Living and working a sustainable fashion life - The London Event
Recently I attended a Sustainable fashion event at the in London Holborn.
I found this event really informative and it opened up my eyes to the real meaning of Sustainability, and that I need to understand first what this word really means, especially to a new brand looking to build a sustainable labelled collection.
It was an evening filled with good conversation, drinks and networking, alongside education on how to shop consciously. There were experts explaining what brands are doing to reduce their impact on the environment and treat their workers fairly.
The event raised my awareness on knowing where your clothes come from. It also gave us, as the consumer, designer and developer, direction and knowledge on how to shop more consciously, whether that's more ethically, or more environmentally aware, and lowering our “fashion footprint”.
We also covered ‘Reaffirmation of a brand’. This is where you can find out what the multiple high street store are saying, when they quote they are ‘sustainable’. You can question brands who refer to this word in their marketing. Most of them will, and should, have information on their website to support what they are doing or working on/towards to ensure their products meet ethical or environmental standards.
So, lessons learnt is to simply start asking certain questions like “Why are our clothes getting cheaper?”
“Did you know that 99.9 % of designers don’t know where their materials actually come from?”- Amy Powney
Amy Powney is the Creative Director of Mother Of Pearl, a luxury brand that is leading the charge of sustainability. Each Mother of Pearl product sector is fully traceable, back to the raw materials and the workers handling them. As a main guest speaker, Amy delivered inspiring hand on heart strong statements on what ‘we’ as consumers, designers, developers should and should not be doing in order to run a sustainable brand.
Looking at another sustainable brand, have you heard of Guppyfriend ? You put synthetic products in a bag to collect the fibres when washing your clothes. This is then stopping the synthetic fibres getting back into our water supply and food chain. The question then raised is what do we do with the collected synthetic fibres, surely not put it in the bin for the land fill?!
The main takeaway of this event is to shop less and buy good quality, buy what you love, remember the passion you had for that coat or chair you bought after the longing and saving for it.
Re-live that positive passion when you purchase good quality, you will pay a bit more and cherish it for longer. It will repay you by longevity and memories of before purchase, during and after. This feeling and product still remain long after that now damaged high-street version that is sitting in a landfill somewhere on the coast.
Pin the image below to read later and share with other creatives.
For more insightful creative features into interiors, antiques and lifestyle, please do join our mail list for The Urban Vintage Affair. You will also immediately receive 10% code for your first web order Click To Join