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agenda


FASHION

ETHICAL THREADS

The UK fashion industry is another key creative sector that is taking proactive steps to measure, manage and reduce its carbon footprint.

Major initiatives include the British Fashion Council’s Estethica, a showcase of ethical designer fashion labels which highlights a new wave of designers producing ethically sourced newly engineered materials, organically farmed wools or cottons, or recycled and upcycled waste materials. Launched in 2006, it also runs a mentoring programme, which has helped to nurture UK-based eco-designers.

Now hosting up to 30 labels, Estethica has become the most influential international platform for sustainable fashion designers and has become the focal point for eco fashion in the UK.

Orsola de Castro, co-founder and curator of Estethica and founder of fashion label From Somewhere, says: “The UK is leading the world in sustainable fashion, both in style and creativity. From the top to the bottom of the industry, sustainability is THE issue that everyone is interested in and wants to address.”

In addition to Estethica, there is the Sustainable Clothing Roadmap (www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/products/roadmaps/clothing/documents/clothing-action-plan-feb10.pdf), launched by the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in 2007 to provide a platform for an integrated approach to sustainable clothing throughout the fashion industry. To date, the roadmap has brought together more than 300 fashion designers, manufacturers and retailers, who together have drawn up a Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP), which outlines commitments to make fashion more sustainable throughout its lifecycle.

Moreover, UK fashion colleges are showing a real and increasing interest in sustainability. The London College of Fashion, for example, has developed a curriculum with sustainability at its heart and offers a new masters degree in fashion and the environment. It also has a dedicated Centre for Sustainable Fashion, which is committed to supporting and catalysing change on fashion and encourages engagement with the sustainability agenda. It runs an annual international student competition, Fashioning the Future, which celebrates innovation in sustainable fashion design, development and communication.


SEED CATHEDRAL

This year’s Shanghai Expo provided an invaluable forum for the sustainability credentials of the UK and its creative industry companies.