Sustainability only entered the mainstream industry parlance in recent years. In fact, a comb through WWD’s archives reveals that the last big spike in environmentalism occurred in the early to mid-Nineties, when an eco-fashion movement sprouted. Efforts to create more planet-friendly clothing spanned cleaner dyeing and finishing processes, and more ecological raw materials.
Organic, naturally colored cotton, fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles, and natural dyes were some of the most widely adopted practices by early green fashion brands including Patagonia, Esprit, Ecosport and VF Corp.’s O Wear. Sustainable clothing manufacturer Tom Higgins of T.L. Higgins Inc. told WWD in 1992, “There is a whole generation of people much more in tune with how our actions relate to the environment. It’s an emotional thing.”
That same year, WWD published a special section, “Apparel and the Environment,” in observance of the 22nd Earth Day.
Groups such as the National Organic Cotton Council and the Eco Expo brought together like-minded green fashion proponents in 1993. At one of these gatherings, Noel Brown, regional director for the United Nations Environmental Program, talked about the depletion of natural resources and environmental degradation: “Time is running out,” he warned.
Twenty-five years later, this sentiment seems more ominous than ever.

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Luxury handbag resale firm Rebag has opened its fifth store in the Oculus at Westfield World Trade Center mall.
The store in downtown Manhattan at 185 Greenwich Street represents the handbag firm’s first mall location. It is also its third New York City site. Two other stores were opened earlier this year on the West Coast in Los Angeles, one in Beverly Hills and the other in Melrose Place. The Madison Avenue store in midtown Manhattan opened earlier this year, as well. The first store in SoHo was opened last fall as a pop-up, then was converted to a permanent location, also earlier this year.
Rebag’s neighbors in the Westfield center mall include Dior Beauty, Breitling, mattress firm Casper and the Apple Store. The store features Rebag’s signature Rebag Bar, where consumers can check in with their handbags and get an estimate on their value. Also a feature in the store is the company’s Hermès Birkin Wall, which shows all available Birkin bags at the store.
Following the opening at Oculus, Rebag will start exploring growth and traffic at U.S. mall sites.
Charles Gorra, founder and chief executive officer of Rebag, said of his firm’s goal of opening up more mall locations: “We found

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BERLIN — Shop. For a change.
The eco-centric preorder platform Sardin has precisely that in mind. The Berlin/N.Y. start-up, which counts Parley for the Oceans as its primary partner, seeks to address issues such as overproduction, unjust work conditions and polluting practices within the fashion industry, as well as upping the fashion ante in the sustainable apparel market.
Online since September, Sardin has successively featured six exclusive capsules from Elliss, Phipps, 1017 Alyx 95M Visual, E.L.V. Denim, Rex and, most recently, Carcel, for a 30 day pre-order window. These “mindful brands,” as Sardin chief executive officer and founder Rune Orloff calls them, produce only what has been ordered on the site, thereafter shipping the products to customers using environmentally conscious packaging and shipping methods.
With the help of former Selfridge’s Designer Studio buyer Ruth Hickman, the brands spotlighted on Sardin have been chosen from an aesthetic point of view. “I hope we won’t be a sustainable web shop per se, but a place for the coolest brands out there,” Orloff declared. From a commercial standpoint, Sardin only supports and features brands “that take mindful steps in cleaning their supply chains, utilizing sustainable resources and tackling social issues.”
First up was London-based Elliss, whose designer Elliss

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From California to Copenhagen the hidebound world of hard alcohol is getting a shake-up.

The top-of-the-line display comes with a setting called ambient mode that lets the TV blend into the wall behind it.

Flying a plane without transatlantic capabilities back to the U.S. from Europe is a daring test of piloting ability.

Kiki de Montparnasse is trying its hand at ath-leisure. According to Brian Cytrynbaum, who purchased the lingerie and ready-to-wear brand in 2016, the goal is to integrate the sexy, lingerie details Kiki de Montparnasse is known for into the ath-leisure collection.
“We saw a void in the ath-leisure space,” said Cytrynbaum. “We knew that our client would respond to the sexy silhouettes that incorporate lace, our proprietary machine washable stretch; our key fabrication. We accomplished this while not comprising the technical properties of fabric and fabrication.”
Cytrynbaum thought it was important to create a collection that could be worn while working out and traveling. The seven-piece assortment includes bralettes, leggings and sweatpants that feature a matte finish with a soft feel, along with body sculpting and quick dry materials that don’t lose shape. The collection retails from $150 to $375.
Cytrynbaum said he is keeping distribution tight and it will be sold on Kiki de Montparnasse’s e-commerce site along with Bandier. The brand closed its stores in New York in Los Angeles in 2016. Cytrynbaum said going forward the focus is on wholesale accounts.

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December weather may be inconsistent in New York, but holiday mainstays like the Rockettes, gridlock traffic and the Salvation Army’s sidewalk bell ringers remain.
Now another pre-Christmas force, Simon Doonan, is using his window-dressing skills for Lincoln Continental, designing installations for tonight’s launch of Coach Door edition in Brooklyn. To celebrate Continental’s 80th anniversary, the company will sell 80 vehicles with the center-opening doors. Doonan said of his involvement, “I put down the staple gun and the glue gun five years ago at Barneys, so it’s fun for me to pick it up again and create installations like this especially for such glamorous, objets d’art.”
His Lincoln Continental installation was inspired by the canvas backdrop that fashion photographer Irving Penn used for many of his shoots. (The lensman’s version was made from an old theater curtain found in Paris that he painted faintly with gray clouds.) “I thought it would be great to take that approach with a car. Here is this exquisite object that is almost like a Constantin Brâncusi sculpture in front of this sort of battered, fabulous canvas backdrop,” Doonan said
The design team was inspired by the great passion of the Sixties, more specifically the fashion of Audrey Hepburn and Jackie

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FOR THE LOVE OF LACE: Belgian fashion designer Olivier Theyskens is the latest fashion name to hold an exhibition at the Museum of Lace and Fashion in Calais, in the North of France.
Following designers Hubert de Givenchy, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Iris van Herpen, Theyskens’ exhibition marks the 10th anniversary of the cultural institution, which was created in 2009 to celebrate the region’s heritage of lace manufacturing.
Named “In Praesentia,” it will run from June 15, 2019 to Jan. 13, 2020.
The Belgian designer was given complete “carte blanche” for the exhibition, for which he delved into the museum’s historical textile collections and picked out unique pieces to build a dialogue with his own creations.
Curated by fashion historian Lydia Kamitsis, “In Praesentia” is voluntarily non-chronological, focusing instead on shared details, colors and textures between Theyskens’ silhouettes and the museum’s archives.
After studying at Brussels-based fashion school La Cambre, Theyskens launched his label in 1997. He went on to join Rochas in 2002, before becoming creative director at Nina Ricci from 2006 to 2009 and at Theory from 2010 to 2015. In 2016, he returned to Paris fashion week with his namesake brand.
It’s the designer’s second exhibition: the first, a retrospective of his 20-year career,

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EYE EYE: Dover Street Market has first dibs on Balenciaga’s debut eyewear collection developed by Kering Eyewear. It is set to launch exclusively in pop-ups at the retailer’s Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, London, Singapore and Beijing locations, as well as on its web site, from Jan. 2 to 9.
The pop-ups will feature glowing podiums, logo carpeting and freestanding, mirrored walls, borrowing elements from recent runway shows and the brand’s flagships, like aluminum finishes, Balenciaga said.
With styles ranging from the every day to the extreme, the eyewear will be suspended on custom stands alongside light boxes displaying the Balenciaga Eyewear campaign.
The French brand’s eyewear was previously produced under license by Marcolin, as reported.
Kering Eyewear today produces collections for 15 brands including Gucci, Cartier, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Brioni, Altuzarra, Alaïa, Boucheron, Pomellato, Puma, McQ, Christopher Kane and Tomas Maier.
Kering initiated a string of changes in the eyewear sector when it decided to set up a dedicated entity in 2014 and bring eyewear production in-house. Other major shake-ups in the category followed, including the merger between Luxottica Group and Essilor, and the venture of Thélios between LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Marcolin, which was revealed last year with

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