White Tent’s profile has gone live today in the Profiling Business section of the CSF website

White Tent  is one of the labels on our Business Support Programme which aims to help existing and emerging London based fashion businesses

You can read the full profile here

White Tent uses performance textiles and laser cutting to create womenswear with an edge. Evgenia and Pedro are committed to exploring the use of sustainable materials in their collections, including organic and recycled yarns. The pair also strongly believe in social responsibility and are working on strategies to ensure that White Tent is a brand that integrates sustainable practices at every level, creating a business that operates to the highest environmental standards.

The Autumn/Winter 10-11 collection was developed around the confrontation between straight and curved lines. It sparked an exploration of asymmetric forms, working with ideas of perspective and fluidity, rewriting the rules that traditionally define pieces of clothing in an energetic and exciting way. This energy is enhanced by the eclectic choice of materials and textures including denim, wool blends, leather and sheepskin combined with metallic finishes and strong colour blocking.

White Tent is based in Lisbon, Portugal and London, UK. Since 2007 Evgenia and Pedro have shown their work in Lisbon Fashion Week (Moda Lisboa).

Visit the website here

Mr Wingate’s profile has gone live today in the Profiling Business section of the CSF website

Mr Wingate  is one of the designers on our Business Support Programme which aims to help existing and emerging London based fashion businesses

You can read the full profile here

Sam Wingate has just opened his new shop and studio space on Columbia Road. Here you can see him sketching, sewing and printing his collection of cushions, tea towels, bags and T shirts featuring tone-on-tone graphics, vivid colours and imaginative and quirky designs that are a core element of the Mr Wingate brand of today. He has also expanded into homewares, including amazingly intricately printed wallpapers and a cushion collection titled “The East End Pub Crawl”, a series of four cushions in different colours, each one printed with a stylish interpretation of the pubs stops along the way. Wingate has also put his name to aprons, gift tags and napkins, all with his signature nouveau retro architectural images and Sam Wingate is firmly establishing a new concept of interior design.

As well as huge successes under his own label, Sam has also worked on some incredible commissions, working with brands such as DKNY who commissioned wallpaper for the Bond Street flagship store after they spotted his work at the “New Designers” Graduate show.

We asked Sam about the sustainable aspects of his brand and this was his response:

“Since taking part in the seminars at CSF I have changed my t shirt collection over to being constructed from organic cotton, and I am currently working on sourcing a suitable organic cotton for my range of interior products.
I have also re-assessed my printing process to incorporate a greater sense of water consumption, designing prints that use fewer colours and that share elements of other prints, reducing the use of water in the process. I am also concentrating more on producing products that have a longer lifespan with the consumer, products that someone will cherish for years rather than throw away after a few months.”

Visit the website here

Green is the new black at New York Fashion Week

The Independent  01/09/2010

Environmentally friendly fashion will be putting its best foot forward in a special two-day show at the Metropolitan Pavilion during New York Fashion Week.

The third season of The GreenShows Eco Fashion Week will run from September 12-14 alongside New York Fashion Week. The Green Shows will present ten designers that are committed to environmental and social responsibility. This event will be the only event exclusively focusing on environmental and fair trade responsibilities throughout New York Fashion Week.

Confirmed in a August 23 press release, the ten designers showing collections in the GreenShows at the Metropolitan Pavilion will be: Samantha Pleet (New York), Susan Cianciolo (NY), Bright Young Things by Eliza Starbuck (NY), Ashton Michael Black Label (Los Angeles), Lavuk by Natasha Gindin (LA), Jo Ann Berman (NY), Auralis (NY/Puerto Rico), Luis Valenzuela (Miami), Dress Reform (NY), and Milliners Gulld (NY).

The location for the fashion show itself is also eco-friendly, the 55,000 sq ft  (5100 sq m) Metropolitan Pavilion features eco-friendly flooring, LED lighting and enforces a strict recycling program.

London Fashion Week also attracted a handful of eco-designers including Jeff Garner, Ada Zanditon and MAXJENNY.

More information about eco-friendly fashion can be found at www.sustainyourstyle.com and www.ecofashionworld.com both of which focus on creations from ethical designers around the world.

For more information about the GreenShows please click here

Grown in vats of green tea scientists from Imperial College, London have been collaborating with Central Saint Martins designers to create this new sustainable fabric. The fabric is still in early development and those involved say it will still be a while before it hits the shops. It just shows what a bit of imagination and innovation can produce.

Read more in The Telegraph here.

The possibility of discussing some of the differences and similarities between the UK and Brazil was also eye-opening and inspiring.  Personally, it was an opportunity to meet some interesting and like-minded people and to debate and discuss honestly the problems facing both the industry and more generally societies across the globe.

There were plenty of questions too, topics ranging from a discussion of the role of craft to the challenges of ‘fast fashion’ and the high street in the UK.  I had lots of questions for them too but as always time flew by.

The course is the sixth of its kind so far and topics cover fabric sourcing, environmental impacts, social issues and life cycle analysis. The work that Ecotece are doing here in Brazil is really opening up dialogue between producers, designers and industry. To talk about the work of CSF was a really pleasure too, I hope to do it again soon.

CSF Director Dilys Williams is quoted in a new book by Nicola Baird entitled ‘Homemade Kids: Thrifty, Creative and Eco-Friendly Ways to Raise Your Child’. Nicola adapted a Friends of the Earth/Earthmatters Magazine interview given by Dilys. The quote can be found on p68!

For more info click here

We’re going to be running two workshops in September to explore what sustainability means for you and your industry and what needs to be done in order to change the status quo and seize the opportunities that the big challenges ahead create.

Through interactive workshop sessions, facilitated by Forum for the Future, we’re going to explore the major implications for the creative industries over the coming 20 years.  We’ve sketched out the implications from the commonalities across 4 plausible future scenarios of 2030.

This is part of the Sustainability Beacon Project run by Forum for the Future and the Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network.

For more details and to register for either of the workshops click here

For more info on the Fashion Futures project which was developed with students from our very own MA Fashion and the Environment, and presents four vivid scenarios of the world of 2025 and the role of the fashion industry  please click here