Esthetically fashioned - Design is in

Esthetically fashioned 03/03/2010

The British Fashion Council has an eco sensitive initiative known as Estethica, now in its seventh season at the London Fashion Week. This initiative, one of the first of its kind, has seen some rapid growth, from 13 to 18 designers. It encourages ethical designers competing in the mainstream. Some of the designers are reusing materials you wouldn't look twice at, and creating great looking stuff at that, while others are focussing on naturally grown materials, and fair trade.

Take a look at the work of Elvis and Kresse, the people who seem healthily obsessed with waste. Some of the material they work with includes old fire-hose, coffee sacks, parachute silk and more. See their products, bags, belts, wallets, and they looks as good as new, if not better. Their packaging too, is made of re-used material, with product labels that are printed on the back of used Air Traffic Control Strips.

Another designer doing some pretty nifty work is Christopher Raeburn, who makes parachutes into must-possess jackets and the like. The jackets are made from military parachute fabric, and looking at them you wouldn't believe it. The lines of the parachutes are transformed into trendy outer wear.

From Somewhere have been creating women's wear since 1997, from the waste created in the designing phase such as proofs, swatches, cut-out left overs and ends of materials. Each piece is individually unique, but they are still reproducible in large numbers. Each piece is made from high-quality left-overs of the fashion industry, things that are usually unwanted and ignored, but still beautiful and usable. Run by Orsola de Castro and Fillippo Ricci, their strategy is simple and brilliantly effective. Use the fashion industry production surplus and leftovers, completing the circle of creation and consumption. Incidentally, Orsola and Fillippo are the co-founders and creators of Esthetica.

Izzy Lane Ethical Fashion creates woolen garments that mostly come from their own sheep, and the Shetland Collection is entirely undyed as the natural colour of the wool is best. The shoe collection is totally animal-friendly with no animal derived products used. Izzy Lane is also concerned with creating the entire garment exclusively in Britain, and use what little is left of their textile industry.

Kayu is an ethical and ecologically conscious line of accessories, the high-point of which are sunglasses handcrafted from bamboo. Their clutch bags are made from a women's cooperative and feature natural materials such as shell and straw. Founded by Jamie Lim, Kayu funds one sight-restoring surgery for each pair of glasses sold.

There are other designers here too such as Sonya Kashmiri, who only uses a special tanning process, and Minna, who re-use old lace, and design waste to create stylish pieces. Nina Dolcetti shoes are outrageous and hand-made, yet create minimum waste, and avoid tanning.

Estethica labels selected for 2010 are here. A great initiative that can create new paradigms in the industry, and encourages designers to be more ethically and ecologically conscious.

By Armeen Kapadia

Design is in

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