Posh Swaps Blog

Tesco have just recently announced the launch of their new clothing collection, which is made out of recycled and discontinued materials. The collection ‘From Somewhere’ for Florence and Fred consists of just six pieces and is made purely from left-over materials that would have otherwise been thrown away.

Tesco got the inspiration to produce recycled clothing as part of their commitment to help the environment after a visit to From Somewhere’s collection at Estethica as part of the London Fashion Week back in February this year. The decision to launch a recycled clothing collection has had mixed responses as this is just a small step for Tesco to associate themselves with a commitment to recycling and helping the environment whilst yet remaining a company not normally known for their ‘light carbon footprint’- and because of this, why would one of the UK’s most respected ethical fashion labels want to be associated with Tesco? From Somewhere and Estethica designer Orsola de Castro has said that she believes that ‘upcycling’ fabrics should be made more accessible, and that the larger retailers should be encouraged to take responsibility for their waste. ”I have always believed in infiltration,” she states. ”We put Estethica right at the centre of London Fashion Week.”

The clothes, being produced in a ‘green’ factory in Sri Lanka, has still received negative views from the customers, with some believing that this is not a ‘go green’ production as the recycled materials are being flown to Sri Lanka and back again. The factory, however, is the first one of its kind in the world to be awarded a gold rating for Environmental Responsibility.

The collection is as you would expect from ‘From Somewhere’- they have kept to their original style with dresses made to flatter the shape, using bright, bold colours. The collection is available exclusively at www.tesco.com/clothing.                                                   

Picture taken from www.guardian.co.uk

estethica at London Fashion week seems to gaining pace. This time the British Fashion councils ethical initiative has added 13 new designer and 9 new labels making a total of 28 designers. estethica is all about fashion which is ethical but also achieves design excellence. Great news, we don’t think that just being ethical is enough, we want the clothes to look great as well.

We have already posted about North Circular the new label by top models with knitwear knitted by grannies using locally produced ethical wool. Other exciting new additions to estethica for this season are AJNA with a collection inspired by natures beauty and crafted by indigenous textile artisans in Peru, Nepal, Bolivia, India, as well as locally in New York in a range of eco friendly materials including The materials used are organic cotton, hemp silk, ahimsa silk(vegan wild silk), biodegradable viscose, bamboo, sasawashi(bamboo leaves and paper), pina(pineapple), abaca(banana leaf), organic wool, himalayan cashmere and indigenous alpaca. Beryl Man, designer at AJNA is also the former knitwear design director at Donna Karan.

All estethica designers adhere to at least one of the three estethica principles of fair-trade and ethical practices, organic and recycled materials. It is great to see support of recycling in the fashion industry. We love clothes swapping but there are also lots of innovative labels finding new ways to recycle and create beautiful clothes.

picture from www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

Defra Minster Lord Hunt announced a sustainable clothing action plan, last week, at the launch of London Fashion Week. We are really pleased to hear that another step is being taken to help combat the environmental impacts of fast fashion. Amidst the glitz and consumerism of London Fashion Week, it is great to hear some really positive news about sustainable fashion.

Full details of the action plan are available on the DEFRA website but it is basically about bringing together the major players in the fashion industry including retailers, designers and textile manufacturers to make positive changes which will make a significant difference to the environmental footprint and social inequalities which blight some of the production and retail processes of consumer fashion.

More than 300 organisations have joined up including Marks and Spencers, Sainsburys and Oxfam with the actions being taken ranging from increasing ranges of Fairtrade and Organic to supporting green clothing factories and increasing consumer awareness on the environmental benefits of clothing reuse.

We at Posh Swaps are in complete support of the Governements action plan and will be continuing to our bit by promoting and enabling the reuse and recycling of second hand clothes.

pictures from www.style.com

Never let it be said that those wearing second hand and vintage clothes are not up with the latest trends. At London Fashion Week, Charles Anastase showed a great collection inspired by second hand clothes. His collection reflected the eclectic style that many vintage and second hand clothing enthusiasts already love and regularly wear.

I love the mixtures of textures and colours. Charles managed to create a very fresh and vibrant collection using old ideas. A great collection but I really prefer the real thing when it comes to second hand clothes, much more cost effective and better for the environment!

I was really excited to see the collection for the Central St Martins MA Graduate show by Michael Van der Haam. I was really inspired by the mixtures of textures and colours in this collection. Most of all I was inspired to think of all sorts of possibilities for restyling second hand clothes in a similar sort of way. Admittedly this is probably a project for someone with advanced dressmaking and sewing skills and I am not sure that is a category that I would put myself into, but the temptation of creating a very gorgeous and completely original creation is just too much to resist and I am starting work on my first creation as I type.