C.L.A.S.S. founder Giusy Bettoni is educating the next generation of sustainable designers and entrepreneurs this week in NYC with a packed program that includes workshops on the latest in sustainable fabrics and natural dyes, to an eco-scavenger hunt through New York City’s garment district.

Fashion Institute of Technology is hosting Connecting the Dots, a forward-thinking three-day symposium for business owners, industry workers and students to learn about the positive impacts of taking a more sustainable design approach to the fashion, beauty, and health industries.

Beginning Wednesday, July 10, the event includes 

workshops, demonstrations, panels, an eco-fashion show, and a sustainable fashion tour around Manhattan. “I am very excited that we are able to offer 3 days of events around sustainable fashion, health and beauty,” said Christine Helm, Director of the Enterprise Center at FIT, “We are building on the excitement, exchange of ideas and knowledge that we started with last year’s event.”

In addition to running a textile, fashion, home and design business, Bettoni (left) is also the Green Carpet Challenge’s (founded by Livia Firth, right) go-to woman. (Image: FIT )

Milan-based Giusy Bettoni, cofounder of C.L.A.S.S., an international eco-platform that promotes environmentally friendly products and Livia Firth’s co-collaborator on the Green Carpet Challenge, will provide the keynote address entitled, “Welcome to the Third Dimension, Where Design and Innovation Meet Responsibility.”

We caught up with Bettoni to learn more about sustainable design:

Rowena Ritchie: What do you want people to know about the fashion, home and design products they currently buy? 

Giusy Bettoni: I believe it would be absolutely great for them to discover the majority of products they desire are not just performing from a design and functional perspective, but also from an environmental level which is incredibly low.

RR: Can you tell us about what led you to set up C.L.A.S.S. and how your organization creates more environmentally friendly products for the fashion, home and design industries? 

GB: I have a 30 year-long background in raw materials, fibers, yarns and fabrics. My goal was to turn them into something beautiful, precious, innovative and most importantly, eco-friendly. I founded C.L.A.S.S. to concretely prove that these new horizons of sustainable fashion textiles are not just possible, but actually represent a new step in the value chain. We have now created  “ecolibraries“ where brands and designers can source new, high-tech and responsible materials coming from natural, organic, recycled and renewable resources—each fabric meets our criteria of design, innovation and responsible certification.

The missing ingredient in today’s design world is products that are designed responsibly. There’s real added value and competitive market advantage available to us by promoting these qualities to the consumers; that’s the other dimension I’ll be discussing at the symposium.

RR: Why are educational events like FIT’s symposium so important?

GB: Sharing information and experiences is key to this new way of working with textiles. Education is so important. It’s what C.L.A.S.S. is really all about. We are really pleased and honored to be invited by FIT to be part of this symposium, and will do our best to disseminate what we have learned in the last years. I truly believe sharing and networking is the key to this movement’s success.

RR: Do you think there is a difference in the way eco-friendly fashion is received by consumers in Europe versus the U.S?

GB: Each country has his own lifestyle and culture, but I have to admit that the perception of eco-friendly fashion is quite the same everywhere and the perception is not as good, unfortunately. That is why a symposium like this one is so vital.  We need to show that responsible innovation in fashion creates a competitive business advantage, and not just a nice story.

RR: Tell us about your latest project with Livia Firth’s Green Carpet Challenge?

GB: The Green Carpet Challenge is a fantastic exercise, and we are always working at something special… I cannot go into detail now as it is early days, but I can say we are preparing something amazing for the next London Fashion Week!

 To learn more about Connecting the Dots: A Sustainable Fashion, Health and Beauty Symposium or to register for the event, click here, or call (212) 217-4000. 



Top Image: courtesy C.L.A.S.S.

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 The Green Carpet Challenge or the GCC is the brainchild of the always eco-fashionable Livia Firth (yes, wife of Mr Colin Firth) and has been buzzing since 2009. The challenge works with A-list designers and pioneering sustainability brands, to catapult sustainable green fashion onto the world stage, with many partnerships winding up on the red carpet.

Lots of well known celebrities and designers including Cameron Diaz, Julianne Moore and Tom Ford, have already participated in the initiative, but with a new website and a whole raft of new collaborations underway, we take a look at some of the recent Green Carpet Challenge projects.

1. Collaboration with Chopard

The latest collaboration and arguably one of the more interesting ones, has been between GCC and luxury jewelry line, Chopard. Chopard is working with the challenge, alongside the Alliance for Responsible Mining, in launching a new collection, appropriately named “The Journey.” The collection itself includes a gold diamond bracelet and matching earrings, with the materials being sustainably sourced and Fair-mined gold from community mines in South America. This is the first jewelry collection to be awarded the GCC brand mark; and  to add even more excitement to the occasion, the initiative was recently launched in Cannes. Chopard already has a fifteen year relationship with Cannes, being the sculptor of the coveted Golden Palm Trophy.

2. The Met Ball 2013

This year’s Met Ball was the third time the event had teamed up with GCC on the red carpet to promote green fashion. Livia herself even embraced the Punk theme with a specially designed Moschino dress, made of certified low environmental impact yarns. Just to add a quirky element to the evening, she added a peace sign to the back of her dress, made entirely of pins. She also recruited friends and eco advocates Emily Blunt and John Krasinkski to the cause. For her second foray in the challenge, having first participated last September, Blunt donned a black Carolina Herrera gown made with vintage wool fabric and silk chiffon, while Krasinski looked dapper in a Tom Ford suit made from low environmental impact woven wool. (the same one used for Bradley Cooper’s eco friendly suit at the Golden Globes.)

3. Gucci’s Green Bags

Livia Firth and the GCC also recently teamed up with Gucci, the Rainforest Alliance, and the National Wildlife Federation, to create a luxury handbag line made out of deforestation leather. The collection itself is the culmination of years of work in securing sustainably produced leather from the Brazilian Amazon, and has become the first leather product to be certified as ‘zero deforestation.’ The bag’s supply chain is also transparent and each bag comes with a GCC Passport containing important information for the consumer detailing the sustainability credentials, setting a new standard for brand accountability. The three new Gucci handbags: the Hobo, the New Jackie and the Top Handle Tote, all carry the stamp of sustainability.

Images: Eco Age

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Cameron Diaz joins Livia Firth’s Green Carpet Challenge in Stella McCartney’s eco dress.

It’s great to see Cameron Diaz looking stunning in her eco-friendly Stella McCartney dress at the Met Ball on Monday night. Created as part of Livia Firth’s ongoing green carpet challenge, the low-backed column dress was made of Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)-certified silk and dramatically embellished with ethically sourced beading. All that sparkle didn’t come easy according to Firth, writing on her blog, “Stella added thousands of beautiful glass beads and crystal chain, which gave us a new challenge for the future as we work on traceability and sourcing embellished materials.”

Worn by a world famous actress on the red carpet of fashion’s biggest promotional event of the year, the dress, its designer and green credentials are destined for maximum exposure with the quick flash of a paparazzi’s camera. It’s the break an up-and-coming sustainable designer would give their eye teeth for.

The phenomenon of celebrity fashion promotion is not new, but there has been a huge resurgence of this trend in recent times and if you stop to consider the names we see actresses wearing, they form a small pool of oft-repeated brands. Like so many of our products under closer examination, you discover most of those brands are owned by huge conglomerates that have considerable resources and power to win those celebrity endorsements.

So when the news broke last month that one of those luxury fashion conglomerates, PPR (who own the Gucci Group, which includes Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga amongst others) launched it’s Creative Sustainability Lab, the potential impact seems huge.

With a strategic, multi-faceted action plan over the next five years that includes a partnership with William McDonough’s Cradle to Cradle, 15 dedicated employees and an annual budget of more than $14 million; hopes for the initiative are high. Its ambitious goals include offsetting the entire organization’s carbon footprint for the year – more than 97,000 tons of carbon – and developing new processes and standards across the group’s luxury, sports, lifestyle and retail sectors.

According to PPR CEO, Francois-Henri Pinault, “PPR HOME will provide us with novel, more sustainable approaches to contribute to a better world for the long run.“

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Livia Firth designs her first piece of sustainable jewelry and teams up with C.L.A.S.S. to create a fabric library.

We’ve been thrilled to follow Livia Firth, Creative Director of Eco Age and wife of Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth, as she has brought sustainability thinking onto the red carpets for a few awards seasons now. Her Green Carpet Challenge started out as a personal project, where she chronicled her conscious gown choices on her Vogue UK blog, but has garnered significant attention lately as Firth has managed to recruit some serious star-power.

Meryl Streep teamed up with Lanvin to create a golden gown made from eco certified fabric, Tom Ford created a gorgeous v-neck cocktail gown for Julianne Moore using vintage velvet and, for the BAFTAs, Viola Davis wore the first-ever eco Valentino gown.

For the Oscars this year, Livia Firth herself worked with Valentino’s studio to create a stunning red gown made from post-consumer recycled PET. Mr. Firth, who has done his fair share of green carpet challenges, played the recycling card and wore the same Tom Ford tuxedo he donned while accepting his Oscar for The King’s Speech.

It’s great seeing Firth challenging A-listers to dress consciously on the red carpet to make it a little more green. To make this easier for her fellow award show attendees, she recently teamed up with sustainable fabric guru Giusy Bettoni’s global network C.L.A.S.S. (Creativity Lifestyle and Sustainable Synergy) to start the first Green Carpet Challenge Fabric Library. Designers and their celebrity clients can use this resource to find more sustainable fabric options, making the entire process of creating a green carpet gown much easier.

“We will offer the great designers who work with us a host of exciting ethical fibers and ideas and continue to push the boundaries of world class aesthetics with ethics,” says Firth.

What is really great about this new venture is that the Green Carpet Challenge Fabric Library will include offerings far beyond the typical eco staples like hemp and organic cotton. There are ethical and sustainable alternatives for a whole spectrum of materials, from wool, silk cashmere, cotton, linen, hemp, vegetable tanned and dyed leather to recycled polyester (eg. Newlife®), recycled polyamide, cashmere, cotton, denim and wool (eg. Cardato Regenerated).

“I have known and enjoyed working with Giusy of C.L.A.S.S. for a number of years,” Firth says. “Bringing together her unparalleled knowledge of sustainable fabrics with the GCC’s continued mission to increase the profile and the possibilities of sustainable style makes huge sense.”

We could not agree more.

Firth also recently launched her own eponymous eco-friendly fashion label, Livia Firth Design (LFD). This collection will feature a small line of luxury clothes and accessories designed by Mrs. Firth herself. Pieces are all produced with “love, fair trade rules and environmental standards in mind.”

The first piece from the collection to be released is a limited edition skull necklace. This necklace is Liva Firth Design’s first piece and it’s been made with sound manufacturing ethics in mind. The bronze used is made in the U.S. – in a solar powered factory – and is then sent to a jewelry-making co-operative in Devon in Southwestern England. There, the skulls are hand-crafted using the lost wax casting technique, a process developed by the Ancient Egyptians over 4000 years ago which involves covering a clay work of art in molten wax and allowing it to harden before covering it in a substance called “grog” to create a mold. The hot molten bronze melts the wax when it is poured in and a bronze sculpture is the result. Each of the four skulls on this necklace has been handcrafted in this manner, by artisan workers who are keeping age-old traditions alive.

The necklace is exclusive to Eco Age and features four handcrafted skulls on an unconnected chain, meaning that the necklace can be worn in a variety of ways (which Livia demonstrates in a the video clip below) and you can mix it up as you wish, wrapping it around your wrist or upper arm, or wearing it as a choker or pendant, depending on your mood and occasion. Intricately made with strength, playfulness and rebellion at its core, this necklace is guaranteed to bring an exciting edge to any outfit.

“LFD has at its heart simplicity and glamour and a little bit of playfulness, which should always be part of our life.” said Firth.

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Is it just us, or does that red carpet look a little greener?

Tonight, while most people will tune into the 69th Golden Globes to see if The Help will beat out Moneyball for Best Picture, our eyes will be trained on the red carpet pre-show coverage to see Livia Firth kick off her annual Green Carpet Challenge. What can we say? She has us hooked.

Firth, who runs Eco-Age and is married to actor Colin Firth, started the Green Carpet Challenge in 2009 to bring attention to her work in ethical and sustainable fashion. That year, she pledged to only wear upcycled, vintage, and eco-friendly outfits while accompanying her husband on the red carpet during awards season. The following year, the challenge picked up speed when Colin was the Best Actor pick across awards shows for his performance in The King’s Speech. Livia was by his side the whole way through, notably in a gorgeous upcycled Gary Harvey dress at the Oscars.

This year, Firth has recruited an impressive roster of designers who will dress her for awards season in accordance with GCC’s strict ethical and sustainable standards. The list includes Tom Ford, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Stella McCartney.

Tonight’s gown was designed by Giorgio Armani with eco-friendly materials, and Firth has been involved in its creation from day one. Firth described the process as “unreal” and writes on her blog:

To work with Armani was a real lesson in the design process. Everything begins with the material. Fortunately, Giorgio loved the eco material and knew he could work with it. The passion and efficiency of Giorgio’s team has been infectious.

Just before the show kicks off, Livia will release photos of and details about her dress on her Green Carpet Challenge blog at VOGUE UK. We’ll be there too.

Images: VOGUE UK.

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Fairmined and Fairtrade gold create an ethical statement piece.

Just when you thought that London-based fashion designer Ada Zanditon had done it all, the award-winning, ethical fashion pioneer just announced a recent collaboration with bespoke jeweler Ingle & Rhode to design the first ever necklace made entirely from Fairmined and Fairtrade 18 carat gold. We have been devoted followers of Ada’s avant-garde runway designs and the effort that she pours into each season’s collection in terms of environmental research topics and responsible materials. Ada has now taken on another challenge with this stunning design collaboration that redefines luxury and the possibilities for fairgold designs.

According to Fairgold.org‘s homepage, “Globally, over 100 million people depend on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) for survival. The 15 million ASM miners work in harsh and dangerous conditions to produce just 10 to 15 percent of global gold supplies, but they make up 90 percent of the global work force in gold extraction. These miners and their families are caught in a vicious circle of exploitation, illegality, and many lack the skills and resources to move forward.”

As Ada Zanditon told Vogue.com UK in a recent interview, “Fairtrade is an incredibly important issue to me as it is part of my brand philosophy and approach. I believe in creating beautiful, desirable pieces that respect the balance between people, planet and business. Fairtrade is a really key way of being able to know that producers are being paid fairly for their work.”

Ada Zanditon’s Cryoflux AW 2011 look book images

Like many of Ada Zanditon’s designs, her latest glistening gold creation is origami-like in form and thoughtfully distilled with artistic experimentation. It is not uncommon for the designer, who is also a talented  illustrator, to experiment with form building in her London studio before launching into draping and pattern cutting. This computer-aided gold nugget design references shapes like icebergs, sci-fi adventure, and deep earth exploration of an otherworldly but responsible variety. “The boldness of its aesthetic represents a brighter future for Fairtrade producers,” says Ada.

It is true progress to see gold that is guilt-free but visually alluring in the same manner that other jewelry metals are. The even better news it that this one-off piece is currently available to win on VOGUE.com for a value worth over £3,000. You can enter the contest here by answering a posted ethical fashion question.

Pyramora SS11 necklace designed as a collaboration between Ada Zanditon and Luca Romanyi

Ada Zanditon has previously collaborated with jewelry designer and artist Luca Romanyi to create statement pieces that incorporate recycled plastic and printed porcelain tiles. This is the first time that the designer has ever worked with gold, and fairmined and fairtrade gold at that. Given Ada’s love for honey bees, icebergs, coral reefs, and all things complex and fragile, it only seems fitting that she may just put the golden touch on future bespoke designs of an organic and fairmade nature.

Images: Vogue.com UK, Amelia’s Magazine, Ada Zanditon

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