Ecouterre » Green Designers

Stella McCartney Explains Why She Doesn’t Use Leather in PETA Video

Jasmin Malik Chua — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:00:49 +0000

It’s widely known that Stella McCartney doesn’t use fur in her collections. Less touted, perhaps, is the vegan designer’s rejection of leather. In a new video from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, timed to coincide with New York Fashion Week, McCartney explains why she shed the use of animal skins. Leather isn’t a by-product of the meat industry, she says, but an important co-product that contributes directly to the ills of factory farming. But although PETA planned to run the public service announcement in taxis across Manhattan, fashion’s tastemakers will not, in fact, be schooled by McCartney between shows.

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The “Flourish Approach” Uses Modular Construction to Unite Local Skills on a Global Front

Amanda Coen — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:00:27 +0000

For Sarah Dixon and Danielle Sponder Testa, what began as musings on sustainability soon evolved into a business model. The designers, who met as students at the London College of Fashion, developed the “Flourish Approach” to bring together community skills and resources from across the planet. By creating interchangeable components using techniques as varied as Estonian folk-knitting, Mayan weaving, and African batik, then seaming them together in one central location, Dixon and Testa envision modular garments that offer innumerable opportunities for customization.

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Julia Ramsey’s Dramatic Knits Meditate on Our Relationship With Clothing

Amanda Coen — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:00:50 +0000

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MaXhosa by Laduma Offers Eco-Knits That Sustain South African Traditions

Amanda Coen — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:00:48 +0000

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Dahea Sun’s Cabbage-Dyed Textiles Demonstrate Changing pH of Acid Rain

Amanda Coen — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:00:55 +0000

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Titania Inglis Wins 2012 Ecco Domani Award for Sustainable Design

Brit Liggett — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:00:10 +0000

Photos by Evan Browning

Hearty congratulations to Titania Inglis, winner of the 2012 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award for Sustainable Design, an honor that was previously bestowed to Tara St. James of Study NY, John Patrick of Organic, and Bodkin’s Eviana Hartman. The award, which comes with a $25,000 grant, is a major coup for any designer, particularly one as young as Inglis, who debuted her eponymous label with a lineup of rust-dyed, vintage-inspired playsuits in early 2010. Since her breakout collection, Inglis has come into her own, creating crisp, impeccably tailored looks that are as sustainable as they are immaculate.

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Borre Akkersdijk Uses Mattress-Knitting Machine to Create Quilted Couture

Kirin Rinehart — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:24:37 +0000

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Lexus Fashion Workshop Turns Recyclable Hybrid Parts Into Haute Couture

Kirin Rinehart — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:00:16 +0000

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Dame Vivienne Westwood Pledges £1 Million to Tackle Climate Change

Jasmin Malik Chua — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:00:15 +0000

Dame Vivienne Westwood has never been one to shy away from a sound byte, but the doyenne of British fashion is finally putting her money where her mouth is. After voicing frustration over the World Bank’s failure to distribute funds earmarked for climate change, Westwood announced she was giving £1 million ($1.55 million) of her own cash to prevent logging in the rainforests of Borneo, the Congo Basin, and Peru. Speaking on the eve of United Nations climate talks in South Africa on Monday, the designer criticized World Bank officials for sitting on the £4.2 billion ($6.5 billion) Climate Investment Funds, which was established in 2008 to help developing countries confront the effects of global warming by 2012.

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Valérie Pache Creates Whimsical Dresses From Recycled Paraglider Sails

Jasmin Malik Chua — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 13:00:40 +0000

Valérie Pache is the wing beneath our wings…paraglider wings, that is. The French designer turns castoff parachutes, retired paraglider sails, and end-of-roll fabrics into sartorial flights of fancy. “This material is there, there’s a lot of it, and it’s free,” Pache says in a video interview with Shamengo. “And to offer it a second life—a good life—is something I can really put a lot of myself into.”

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Laura Sansone Exemplifies Locavore Fashion With Her Handspun, Plant-Dyed Wares

Amanda Coen — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:00:42 +0000

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Manolo Blahnik, M. Patmos Make Eco-Friendly Shoes From Waste Tilapia Skins, Cork

Jasmin Malik Chua — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:00:33 +0000

A eco-friendly Manolo Blahnik shoe isn’t something we expected to see in our lifetime, but stranger things have happened. The luxury shoemaker, name-checked by Sarah Jessica Parker on Sex and the City, has teamed up with award-winning designer Marcia Patmos to create a collection of sandals for spring. Made from discarded tilapia skins, cork, and raffia, the two styles—a double-strap flat and a sophisticated open-toed pump—will be available in a combination of electric blue, black, ecru, and fluorescent yellow.

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Stefanie Nieuwenhuys Recycles Wood Chips Into Snakeskin-Like Couture

Kirin Rinehart — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:00:34 +0000

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Join Us Tonight for the “Healthy Food In Fashion” Gala to Benefit NYC’s Youth

Jasmin Malik Chua — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:00:22 +0000

Come out in style for a healthy cause on Wednesday, October 12, as the NY Coalition for Healthy School Food throws its annual “Healthy Food in Fashion” fall gala. Hosted by radio personality Robin Quivers, the event will feature vegan treats from 24 vendors, along with cruelty-free styles from the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Heather Mills, VPL by Victoria Bartlett, John Bartlett, Novacas for Brave GentleMan, Thieves by Sonja den Elzen, Olsenhaus, Angelrox, Cri de Coeur, DLC Brooklyn, Vaute Couture, GUNAS, and Study NY by Tara St. James.

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Vivienne Westwood Debuts Gold Label Spring 2012 at Paris Fashion Week, Thinks Confucianism May Save Planet

Jasmin Malik Chua — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:00:20 +0000

“I have always loved the Mao cap, though I hate violent revolution.” Thus spake legendary British designer Vivienne Westwood, who cites China as the key inspiration behind her Spring/Summer 2012 Gold Label collection at Paris Fashion Week on Friday. Coupled with oversized 17th century corsetry, the Berbers of North Africa, and desertification as a result of climate change, and you have an idiosyncratic panoply of cobweb knits, tablecloth-lace wedding gowns, stiff brocade jackets, and ticking-stripe bedspread dresses that could only have sprung from the mind of the Godmother of Punk herself. But back to the Chinese. “I hope their traditional wisdom and experience from a culture going back to Confucius may help us to save the planet,” she says.

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Eco-Fashionista Barbie? Bid on Loomstate’s Fashion’s Night Out Doll

Yuka Yoneda — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:00:34 +0000

It’s no secret that Barbie is an unrepentant shopaholic, so we weren’t surprised to find her all over Fashion’s Night Out in New York City. Still, the plastic bombshell took time out from her jam-packed schedule to don one of our favorite sustainable designers, although you won’t find this special-edition “Loomstate Barbie” on store shelves anytime soon. Loomstate dressed but a single doll in miniaturized versions of its “Abenaki” sweater and “Shkani” short, and she’s available only on the auction block for a starting bid of $500.

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Suzanne Rae Returns to Simpler Times With Her Spring 2012 Line at New York Fashion Week

Kestrel Jenkins — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:00:39 +0000

Photos by Amanda Coen for Ecouterre

Earthquakes, nuclear meltdowns, stock-market crashes; is it any wonder that Suzanne Rae yearns for simpler times? Showcasing her Spring/Summer 2012 collection at New York Fashion Week on Monday, the Brooklyn designer delivered a convergence of bikinis, playsuits, and fluttery gowns—constructed from organic cotton, recycled hemp, raw silk, and even raffia—on a platform that was more boardwalk than runway. Her nostalgia for the past was apparent: Paired with tai-chi flats and Tumbleweeds sunglasses made in San Diego from remnant woods, Rae’s beachy, laid-back looks ushered a rare moment of calm amidst the tumult.

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Mara Hoffman’s Spring 2012 Collection Brings the Tropics to New York Fashion Week

Kestrel Jenkins — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:00:42 +0000

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Leanne Marshall’s Spring 2012 Line Offers Girlish Sophistication at New York Fashion Week

Jasmin Malik Chua — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 12:00:01 +0000

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Gretchen Jones is Guilty as Charged at New York Fashion Week Spring 2012

Jasmin Malik Chua — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 15:20:52 +0000

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John Patrick Organic’s Spring 2012 Line Finds Adventure at New York Fashion Week

Jill Fehrenbacher — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:00:10 +0000

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M. Patmos Gets Fresh for Spring/Summer 2012 at New York Fashion Week

Jasmin Malik Chua — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 12:00:11 +0000

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Orla Kiely Collaborates With People Tree on Ethical Fashion Collection

Yuka Yoneda — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:00:49 +0000

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Minna Debuts Vintage-Inspired Wedding Gowns For Eco-Chic Brides

Nicole Abene — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:00:28 +0000

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Ex-Armani Exchange Designer Lucio Castro Dives Into Men’s Eco-Fashion

Clifford Champion — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:00:55 +0000

After six years with Armani Exchange, Argentinean designer Lucio Castro is hanging out his own shingle. Unlike his former employer, however, Castro’s eponymous menswear label has a brazen emphasis on sustainable fabrics and artisanal techniques. His Spring/Summer 2012 collection, named “Nature is a language, can’t you read?” after a Smiths’ song, comprises clean-cut, minimalist pieces inspired, for the most part, by French filmmaker Fernand Deligny’s concept of “elevated simplicity.” A seemingly neutral charcoal cloth, for instance, reveals itself as a blend of neon fibers upon closer examination.

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