Kiran’s Weblog

My focus for Environmental News Online is fashion and I was therefore delighted to attend Walsall colleges’ end of year fashion show.  Students such as Charlotte Wooldridge, 18, showcased her designs with models strutting their stuff down the catwalk with a clear focus on the environment.  Environmentally sound materials were used throughout her collection but use of leaf designs, neutral colours and an emphasis on calm, soft greens reflective of the earth, nature and the environment as a whole as well as ‘sustainable living being expressed through clothing.’  When asked why the environment is so important within her collection the young designer commented ‘it really should be; only a few designers I know of are taking the planet into consideration.’

T-shirts and bags adorned with slogans such as ‘heal the world’ make the message explicit. 

Fashion icon and well respected designer Stella McCartney has experimented with organic cottons for many years, her main concerns however lie with animal rights, and therefore nothing tested on animals is included or used in any part of her collections.  Stella McCartney is an inspiration within her field doing more than her bit for the environment, her flagship London store is wind powered. 

But if haute couture is just out of your reach, High Street super brand ‘Marks and Spencer’ released its ‘Plan A’ mission statement (because there is no plan b) to be carbon neutral by 2012 by reducing packaging and using fair trade cottons and production methods where ever possible, they have even gone as far as to open an eco factory earlier this year in Sri Lanka. 

The well known H&M store is also helping to raise awareness of environmental issues through a number of different ways, promoting ‘environmental awareness among employees and suppliers,’ a respect for nature and caution in decision making, being aware of the impact such decisions could have on the environment.  All products are healthy, ‘safe and harmless to the environment.’  Even efforts towards transportation is being made ‘greener,’ with ‘clean and efficient transport with limited influence on the climate.’

A rage of childrens clothing has recently been designed with the environment in mind, tshirts with an organic cotton tag and sloguns such as ‘take care of my world’ demonstrate explicitly the reason action is needed within environmental awareness so as to protect the earth for future generations.  Having young children express such sentiments through fashion illusrates this point well.