Is Eco-Fashion Just a Trend?

I recently attended the GREEN JOBS FORUM in Toronto to find among the speakers many young entrepreneurs in the fields of fashion and beauty.  I became curious about eco-trends in fashion when we were recently approached by local designers Alexandra Wilson and Jessica van Enckevort from LittleWhiteDress (we will review their line in a separate post).

We are picky eaters, picky travelers, picky partners, but how about fashion? How concerned are we of where our clothes are being made, or if young children were the “tailors” of our clothes? I would leave that up to you my reader, but my guess is most of us aren’t. Most brand name labels do produce their lines in a third world country, but I am not even going to go there.

This post is about those designers that are trying to make a difference, and not only that they source their materials and produce their designs locally, but they also try to incorporate sustainable practices in the manufacturing process of their clothing lines.

At the GREEN JOBS FORUM I listened to Shawna Robinson co-owner of LABEL.

The designers at LABEL use recycled and organic materials as much as they can and they use eco-friendly printing processes for their T-shirts. Shawna also made an interesting point on being  sustainable versus eco, as a company. They choose “sustainable” design patterns, to make full use of the materials available and reduce waste. This is one of the reason why their most recent collection has a lot of asymmetrical designs – which is not only sustainable but also very trendy, and we love it!

Obviously, prices are always going to be an issue for the buyer, as most of the sustainable and eco-friendly clothing will bear a higher price tag than, you know their non-so-sustainable competition. But I believe if we can pay  50% more on organic foods than we should consider local designers that  not only are they doing something good about our environment, but they are also a source for  innovative  fashion and high-quality craftsmanship.

For more information on sustainable and eco-friendly fashion you can have a look at FASHION TAKES ACTION,  an industry non-profit organization.