Eco-Fashion

I am a huge fan of Eco fashion, however some followers seem to dismiss where and how it is produced. Here is an insight into how Eco Fashion has become available across the globe.

Environmentalists have brought to our attention that the use of everyday fabrics and materials used by various fashion designers and retailers, are causing a great deal of damage to the environment:

·          Pesticides used by farmers who grow the textiles, are harmful to animals and can get into the food we eat.

·          The chemicals used to colour and bleach textiles can damage the environment and our health.

·          Old clothing that we throw away takes up space in the landfill sites, where most of this clothing could last longer.

·   The conditions the people work in to make the clothes are terrible, with sweatshops being the most common. (mostly children workers) They are over worked and severely under paid.

These points show that traditional fashion methods are not very eco and in some cases unsustainable. 
Eco fashion is about making clothes out of recycled, chemical free and organic textiles. The raw materials are organically produced, such as cotton where no pesticides are used. Silk worms are fed on organic trees which prevents chemical tracing in silk. The recycled and reusable materials are made to the highest of quality and have the intention of being sustainable. Eco fashion takes into account the health of consumers and produces fair trade hours, pay and standards for the manufacturers. Many factories are in the Western world, which also helps with reducing sweatshops in the East.

     

So is Eco-fashion sustainable? This is a controversial question where you could agree that Eco-fashion is a sustainable source. However, you could argue that the product itself is sustainable, but the manufacturing process and trading methods are not. The clothes produced are high quality meaning less spending to replace worn garments. Also with the remarks made before on the Eco methods of making clothes, this helps the environment. However factories are still being used to manufacturer these Eco clothes thus meaning these factories are harmful to the environment.
Many fashion designers have noticed this concept to fashion
design and are taking advantage of its ability. Gary Harvey is a well known eco-fashion designer. His success has come from working at Levi Strauss as creative director. At his time with Levi’s Gary constructed his first Eco design. His design was for an ad campaign where he wanted to make his mark on fashion. Gary Harvey took 42 pairs of Levi 501 jeans and made them into a dress. He has continued ever since with such designs as the use of paper to create a ball gown and a dress made from cans, bottle tops and cardboard boxes. This doesn’t sound to appealing in writing the imagery shows it all!

Eco fashion is bigger than ever before with the status of recycling, charity and vintage stores and the Sunday car boot sale being higher than ever. 

Eventually we may see it take over the high street multinational chains.