As we fold up our beach blankets and say goodbye to summer I took a look at some fresh new brands I could take to work with me this fall!
By: Sonya Vajifdar
Sure, a lot of the sustainable slow fashion brands have that crisp white organic cotton shirt in various styles but what about the ones who want to go slightly more adventurously dressed. I found a few brands that fit right into that category!
Luxury Womens wear
CROSS A LINE –
CROSS A LINE is a luxury womens wear label focused on the love for Denim, textile craft techniques and design. Cross A Line is a denim-oriented brand working with Khadi denim, handloom denim, cotton denim treating them with various techniques and washes. Each piece is designed autonomously and when paired together brings to life the labels underlying ethos, becoming a harmonious blend of beauty and rebellion. Dynamic detailing, exquisite textures, luxury fabrics and delicate embroidery are pieced together with tough, androgynous, statement denim essentials. It’s about making women feel empowered, perfect and neutral enough for work as well.
This collection is made on Khadi denim that has been made in collaboration with Denim Club India. Lastly, every piece in the collection is hand finished with a treasured element of tucks, beading or embroidery – the personalised signature of all CROSS A LINE piece. I absolutely loved their vegetable dyed khadi denim beige knee length dress that she showcased at fashion week last year.
They also have a lot of other fun and intricate designs on their website – https://www.crossaline.com
Eucalyptus fibres
I AM SALT PETRE – This brand stands out by making a plain weave of fibres extracted from Eucalyptus trees! They build their products to be fashion-trend-agnostic. Their designs have a very minimal, functional and comfortable feel and are sourced from suppliers who are either certified to be eco-friendly or have been checked by their team for their practices.Every shipment of Saltpeter comes with some herb seeds.
By using their specially designed 100% biodegradable packaging to incubate the seeds for 4-6 weeks in which time they should germinate into saplings the brand gives customers a small way to help offset some of the environmental impact and can build their own edible garden. Unless you measure something, you don’t know if it is getting better or worse and so this brand proudly tracks the environmental footprint of their products from cradle to grave and shares this information with an independent research team at Indian Institute of Technology. https://www.iamsaltpetre.com
From watches to charities
JAMES LUCY – James Lucy is a London based social enterprise, and their watches are the first in hopefully a large range of products that will generate money for them to donate to our panel of charities around the world. For a luxury, not to mention extremely trendy and stylish brand it is highly impressible that they donate 50% of their profits each year to our charities, as voted for by their customers.
The interesting part of this business is the charities they donate to such as friends of the earth trust, trees for cities, cool earth, make a wish, etc. Their hashtag #timeforchange is ideal for this and honestly, I felt one of these charities was the most apt for this story as well! Trees for cities work on an international scale specializing in planting urban trees and providing volunteering opportunities to bring local people together. They are a game-changing, ambitious organization that sets the standard for urban forestry worldwide. https://www.jameslucy.com/
Less waste fashion
MOVINUN- This brand from Slovenia is a made to order brand. When one orders from their online shop, they go to action and as soon as possible contact their amazing seamstresses. They check the material stock and let us know when they think the item can be made. Then they would write back how long it would take which would be around ten days! The time taken really is not of that much importance especially when you know the garment is made especially for you and eliminates the extra costs, waste or any extra power!
I have their organic cotton, GOTs certified fabric, dress that has these unique elements of handmade porcelain buttons on the sleeves. I totally added this to my extra stylish work wear gear! Apart from that, the brand is focused on fair trade minimalism and uniqueness – My favorite! https://movinun.com/english/
Slow Fashion
BEHNO – This bag brand was listed number 5 in the worldwide green carpet challenge. Behno is NYC based but manufactures in various factories in India and is creating several causes in the way of health, garment worker mobility, family planning, women’s rights, worker satisfaction & benefits, and eco-consciousness. Behno designs each collection to promote slow-fashion where consumers buy what they love for the years to come.
The label also creates curated capsule RTW collections upon request and on a project basis to promote artisan and ethical techniques. They are rising high and are sold in the top stores in the US! My favorite is the classic mini crossbody in bone, lined with upcycled twill cotton. Their website is a must-see – https://behno.com/
Read more: www.sonyavajifdar.com
Follow Sonya: @sonyavajifdar
