Below are some Eco-friendly practices that you, as a business can do to contribute your share of sustainability in the fashion industry.<\/p>\n
With planet earth being pushed to the limit and recent headlines predicting that a 2C rise in temperatures could set off an uncontrollable chain of events within five decades, everyone needs to do their bit.<\/p>\n
No one is more aware of the urgency than millennial students at fashion colleges. Many of them have been developing their work on an eco-friendly ethos.<\/p>\n
However, once these students graduate one can only hope that their fledgling businesses are set up in such a way that helps reduce their carbon footprint. Travelling on a path towards greater sustainable practices means analysing the environmental impact of your company and your suppliers.<\/p>\n
Setting up a studio can be an expensive endeavour and if you choose to go it alone, it can become even more expensive. It’s worth considering a studio share with another designer who compliments your aesthetic.<\/p>\n
Perhaps a digital print designer to your clothing designer could work? Traditional screen printing methods use vast amounts of water so teaming up<\/strong> with a digital printer will not only avoid this but will also reduce waste by allowing for the more precise placement of prints.\u00a0Elliss\u00a0Solomon<\/a> set up her studio in the same East London building as her manufacturer in order to reduce her carbon footprint.<\/p>\n Excess fabric that\u2019s left over from sampling and production, AKA cabbage<\/strong> could be put to good use. Dust bags could be made from large enough pieces and as a creative, it shouldn\u2019t be too difficult to design something small from the smaller pieces of excess. This is one of the great eco-friendly practices that are really easy to incorporate.<\/p>\n Consider making something that could be sold as a signature item and can be re-made every season with whatever offcuts you may have. One company that is building a business by using offcuts is Kapdaa<\/a>, the offcut company. They offer a service to fashion companies whereby they create a range of fashionable stationery<\/strong> out of their offcuts. You could perhaps consider covering items in your offcuts and selling them alongside your main products.<\/p>\n Le Kilt<\/a> has launched a childrenswear range that uses the offcuts from their cult womenswear kilts to produce mini kilts. As Samantha McCoach, the designer says\u00a0“I love the idea that the same piece of cloth that went into our classic styles now makes up the miniature versions.”<\/em><\/p>\n Tencel<\/a> is a great product that uses cellulosic fibres of botanic origin. They offer recycled fabric such as the pioneering RefibraTM\u00a0technology that upcycles a substantial proportion of cotton scraps from garment production, in addition to the wood pulp or sustainable products.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Elliss\u00a0brand recently discovered a company that regenerates nylon in their Econyl process<\/a>. It combines fishing nets and nylon\u00a0waste\u00a0and reforms it into the fabric that they use to make swimwear.<\/p>\n Alternative textile<\/a> is in a way, the root of sustainability without eco-friendly materials, the entire life cycle of the garment would have no importance.<\/p>\n The vintage market is the ultimate eco-friendly marketplace to source materials. Products such as vintage scarves, of which there are plenty, could form the mainstay of your collection and be transformed into all sorts of items such as shorts, tops and panelled sections on vintage knitwear. Vintage garments could be re-used and juxtaposed with other items to form new and interesting looks. Vetements used vintage types of denim which were cut up and re-sewn into new styles three years ago.<\/p>\n This practice has now been adopted by E.L.V. Denim. The (ridiculously expensive) brand was built by Anna Foster on the aesthetic of reforming vintage denim jeans into perfectly-fit new styles and collaborating with Blackhorse Lane Atelier\u00a0\u00a0(a London-based factory that practices environmental and social sustainability)<\/p>\n This is one area that could incur a lot of expense if approached traditionally. Most brands tend to push the boat out by creating\u00a0a beautiful\u00a0point of sale bespoke boxes or bags to wrap their goods in.<\/p>\n Why not consider this great idea? The brilliant sustainable brand, Silent goods<\/a> has eschewed the typical fancy packaging favoured by other brands and opted for the humble cardboard box<\/strong>. Their boxes are pre-used and redundant and very simple.<\/p>\n Another option would be to source a company that produces boxes using recycled, unbleached cardboard. As they say, beauty is within and this option would allow you to spend money on the product, where it is most needed.<\/p>\n Plastic and paper bags are the typical choices favoured by the fashion industry for point of sale packaging.<\/p>\n However, now there is another choice available thanks to the company. They have developed a sustainable material that is made from wood fibre<\/strong> and is suitable for uses where plastic films have previously been the only alternative. Unlike paper, Paptic\u00ae products<\/a> when wet, do not shrink but return to their original dimensions when dried out.<\/p>\n Paptic\u00ae could be used to wrap items in prior to bagging or boxing as well as being used to make dust bags for handbags and accessories.<\/p>\n While it may seem like the only difference between fonts is style, it appears that some fonts have a much higher rate of ink consumption.<\/p>\n Therefore it is worth considering the use of fonts that use less ink when printed.<\/p>\n\n
2. Re-using Materials and trims<\/h4>\n
3. Choose alternative materials<\/h4>\n
4. Packaging<\/h4>\n
5. Printing<\/h4>\n