skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Distressed denim may be all the rage in the fashion world at the moment, but the style comes at an environmental and human cost. In Tehuacán in Mexico it is the local people that pay price for our fashion. Once famous for its mineral springs and spas, Tehuacán, the ‘City of Health’, is now home to around 700 clothes manufacturers, many with little or no environmental controls or standards. Workers are routinely exploited, their employee rights ignored. The worst environmental culprits are the dozens of factories that make the faded or distressed denim that is so fashionable right now. The chemicals used in the process are discharged into the rivers and streams around the factories, turning the water blue and damaging the crops that depend on the water systems.
The main chemical used is potassium permanganate, a strong bleaching agent that was once used to induce abortions. Mariano Baragán, a local farmer said: "As well as being blue, it burns the seedlings and sterilises the earth." The government agencies that should be monitoring the factories are allowing this to happen, probably because the local economy depends on the factories, and their foreign corporate customers. It is these corporations that should be enforcing stricter controls on their client factories to protect both the workers and the environment. We as customers ultimately have the power to change this with our buying power. We chould only buy products from ethical and fair trade companies.
We all want to be a one-off and now you can be with Armour Sans Anguish (clothing without sorrow), the brainchild of two fashion forward girls called Tawny Holt and Julie Edwards, who are both passionate about one-of-a-kind, recycled and sweatshop free clothing. Deconstructed vintage style is their forte and looking through their collections (which get snapped up pretty quick), Armour Sans Anguish excel at it. Julie is a consummate pro when it comes to repurposing old items, having acquired the skill of thriftiness from a very early age. Tawny majors in Cultural Anthropology and Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz and has always loved making things. Online eco-store BTC Elements are currently selling a beautiful Armour Sans Anguish, 'Layered and Lovely' reconstructed tulle dress, created from reclaimed and secondhand fabric, for $200. If you're a fan, get purchasing now, before it sells out, like all their other beautiful creations.
Eco-fashion is constantly evolving and it would seem that it is finally on the cusp of something phenomenal that will hopefully move ethical fashion from the periphery to the mainstream in the longterm. Ecoganik has been plugging away for ten years in the contemporary organic fashion movement, attempting to make headway. With a new creative director, Genevieve Cruz on board and a re-modelled marketing campaign, Ecoganik are gracing the pages of prestigious publications such as In Style, WWD, Lucky Magazine, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and the New York Times. Ecoganik are experts at catering for the eco-conscious consumer and Genevieve Cruz is now looking towards fashionistas who are keen to be more earth conscius, without compromising their sense of style. Each piece designed by Cruz is wearable, comfortable and relatively inexpensive, ranging from $63 for a tank to $250 for a dress. I am hoping that ethical fashion is going to become ever more innovative and a social norm. With labels like Ecoganik injecting effortless style into earth conscious attire, the dream seems ever more possible by the hour.
Short dresses are in this summer, so if you are prepared to show your pins to the world, but want to adorn an ethical frock, Bahar Shahpar creates some beautiful summer dresses. Bahar is based in Brooklyn and is a self-taught designer with a background in multi-media event production, fashion and publishing. Her designs are produced locally, in New York, using only ethical materials and minimising waste and energy consumption as must as possible, in the process. Unbleached organic cotton linings are utilised in most garments. Bahar's collections manage to maintain a happy balance between style and substance, with the aim of producing clothing for the 'cultivated consumer.'
You can find some of her designs online at Cocosshoppe.com and while you're there check out all the other fantastic eco fashion labels. For more information about stockists see Bahar's website.
