Wharf green: ethical fashion

By Kay Harrison on February 20, 2008 2:00 PM |

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NOW that the dust has settled after London Fashion Week it’s clear once again ethical
fashion has been a big draw.

Dedicated shows this year like Estethica, which was sponsored by popular Canary Wharf
retailers Monsoon and Accessorize, have highlighted the cream of existing ethical labels, while many mainstream designers have given a nod to fairly traded fabrics and organic cotton.

Closer to home, there are a bunch of up-and-coming designers who are shaping the face of ethical fashion for the future.

Along the road in Brick Lane, Junky Styling create fantastic ranges of high-fashion clothing using recycled garments and charity shop off-cuts.

They’ll even transform your old wardrobe for you – simply take along some worn-out favourites you can’t bear to bin and they can remake and remodel them into new styles, custom fitted just for you.

And around the corner in Spelman Street, Better Thinking is a sustainable brand and design consultancy that has been working with top designer John Smedley on what it calls “The Ultimate T-shirt”.

Launching this spring, they hope it will redefine how you think about luxury and sustainability.

It combines a production process which ensures the highest possible eco standards, but still makes a T-shirt which promises to be a luxurious staple of your wardrobe.

The Better Thinking team have just come back from launching the T-shirt in Japan and they are also working on a variety of responsible business projects around the globe, promoting their core values of sustainability and transparency.

Away from the boutiques, the High Street is still the main battleground for ethical fashion, and all of the key players are now introducing Fairtrade and organic ranges.

One of the latest to join the in-crowd of eco fashionistas is Oasis, which has a branch in Canada Place shopping mall.

It recently launched a Future Organic range, all produced from 100 per cent organic cotton. So 2008 should be the year “ethical fashion” becomes the norm, not a novelty.

Do you or your company have an environmentally friendly product or service you’d like featured in this column? Let us know by contacting Seventeen, a sustainable alternative for your event
management needs, based at Trinity Buoy Wharf. Email andrew@seventeenevents.co.uk