SUSTAINBLE CHIC LIvia
SUSTAINBLE CHIC LIvia Firth is creative director at Eco-Age, a sustainability brand consultancy firm based in London. Firth is a UN Leader of Change and the recipient of the UN Fashion 4 Development Award ON THE PULSE Watchmakers giving back Earthy looks by Maiyet (below) and Edun (right) Clockwise from top left: Nomos Metro; Chopard LUC XPS; Blancpain Ocean Commitment Bathyscaphe Chronographe Flyback; Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M GMT GoodPlanet; IWC Aquatimer Chronograph Edition “Expedition Charles Darwin” Often oriented around sustainable practices and the tightly bounded areas of the Jura in Switzerland or Saxony in Germany, timepiece manufacturers give back across the board. Take Chopard (chopard.com) with its commitment to fair-mined gold, metal mined socially responsibly and fairly priced to producer and consumer. The new LUC XPS is a subtle, very slim, rose gold chronometer with a 65-hour power reserve. On a different tack, German brand Nomos (nomos-glashuette.com) has a Green Product Award – chosen from 400 international entries – for its sleek, urban, very-good-value Metro model, created in-house, like 95 per cent of its movements. Divers’ watches are a leitmotif for many watch brands, and conserving sea life is a natural spin-off. Through its highly functional Aquatimer range, IWC (iwc.com) supports the Charles Darwin Foundation which helps to preserve the unique wildlife of the Galápagos Islands, while Blancpain (blancpain.com), famous for its Fifty Fathoms diving watch, has its own Ocean Commitment fund to help preserve and protect the world’s oceans. Omega (omegawatches.com) is involved with restoring marine biodiversity in Indonesia through the GoodPlanet Foundation, along with other charity commitments such as to the Orbis Flying Eye Hospitals. For some top-level designers sustainable thinking is not a new trend but a way of life. Stella McCartney (stellamccartney.com), who learnt vegetarianism and respect for animals on her mother’s knee, has spent her whole fashion career juggling her principles with the commercial needs of fashion houses and not only has she never compromised but she has taken the big brands with her. She is backed by Kering (kering.com), which has a strong track record on acting green, partly due to Stella’s pushing. The group includes Bottega Veneta (bottegaveneta.com), which uses only sustainable and certified sources for its many exotic skins and has built an award-winning Dramatic Stella McCartney shoe featuring a recycled-wood heel Food for Thought In her own words: Livia Firth of Eco-Age When I first went to Bangladesh, in 2008, I couldn’t believe the factory women were producing on average 150 pieces an hour! We buy at an increasingly fast pace and demand lower prices, so a T-shirt is cheaper than a sandwich. We encourage brands away from fast fashion by having the courage to address sustainability on both environmental and social-justice issues. Talk about “democratic fashion” and “the latest trend” confuses us about the real values of what we buy. You need to step back, to see who is doing what at supply-chain level. The Green Carpet Challenge and Collections engage people with the beautiful stories of ethically produced clothes and add enormous value to the brands who work like this – a win-win situation. I think the consumer increasingly understands the “true cost” of buying cheap and often. Buy less but with more “fashion mileage” – buy what you love and wear it often. Purchase values rather than instant gratification! FROM THE CATWALK Leading by example from the front carbon-neutral HQ famed for its superlative working conditions. Stella herself uses eco faux leather for bags and shoes, fake fur and wool worked in many glamorous ways, including special weaves from a small co-operative in Patagonia. Next up: locally made sunglasses from a new Kering project in Italy and strong, chic, chain-trimmed luggage. Ali Hewson, wife of U2’s Bono, set up Edun (edun. com) ten years ago with the aim of bringing high quality artisan manufacture to Africa, which it still does while becoming a wider-based brand. More recently, Kristy Caylor founded US brand Maiyet (maiyet.com), on the premise that artisanal pieces would be made wherever in the world is the best place for that product. The pieces have a laid-back, delicate design approach with artisanal details and often matching handmade jewellery. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY OF THE WATCHMAKERS (5), © THE TRUE COST MOVIE, © STELLA MCCARTNEY, MONICA FEUDI, JULIEN M. HEKIMIAN/GETTY IMAGES 50 DEPARTURES-INTERNATIONAL.COM
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