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Determined to be a business that is on board with the New Zealand government’s plan to be a carbon-zero country by 2050, Maggie Marilyn is trying to do its part on a variety of levels. The company’s namesake said, “As a proudly New Zealand-made business, we are acutely aware that our location means shipping materials further because of our geographical isolation. We are now starting our journey to learn, understand and, therefore, be able to calculate our carbon footprint. It is our goal to reduce this as much as possible and have engaged outside experts to enable us to carry out this goal.”
Key sustainability achievement of 2018: It has been a really exciting second year in business for Maggie Marilyn. We have just converted all of our dispatch plastic packaging to organic compostable packaging sourced from a local New Zealand company. This packaging is made from cassava root. It doesn’t produce harmful or long-lasting microplastic particles or leave any chemical trace elements following degradation in the soil, rivers, sea or air. We have also for the past four months been writing our sustainability strategy to align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainability target for 2019 : As a company,
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LONDON — Having witnessed the amount of waste that fashion has spawned over the years, many up-and-coming designers have developed a natural instinct for upcycling, looking to charity shops, landfills — and even the natural world — to source materials for their collections.
Among them are Kevin Germanier, whose glamorous, sequined creations are made using beads found in Hong Kong landfills; Conner Ives, who produced two successful capsules for Browns by sourcing vintage T-shirts at charity shops; Ingy Stockholm whose oversize earrings are made out of dead wood; and Hôtel Vetements, which turns old hotel fabrics into garments.
Still a nascent concept in design circles, upcyling can prevent designers from scaling their collections and keeping up with the production demands of major retailers, resigning them to forever be niche labels.
Sourcing itself is one of the first major obstacles, but these young designers are seeing opportunity in limitations, too.
Hôtel Vetements designer Alexandra Hartman started her business by calling Parisian hotels and asking for their old fabrics. But finding the right ones took a lot of time and effort. “The hardest part is the sourcing. My requests weren’t always very well received and it takes time to find the diamonds in the rubble. Luckily,
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Christy Dawn’s small-town aesthetic has not-so-small aspirations when it comes to the bigger purpose the brand strives for daily.
The California label, started and designed by Dawn and her husband and chief executive officer Aras Baskauskas, has become known for its vintage-inspired line of dreamy dresses made from deadstock fabric. Each piece serves as a nod to the small-town charm the designer grew up surrounded by in Placerville, Calif.
The brand’s headquarters and factory are in downtown Los Angeles where sewers are paid a living wage to create the garments in a business model the couple believe is in keeping with a move toward a global view on sustainability — one they believe doesn’t start and stop with fabric sourcing.
“We’ve been raised in a culture that there’s not enough. We take the long approach that there is enough and if we do things right and do it in a way that works for everybody and every being, then eventually the reward will be far greater than a larger bottom line,” Baskauskas said. “That being said, we have a beautiful bottom line. Could we make it even bigger? Of course. I think some people, the bottom line for them is profit. For us, the
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Determined not to be defeated by New Zealand’s isolation — and before she had even launched her brand — emerging Auckland-based designer Courtney Pellow flew to New York earlier this year to find a showroom. Zannick Studio took her on and she didn’t have to wait long to get noticed.
In September, Gigi Hadid attracted international media attention when she stepped out at Milan Fashion Week in a pair of the designer’s eye-catching patchwork Up-Cycled Sock Pants.
Handmade from faulty wool socks discarded by a New Zealand manufacturer and retailing on Pellow’s web store for 1,196 New Zealand dollars or $821 at current exchange, the pants were among several pieces from the designer’s debut collection that were loaned to Hadid’s stylist.
A day later, Hadid was photographed again in another Courtney Pellow style: the White Camo Cropped Jean, a relaxed-fit, mid-rise jean in a camouflage print with contrast denim waistband and patch pockets.
While upcycling accounts for just 20 percent of Pellow’s production, sustainability is front of mind for the Auckland University of Technology graduate, who is using organic cotton in her T-shirts.
Other repurposed products include the Up-Cycled Sock Jumper and a range of Bush Shirts crafted from vintage wool blankets that Pellow sources from
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Founded in 2015 by Matteo Ward, Victor Santiago and Silvia Giovanardi, Wråd was initially launched as an Instagram account and non-profit educational movement raising awareness around the real impact fashion has on people and the environment.
According to Ward, the key moment that launched this venture was the Rana Plaza tragedy in Bangladesh, which occurred in 2013. “Back then I was co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Council at Abercrombie & Fitch and I already knew Victor [Santiago], who was an art director and photographer. After the tragedy we started to question the costs of the fashion industry globally,” said Ward.
Both Ward and Santiago quit their jobs to travel across Europe and sensitize an increasing number of people on the matter, documenting their journey on Instagram. Word reached Giovanardi, who left her position as senior designer at Etro to join the company, as well as a range of Italian entrepreneurs already operating with a sustainable approach across different industries, who wanted to join the cause. Among these, Susanna Martucci, chief executive officer of the Alisea company and inventor of the Perpetua pencil made of recycled graphite, inspired the first product Wråd introduced.
The Graphi-Tee endorsed by Perpetua is a T-shirt dyed with
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The rap star’s recent appearance on James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke reveals that being behind the wheel is not her wheelhouse.
The brand is investing heavily in celebrities, Instagram, and big experiential initiatives.