New York Fashion Week has come and gone.

There was a push for more diversity on the runway by the Council of Fashion Designers of America but did it deliver?  Designers and celebrities worked to make the fashion’s takeover of the city mean more than pretty clothes. Tastemakers used their talents to bring awareness to causes that affected everyone on or off the runway.

New York Fashion Week has the reputation for being a shallow, exclusive affair. While it still attracts the elite, the definition of the insider crowd has evolved. When a star walks the runway, it does more than sell clothes. When a new supermodel is crowned, she may not look like what you expect. While the industry will always love the beautiful people, they just might be talking about what’s inside, not just the outside.

So how did New York Fashion Week make beauty further than skin deep?

1. Desigual’s star model

One of my favorite fashion shows to shoot each season is the Desigual runway. The Spanish brand’s signature esthetic involves lots of colors and patterns. They embrace the customer who is atypical and unique. The model they hired to represent that ethic was Toronto native Chantelle Brown-Young. She has a skin condition called vitiligo which causes skin pigment to disappear. She was mocked for her appearance as a child but now has the last laugh from the end of the runway.  You might have watched her compete on America’s Next Top Model after being scouted by Tyra Banks personally. For years, it was difficult enough to find models of color cast in major designer fashion shows. While progress is still slow, how great is it to see a model that represents multiple colors?

2. Go Red for Women

The American Heart Association’s Red Dress Collection hosts one of the most popular fashion shows each season. The event for Heart Truth opened with Rosie O’Donnell making us laugh while her personal experience having a heart attack moved us emotionally. She stressed the importance of knowing the symptoms of a heart attack for women, which are noticeably different than men.

The models that walked the runway included celebrities of all ages, cultures, and shapes. Each woman shared how she was personally affected by heart health. Models included everyone from “I Dream of Jeannie” Barbara Eden to Donna Mills. YouTube star Bethany Mota, fitness guru Tracy Anderson, divas Thalia and Ciara graced the catwalk. “Orange is the New Black” stars Dascha Polanco vamped it up and her co-star, transgender actress Laverne Cox, gave the best twirl of the night. The fashion industry’s top designers collaborated to outfit each star in a gorgeous red dress. Fans attended in their own red frocks in support.

3. Thrive Causemetics

I encountered beauty makeup artist and founder Karissa Bodnar backstage at the Charlotte Ronson fashion show. Thrive Causemetics provided the lashes for the models. Karissa conceived the premium cosmetics brand after losing her friend to cancer. She developed her luxury false eyelashes so that for each pair purchased, a pair would be donated to someone being treated for cancer that had lost her lashes through her collaboration with the Look Good Feel Better organization. Each style in her collection was named after someone affected by cancer.

4. Naomi Campbell’s Fashion for Relief

The supermodel gathered her top designer and celebrity friends to host a fashion event to raise funds for the  Ebola Survival Fund. The organization works with community-based groups in Liberia and Sierra Leone to help those affected by Ebola. Singer Mary J. Blige, Paris Hilton, Michelle Rodriguez and a group of other celebrities were cheered on by their most passionate fans. Naomi Campbell established Fashion For Relief back in 2005 to inspire the fashion industry to produce events in cities around the world to support timely causes in need.

5. FTL Moda’s diversity casting

The Italian manufacturing promoter worked with Models of Diversity, a London agency that works with physically challenged models to work the finale of their Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week show. The runway presentation included a range of designers for handbags, evening wear to the avant-garde. Gorgeous models with prosthetics, amputee or wheelchair models drew cheers from the photographer’s pit and audience as they displayed the fashion beautifully. I am happy to say this has not been the only fashion show featuring models overcoming physical challenges. Over the past year, I have seen shows around the world featuring models such as this in what I hope is not just a trend.

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Images: Mariana Leung and David T.W. Leung

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We love style. We love fashion. We also want to make sure our sartorial choices do little damage to the world as we can. Eco-friendly clothing manufacturers throw around terms like “conscientious” and “sustainable fashion”, but what does that really mean?

There are plenty of fashion designers that describe themselves as eco-friendly. While brands may use it as part of their marketing plan, are they really good for the environment?

How do you choose sustainable fashion?

1. Shop Low Impact Dying

While many fabrics may start out as sustainable fibers, the finishing process can cancel that out pretty quickly. Organic cottons quickly lose their earthy appeal when chemical dyes and formaldehyde are used to treat them. South Carolina-based Gaia Conceptions grows its own plant and pigment-based dyes made from natural sources to color its clothing. These are great for both the planet and the wellness of the person wearing them. The company also uses fiber reactive dyes. These are developed for higher absorption rates so chemicals are not needed to fix them to the fiber. This also means that less water is wasted or used.

2. Let the fabric suit the fashion

Fashion fans love silk as a luxury fabric. Unfortunately, many don’t realize that typical silk manufacturing involves boiling and killing the silk worms after they have produced the fibers. Peace silk or vegan silk is a fabric made only with silk fiber casings only after the worms have emerged and moved on. This is a much more humane practice but costly. To keep it truly eco, peace silk should be bought in natural colors. This makes peace silk an ideal choice for green weddings. Conscientious brides often have a natural aesthetic for their wedding and are willing to splurge on the perfect dress. Boutiques like The Cotton Bride in Brooklyn, New York are committed to using such fabrics. Their wedding gowns are even sewn in-house.

3. Respect the maker

We hear a lot about Fair Trade and fair labor practices. Is there a way to really know if your dress was made by a happy seamstress? You can support that ethos by shopping from designers that work with organizations like the Ethical Fashion Initiative, a joint project with the United Nations. You can check if your brand is accredited by the Fair Labor Association. These organizations ensure that workers have decent working conditions and wages. Some companies like Satara go a step further in providing skills training and financial guidance. Its website even allows you to find the individual woman who made your garment. The fashion industry has enabled many women in third world countries to improve their quality of life and become financially independent.

4. Wear Fabrics Made from Recycled Fiber

Buying a jacket that helps empty the landfills of all those plastic bottles? That is fabulous. Patagonia was one of the first major clothing manufacturers to work with PET (polyethylene terephthalate) fabrics. Its patented Polartec fabric is a form of polyester. While a synthetic, petroleum-based textile sounds like the opposite of eco-friendly, PET’s main strength is that it uses recycled fibers to produce. Recycling garbage like plastic bottles and collected old garments to make this fabric cuts down on the energy and fossil fuels needed to make it compared to traditional polyester. While this may not please organic trendsetters, this should make upcycled and recycled fashion fans happy.

What sustainable fashion boils down to is often what your Eco-friendly clothing is boiled in. Many fibers can be farmed or produced in a sustainable way, but the finishing is what makes or breaks its Eco cred. Also, think about who is doing the boiling. Guests are afraid to mistreat a chef at a restaurant handling their food. Wouldn’t you want to make sure the person making our clothing is happy too?

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As a new year’s resolution, we would all love to update our wardrobe. We would also love to make less waste and support eco-friendly businesses. For designers, the reality of creating a responsibly made collection and also make a living from it is much tougher. It’s hard enough to make it in the fashion industry. Making the choice to produce upcycled fashion adds additional challenges that mainstream labels don’t have to worry about.

Americans are filling landfills with 10.5 million tons of discarded clothing a year. There is ample opportunity for this waste to be remade into something useful. However, designers of sustainable fashion are mostly independent labels producing small runs; making it difficult for corporate retailers to work with. There is also a resistance from fashion fans to purchase clothing made from trash.

So what can designers do to compete with upcycled fashion?

1. Find consistent sources for your materials.

Many designers create their collections from what they can find. Not knowing what your next collection will be made of or how to design it takes extra time and hampers your own marketing plans. Decide on a consistent product line and how you will supply it. Oregon Company Looptworks creates its collection from neoprene and excess materials from wetsuit manufacturing. It knows where its supplies are coming from and can plan for the fabric use and design before each season.

2. Emphasize uniqueness.

Large retailers may shun an indie designer for not filling a huge order with mass market products. For a small boutique or designer, this can be your advantage. You can market to your customers that they are getting a one-of-a-kind creation. Looptworks also makes it a point of never producing more than 500 of any product. The company hand-numbers each piece to identify it as a limited edition item.

3. Have a defined aesthetic.

The Bella Sisters in Portland specialize in upcycled jackets and outerwear. They buy pieces in all colors, textures and sizes. However, their customers love their signature embellishments of peacock embroidery and romantic appliques. They also add flattering knit cuffs and peplums to create a consistent silhouette. They may have started with pre-made garments as a base, but the final product is clearly a work of their design. Re-making a recycled item as your own is a great way to eliminate the “second hand” stigma of recycled clothing.

4. Develop a service.

You don’t just have to sell products to get into the upcycled fashion game. Former brides have been finding ways to re-fashion their wedding dresses for hundreds of years. You can build a responsibly made fashion business helping clients renew pieces from their wardrobe.

Brooklyn designer Shannon South of ReMADE USA offers a service to remake your old leather jacket into a chic bag. The benefits of offering a service as an alternative to manufacturing are that you don’t have to invest funds and space to obtain materials beforehand. You only work on confirmed (and paid) orders. There is a large market for this beyond weddings. There is clothing that is no longer in style or doesn’t fit. There are always sentimental pieces customers own where the materials or heirloom value cannot be duplicated.

5. Have a story.

Shoppers and designers alike don’t choose sustainable fashion just to be cool. They pursue it because they find it meaningful. As a designer, be ready to explain what inspired your collection. Let your customers know where your materials come from.  When planning your marketing, ask yourself why you chose this path?

Toronto boutique owner Nathalie Roze specializes in warm weather accessories made from recycled sweaters. She also collects donated knitwear at craft shows to refashion into stylish winter hats and gloves to give to communities in need. Detroit based Rebel Nell is a jewelry company that trains and employs underserved women in shelters to make jewelry from discarded graffiti concrete.

People pay a premium for farm-to-table dining. With upcycled fashion, they pay a premium over mass market items. Customers are willing to spend more because they are buying the story behind label as much as they are buying the end product itself. If you are a designer with a great story, make sure you tell it well!

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Giving the gift of organic beauty products can also give back to the world around you. 

We are deep into the holiday season and I am ready to get glam. The most stylish presents are the ones that make you feel beautiful inside and out. Here are our top organic beauty products for the holiday season. Whether you gift them or keep them for yourself, they’re guaranteed to bring lots of smiles.

1. Bite Beauty Mix & Mingle Lip Minis $12: This brand has a cult following for its lipsticks. They claim their food grade ingredients are “healthy enough to eat”. For an indulgent stocking stuffer, it packaged its lip duos into cute ornaments for the holidays.

2. Kahina Giving Beauty Glow Box $75: This luxurious set features three products made with argan oil. Kahina Giving Beauty uses recycled packaging. The company sources its argan oil from cooperatives of Berber artisans from the Atlas Mountains. Kahina contributes to the One Million Tree campaign that plants in rural areas of Morocco. The foundation also provides drinking water to girls schools in the region.

3. RMS Beauty Glowing Gift Set $120: This collection includes four of RMS Beauty’s bestselling items. You can choose your favorite shade of luminizer, cream eye shadow, lip2cheek and ‘un’cover-up. RMS uses certified organic ingredients like castor oil and shea butter that are nourishing to the skin. The containers are made from recycled glass and recyclable aluminum.

3. Juice Beauty’s Spa Infusion Essentials Set $28: For a pampering spa experience at home, this box includes the organic beauty brand’s popular ylang ylang products. It even gives you tea and honey to sip while you relax. The company is proud to be cruelty-free. This set is made without toxic ingredients like pesticides, artificial dyes or synthetic fragrances.

4. Caudalie’s Premier Cru Anti-Aging Set $99: Are the holidays not complete without champagne? This gift has two travel-friendly versions of their best anti-aging products. The key ingredients are plant based antioxidants like polyphenols and resveratrol, found in some wines. Caudalie is adamantly against using toxic ingredients like parabens in its products. Each product purchased from Caudalie contributes to 1% for the planet  to help the environment. This initiative supports projects like building a sustainable, Fair-Trade shea butter industry  by communities of women in Burkina Faso.

5. Zoya Dream Box $36: Nail polish is one of the most difficult beauty products to make non-toxic and eco-friendly. This is due to the fact that the ingredients like formaldehyde and toluene have always been needed to make nail laquer work. Zoya is one of the pioneering companies to formulate nail polishes without the classic toxins. For the gift season, the Zoya Dream Box collections offer trios of complementary holiday shades.

6. NVEY Eco Eye Shadow Palette $40 and Brush $9: NVEY Eco is an organic beauty brand from Australian brand dedicated to using natural ingredients. The makeup brushes are environmentally friendly and use cruelty-free fibers. The beautiful eye color palettes contain five complementary shades for a complete look.

Now what organic beauty gift will your BFF receive? Feeling good, having your friends and yourself look good, isn’t that what holiday spirit is about?

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top image: wencor teo

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Believe it or not, 3D manufacturing has been the hottest buzzword in the fashion industry for the past few years. 

Before this, the traditional production cycle of shipping materials and goods back and forth (mostly overseas) has barely changed in the last century. Now, with the rapid development of 3D printing, eco-friendly fashion designers are gearing up for a revolution that could make producing fashion sustainable.

3D printed clothing and accessories made record appearances on the runways in 2014. Pringle of Scotland featured a laser sintered nylon technique for their fall 2014 collection. Victoria’s Secret collaborated with Swarovski and Shapeways to create flamboyant accessories for their show last year.

While 3D printing was initially identified with making plastic models, there have been significant strides in textile development with different fibers. Researchers as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have successfully used 3D CAD software and silk worms to print a dome. With a few adjustments, one could easily adapt the design to produce a finished dress. Knitting machines have already been able to knit fully finished sweaters, but a 3D printed process using silicone coated cotton yarn is being developed. Scientists may be the ones to dictate the next fashion trends.

So how can 3D printing nudge the fashion industry into sustainable fashion?

1.Smaller carbon footprint

Fashion and accessories designers generally start their development process a year in advance of the product hitting the retail market. In that time, there are multiple product rounds and materials sourcing where the designer piles up samples from vendors.

3D printing allows much of the trial and error in product design to be worked out digitally before making the first sample. Deciding on the materials to be used ahead of time saves the mountain of vendor samples that inevitably end up in the garbage at the end of the season.

If you are a designer with your own 3D printer, producing your sample can be as hyper-local as your own studio. Otherwise, most 3D manufacturing companies are domestic. 3D printed patterns are pulled from digital files and the product is made from supplies onsite. Therefore the need to ship patterns or materials to your vendor is eliminated. Designers save shipping costs and their high heels. The planet is spared the carbon output of shipping trucks.

2. No production wastage

3D printing reduces a designer’s production minimum requirement to a count of one. It also allows a designer to produce custom pieces to fit individual customers. Your epic sci-fi couture fantasies can now be a locally printed reality.  This eliminates the cost and wastage of excess production to meet factory minimums. It also saves the space and storage needed to handle extra inventory or returned items that customers do not fit.

3D manufactured products only use the materials required for the product itself. This eliminates the yardage of cut fabrics or excess materials purchases.

3. Recycled materials can be used.

Materials currently being used for 3D printed fashion include everything from nylon filaments, plastics, metal and silk. There are already companies like EKOCYCLE founded by entertainer Will I. Am and Coco-Cola who are marketing the Cube 3-D printer intended for home users. Their cartridges use filament processed from discarded plastic soda bottles.

You can also make your own supplies with recycled materials. Michigan Technological University found that you can make your own printing filament from plastic milk jugs.  They realized that the DIY process for this also used less energy than traditional recycling methods.  Looking trashy can now be a compliment!

Companies like Shapeways offer metal choices like bronze and silver for their designers. Services that recycle and reuse metal products for 3D casting should soon be a popular option.

4. Biodegradable Materials

Bio plastics is a category of materials that is gaining momentum. There are several sources online that instruct developers on how make their own biodegradable supplies for production. The Shapeways blog has instructions online on how to “cook” your own bio plastics from a mixture of starch, glycerin, vinegar and water. While it might be difficult to sell the idea of starch based jewelry or clothing to fashion fans, there might be promising ideas in adapting this for beauty companies making 3D printed cosmetics.

5. Extending the life of existing products

The ability to print your own replacement buttons, manufacture an extra shoe heel or add more charms to jewelry is an opportunity for a new segment in the 3D printed fashion market.

Local printing companies can work with customers to create pieces that extend the life of existing wardrobe pieces by upcycling them with new embellishments or recreating missing parts.

Canadian company Alleles developed a stylish prosthetic limb from a 3D printed process to accessorize the fashion collection of designer label Vawk for their fall 2014 collection. This not only served a functional purpose, but offered a fashionable one for a customer to complement her wardrobe.

New 3D printed fashion techniques are being developed every day. As a designer and entrepreneur, 3D manufacturing offers benefits for cost, time and sustainable fashion that make it impossible not to consider as part of a modern business. Fashion thrives on innovation, and editors love any new reason to bring back the geek style trend. Let’s make 3 dimensional the new black!

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