Fast Fashion a Textile Waste
“Its better to have fewer things of quality than too much expendable junk” Rachel Zoe.
These words from fashion icon Rachel Zoe, resonate with fast fashion, the culprit of “expendable junk”. Given globalization and cheap labour, it has become a mainstay for big name retailers to inexpensively yet quickly produce mass inventory. Coupled with the epidemic of consumerism, the “fast fashion” movement has become synonymous with disposable fashion and textile waste.
Fast fashion is the drive-through fast food version of fashion. To be more precise, fast fashion is low-cost clothing collections based off of current, high-cost luxury fashion. Delivering its instant gratification, fast fashion has a quick turnaround to replenish stock with merchandise that is “floor ready” in only a few weeks. In its entirety, fast fashion thrives on and cultivates from a toss away culture based on disposability and endless consumerism. Due to poor quality and manufacturing, the benchmark for fast fashion companies is an expected 10 washes until an item no longer holds its original quality and subsequently falls apart. This trend seems to be giving consumers the access card to toss away, filling landfills with the old to make room for the new in our wardrobes.
This throw away mentality coupled with retail discounting and changing fashion trends may fuel the demand for fast fashion but in actuality it contributes to unsustainable practices and an extensive amount of waste. In Canada, it is estimated that 85% of recyclable clothes are being thrown out, and approximately 500 million pounds of textile waste exist in Canadian landfills. From air pollution created in factories, depletion of water resources, to the increase uses of harmful chemicals and oil, its no secret that this impact of ‘waste couture’ is harmful to the environment. In a society where ‘living green’ and ‘eco friendly’ is the new fad, how do consumers justify their commitment to poorly produced disposable fashion?
While fast fashion can mimic luxury products, it is a poor match for quality such as high ethical standards in sourcing, cost of labour, efficient use of material, and low impact manufacturing. However, to a degree in the fashion industry, we are seeing a consumer demand for more information concerning product sourcing and manufacturing. As such, it is increasingly evident that there is a greater interest for transparency between ethics of tactile practice and consumer markets. While we do see sustainable initiatives in fast fashion today, there still exists uncertainty as to whether fast fashion can genuinely shift from fashion as the latest look and discount, to the materiality of fashion.
Article written by Raylin Grace aka the Red Curl Owl with Luevo. You can follow Raylin at@raylingm
Menswear designer Jenny Schwarz
There’s something mysterious and intriguing about a rebel, making us wonder in excitement. UK based menswear designer, Jenny Schwarz, has us wondering no more. Her most recent collection, SS14, is all about neutral tones that define a chic, effortless look. The colour simplicity allows for the style, shape and detail of her pieces to stand out. Jenny’s SS14 collection is inspired by the post-war Circa WWII motorcycle gang and the men who were part of it.
Jenny Schwarz combines couture and ready-to-wear menswear into eclectic pieces. Her outstanding tailoring and attention to style has helped her brand remain noteworthy and successful in the fashion industry.Many of Jenny’s designs have a vintage touch while still maintaining its relevance. This makes for a unique approach to everyday modern menswear. Jenny’s pieces can sometimes be seen with additional accessories, mainly shoes. The shoes that are paired with her clothing adds to the rebel theme. Whether it’s a tattered combat boot or smart dress shoes, Jenny’s collection is made for every occasion.
An ongoing trend for the SS14 collection is the use of paneling- not only on the jackets and shirts, but also on the trousers. The stand out piece for me is the sand cotton jacket with padded paneling and mother pearl buttons as seen in the above photograph. Although the exquisite tailoring is reason enough to fall in love with the jacket, I also find myself drawn to the vibrant colour that allows the jacket to look incredibly rich.
Overall, the diversity of this collection is what makes it refreshing. All of the pieces can easily be paired with something that compliments a certain look. This collection shows that Jenny focuses on creating timeless yet stand alone pieces. Although, the pieces and their looks have a laid back feel, you can see the detail, thought and passion that went into designing these high fashion looks.
What do you think about Jenny Schwarz’ SS14 Collection? Let us know if this modern rebel look is what you like! @LuevoFashion
Photography: Michael Furlonger
Article written by fashion guest blogger Jonika Lewis. You can follow Jonika at @JonikaJun
Jewels for HER this Holiday
Tis the season for sparkle, a time when jewelry can truly make a statement. Adorn her this holiday season with a handpicked item from eye-catching collections by Joanna Morgan Designs and Toby Lynn Gems. While wearing these designs, she can mix and match, create ensembles or layer her favourite pieces, celebrating her creative side.
With an eclectic flare, the Joanna Morgan Designs make gift giving easy for the classic to edgy woman. The stylish jewelry accessories give versatility, transitioning from day to night and outfit-to-outfit. Primarily using sterling and fine silver, along with brass, each piece is given personality and character.
Well known for bold statement pieces, designer Toby Lynn uses a mixture of precious and semi precious stones, crystals, silver and gold, making unique one of a kind items. Wearing a Toby Lynn design makes any woman a crowd pleaser, giving testimony to her great style.
Toby Lynn Gems
Joanna Morgan Designs
Article written by Raylin Grace aka the Red Curl Owl with Luevo. You can follow Raylin at@raylingm
Holiday Gifts for Children
Children like to feel good and look good too, so style your child with fashionable gifts for every season. Investing in your child’s fashion wardrobe can have a lasting impact on them, moving beyond a wonderful appearance. A fashionable wardrobe will expose your child to a boost of self-confidence and sense of individuality. We suggest two designers whose clothing will make your child walk tall and smile. Whether for holiday, fall, spring or summer these designs will be reliable for your child to wear.
Being passionate about designing, Peini Yang’s KK Children Designs offers handmade garments woven with love and care. As a mother of two twin girls, Yang’s inspiration comes for creating designs of “style that grow with your children” offering designs that are wearable across seasons. Using brightly coloured bold prints and elegant fabrics, your child will twirl in happiness for feeling the most fashionable and stylish in Kk Children Designs.
Inspired by Liberty London, Little Men is a funky and fun clothing brand designed for young boys who want to express themselves stylishly in bold and vibrant colours. Mother of three and designer of Little Men, Sofia Trokey uses cool and lightweight fabrics, creating comfortable clothing for any active young boy. Not only will Little Men give your child more character and a sense of his own style but also provide him with the palette to stand out from his peers.
KK Clothing Designs
Little Men
Article written by Luevo’s marketing and social media team member, Raylin Miszczuk. You can follow Raylin at@raylingm
Holiday gift guide for HIM
With the holiday season approaching comes the perfect time to pamper our loved ones, need ideas for gift giving? Treat your special man to a stylish outfit, making him fashionably dressed for any holiday party and the winter season. These are key looks from designers that we guarantee he will love, receiving a head-turning appeal in any crowd.
Well acclaimed for his talent,Toronto based Christopher Bates is the definition of clean lines and chic designs, borrowing inspiration from 1950s styling. Transitioning between casual wear and an evening out, Bates offers fashionable items for any man.His newest collection can be found at Holt Renfrew, and we look forward to offering his exclusive items on Luevo soon.
Finding inspiration from Peter and the Wolf, Toronto based Philip Sparks creates designs that blend vintage details and classic tailoring, offering a contemporary sensibility to his collections. Providing high quality and functional clothing, the Sparks’ collections capture the essence of Canadians. For a classic and preppy style, sharp in every day, Sparks is the perfect option. Proudly made in Canada, you can buy his collections here in Toronto’s Ossington Village.
It is true; women do know how to style a man. Well known for her success in menswear, talented UK based Jenny Schwarz offers unique, innovative tailored fashion. Blending a classic style with a contemporary edge, the Schwarz collections imbue a dark and detailed twist that can be dressed up or down.Buy Schwarz designs in the UK or online at designated fashion shopping sites.
Christopher Bates
Jenny Schwarz
Philip Sparks
Article written by Raylin Grace aka the Red Curl Owl with Luevo. You can follow Raylin at@raylingm
Growing the Team
We would like to introduce Raylin, our newest member to the growing Luevo team. Raylin is a recent graduate who holds a Master of Arts in Communication and New Media from McMaster University in Hamilton. Raylin will be focusing on marketing and using her social media savvy on Luevo’s digital networks like Facebook, Twitter, Vine, and Pinterest to connect with fashionable and tech minded followers.
Identifying with her artistic side, Raylin has always had a passion for the arts, which developed from her experience as a writer and dancer to her interest in music, fashion and the visual arts. Through working in a fashion boutique in Port Credit, Raylin’s interest in fashion soon matured into her aspiration for working in an environment that combined fashion and her academic career.
Rather then approaching fashion narrowly through clothing, Raylin says that she admires the words from Madam Coco Chanel, “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening”. Raylin enjoys keeping up with the latest fashion news and trends, walking in the streets to find fashion inspiration and constantly looking at different places in the world for fashion influence. When in the streets of Toronto, she is a seeker for street art and says the colours and designs imbued in the streets inspire her.
While fashions may grow fainter, Raylin agrees that style is eternal. Her style is feminine and classic with contemporary aspects, admitting she is a fan of fashionista, Olivia Palermo. In terms of fashion designers, Raylin enjoys the styles of Montreal based, Ilan Elfassy founder of Soia & Kyo. Along with being a supporter for made in Canada fashion, Raylin says her Soia & Kyo jacket is the perfect blend between classic style and practicality for Canadian weather.
Fond of authentic things, Raylin is a passionate collector of unique accessories and is currently collecting handmade headbands. She is looking forward to attending Toronto’s upcoming One of a Kind Show to meet talented artisans. On Sundays, you can find her in a local coffee shop where she reads autobiographies, and writes about something that inspires her.
Born in Mississauga, she currently resides in Port Credit where she enjoys window shopping and walking along the Credit River surrounded by friendly people who have a community centric lifestyle.
You can follow Raylin’s tweets @LuevoFashion
Five Tips for any Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
In a web 2.0 generation, the ‘crowd’ is synonymous with the buzzword, crowdfunding. This collective effort of the crowd or “wisdom of the crowd” has become a mainstay for the creation and success of many early stage companies, startups and digital platforms.
From the many successful crowdfunding campaigns through Kickstarter and Indiegogo it seems like this trend won’t be disappearing anytime soon. While, we may think crowdfunding is an easy and simple effort in actuality it requires extensive thinking and planning. What makes a crowdfunding campaign successful? Many would ask. To explore this question, let’s look at five tips for crowdfunding success.
Do your research. When planning a crowdfunding campaign, research is a crucial step that shouldn’t be overlooked. Research provides the building blocks to understanding your key demographic, competition, and place in the market. By doing your research, you can stumble upon other successful crowdfunding projects, which could lead to inspiration and ideas for your project. Additionally, you’ll need to research relevant media and keep an ongoing list of people who may be interested in your project.
Define the specifics: Defining and knowing your brand is important. For instance, spend time planning out your goals, missions, and any descriptions that resonate with your product. Here, you should consider the perks or incentives that will encourage people to get involved and support your campaign.
Communicate your brand: While, knowing your brand is important you’ll need to communicate it to others. In order for potential backers and media to support you, and the crowd to follow, make sure your pitch is genuine and well articulated. Simply telling people about your product won’t lead to success, you’ll need to create a story for your product. Resist the hard facts and tech specs, and opt for a story that connects with people in a meaningful way. Add in some creativity and weave in videos, images, and anything that will catch people’s interest.
Leverage your social networks: The words ‘hype’ and ‘buzz’ should resonate with your ambitions for a successful crowdfunding campaign. Get heavily connected to social channels to help spread the word about your crowdfunding efforts. You’ll want your crowdfunding project to be promoted to people in your personal social networks and beyond. By reaching out such as through a tweet, you can connect to like-minded and tech-savvy people to start channeling the interaction about your efforts. In addition, you can generate a lot of buzz by reaching out to bloggers, journalists, and reporters for potential press coverage and media recognition.
Always recognize your contributors and supporters: Have a ready to go list of core contacts that can help promote your crowdfunding efforts. These contacts will help contribute and make the project successful, and also give you the extra confidence and positivity needed for launching. Even after the initial burst of energy after launching, you’ll need to stay engaged, which requires frequent updates to your contributors and supporters. These contacts can do wonders for your campaign, but you’ll need to find ways of returning the favour to make them feel important and appreciated for their effort.
Article written by Raylin Grace aka the Red Curl Owl with Luevo. You can follow Raylin at@raylingm
Mercedes-Benz Start Up Competition 2013
Mercedes-Benz Start Up is an annual competition for start-up fashion designers hosted at World Master Card Fashion Week and it is focusing on talented fashion designers across Canada. With the promise of ongoing mentorship, a solo catwalk during fashion week next season and editorial support in FASHION, one of Canada’s leading magazines, the grand prize is highly sought after. It was obvious there was no shortage of talented participants for the competition, as each of the eight lines presented were exceptional in their design and execution. At the end of the show, the grand prize was awarded to two winners instead of one for the first time in the competition’s history.
The first winner, Malorie Urbanovich, is an Edmonton based designer who showcased not only beautiful easy to wear pieces, but nostalgic 90s throwbacks. Malorie Urbanovich has given us permission once again to find love layering simple silk dresses with boxy plush cardigans and sweaters. The outfits were reflective of design as a whole in architecture and interior design, with a minimalist, comfortable and unpretentious feeling. Any of her pieces would be a timeliness addition to any wardrobe for Spring 2014.
The second winner, Celine Raizonville, hails from Montreal with her urban chic line Matiere Noire. During the show, Celine presented soft, feminine boxy pieces from her Spring 2014 line in soft solids and bold horizontal striping. The neutral colour palette of black, white and oatmeal often had a punch of plum, a colour usually reserved for darker fall colours. The colours were a refreshing change for a Spring collection. Her collection was rounded out with quirky visors and a youthful socks-with-heels look.
For all of the reasons listed, it is clear why a deadlock took place between the judges. Each line encompasses a perfect balance of fresh style paired with favourite attributes from fashion past. Any piece from either collection not only support Canadian fashion, but independent fashion designers as a whole.
Article written by guest-blogger @Bhreigh
Sid Neigum’s collection at WMCFW
It was an absolute honour and pleasure to be invited at Sid Neigum‘s fashion show as part of Toronto’s recent WMCFW festivities. The collection surpassed my expectations, simple but elegant and it still had the shock factor, this time found in the choice of boots!
I really enjoyed the geometry of Sid’s designs, as well as the peek-a-boo cut-outs and the overall clean look. I noticed a very limited palette of colours, but that made the collection even more so elegant. And of course, everyone was buzzing about those boots as if the models were walking out of a sci-fi movie. Surprisingly, but there were no casualties among the gracious models as they paraded down the runway. Speaking of the models, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful they all looked! With their angel-like faces, perfect and simplistic make up they were picture-perfect!
Everyone came out to see Sid’s latest collection, including celebrities such as model Stacey McKenzie. Overall, I think it was a great mix of people, and I really enjoyed the vibe of excitement and anticipation.
I hope you enjoy our exclusive photography of the show. Remember if you want to use these you need to get permission from framestopper.ca.
