Malin Viola Wennberg

No More Fur

Malin Viola Wennberg — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 08:27:38 +0000

Gucci faux fur A/W 17

This week Gucci joined the already large group of fashion brands who boycotts fur. During the 2017 Kering Talk at London Collage of Fashion last Wednesday CEO Marco Bizzarri introduced the company’s new fur-free policy. Bizzarri said: “Being socially responsible is one of Gucci’s core values, and we will continue to strive to do better for the environment and animals. With the help of HSUS and LAV, Gucci is excited to take this next step and hopes it will help inspire innovation and raise awareness, changing the luxury fashion industry for the better.” This new policy will be implemented from the spring/summer 2018 collection. According to Business of Fashion Bizzarri says fur products are worth about €10 million annually and will be replaced with products made of faux-fur, wool and new fabric innovations. Creative director Alessandro Michele partook in the decision-making process and emphasized that fur is no longer modern.

With this action Gucci joins many other leading fashion brands and retailers in going fur-free including Armani, Calvin Klein, HUGO BOSS, Net-a-Porter, Ralph Lauren and Stella McCartney. Stella McCartney even claims to be the fully vegetarian. “We are the world’s first and only vegetarian luxury brand. We do not think that any animal should give their life for the sake of fashion. We do not use and have never used leather, skins, feathers or fur in any of our products, collaborations or licensed products. This is a decision that we stand behind both ethically and environmentally.” Swedish fashion brand BACK, with creative director Ann-Sofie Back, is another example of a vegetarian fashion brand. No animal products are used in their collections and the office at Södermalm in Stockholm is completely meat free.

The reasons for going fur-free are not only linked to animal cruelty. The meat and leather industry is responsible for emitting 18% of manmade greenhouse gases in the world, which is even more than the share for all transportation. Moreover there’s the question about land and water usage in driving up cattle, as well as methane emission. In recent reports from United States Environmental Protection Agency., presented in documentary “Cowspiracy”, US methane emission from livestock is nearly equal to natural gas emission. To conclude, there are lots of reasons not to wear fur or leather. By banning fur the fashion houses and retailers are making the decision easier for consumers. A step in the right direction!

Rag & Bone joins Denim Recycling Program

Malin Viola Wennberg — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 08:55:23 +0000

American denim brand Rag & Bones join forces with recycling program Blue Jeans Go Green. Starting today October 10^th customers can hand in their old denim at any Rag & Bone store and receive 20% off a new pair of any full-price jeans that same day. The offer is valid October 10^th through December 31 this year.

Picture by Rag & Bone

The Blue Jeans Go Green program is a project that collects denim all over the US and recycles it into UltraTouch^TM Denim Insulation. The program started in 2006 as a part of Cotton Incorporated in an effort to keep textiles out of landfill and help American communities in need with housing. According to the Blue Jeans Go Green program it takes roughly 500 to 1,000 pairs of jeans to create enough insulation (approximately 200 square meter) for one average-sized home in the US. To this day the program has already collected 24 000 pieces of denim. Several American clothing brands have already joined the program, for example Madewell, J. Crew and Abercrombie & Fitch. Furthermore, 56 American collages and universities have also joined in by collecting denim on campus.

Picture by Rag & Bone

According to WWD, Marcus Wainwright, CEO, founder and creative director of Rag & Bone, said, “Now, more so than ever, each and every one of us has a responsibility to do our part to protect our environment. The Blue Jeans Go Green Initiative is making great strides in helping brands make a difference and we are honored to be launching this Denim Recycling Program. Honestly, I am intrigued to see if any unwanted Rag & Bone jeans are dropped off, but either way, it is a step in the right direction for our brand.”

Green Carpet Fashion Award – Made in Italy?

Malin Viola Wennberg — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 15:08:17 +0000

Photo by Eco-Age

Yesterday night the Green Carpets Fashion Award was held in Milan. The gala coincided with the last day of Milan Fashion Week and was held at the glamorous La Scala opera house. This award gala is the brainchild of Livia Firth’s Consultant agency Eco-Age and Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI), aiming to highlight Italian craftsmanship and supply chain. During the night 11 awards were handed out “…to a range of mills, artisans, emerging designers and brands, in recognition of their achievements in areas from environmental and social stewardship, to the preservation of Italian heritage and crafts, and celebration of “Made in Italy”. All awardees are either from Italy, or strongly involved in the Italian supply chain.”

Italian Fashion and craftsmanship has long been synonymous with luxury and quality, but what does “Made in Italy” really stand for today? According to Italian law a product needs to be planned, produced and packed in Italy to achieve the label “Made in Italy”, but can we really trust that labeling? The day before the Green Carpet Fashion Award Gala the site Business of Fashion published an article titled “Can an Award Show Solve Fashion’s Sustainability Challenge?”. The article points out the obvious flaws in blindly celebrating “Made in Italy”. Undoubtedly, supply chain transparency remains a key issue. “There is absolutely no transparency in the luxury industry as to how much is really made in Italy, or perhaps made in Eastern Europe and finished in Italy. That’s a massive issue in the industry. Made in Italy is an example of best practice — it’s just that there isn’t much of it anymore,” says Orsola de Castro, co-founder and creative director of Fashion Revolution.

The seamstresses of Maison Valentino

Nevertheless, Livia Firth wants to change this attitude and argues that we need to shine light on the workers, or the handprint as she calls it. “What we call the handprint of fashion is hugely important — once we start putting producers again on the front stage and make them work in partnership with designers, we will have achieved huge results.” This idea is specially reflected in one of the 11 awards titled “The Art of Craftsmanship”, which this year was handed to the seamstresses of Maison Valentino, presented by Annie Lennox. Find the full list of winners here.

NK Talks: Who Owns Fashion?

Malin Viola Wennberg — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 09:35:23 +0000

NK Talks

Last Friday, the 15^th of September, NK in Stockholm and Gothenburg invited the public to a conversation on trends, sustainability, innovation and ownership within the fashion industry. The conversation series is called “NK Talks” and stretches from the 15^th of September to the 30^th of September. Amongst others we will see Kristina Tjäder, Head of Design and Founder of House of Dagmar, Niklas Berglind, Stylist and Head of Fashion at Metro Mode and Frida Bard, Head of Design at HOPE. If you haven’t already, sign up here.

At the first talk for this season Elin Frendberg from The Swedish Fashion Council moderated the conversation on sustainability and ownership. Guests of the evening were Frida Bard, Head of Design at HOPE, Robert Rydberg, Stylist and Editor-in-Chief as well as Elin Larsson, Sustainability Manager at Filippa K. When asked, “who owns fashion?” all three of them agreed that brands and designers no longer dictated the streets. Today’s industry can be seen as a give-and-take relationship between the consumer and producer. What we see on the runway is wearable. This is also one of the reasons why see-now-buy-now is taking more ground. The fashion consumer of today is an informed consumer who makes quick decision and creates his or her own hype. Brands cannot afford to wait six months before releasing their collections.

Clothing Brush – Filippa K

Now that consumers can be seen as trendsetters themselves and fashion in some ways is democratized, who is responsible for sustainability? Elin Larsson, Sustainability Manager at Filippa K, said that it should be easier for consumers to care for their clothing. Extending the average life of your clothes by just three months leads to a 5-10 percent reduction in carbon, water and waste footprint according to Larsson. Therefore Filippa K does no longer only sell clothing, but also garment care items. She also pointed out that that wool, for example, is a self-cleaning material that only needs to be aired to regain freshness and if there is pilling you can use a sweater stone to remove it. Furthermore you should invest in an old-school clothing brush to reduce pilling and add shine to your special items.

Next weekends NK Talks invites consumers to a conversation on digitalization, interior design and beauty. Check out the full schedule and get inspired for fall.

The Stockholm Act

Malin Viola Wennberg — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 09:40:06 +0000

This week Stockholm takes a stand for sustainability with the festival The Stockholm Act. The festival runs from today Monday August 22 through Sunday August 27. The Stockholm Act brings together art, science, business and politics to collaborate and mobilize around the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development.

The Stockholm Act

The opening ceremony will take place at the Stockholm House of Culture & City Theatre at 1 pm today Monday. Amongst others you can listen to Gunhild Storadlen, Johan Rockström and Isabella Lövin. The opening ceremony is open to everyone and you can reserve your seat here.

Some fashion highlights this week will be Houdini Morning Hangout – rooftop yoga and neuroscience lecture at 7 am on Tuesday. Also, don’t miss the Care and Repair event and Fashion Flea Market by Electrolux, Houdini and Make it Last at The Nordic Museum on Thursday and Friday. Representatives from Electrolux and Make it Last will be speaking at the opening on Thursday, August 24 at 12 pm, together with Pauline Ström Gunnér of the Swedish Fashion Council. See the full schedule here, and remember that all events are admission free!

Care and Repair

The Retail Experience 2.0

Malin Viola Wennberg — Sun, 06 Aug 2017 10:19:17 +0000

Once again we are met with the news of retail death and declining sales. Stores are struggling to compete with the online market and are forced to downsize. In the light of these facts – what will be the retail experience 2.0?

Balenciaga takeover at Colette – June 19 to August 5, 2017

Recent reports show that the American retailers are heading for its worst year so far. There have been 5,300 store closing announcements through June 20, making it the second worst year on record at the six-month mark. In July Parisian cult retailer Colette announced that they would be closing their doors for good in December 2017. Colette is one of the few brick-a-mortar stores who are still profitable, yet they decide to shut down their business. In a message communicated through their Instagram account on July 12^th, Colette announces: “As all good things must come to an end, after 20 wonderful years, colette should be closing its doors on December 20th of this year. Colette Roussaux has reached the time when she would like to take her time; and Colette cannot exist without Colette.” They are not closing because of negative numbers; they are closing because of what could become negative numbers with the wrong leadership in the age of online shopping. Consumers today don’t visit the brick-a-mortar retailer to actually make a purchase, they come to try on the size and see the color in real life. Then they go home, log on to Amazon Prime and find the product online at a better price. In this time of ecommerce booming, how does one stay relevant?

Photo by UNIQLO

Japanese fast fashion company Uniqlo is trying out a new approach this August; they have installed a vending machine dispensing clothing at Oakland Airport in California. The vending machines will stock men and women’s shirts and lightweight jackets at a price of about $15 and $70. Uniqlo says they plan to install nine other machines at airports and malls in Los Angeles, Houston and New York in the coming months.

In Shanghai we’ve seen the first permanent high-tech automated convinces stores make its entrance on the market. The company is called BingoBox, but is actually the brainchild of Swedish start-up Wheelys. The BingoBox stores are open 24/7 offering instant noodles, beer and traditional snacks. Inside there is also a microwave, a shared mobile phone charger, a freezer and a soy milk machine – but there is no staff at the check out. BOF writes, “The convenience store, powered by WeChat, requires no checkout, no cash and no salespeople. Customers scan QR codes to enter the store and select products, and then pay using their mobile WeChat wallets. Sensors on the shelves detect the removal of items. Once an item has been removed, it is linked to the shopper’s unique ID in the smartphone app to prevent theft.”

hm.com

In addition to the high-tech no-staff experience we also see the development of the complete opposite; a retailer that focus on the senses and of the consumer and welcome them to a cup of coffee. The latest addition to the H&M group ARKET is soon to open up its doors in London later this month. The store will include a mix of existing brands as well as their own line of clothing, accessories, shoes and interior design for men, women and children. In addition to the fully stacked shelves of consumer goods most stores will have a café. ARKET will offer a menu inspired by new Nordic food culture. The ARKET Café is said to aim for a casual and warm atmosphere with a friendly approach. All in an effort to create a more including shopping experience.

A Reminder – Overshoot Day 2017

Malin Viola Wennberg — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 06:35:14 +0000

Yesterday, August 2^nd, marks Earth Overshoot Day 2017. By now we will have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the whole year. ”We use more ecological resources and services than nature can regenerate through overfishing, overharvesting forests, and emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than forests can sequester.” Overshootday

August 2^nd is the earliest date yet, but we can stop and even move the day by changing our habits. For example, if we cut food waste in half worldwide, we would move Overshoot Day by 11 days. For Earth Overshoot Day this year, Global Footprint Network, along with 30+ partners, is highlighting solutions and individual pledges to #movethedate. If we managed to moved Earth Overshoot Day back 4.5 days every year starting now, we would return to living within the means of one Earth before 2050.

Calculate your global footprint here to see in what areas you need to improve.

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

Second Hand beats Recycled

Malin Viola Wennberg — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 10:37:52 +0000

To recycle your clothes is somewhat better than simply putting them in the trash bin, but to buy second hand is the real climate saver.

New LCA (life cycle analysis) research from Sandra Roos, Mistra Future Fashion and Chalmers University , shows that the highest climate impact comes from the production phase, and it doesn’t matter if it’s from virgin materials or recycled materials. On average to produce the fiber accounts for 15% of the total climate impact whiles the production phase i.e. thread spinning, weaving, dying and sewing accounts for 55% of the total impact. Buying second hand therefore saves up to 70% of the total impact since you are essentially skipping the production process in all. Recycled fibers are usually put through the production phase once again when being made into new fabric, which means additional pollution and energy consumption is added.

Courtesy of H&M

Several of the large clothing chains, such as H&M, The Gap and Gina Tricot are all accepting textile donations under mantras such as “Closing the Loop”. They encourage the consumer to bring in their old clothes in return for a voucher to buy new garments. But what happens to these donations? Many of our clothes today consist of mixed fibers. A pair of jeans for example is often a mix between cotton and elastan. Once the fibers are mixed it is a very hard and recourse demanding process to separate them again. The only garments that are recycled into new textiles today are 100% cotton, mainly white sheets, which are easy to dye again. Approximately 10% of our donations are sold as second hand within EU borders, 40% are sold to third world countries where the companies no longer control their end destination, another 40% ends up as isolation or low quality products to be sold in third world countries and the last 10% is usually burnt. Numbers borrowed from David Palm, Ramböll.

Furthermore, the choice of transportation to and from the store accounts for up to 22% of the total climate impact. This means that if you take the car to the store and buy a garment made out of for example recycled polyester the small win from buying recycled is overshadowed by your choice of transportation. End in end, in a perfect world we would all use public transportation to reach a second hand store where we buy all our clothes and make sure we maintain them in good condition for as long as possible.