The G7 Fashion Pact
32 of the world’s largest private fashion houses, including H&M, Prada, Nike and Chanel have voluntarily signed a pact to fight the global climate crisis through more sustainable production. By volume the signatories make up more than 30% of worldwide fashion production, and they hope to enlist more. The non-binding accord was presented to world leaders at the G7 summit, and focuses on scientifically measurable targets such as eliminating single-use plastic in packaging and switching to renewable energy (though target dates are quite far into the future). Read a full analysis on Fortune.
Is it greenwashing?
With only minimal reference to the previous item in this roundup, High Snob Society has published an article about how to spot greenwashing. An app called “Good on you” may be a useful resource to check up on brands you’re interested in, and there are a few guidelines here such as: beware of grand statements, small sustainable capsule collections (which probably mean the rest is NOT), watch out for trends, see if “recyclable” claims come with a WAY to recycle things, and more.
Disintegrating sportswear
Speaking of recycling, Addidas come out earlier this year with a fully recyclable sneaker. Announced last April, the high-performance running shoe is made completely from a single material, virgin thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The company takes back the shoes, grinds them into pellets and makes new shoes out of them, closing the loop. Closed loop design is an important part of the circular economy. Futurecraft.loop shoes are now available online.
This summer, Stella McCartney and Addidas revealed the prototypes for a biofabric tennis dress and hoodie. These are the first 100% recyclable hoodie created from garment waste with NuCycl™ fiber by Evrnu and a tennis dress created with Microsilk™ and cellulose blended yarn. According to the company’s press release, while the Futurecraft shoes are “made to be remade”, this tennis line is “Made to Biodegrade”: a “future-gazing ambition to create a bionic loop where products have the capability of being completely biodegradable and return to the natural ecosystem. Using materials developed from natural resources or made from cells and proteins in a lab, as seen with the adidas by Stella McCartney Biofabric Tennis Dress concept, adidas has demonstrated the possibility to create products using materials that are made with nature, and is a step in the brand’s journey to explore innovative solutions that can, at some point, also return to nature.”
Just as shiny
Designer Elissa Brunato has developed a biodegradable sequin from the crystalline form of cellulose, making you feel rather better about that festive little dress that you only wear a few times. Traditional sequins are made of plastic which will stay in landfills forever, or worse, will end up in the ocean. Let’s hope to see these implemented and used at a large-scale level! See the designer’s website and the article in Fast Company.
Wooly stripes
The world-famous gondoliers of Venice, with their black and white striped wool sweaters, were announced as this year’s recipients of the Eco-Stewardship Award during the launch of this year’s Green Carpet Fashion Awards, Italia (announced August 27, the award ceremony will take place in Milan in late September, 2019). The Association of Venetian Gondoliers and their 433 registered gondoliers will be honoured with the Award for their use of responsibly sourced merino wool in their iconic striped uniform. For info see: ecoage.
PHOTO: Gondolier by Turinboy on Flickr.
