EcoChic Shanghai – Another Eco Fashion Success
Last month in Shanghai, China, over 40 designers from around the world shared a catwalk for the first time in mainland China at the EcoChic Shanghai fashion show www.ecochicfashions.com. The celebratory event, supported by leading financial firm UBS, seeks to promote environmental sustainability in the fashion industry.
EcoChic was developed by the Hong Kong-based non-profit organization www.green2greener.com, to display and promote eco-fashion. The EcoChic Shanghai gala evening is part of the UBS Greater China Conference which this year focuses on sustainable development.
We initially did a story on the Hong Kong EcoChic event. Click Here to read that story.
“Style is about attitude and behaviour – not about the way you dress,” according to international designer, Nathan Jenden, who includes in his portfolio a cocktail dress made of recycled Indian saris. “More and more mainstream designers are using eco-fashion in their collections. Eco-fashion is not just about the future of fashion – it is about the future of the world!”
The fashion industry is the second only to agriculture in terms of the consumption of water worldwide while the production of cotton alone is responsible for the use of 25 percent of the world’s chemical pesticide.
Eco-fashion not only makes use of eco-friendly textiles, such as organic cotton, silk and hemp, but also seeks to use reconstructed clothing, with an eye to making the fashion industry more environmentally friendly.
The event in Shanghai focused on three different types of fashion: ready-to-wear, eco-couture and vintage. Around 15 eco-friendly ready-to-wear labels from around the world including three from China, showcased eco-friendly clothing alongside eco-couture designs from international superstars, Diane von Furstenberg, Thakoon and Nathan Jenden. Promoting vintage clothing as the epitome of recycling, the show also featured edgy and glamorous fashion favored by celebrities including Kate Moss and Maggie Cheung.
“This amazing and collaborative event is the fashion industry’s response to increased concerns for the environment,” says Dr. Christina Dean, founder of www.green2greener.com. “The fashion industry is often seen as being inherently un-eco-friendly because it encourages us to consume more and more new fashion. But we are showing that we can still love fashion, look great and also consume in an environmentally-friendly way.”
Nicole Yuen, Head of Equities China, UBS Investment Bank, said: “A focus of our Greater China Conference in Shanghai this year is sustainable development. I’m delighted that EcoChic is a part of the conference. It has proved to be highly effective in raising awareness of environmental issues among the investment community. A sustainable business does not need to compromise profits, technological advancement and competitiveness, but rather seeks to combine business strategies that meet its financial needs with measures aimed at protecting, sustaining and enhancing human and natural resources.”
EcoChic Shanghai has drawn support from leading Chinese designers, including Jenny Ji, Lu Kun and Dorian Ho, who all used textiles produced in China and made from bamboo, hemp or organic silk that do not require as much pesticide as conventional textiles.
“I am using certified organic silk from China, my Motherland,” says Dorian Ho, who has designed an iconic ‘EcoChic’ red organic-silk eco-couture dress with a distinctive East-meets-West look.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness about using fashion to attain a more eco-friendly lifestyle,” says celebrity Josie Ho.
At the EcoChic Shanghai gala evening, following the fashion show, Sotheby’s auction house will conduct a live auction to raise funds for WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature) China.
Further funds will be raised by the sale of some of the clothes that appear on the catwalk via online trading platform www.green2greener.com.
