High Fashion Goes Green
Sasawashi is not a new item in Japanese cuisine. We won't see it on a sushi menu, but we will see it on clothing labels as it is a Japanese fabric made from paper and herbs.
In New York fashion week this year, instead of traditional fabrics like silk and cashmere, designers are using more compassionate and environmentally friendly fabrics that come from renewable resources.
"Peace silk" is made from a process that allows silkworms to live out their full life cycle rather than boiling them alive in order to extract the silk.
The FutureFashion show in January was organized by the New York-based nonprofit Earth Pledge and this show inspired many top designers to work with sustainable fabrics for the first time.
Several designers have since made pledges to use organic fabrics in their creations.
High end designers and stores are now beginning to pay attention to make eco-friendly fashion available. Barneys has commissioned sustainable lines from Theory, 3.1 Phillip Lim, and Stella McCartney. It also plans to have its Christmas windows and catalog showcase green fashion.
To date, Banana Republic, Guess, and H&M have also launched green lines, making sure that they don't lose out on the increasing demand and popularity of all things green.
This month, even Target will launch a green line of clothing in partnership with Gregory's Rogan label.
Designers and retailers alike need our support. Designers who taken on green fashion face many challenges, mainly of sourcing. Scott Hahn, cofounder with Gregory of Rogan and Loomstate, which uses all-organic cotton, says high-quality sustainable materials can still be challenging to find.
Major corporations can afford to pump real money into green clothing lines. Wal-Mart has publicized a major initiative aimed at helping cotton farmers go organic by buying transitional cotton at higher, certified-organic prices, thus helping to expand the supply of a key sustainable material. There is hope that organic cotton will become mainstream soon.
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