Pictured: Bodkin Collection. Courtesy of Sapna Shah.
By Guest Blogger Sapna Shah
Last week saw the debut of Eco-Fashion Week in NYC, a 2-day event that focused on designers and brands that used environmentally friendly materials and practices for their designs. Designers included Lara Miller, Bodkin,Bahar Shahpar, House of Organics and Izzy Lane, to name a few. The event was hosted at King of Greene street in downtown Soho and saw fashionistas and environmentalists support these new and established designers in their quest to bring fashion into the realm of environmental and social awareness.
Pictured: Laura Miller. Courtesy of Sapna Shah.
The challenge for these eco-designers was to offer fair-trade, eco-friendly and ethically sound fashion without compromising on style and ensuring broad appeal. Some of these designers addressed this challenge while others fell short. It would be interesting to know how retailers and e-tailers responded and whether these eco-designs would reach their intended audience. Nonetheless, it was a good start that brought together eco-designers, the Rain Forest Action Network, environmentally and socially conscious fashionistas and other industry purveyors to support eco -fashion. Even the hair and make-up were organic and fair-trade!! Thankfully, this event showed that now, an increasing amount of people were interested in and supported fashion that was accountable and responsible. However, for eco-fashion to be more mainstream there is much greater effort required on the part of designers, retailers and consumers and this was only the first step.
Born in Mumbai, India, Sapna Shah is a New York-based independent consultant with experience in global fashion, retail and business. After studying fashion business in London College of Fashion, Sapna began her career in merchandising at Hugo Boss in London. From there on, she moved to Catwalk in Mumbai where she headed the all India merchandising operations before moving to New York to attend the graduate program in Design Management at Pratt Institute. Currently, she’s consulting with a design firm for business development and strategy and is working on establishing her own entrepreneurial ventures.
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7 Comments on "Eco-Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010 NYC"
It’s great to see the upper echelon of fashion embrace such an altruistic vision. But the only way it’s going to really work is if fashion houses can make a profit. Otherwise, I’m afraid this will only be a fad. Here’s to hoping it’s a big success.
First steps are definitely good!
I wish my hair was free-trade!
I am not sure “eco-fashion” will ever catch on. There are too many negative connotation that consumers attach to “eco” design in a luxury market. There is the assumption that corners have been cut and quality has been sacrificed, and often “fair-trade” means higher prices in the end.
The trick is the same as getting kids to eat their vitamins — you have to sneak the good stuff (sustainability) in with something delicious. The design needs to be good enough to sell on it’s own merits. Luxury markets can help set trends, but mass market consumer goods make the difference. And in mass market, “eco-friendly” sounds like a gimmick that just means higher cost.
omg i love the way Sapna has written this article.. very talented i must say… i would like to know you better.. you inspire me…
As a emerging fashion designer in keeping with my Indian tradition have moved to exclusively working with organic silks which highlights my commitment to quality authenticity and grace.
There should be a shift to sustainable and chic clothing and I support any such change to that effect.
If you’d like to see any of my ecologically sound clothing visit bhavna.com
I truly hope this movement takes off and finds a way to be easily marketed to the masses. As a science educator, this is one of those things that I can show as a possible career option involving science, creativity, and of course, every teenage girl’s dream!
There should be a full day alloted within each and every fashion week just for presenting the ECO or GREEN collection so as to promote it more rapidly…