Protecting the Oceans: Sustainable Fashion

All this is changing. Consumers are increasingly willing to pay a premium for recycled and sustainable fashion, purchases buoyed by celebrity endorsement and the sense of history woven into the garments. Some sources estimate that 11 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year.

British journalist, Lucy Siegle set a challenge for the ethical editor of the British Sunday newspaper The Observer. “I set Livia the task of wearing entirely sustainable fashion while walking the red carpet with her husband [actor Colin Firth] during awards season. I didn’t foresee just how far she’d take it.” Eco-Age now sets an annual “Sustainable Carpet Challenge”, whereby a designer must produce a collection made from entirely re-used, surplus or sustainably certified materials. “Livia was very clever in targeting innovative designers and realising that they require hand-holding when changing their entire supply and production chains.”

Pharrell Williams wears a denim jacket from the Raw for the Oceans collection, made from recycled plastic harvested from the sea

A meticulously crafted romantic Erdem dress

Erdem

Erdem launched an exquisite collection, which included sustainable fashion Newlife™ silk: made entirely from discarded plastic bottles, yet as fine to the touch as any competitor and digitally printed without any hazardous chemicals. The range met the ultimate seal of approval from US Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and the prices reflect Erdem’s cachet. “There is a certain consumer who will pay for the extra care, energy and promise of sustainability,” argues Siegle. “There is no hiding the fact that there is a lot of waste generated, even in high fashion, so this is a message they are buying.” This message, combined with the previous “life” of recycled materials, adds value to garments by making the purchase feel more meaningful.

Salty Bag

Salty Bag is a fine example of this approach towards sustainable fashion. The Corfu-based company takes sails that would otherwise end up in landfill and transforms them into accessories. The company talks about its products as if they are sentient: “These sails lived most of their lives in the Mediterranean and come with unique stories, which we take care to gather and bequeath to each new owner.” This romantic history is enhanced by quirks in the fabric: “We like to think of them as the words the winds have written on each sail.” Local artisans are incorporated into the manufacturing process, boosting both local economies and the feel-good factor of buying these pieces. Salty Bag is redefining what people think of as rubbish, and its vision is gaining ground including through their collaborations with Club Monaco.

Prada Re-Nylon 2024

Nylon has been central to Prada’s design ethos since the late Seventies, redefining contemporary luxury through its pragmatic yet elevated use. In the twenty-first century, luxury now embraces environmental concerns, with Prada Re-Nylon evolving into ECONYL®, a regenerated nylon yarn that is recyclable without loss of quality.

Launched in 2019, Prada Re-Nylon includes accessories and ready-to-wear for men and women, that is made through the recycling and purification of plastic collected from the ocean, as well as textile fibre waste from all over the world. Through a complex process of depolymerization and re-polymerisation, Prada Re-Nylon yarn is produced through a circular approach.

Prada Re-Nylon has shifted the brand to using only regenerated nylon, showcasing a major luxury house’s strong commitment to sustainability. Responsibility is action: this principle lies at the heart of Prada’s ground-breaking Re-Nylon 2024 Collection. The campaign, featuring Emma Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch, highlights timeless pieces inspired by the environment and specifically the oceans, reinforcing Prada Group’s partnership with UNESCO for ocean protection.

Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Accelerator Powered by Lonely Whale

Tom Ford’s commitment to promoting sustainable practices is highlighted through the brand’s Plastic Innovation Accelerator, powered by Lonely Whale. This initiative focuses on developing and scaling marine-safe alternatives to traditional thin-film plastics. The accelerator project starts with Tom Ford’s Plastic Innovation Prize, which awards innovators creating biodegradable packaging solutions. By partnering with key industry players like The Estée Lauder Companies, this programme facilitates collaborations aimed at integrating these sustainable alternatives into the market, reducing ocean plastic pollution and promoting eco-friendly practices in fashion. The Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize underscores the brand’s dedication to sustainability by offering substantial incentives for environmentally friendly innovations. The winners, including companies like Sway, Zerocircle, and Notpla, are pioneering seaweed-based, compostable packaging solutions. Tom Ford’s leadership in this initiative not only highlights the importance of sustainable materials in fashion but also sets a benchmark for industry-wide environmental responsibility, driving significant advancements in the adoption of green technologies.

Pioneering technology will keep sustainable fashion design fresh and environmentally responsible. The success of Salty Bag illuminates a growing trend towards customisation and one-off pieces, which provides a real conundrum for big fashion houses. They want to meet demand, but also retain artistic control over their aesthetic. This is why major brands such as Burberry explore technologies like Unmade. At London’s Selfridges, Unmade launched a campaign that allowed customers to co-design on an iPad a garment that a knitting machine could create there and then. Even though each piece is obviously singular to its owner, the brightly patterned jumpers and scarves are instantly recognisable. For co-founder Ben Alun-Jones, the main motivation here was not to follow trends, but to make fashion sustainable. “Knitting our garments on-site creates zero waste, uses less energy and involves no freighting. What we’re doing could revolutionise the industry.”

One of Unmade’s individual jumpers; designed by the wearer

Danit Peleg uses plastic weaves and meshes to create a collection of skirts, dresses and tops

Unmade and Eco-Age are pushing the industry towards vital change, so where will it go from here? Technology constantly tests the boundaries of design, and 3D printing is undoubtedly the new frontier of fashion. Emerging designer Danit Peleg caught the imagination of both fashionistas and technologists with her debut 2015 collection. Produced entirely on domestic 3D printers, her clothing range used weaves and mesh to create an architectural collection of accessories, skirts and tops. Peleg’s approach combined bold colour with geometric form, pointing a way forward for fashion you download and create yourself. The planet certainly doesn’t need more plastic in production, but the potential here is that a dress that is no longer wanted could be recycled, via a 3D printer, into a new piece.

Fashion’s exploitation of human and natural resources is unsustainable, and sustainable fashion can help counteract this. That our future will see us 3D printing outfits at home has a circularity to it: although it is a startlingly modern concept, it harks back to a past when people were more involved with clothing production. Designers must seize on this emerging consumer trend and make recycling the new norm, celebrating it as a way to weave their clothes with individuality, romance and meaning.