Tuesday 3 October 2023
Welcome back to the green pulse!
Hello sustainable fashionistas!
Welcome back to our fortnightly newsletter where I bring you the latest in the Sustainable fashion space. This week, there are some great vegan brand discounts to enjoy, given that October is Vegetarian Awareness Month and getting us ready for World Vegan Month in November. It’s also World Animal Day tomorrow!
And in our news section, we bring you more about innovative animal free materials including those made by physicists from wood, Stella McCartney’s plant based range and biodegradable stretch denim. We’re also looking at what Shein’s up to in the Sustainable Fashion space (is it just more greenwashing?) and an update on consumer perception about eco-friendly fashion in 2023.
Plus I’ve been busy interviewing some of my favourite sustainable fashion brands about where they come from and what makes them tick, you can read more below.
Halloween
Before I let you go, I thought I’d drop a quick note in about Halloween. Especially as there are still 28 days to go! As a Remake ambassador, I’d love to ask you to spare a thought for garment workers under pressure to get bulk orders of tacky single use, environmentally damaging and toxic products out of the door. Here’s a great article about how to make your Halloween costume sustainably. Or buy a second-hand one if making’s not your thing!
Enjoy and have a great fortnight
Conscious discounts
G Star Raw (pictured): One of the more sustainable jeans brands using eco-friendly & toxin free materials. Take 20% off all jeans & free shipping until 8 October.
Nae: Standing for No Animal Exploitation, specialising in on-trend vegan footwear. Get 20% off for World Animal Day on 4 October with code WAD2023 & after GMT readers get 15% off with code NAEGMT15.
Woron: For sustainable, vegan and toxin free underwear that is still sexy from Copenhagen. They’re offering 3 for 2 on all sale items at the moment.
Good Guys Don’t Wear Leather: Take note runners: GGDWL are now taking pre-orders for their vibram sole running shoes. And GMT readers get 15% off with code GOODMAKERTALES
Alohas: Sustainable shoe brand Alohas is offering 30% off their new waste reducing on-demand collection.
Omnes: As well as offering 15% off their sale with code FINAL15, Omnes now has a sale on its eco-friendly bridesmaid dresses!
Quote of the week:
“Become an active citizen through your wardrobe”
Livia Firth
Upcoming events
Sustainable Fashion Week
SFW is on now! Download their programme here. Still to go, community workshops across the country in everything from zero-waste pattern cutting to darning, to upcycled jewellery to second-hand markets!
World Animal Day 4 October 2023
With the mission to raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe. Join them on social media to find out how you can get involved.
Lates: Sustainable fashion at the Natural History Museum 20 October
A FREE night of catwalks, clothes swops, talks from museum scientists, bespoke collection tours & textile & crafts workshops all at the Natural History Museum.
CO2 Runway – Sustainable Fashion 11 Oct Gateshead
For those in the north, get your tickets for a night of sustainable fashion with cocktails, canapes, fashion shows and industry talks from experts.
Interviews with sustainable brands
DEDICATED Brand on Low Impact Clothing Production
In our latest interview, CEO Johan Graffner of DEDICATED Brand talks low impact clothing production & the fight against fast fashion!
Rapanui Co-Founder Talks Circular Fashion & Sustainable Brand Challenges
Rapanui’s Mart Drake-Knight talks circular fashion, on demand clothing production & the challenges of running a sustainable fashion brand.
The Manda talks Vegan Chic & its Apple Leather Women’s Backpack
Join us for an interview with Precilla Sedney, founder of vegan and sustainable bag brand The Manda, to explore the making of their apple leather women’s backpack.
What news? Sustainable fashion in the press
Spinnova: physicists turning wood into clothes (chemical free)
Physicists in Finland are finding innovative new ways to create textiles. This new process is making headlines as it transforms responsibly sourced wood from forests into clothing fibres using the same method as a spider’s web.
Unlike traditional methods, it doesn’t use any toxic chemicals and significantly reduces water consumption by a whopping 99.5% and CO₂ emissions by 74%. The resulting fibres are also recyclable, biodegradable and are free of microplastics. And Spinnova’s ambitious goal? To replace 4% of the world’s cotton supply by 2033!
Sustainable fashion perceptions in 2023
A study covering the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the US looked at consumers’ perceptions of sustainable fashion, compared to a base study in 2019.
In 2022, the French spent an average of €148.6 on eco-responsible fashion, with similar trends elsewhere. The study found that 9 out of 10 people view sustainable products as fashionable, which they didn’t before, and the ‘made in’ label is very important with 82% of French people needing a garment to be made in France to consider it sustainable.
Zara owner back in the news with new sustainable agreement
Inditex and the International Apparel Federation (IAF) have teamed up in an agreement aimed at driving transformation in the fashion industry and its supply chains. The agreement aims to support the adoption of more sustainable practices and technologies.
Key areas of focus include recycling waste into raw materials, emissions neutrality, and enhancing working conditions, along with fostering transparency and efficiency in global supply chains.
World’s first natural and biodegradable stretch denim
Did you know that the stretch part of denim is often the most unsustainable part? It is made from plastics, gives off microplastics when washed and is very hard to recycle due to the fact that it’s interwoven into the cotton fabric of the denim. However, Candiani Denim and Coreva Design have now introduced the world’s first fully natural and biodegradable stretch denim.
The collection, launched in Milan, replaces synthetic stretch elements with natural rubber-derived plant materials. This means the stretch denim can biodegrade in less than four months. So impressive!
Shein tries to be sustainable with its new designer collection
Shein are trying out on-demand, small batch production as part of its Shein x Designer Incubator Programme. Six US designers were chosen for the programme who had to have used at least 30% “preferred materials” in their collection (including deadstock, recycled polyester and forest safe viscose).
The products also needed to be manufactured under high social and environmental conditions as verified by third party certifications. Let’s see if they roll out these concepts to the rest of their collection or if it’s just another form of greenwashing!
Stella McCartney’s spring collection is majority plant based
Stella McCartney’s Spring 2024 collection in Paris highlighted sustainable fashion’s future with a “plant-based, nature-positive, solution-focused” approach.
The runway became a green tech marketplace featuring cruelty-free materials. She used several types of plant based leathers, organic cotton and seaweed-based yarn. Sadly Bolt Threads who use mushroom mycelium (roots) to make leather are no longer featured due to their lack of funding, showing some of the challenges to this ground-breaking space.
That’s all for now…
I hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter. What was your favourite part? What would you prefer less of? Please let me know!
And sharing is caring, please share with any friends that you think might enjoy!
Have a great fortnight, and speak soon
All the best
Julie
The post The green pulse: innovative animal free fabrics appeared first on goodmakertales.com.
This post first appeared on Good Maker Tales: Sustainable & Ethical Fashion, please read the originial post: here
