|
|
|
Home  Market Access WFTO Events Fair Trade fashion on major Euro runways
|
Fair Trade fashion on major Euro runways |
|
18 November 2009 |
Fair Trade clothing lines and textiles were showcased during the recent fashion events in Paris and London. Fashion lines of People Tree, Pachacuti, Oxfam, Ethical Fashion Forum and Trading for Development were exhibited during the London Fashion Week last September and the Paris Ethical Fashion Week early this month.
These leading Fair Trade fashion clothing and accessories distributors and their team of designers have shown that socially responsible products sourced from small producers could end up in the high end fashion, boosting the incomes of small textile and garments producers in poor countries.
From sidewalk to London’s catwalk
In-house and collaborative designs of famous fashion designers were exhibited in London’s catwalk. Oxfam DIY collection for independent style seekers displayed a range of electric sidewalk fashion designed  by Fee Doran aka Mrs Jones, famous for styling The Killers, Madonna, Kylie, Fred Perry, Topshop and Matthew Williamson and Giles Deacon. While the latest collections of Fair Trade fashion pioneer People Tree presented brand new creations of Bora Aksu, Richard Nicoll, Thakoon, Sam Ubhi, Eley Kishimoto, Jessica Ogden and Karen Nicol.
Pachacuti, the first Fair Trade Organization to complete WFTO’s pilots for its certification process project - the Sustainable Fair Trade Management System (SFTMS), is a newcomer that catwalked its way to showing products produced by Andean producers in Latin America.
Designers with a cause, the Ethical Fashion Forum (EFF) and their army of young ethical fashion designers, braved London’s high end fashion with its socially responsible creations and ideas. EFF used the catwalk platform to bring social and environmental responsibility to the fashion industry by providing support, training, consultancy, ethical sourcing of materials and tools for designers and businesses.
Paris Ethical Fashion Show
Challenging French haute couture with socially responsible designs and materials, Trading for Development (TfD) founder Judith Condor-Vidal showcased her  Fabulous Fibres collection sourced exclusively from 40 WFTO member producers. Judith’s fibres, with the UN seal of approval, are natural fibres from alpaca, wool, silk, peace silk, jute, sisal, cabuya, hemp, soya and organic cotton. The UN, in celebration of 2009 as the International Year of Natural Fibres, has give Judith the right to use its mark certifying the fibres are natural and environmentally friendly. Not surprising the fibres were a sold out attracting many French buyers.
Alongside TfD, Pachacuti and EFF have also participated in the event, breaking more grounds in major Euro fashion runways. Pachacuti displayed top of the line hats, fashion wears and other accessories. EFF presented ethical creations by young and emerging socially responsible designers.
Next moves
The coming months will be busy for these Fair Trade fashionistas. EFF will host the International Ethical Sourcing Marketplace for Fashion in London at Chelsea College on 21 November. This one-day event will be the culmination of EFF’s 2009 campaign on ethical sourcing for fashion materials and products. WFTO is one of the partners in this event.
TfD will participate in the UK Knitting week on 20-21 October at the Botanical Garden in Oxford, and the fourth Canning House Ethical Christmas Fair in London on 30 November.
People Tree Youth will launch its 2010 Spring/Summer in February with a clean and easy to wear collection. This collection will have Harry Potter star Emma Watson collaborative designs with People Tree’s in-house designers.
To learn more about Fair Trade fashion, ethical sourcing and new events, visit the web sites:
|
|
|
|
|
What can you do to promote Fair Trade? More...
|
|
|
|
|
