscious and environmentally friendly fashion. >ortland 8ashion Week, which has
featured sustainable designers and apparel since :33B, has also attracted international
press for its efforts to sustainably produce a fashion week that showcases 033H eco-
friendly designs. n increasing number of ?ollywood celebrities have been associated
with sustainable fashion, including )atalie >ortman , 9ameron !ia@ , licia %ilverstone ,
drian 7renier , Eennifer niston and %alma ?ayek .
s well as fashion designers, there also e#ist entire brands built on the concept of
sustainable fashion. 'o be truly sustainable, brands must use natural, sustainable
materials to make their clothing4 and sustainable, renewable forms of energy to power
their factories.8or this reason, it is important that sustainable fashion brands are 033H
transparent about the way they do business so that the customer can find out more about
every stage of the supply chain and Dudge the sustainability of the product themselves
before buying. 'op brands : people tree - 'hakoon + (ora ksu . , %tella *ccartney,
5uyichi, 5athankine ?amnett , Edun, 9iel, (eyond skin, nnie 7reenable, mana.