Fashion with a conscience | Eco Style

Photo by way of Sass Brown

When the words eco friendly clothing ring or vegan fashion is spoken, for many of us fashionistas our minds go into over drive and automatically envision hippie clothing, burlap sacks, or Peta fanatics throwing paint on someones mink coat. All preconceived notions originating from a place of naivety. So my curiosity lead me to the computer and there my information quest began. I wanted to peel back the onion and explore if my presumptions are wrong and answer the question is or can eco fashion be stylish? or does it consist of block shaped silhouettes and shoes made out of twine like in the biblical days? 

Sustainable fashion is a movement of conscious design techniques and methods to aid in decreasing unwanted environmental effects. Designers are trying to aid in the creation and production of products that are more ethically and environmentally sound. Eco fashion does not just merely address the production process (chemical treatments, dyes, etc.) of clothing but rather spans to address areas such as labor standards and working conditions, cultivation and renewability of raw materials, and the total carbon footprint of the rendering process. 

Some steps that are being taken to drive this initiative is replacing the use of petroleum based materials with the use of natural fibers, the use of organic cotton that is grown with rain water and no insecticides, and implementing no waste methods that uses reclaimed/recycled scraps collected from clothing factories or production halls. Designers are trying to incorporate these production techniques in creating fashion that retains a stylish edge and modern feel. So"hippie" fashion is far from the image that they are looking to produce, quality with a conscious is the aim.

A major challenge for many of the brands attempting to master the philosophy of sustainable eco fashion is implementing production techniques, totally natural materials, and maintaining sound labor standards 100% of the time. With that in mind, the classification of sustainable eco fashion is not a title that should be afforded to a brand or a designer meeting one or two of the process requirements. Instead, labeling them as sustainable eco conscious would be more appropriate. Their efforts give a consumer mental peace with knowing that they are making strides to transition their product process in a more conscious light. For that effort I believe support should be given. It is important to show that a demand exist and a consciousness is growing amongst consumers, it is a message that should reverberate. This arena of fashion is still in a stage of infancy, there is much to explore about process improvement. But the silhouette that is being formed is one of great ingenuity.

 

So the answer is NO, eco fashion is far beyond burlap sacks and twine shoes. And yes it is proven to be very stylish indeed. Some of the headliners pioneering this fashion philosophy include Stella McCartney, Tara St James, Vaute Couture, Toms, Amour Vert, Jill Milan, and Stewart and Brown.