Okategoriserade – Malin Viola Wennberg

Marie Claire publish “The Sustainability Issue”

Malin Viola Wennberg — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 12:53:58 +0000

Miroslava Duma

August 2017 marks the first edition of the fashion magazine Marie Claire’s Sustainability Issue; an issue completely devoted to sustainability and environmental causes within the fashion industry.

The Magazine is filled with interviews and articles by some of the most prominent players in sustainable fashion today, for example guest-editor Miroslava Duma. Furthermore they bring politics into the picture by talking about the current situation in the US including president Trump leaving the Paris Agreement. Marie Claire’s Editor-in-Chief Anne Fulenwider says “When we first sat down a year ago to talk about climate change we never dreamed that by the time we published this, the United States would have pulled out of the groundbreaking 2016 Paris Agreement ratified by 148 countries to battle climate change. Like many of you, we were shocked to find the U.S. in the company of Syria and Nicaragua on the very short list of countries that have not signed on to take action in this global climate effort.” Read her full article on the issue here.

Creative Director Nina Garcia draws attention to major problem when interviewing Miroslava Duma. She asks, “How do you lift the stigma surrounding sustainability and make it a more appealing subject?” To exemplify, this spring when Swedish fast fashion company Gina Tricot released a music video in an effort to talk about sustainability the backlash was deadly. There seems to be some unspoken ruling on who and how we talk about sustainability. Miroslava Duma has the perfect answer, “Sustainability shouldn’t be a blame game. The conversation needs to be positive, and the approach should be solutions-driven. Instead of shaming companies about not making more of an effort, we should champion every little step they’re taking in the right direction. We shouldn’t say, ”Well, you’re not doing enough.” We should say, ”OK, great. Every little bit counts. Let’s continue moving in that direction.” Read the full article here.

Better Summer Shoes

Malin Viola Wennberg — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 09:26:24 +0000

Summertime means summer shoes! Nowadays it is pretty easy to find ethically made and sustainable sourced clothing, but shoes is a whole other project. Shoes made from leather raises the question of animal cruelty and chemical tanning, rubber soles raises the question of oil and plastic as well as the question of fair labor. In addition, making a summer dress of your own is not that complicated but making your own pair of shoes is not doable. Here are some sustainable options for all summer activates:

City Vacation

Wear Veja Sneakers. These sneakers are sustainable sourced and ethically made in Brazil. The sole is made from wild rubber harvested in the Amazons. The survival of the Amazonian rainforest is dependent on more sustainable management of its resources. Latex extracted from rubber trees is one of them. A fairer price paid for latex guarantees a better income for the rubber tappers and might be perceived as an incentive to keep trees up. The leather outside of the shoe is made from vegetable tanned leather, i.e. no bad chemicals are being used in the process. The cotton used on the inside of the shoe is fair trade organic cotton from the northeast of Brazil. Veja buys cotton from 320 families who make their living from organic farming respecting fair trade rules. Find more information here, and buy your Veja at Ecosphere.

Veja SS 2017

Summer Nights

Wear ethically made Nisolo. Designed in Nashville and produced in Peru, Nisolo take great pride in improving the conditions for Peruvian shoemakers. All Nisolo producers receive, at a minimum, beyond fair trade wages, healthcare, and a healthy working environment. Your purchase enables them to create opportunity for over 500 people across their supply chain. The average salary of Nisolo producers is 27% higher than fair trade wage requirements. The average annual income increase for all producers is 140%. Women in particular have felt significant impact, reporting an annual income increase of 173% since joining Nisolo compared to previous employment. Read more here.

Nisolo Summer 2017

Lazy Days

Wear the shoe that gives back, Toms. Toms work with the one for one principle; through your purchases they help provide shoes, sight, water, safe birth and bullying prevention services to people in need. To this day Toms has given more than 75 million pairs of shoes to children in need, all thanks to consumers buying a pair of lazy days espadrilles. Buy your pair here.

TOMS 2017

Beach Days

Wear lifetime guaranteed flip-flop Rainbow Sandal. Originally contemplated in 1972, Jay “Sparky” Longley experimented making sandals in his Laguna Beach garage. With $200, Sparky bought a sewing machine and some rubber and started his conquest: To make the world’s best sandal. Rainbow® Sandals are created by hand, using specially formulated glue to keep the layers together and the straps in place (no more broken sandals littering our beaches). Sparky personally formulated the various densities of sponge rubber with ”memory” to mold to individuals’ feet (very comfortable). Rainbow Sandals will repair your sandals if they are damaged or defective due to any manufacturing defects. If you sandals are covered under the warranty and they are unable to repair them, they will issue a new pair. Read more here.

Rainbow Sandals in the making

Sweden is Enforcing New Policies on Plastic Bags

Malin Viola Wennberg — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 20:16:08 +0000

Today, the 1st of June 2017, Sweden is enforcing new policies on plastic bags. Every retailer is now obligated to inform about the environmental impact of plastic bags, the environmental benefits of not using plastic bags and how the consumer could act in order to prevent and reduce environmental impact from plastic bags. However, there are no rules for how this information should be communicated.

This policy is a result of a EU agreement. In 2015, the EU decided that all Member States should reduce the consumption of plastic carriers. The goal is to create a better environment and to use our resources more effectively. In Sweden, we use over 1.3 billion plastic carriers each year. This means that an average Swedish consumes about 198 bags per person and year. By 2020 the goal is to not consume more than 90 plastic bags per person and year. By 2050 the number should be reduced to only 40. Read more about the agreement HERE.

Some of the Swedish fashion retailers have already taken action. Today, H&M, KappAhl and Lindex launch the concept “One Bag Habit”. The three fast-fashion retailers will now charge for plastic bags and the entire surplus from the sales will go to causes that drive sustainable development within social or environmentally related projects. H&M, KappAhl and Lindex are the initiators, and more retail companies are expected to join onwards. When participating in One Bag Habit, the members undertake to charge for all consumer bags as well as communicate about bags’ negative environmental impact and how consumer bags can be used in a more sustainable way. The companies also commit to offering recyclable consumer bags made from more sustainable materials.

Retailer Indiska also launched an initiative to reduce the use of plastic bags. At ten of their stores consumers can now borrow an organic cotton bag to carry their gods from the store to their homes. The retailer don’t even require you to leave a deposit, they trust that you bring the bag back.

Summer Read – ”The Pulse of the Fashion Industry”

Malin Viola Wennberg — Sun, 28 May 2017 08:41:00 +0000

In conjunction with Copenhagen Fashion Summit two weeks ago this report was released – The Pulse of the Fashion Industry. It’s published by Global Fashion Agenda & The Boston Consulting Group in an effort to describe the current state of fashion and pin point the most pressing issues of today and the future. The Global Fashion Agenda is a global leadership forum on fashion sustainability founded in 2016 and anchored around Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the world’s principal event on sustainability in fashion for industry decision-makers. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and one of the world’s leading advisor on business strategy.

The report sets the agenda and speaks to the fact that the fashion industry is one of the worlds largest consumer industries today. When we see these numbers we can’t dismiss fashion and its effect on all of us. The facts presented are somewhat daunting, but they also provide us with inspiration and motivation to be better, and do better.

In recent decades, the fashion industry has been an engine for global development. One of the world’s largest consumer industries,1 generating €1.5 trillion in annual apparel and footwear revenues in 2016,2 it employs around 60 million people along its value chain.

If production and consumption of apparel and footwear follow their current trajectories, increasing by another 63%, fashion’s environmental footprint will continue to contribute to the negative impacts on the planet.

For those of you who don’t have the time to read the entire report, Business of Fashion (BOF) summarized the report in five bullet points. Cost of Raw Materials, Labour Disruption, Transport, Higher Regulation and Consumer Sentiment. Read the article HERE.

Better Swimwear

Malin Viola Wennberg — Thu, 25 May 2017 09:26:14 +0000

Living in Sweden it’s rarely warm enough to take a swim, but now when it happened I wanted to take a look at better swimwear.

Bikinis and bathing suits are usually made from polyester or polyamide. Both of these materials are very problematic from a sustainability angel since the production methods leaves great amounts of toxic waste. Nevertheless, the characteristic of these materials is great for making swimwear because of its elasticity, fast drying capacity and ability to take dye. Therefore we are now seeing swimwear made from recycled polyamide or polyester. These are two of the options on the market right now:

Underprotection is a Danish brand based in Copenhagen and founded in 2010. They aim to make beautiful underwear and swimwear which are also sustainable. “Our biggest goal is to show that fair fashion made in sustainable fabrics do not have to be boring or less fashionable, it can be combined and we do our best to show that it’s possible.” This swimsuit and bikini is made from recycled polyester. Furtermore they are made in a factory certified by Fair Wear Foundation and located in New Delhi, India.

Even high street brands are taking a stand for the environment. For their 2017 spring/summer collection WEEKDAY are offering swimsuits and bikinis made from recycled polyamide. They are calling it “swimwear made from recycled waste”.

Jewelry Brand Tiffany & Co takes a stand for Climate Change

Malin Viola Wennberg — Tue, 16 May 2017 05:29:03 +0000

For those of us who didn’t have the time or money to participate at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit last week there was the live stream option. Many of the talks were somewhat generic. I’m longing for actual innovation and tangible change! Nevertheless, American jewelry brand Tiffany and Co surprised me – in a good way.

As acting CEO and chairman of the board t Tiffany and Co. Michael J. Kowalski is a powerful man. Tiffany’s is one of the most iconic brands within luxury jewelry and they’ve done a great job marketing the tiny turquoise box as the perfect gift. Using the power of their brand Tiffany’s did something amazing on Tuesday the 11^th of May. They took out a full-page ad in the New York Times just to send the following message to president Trump.

Being an American icon as Tiffany this is a bold move. At Copenhagen Fashion Summit Michael J. Kowalski was asked about the reasons for this ad. He said, ”When you have a leader who denies the threat to our planet is real you have got to speak up”. Furthermore he said that Tiffany received a large number of complains from people saying, “You shouldn’t go in to politics”. His simple and brilliant answer was, “This is not politics, this is science!”

Rodebjer Store 1 year Anniversary – Celebrating Female Power!

Malin Viola Wennberg — Mon, 01 May 2017 16:49:35 +0000

This weekend marked the one-year anniversary of Swedish brand Rodebjer’s flagship store in Stockholm. On Friday the 28^th Rodebjer and HER Global Network invited a group of women to celebrate with mimosas and breakfast – in true female power spirit!

Rodebjer was founded in New York in 1999 by native Swede Carin Rodebjer. The brand is strongly inspired by counterculture, the human rights and feminist movements, music, film, art and literature. Carin Rodebjer has won several awards within the fashion industry in Sweden and Rodebjer has for several years been one of Sweden’s most appreciated fashion brands.

Wile sipping mimosas we were introduced to the SS17 collection as well as selected pieces from the soon-to-be released pre-fall collection of 2017. In all her collections Carin Rodebjer starts with a woman. It can be an artist, a musician or even a fictional character. This woman or piece of art by the woman will then be the foundation of the entire collection.

The store in itself is a celebration of women. There’s a special room called “Vaginan” and you are welcome here anytime to breastfeed, to use the bathroom or just hang. It’s a space for creativity where everything goes. Usually on Fridays there are drinks and music here as well.

In 2010 Rodebjer released a special edition T-shirt to raise money for breast cancer research. It’s a t-shirt with two steering wheels on it, in Swedish “rattar”, which is a well-known euphemism for boobs. In conjunction with the one-year anniversary they decided to once again release a limited number of these t-shirts. I obviously got one and now I can proudly parade the streets of Stockholm with this power statement across my boobs!

Fashion Revolution Week

Malin Viola Wennberg — Sun, 23 Apr 2017 20:19:21 +0000

Tomorrow, the 24th of April marks the start of 2017 Fashion Revolution Week. The organization Fashion Revolution started after the horrible accident on April 24th in 2013 when the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed. 1,138 people died and another 2,500 were injured, making it the fourth largest industrial disaster in history. There were five garment factories in Rana Plaza all manufacturing clothing for big global brands. The victims were mostly young women.

Fashion Revolution wanted to make sure this could never happened again and by spreading the word and implementing radical transparency they are determined to change the condition for factory workers all over our planet. Fashion Revolution is encouring consumers to ask the question: Who made my clothes?

Don’t forget to participate by taking a photo of the label in your clothes and ask the brand who actually made your clothes. Tag your photo #whomademyclothes and post it to social media. Consumer power is stronger than you think!

In many cities around the globe there will be events to mark the importance of transparency. For example, in SoFo, southern part of Stockholm, there will be an open shopping night where participating brands will hosts talks on production methods and clothing care. In Lund there will be a giant clothing swap. To learn more abut events near you, klick HERE.

Content and pictures and borrowed from Fashionrevolution.org Klick the link to learn more about the organization and what you can do to support.

New Technology – the Answer for Sustainable Fashion

Malin Viola Wennberg — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 20:11:52 +0000

Many might associate sustainable fashion with old school techniques and materials – that’s not the case at all. With new technology we can reduce waste and recycle fibers in a never before seen way. Take 3D printing for example; using this technique means there will never be any excess material. No spill means no wasted resources, which is the really the essence of sustainable production.

Last Friday the 7^th of April in New York Adidas launched their new shoe with a 3D printed sole. By partnering with Silicon Valley start-up Carbon Adidas plans to start mass-producing this shoe already in 2018. Reuter writes that Carbon’s technology will allow Adidas to make small batches of shoes far more quickly than with prior used technology. Small production runs were not economical before as the metal molds for most soles needed to be used 10,000 times to pay for themselves, and they take four to six weeks to cast and grind. This is a part of a broader push to react faster to changing fashions and create more customized products. Already today Adidas lets people customize the color and pattern of shoes ordered online but with the new 3D printing techniques will make small production runs, limited edition shoes and even soles designed to fit an individual’s weight and step. Read more HERE.

Imagine a wardrobe where every piece fits you perfectly. No blisters and no uncomfortable seams. Retailers won’t have to stock up on sizes because your size will be made in front of your eyes. There will be no excess fabric because the exact amount will be calculated beforehand. The future is bright.

A Weekend in Copenhagen

Malin Viola Wennberg — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 14:58:11 +0000

I spent the weekend in my favorite city – Copenhagen. I used to live there in 2012-2013 and I’ve been in love with the city every since. There’s a lot to love about this city, but the one thing that makes it so special to me is its friendliness. Compared to many other cities, like Stockholm and New York, Copenhagen let’s you in and it doesn’t take much to feel at home.

Although Copenhagen has many nice clothing stores and second-hand boutiques this weekend was not about shopping. All we did was take in the spring. For an other time some of the local designers worth checking out is Soulland, Yvonne Kone, Maria Black and of course the amazing Henrik Vibskov.

This trip was also the first trip by plane for my baby Boston Terrier Hugo. Since he only weights 6 kg we were allowed to have him in a cage by our feet. The weight limit for brining a dog with you at your seat is usually 8 kg. Let’s hope he doesn’t get much bigger because I couldn’t imagine having him stacked in by the luggage. The flight to Copenhagen is only one hour long, but at least now I know that Hugo can handle that globetrotter life.