With the transition to all-digital broadcasts, the planet isn’t exactly hurting for obsolete TV sets. Which is why vegan footwear purveyor Olsenhaus is making a switch of its own—by cladding Its entire Fall/Winter 2010 collection of pumps, wedges, stiletto booties, and knee-highs in an innovative polyester microfiber made from trashed television screens.
Lynda Fassa, founder and designer of Green Babies
Fifteen years ago when I founded Green Babies, the term “green” was so disassociated from fashion (or anything else for that matter), that people would ask my husband and business partner: “Green Babies, what’s that?” And he’d answer, “It’s an adoption agency for Martian children.” “Oh”..they’d say, slowly nodding and backing away. Sometimes I’d tell them what it really was and they looked equally perplexed. Things have changed, for the much better and brighter, but the question still remains: Why does organic cotton matter?
Elvis & Kresse’s bags and accessories are so hot they might as well be on fire. Luckily, the U.K.-based company had the foresight to craft them from decommissioned fire hoses, which it scrubs clean of 25 years worth of soot, grease, and built-up gunk before reincarnating them into luxe-looking totes, toiletry bags, belts, and wallets.
“Barkcloth” takes on a whole new meaning when you involve actual trees, specifically the Mutaba (Ficus natalensis) in Uganda. It’s this arboreal textile that makes up Refinity’s roughhewn, leather-like trench coat, which fastens shut—sans buttons—with the Dutch design consultancy’s click/fold system. Barkcloth, like leather, is durable and does not fray, yet it doesn’t require the same chemical-intensive tanning.
‘Tis the season for the flu, and if the regular strain wasn’t bad enough, we have a new, porcine terror to contend with. These brightly patterned medical face masks, however, may ward off H1N1 and its brethren simply by virtue of being stylish—looking like Wacko Jacko in his latter days notwithstanding. Designed by Marjan Kooroshnia, a Swedish textile-design student, these face masks have a bonus feature: They’re printed with thermochromic ink that changes color with any uptick in breathing temperature.
Who knew seat belts were so multifaceted? With Harveys’ new Lola Ruffle collection, the erstwhile safety straps pull a complete 180, morphing from brooding body armor to demure, frilly carryalls. The fresh, unabashedly feminine silhouettes, underscored by the dusky pink hue, mark a daring bur welcome departure from Harveys’ signature woven-basket aesthetic. And if your tastes run more Team Jolie than Team Aniston, don’t fret: You can also purchase them …
Unlike most technical-apparel lines, U.K.-based Finisterre provides tough, fashion-forward, and comfortable clothing that treads lightly on the environment. Taking a page out of Mother Nature’s playbook, Finesterre has developed a new, high-performance fabric that is designed to ventilate and protect in the harshest of conditions.
We can’t all afford $750 solar-powered jackets to keep us toasty when the mercury takes a swan dive, but when the alternative is to bundle up with more layers than an onion-fanciers’ convention, Uniqlo’s supremely affordable, lightweight heat-generating innerwear for men and women appears nothing short of inspired. So does the HeatTech fabric that absorbs your body’s moisture and converts it to heat—at first blush, anyway.
There is definitely something haunting about rendering the invisible “visible,” particularly when it comes to dissecting layers of the corporeal self. Austrian designer Sonja Bäumel goes one step further with her “(In)visible Membranes: Life on the Human Body and Its Design Applications” project, a fusion of fashion, philosophy, and science that explores how bacteria on our skin could be used to create clothing. Or, in her own words, how we could witness the “transformation of invisible skin bacteria on our living body to visible bacteria on a body-external medium.”
For former LeSportsac veteran Julianne Applegate, who went rogue in July with her own line of boldly patterned stuff sacks, great design is synonymous with green design. “To create great, green design, you must have inspiration, skill, and the right materials,” she tells Ecouterre. In creating JulieApple, no detail was spared, from green fabrics (recycled-plastic canvas, organic hemp, purposed sailcloth) to a new ecological dyeing method that uses virtually no water.
Photo by Cork Boutique
CORK \ˈkȯrk\
n. 1 a: An impermeable, buoyant, fire-resistant material that is stripped from the bark of the cork oak every nine years. (The tree has an average life expectancy of 200 years.) b: Used in flooring, upholstery, clothing, accessories, and, of course, wine stoppers. c: A strong case for the conservation of cork oak landscapes, which support remarkable levels of forest biodiversity, including endangered species such …
Cassette tape? How positively antiquarian! Conceptual artist Alyce Santoro brings this data-recording throwback (and mix-tape mainstay) into the 21st century, not only by spinning it into fabric, but also by rendering it “playable” when you run a tape head across its surface. Santoro’s limited-edition neckties, made in collaboration with Julio Cesar from 50 percent recorded audio-cassette tape and 50 percent colored polyester, are a testament to Sonic Fabric’s versatility—as well as its ability to transform even the stuffiest of suits into what Santoro dubs stealth “superhero garb.”
Whether or not you subscribe to the theory that fashion is art, you can’t deny that Bela Borsodi’s textile origami takes the Japanese art of folding to an entirely new level. Using various fashion accessories, Borsodi created a frog, a swan, and other creatures for a spread (entitled “Wild Life”) in Italian Vogue. The Vienna-born, New York-based photographer is also no stranger to finessing button-down shirts and denim jeans into animated faces that look like they’re on the verge of telling you if they make your butt look big.
Photo by deapeajay
S.CAFE \ˈes ka-ˈfā\
n. 1 a: A fabric that Singtex Industries in Taiwan knits or weaves using waste coffee grounds. (A single cup of coffee can yield two shirts.) b: Said to dry quickly, protect against UV rays, and neutralize odors. c: Meets Swiss Bluesign standards for sustainable fabrics.
Photo by R. Mickens/American Museum of Natural History
Along came a spider—well, 1 million spiders, to be exact. Using silk extracted from more than a million golden orb spiders, which are found only in Madagascar, this spectacular 11×4-foot shawl took British art historian Simon Peers and his American business partner Nicholas Godley more than four years to create using century-old weaving techniques. Another remarkable feature: The glistening silk threads are completely undyed.
With all the fashion-forward inroads made at The GreenShows at New York Fashion Week, it’s obvious that today’s eco-fashionistas are savvier than ever about the alchemy of eco-couture. What they may not be privy to, however, are the custom recipes that go into hand-dyed garments like those of standout label Mr. Larkin. Thanks to The Permacouture Institute’s slow textile-dyeing methods, eco-friendly fabrics can now be artfully imbued with a rich palette of organic materials that are readily available at your local farmers’ market or garden.
Photo by Thomas Roche
SeaCell \ˈsē ˈsel\
n. 1 a: A variant of lyocell, SeaCell is made by combining cellulose with a small percentage of seaweed. b: Boasts a litany of health claims, including stress reduction, detoxification, the exchange of minerals and vitamins between fiber and skin, and a “complete sense of well-being.” c: The subject of controversy when the New York Times reported that the lab tests …
Photo by Mark Aldane Tumang
PIÑA FIBER \ pēn-yə fī-bər\
n. 1 a: Long, fine, lustrous fibers obtained from the leaves of pineapple plants. (The plants are typically cultivated in Hawaii, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and the West Indies.) b: Resilient, strong fibers often used for sheer, silky fabrics, ropes, twine, and paper. c: Piña …
Photo by Chad Miller
LENPUR \ˈlen-ˈpər\
n. 1 a: A fiber made from the pulp of sustainably cultivated white fir wood. b: Has an exceptionally soft weave that feels similar to cashmere. c: Used in clothing, underwear, socks, and home accessories, Lenpur is said to have thermoregulatory, odor-eliminating, and absorbent properties.
Photo by Yarmee on Etsy
TENCEL \ˈten ˈsil\
n. 1 a: The trademarked brand name for lyocell, a natural cellulosic fiber with excellent moisture absorption and an exceptionally silky hand. b: A dyeable, wrinkle-resistant material that can be blended with a variety of other fibers, including cotton, rayon, polyester, silk, hemp, linen, and wool. c: Fabricated using a closed-loop process that doesn’t require bleach, although some manufacturers may use chemical processes, enzyme baths, and …
