Last week I introduced some up and coming fashion designers (the Ethical Fashion Forum's INNOVATION winners) and their gorgeous designs.
This week I’ll be giving a sneak peak into the fashion industry and what has been going on over the last fortnight.
Last week at Paris Fashion Week, Karl Lagerfeld put on the most spectacular countryside barn themed fashion show for Chanel, which grabbed headlines as models frolicked in the hay to Lily Allen performing inside a rustic Chanel barn. The theme of the show provoked questions about natural and organic fabrics to which Lagerfeld said: "It's Coco Ecolo, ecology can be chic. No? One can use natural fabrics and learn from nature.”
This seminal moment of Lagerfeld acknowledging ethics has not gone unnoticed in the ethical fashion world and certainly something that has given us a bit of buzz!
Certainly, Stella McCartney, who some hail as a leader in responsible luxury knows that the two can go together…
The Ethical Fashion Show Paris was reported to be a huge success as it dominated headlines for being housed in the infamous Tapis Rouge, Paris’ oldest department store which was built in 1784.
Last week the EFF’s director, Tamsin Lejuene visited Hong Kong to speak at Interstoff, (a textile trade show) which is one of the most important places to source fabrics and production if you are a fashion brand.
For anyone who buys high street fashion in UK, more than half of this apparel is made in China. This year, for the second year running, China was the world’s leading exporter of clothing:
"Hong Kong is an incredible party metropolis; bars open all night and a very fashion conscious city. High fashion, skyscrapers and the backdrop of mountains all reflected in the water makes for one of the most glamorous destinations. It is the perfect setting for a new movement, and is now humming as it edges closer to the cusp of change, a shift which has the power to have global impact…"
A considerable number of businesses based in Hong Kong manage 100s of factories across China which supply us with our clothes, making Hong Kong a hub for fashion commerce. This means that a lot of the world’s fashion is being channelled through Hong Kong.
The shift towards sustainability comes as a new generation of professionals in their 30s are moving into management roles in Hong Kong based businesses and are acknowledging sustainability as a key issue.
The Ethical Fashion Network now connects people in more than 70 countries. If you'd like to learn more about this you can join the Ethical Fashion Forum. Interested in Hong Kong? Then why not join the Hong Kong group.
Next week I will be exploring the case for and against production in China, a controversial but highly interesting topic...