Metropolitan Gardening

Bryan: What prompted the extraordinary focus on making your designs sustainable? Inka: Our planet is in bad shape. I think everyone should try to do their part to reduce their impact and we should try to do this in all domains of our lives, like at home and at work. I try to reach sustainability in the materials I use and also in they way I produce my collection Bryan: Have you found any benefit? Does acting ethically pay off? Inka: It's hard at first, because doing this right (sustainably) costs more and it takes more time to figure out if the things I think are sustainable are actually sustainable. I can see the benefits of increasing my local economy and I can see that people feel the difference in my product, so yes, I think it pays off. 

  I n this interview designer Beryl Man  ( Anja Collection ) gives us a unique glimpse into the challenges facing a designer on the forefront of high end boutique eco fashion. MG: I understand that your interest for ethical fashion grew out of encountering business practices during your first years in the industry. Would you say now that you have established yourself it was easy to source ethically and just took some looking? B: i can say that i covered the basic simple knits/weave sourcing, but in fashion, consumers are always looking for something new and exciting so thats a challenge to make sure new resources are within sustainable principle and and not off track by the speed of fast fashion. MG:Does ethical business cost more than "regular" business? B: YES!! its more expensive and we have very limited choices. sustainable materials are more expensive but the Eco fashion market is still looking for lower prices. except if you are making one-off couture piece

T he (capsule) show covers designers from New York and Paris 2012 Autumn/Winter lines. (Really it's global in scope.) This is simply the best boutique fashion under one roof. The bright faces of these niche labels and gorgeous looks were stellar. I'll be diving in deeper over the next couple of days - but today the three quick standouts for me were: Cri De Coeur , an eco-forward and ethical shoe collection designed by Julie Dicterow and business partner  Gina Ferraraccio . Julie explained that her line is one of the few shoe collections ever to pursue green status. She was surprised that I somehow picked out this fact from among the other vendors and exclaimed it shouldn't be possible to tell. I told her I'd been doing this a long time and her product gave me the right feeling. No Julie, it is not apparent to the naked eye that your product is somehow eco-different - it was the quality and standards of your presentation and your vibe that turned my head. The shoes &

Originally Posted in Technorati   M arci Zaroff is a pioneer in the sustainable fiber and fashion industry. She was just included in the definitive book ECO-AMAZONS.  Marci is finishing up behind the scenes work which will allow the launch of immersing lifestyle boutiques in 2012 and several new brand partnerships that reach all tiers of retail distribution. After seeing the industry grow from 240 million dollars a year in the nineties to almost 6 billion dollars in 2011. Zaroff has a lot to be proud of.  But she remains focused, open, and dedicated to the principle that eco-fashion can be great looking, silky soft and good for people and the planet.  This is the first article in a series. Bryan Ogden: I understand you coined the term "Eco-Fashion".  I was wondering what you were thinking when you came up with that nomenclature. Marci Zaroff: When you look back on my background I had from a very early age embraced the world of health and wellness and ecology an