Eco-fashion trends update in Spring/Summer 2012

With the intent of creating a large impact and inspire other designers to saunter towards a cruelty-free direction, John Bartlett, winner of the Council of the Designers of America/Lexus Eco-Fashion Challenge introduces to the public this summer his latest eco-friendly Fall/Winter collection.

Outdoorsy, all-American appeal with sailor stripes and lumberjack plaids defines the first cruelty-free menswear collection at Fashion Week. Bartlett, the recently vegan designer insists on cruelty-free yet sustainable materials for his collections.

The uniqueness of Bartlett's elegant suits lies in where the suit is made of conventional cotton and blends of organic and not wool. But his suits are not the only pieces with this unique cruelty-free material. Bartlett's striped Henley's, sweaters, and dress-shirts are also made of organic cotton.

Determined to encourage cruelty-free designs, Bartlett even went to the lengths of mining his personal collection of Hudson's Bay point blankets—items that were normally traded in the 18^th and 19^th centuries to First Nations and Native Americans in exchange for beaver pelts and other goods—to create some of his jackets, capes and ponchos seen in the collection.

Results from this creative and eco-friendly inspiration came pieces that are sleek, supple and infused with colors derived from nature.

Another recent eco-friendly collection to parade in Fashion Week is Jeff Garner's Prophetik collection. Dyes used for his pieces are all natural and obtained from plants grown in his gardens. Floral print and houndstooth checks are the designs chosen for his men's jodhpurs and knee-length frock coats. Garner adapted the Scottish Highlands feel to his attires without the traditional tartan. 

Another trend worth all the fuss for is the new "Bonobo" series of laptop and iPad bags by Bluelounge. Bonobo bags are created from post-consumer PET bottles. Woven from the same material plastic soda bottles are made of, the five piece collection includes a backpack, a tote, a messenger, and two sizes of sleeve to coddle your electronic gear in streamlined style. The creations are designed to provide barrier against moisture, extra protection along with ergonomic straps for comfort on the go. They are tough and sturdy yet soft to the touch. A perfect blend of function and finesse.

These designer items are fashionable, durable and with a special twist of being eco-friendly. So, what is not to be crazy about?

Men Fashion: Dress Eco-Friendly, Are You?

You may be asking yourself what exactly is an Eco Youth and how can you dress like one? Well, we can sum this up in a couple of words: hippy and bohemian. As an Eco youth, you are someone who cares greatly about ecology and the planet. The things you wear and do are all with a saving the planet mentality.

Alright, so let see what you can do here. The first priority you can start with is to look for online stores that sell eco-friendly clothing. This is clothing that is made with recycled materials or who use coloring and dyes that are earth friendly with a production process that does little to pollute the earth. Bear in mind that the eco-fashion is basically more than just fashion really, but also how these things are made.

Next, we will briefly touch on how we can contribute to this.

1. Always carry around one of those recyclable ‘green’ grocery bags with you that have the word Green on it. This way everyone knows you are all about green stuff.


2.  Look online for clothing stores that feature green or eco clothing and articles. A great place to look as well is vintage stores and thrift stores. Recycled clothing at it’s finest.


3. Buy your jewelry from vintage stores and don’t go buying real pearls, ever.


4. On that note, you cannot wear anything made from animals; no leather or suede and snakeskin boots are definitely out!


5. If you use any kind of beauty product, from shampoo to makeup you have to be sure none of it was tested on animals, has no animal proteins or whale blubber or anything like that in them. There are specific places that sell eco friendly products of this nature, search them out.


6. Your clothing should be made of cotton, silk, bamboo or any other type of sustainable thread. Clothing and shoes made from hemp is a great way to go for this look.

The Eco Youth look is not any one particular fashion or look, it’s all about what clothing you are wearing, what it is made of and how it was made. If you are wearing something that was made by a company who is serious about being green then wear whatever you want from them.



In short, eco Fashion is all about saving the planet and looking good while you do it.

New Balance Act: Eco-Friendly Sneaker

Everyone know New Balance, but not sure whether you know their environmental theme? Based their initiative with the three R's: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, the company is introducing a fleece-like lace-up constructed from 95 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. The newSky, the shoe is part of New Balance's effort to incorporate sustainable practices into their long-term goals. It'll be available come October, with a streamlined design that yields minimal waste.

Because the recycled fabric behaved differently from typical footwear material, New Balance designers Christine Hall and Drew Spieth had to make adjustments to accommodate the material’s distinctive features. Besides whittling away any extraneous components, Hall and Spieth also borrowed elements from the NB Minimus by using the same pared-down outsole and last. “For the design intent of the upper, the same philosophies are applied—minimizing the amount of materials used so you’re not over-building the shoe, but making it as comfortable as possible,” Spieth says. By the way, it take about an average of eight recycled plastic bottles goes into each pair of newSky sneakers.

The recycled fabric, known commercially as Eco-fi, replaced parts of the shoe that previously utilized foam, leather, or virgin plastic, including the entire upper. Instead for conventional reinforcements such as plastic or leather, Hall and Spieth braced the heel with heavier-weight fabric and strategic stitching along the back seam. “The heel is where most of the reinforcing happens,” Hall says. “But when we doubled-up the material, you don’t need any reinforcement because the material is doing it itself.”

By exploiting the fabric’s unique characteristics through heating, molding, and pressing, the duo was able to strip away many traditional, non-recycled materials. The result is not only a shoe that’s gentler on the planet but also one that looks and feels good. “It was a big goal to keep it functional and looking stylish,” Spieth says. “At the end of the day, it looks like an interesting shoe and also looks great on the foot.”

New Eco Friendly Dying Technology

Say goodbye to streaking colors as well as fading threads. A whole new long lasting dye by British scientists could possibly mean the end of rose-colored “whites” as well as other clothing disasters. The revolutionary technology bonds the dye in order to textile fibers-particularly synthetic ones-on a molecular level, which results in coloring which won’t go, leach, or perhaps fade. To build up their product, scientists at the University of Leeds spun off their own personal organization, DyeCat, that provides an eco friendlier substitute for traditional dyeing techniques by mitigating waste, pollution, and energy use.

In usual dyeing processes, that account for seventeen to twenty percent of global industrial water pollution, swathes of material are colored utilizing chemicals in water baths. Despite the fact that molecules of dye soak into the fibers and settle in between, they’re not completely attached, because of this the sunlight, laundering, temperature, as well as other environmental variables can easily dislodge them from the surface.

The technology pioneered by DyeCat, alternatively, doesn’t make use of water at all. It chemically bonds the dye to the filaments as they’re twisted and spun into fiber, permanently locking in the color so it never washes out. The color, in essence, becomes part of the material, and no dyes contaminate the water. 

Eco Fashion Shows Updates

If you are care about environment, you should give some support to our eco-fashion designers. Let us update you the latest Eco-Fashion Shows for rest of the September month.

September 25-28

Paris – Since 2004 The Ethical Fashion Show has been bringingtogether designers who care about the environment and culture’s skills. From chic to traditional fashion including street wear, there’s something to suit all tastes.

September 27-30

Vancouver – Starting their inaugural Eco-fashion Week, a selection of some of  the best eco-designers from around the world will come together to showcase their latest collections of environmentally friendly, trend-setting fashion



 Do drop us a note if you have something to share, leave them in the comments and we’ll spread the news!