Last week, Canada celebrated eco fashion on a national scale, with the first ever Eco Fashion Week in Vancouver, and the ModEthik show during Montreal Fashion Week. It was a tough decision for an ecofashionista like myself to choose which city to attend, but in the end Montreal was where I landed.

The ModEthik show was produced by Montreal non-profit organization FEM International whose mission is to support socially and environmentally responsible entrepreneurial practices through awareness and education.

I had the opportunity to see the show that featured nine ethical designers, and attend a discussion around the eco fashion movement in Montreal, led by FEM International Executive Director Lis Suarez and Brenda Plant, Managing Director of Ethiquette. Ethiquette recently conducted a study on the ethical consumer in Montreal, and found that it is a younger female (age 20-40) who is more concerned with the social implications of what she wears, than the fabrics her clothes are made from. Interesting.

So it’s only fitting that the collections shown at ModEthik were all either manufactured locally, or were made in fair conditions.

Unlike the clothing shown on Canada’s west coast, which was entirely eco-friendly, ModEthik was the only show that represented ethical design in Montreal. A little disappointing nonetheless. However I did get to another runway show – Montreal designer Valerie Dumaine who produces 100 percent of her collection right in Montreal.

I also had the chance to hang out with eco fashion boutique owner Danny Lourenco of Rien a Cacher (which means “nothing to hide” for those whose french is a bit rusty) who provided me with some insight into the ethical fashion scene in Montreal.

I hope that next season Montreal takes its cue from Vancouver and injects more sustainable fashion into its Fashion Week. Here are some highlights:

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Fashion Weeks around the world have taken the headlines by storm with coverage from NY, Paris, Milan and London. And thankfully, each of these international shows have featured sustainable fashion on their runways.

Here in Canada, we tend to hold our Fashion Weeks a bit later in the season, mainly so that our top fashion media outlets don’t have to be in two places at once. This week we are hosting both Montreal Fashion Week and Eco Fashion Week (EFW) Vancouver.

For the first time, Montreal Fashion Week has teamed up with non-profit organization FEM International to present ModEthik, which will feature an exhibition and collective runway show, as well as an educational discussion around ethical fashion and responsible consumerism.

Vancouver is taking it to a whole new level with the first ever Eco Fashion Week. The three-day event will be focused on sustainable fashion and includes a trade show and seminar component as well. I caught up with the organizer, Myriam Laroche, who hopes that buyers will put EFW on their calendars twice a year and that Vancouver will become an international eco fashion capital.

“Our mission with EFW is to make it easy for the fashion industry to take the green road”, states Laroche. “In order to do this, we feel that the educational part of it is extremely important. The runway show presents the look of the collection, and is an opportunity to show buyers how to wear and style the clothes. The trade show provides a platform for designers and buyers to deepen their understanding of eco fashion, and at the same time meet and develop business relationships.”

Eco model, activist, designer, author and sustainable pioneer Summer Rayne Oakes is one of the presenters at Eco Fashion Week Vancouver. Delegates will learn about her new company, Source4Style (which is currently in private beta) – the world’s first online marketplace for designers to search and source leading sustainable textiles. I had a chance to chat briefly with Summer about her talk and the importance of having sustainability sessions at Fashion Weeks across the globe. Here is what she had to say:

“Sustainability is still such a black box in the fashion industry. It’s not uncommon to have workshops and presentations designed to elucidate and untangle its inherent complexities. And if attendance to these talks is any indication of people’s interest, well then I don’t see any sign of it stopping.”

And I couldn’t agree more. The industry is becoming hungry for this information. They want to understand the social and environmental impacts of their work, and how they can do their part. And it makes good business sense for Fashion Weeks to provide the venue for such growth.

Image: Courtesy of Montreal Fashion Week

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