Here, we’ve collated our sustainably-focused fashion coverage from 2024, from circular design to challenging artistic projects.
“Buy less, choose well, make it last.”
For Viva, the maxim, made famous by the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, is one we return to again and again.
As explained by Mindful Fashion’s chief
“Approximately 74,000 tonnes of clothing are consumed each year. Auckland’s Redvale landfill alone receives 70 trucks of clothing waste each week. We need to focus on collective solutions to do better.”
In our coverage, we’ve cemented sustainable fashion as a key pillar, while unpacking what this broadness of this term could constitute.
This year, we’ve considered innovative works from emerging designers and industry leaders. We’ve canvassed people for their favourite thrift pieces. We’ve explored the costs for brands producing clothing locally, against the influx of fast fashion garments. We’ve looked at the potential of a circular fashion economy.
Our work in this arena will continue. The fashion industry’s impact on the planet and the climate crisis makes this essential. Here, we catalogued the stories from 2024 so far this year and share some of the learnings that have been particularly poignant for us.
The Only Circular Fashion Awards In Aotearoa Return. Here’s Your First Look At The Finalists
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Advertise with NZME.The finalists of this year’s Mindful Fashion Circular Design Awards showcased innovative methods for reimagining textile waste. Designers integrated a huge variation from retired sail-cloth to wool waste and raw calico. The winners of the four awards were announced in an energising celebration on September 25.
Award for Creative Excellence: Jacqueline Tsang, for an ensemble constructed with obsolete coffee sacks, damaged kimonos and vintage tapestries.
Award for Excellence from a Rising Talent: Ella Fidler, for a vest constructed with a yarn created by pre-production fabric waste.
Award for Material Innovation: Sue Prescott, for a raincoat crafted by locally sourced sail-cloth waste.
Trade Me Circular Business Innovation Award: Untouched World, for their Rubbish Socks, spun from recycled yarn.
In this piece, multimedia journalist Madeleine Crutchley profiles designer William Fitzgerald, the winner of the Viva editorial prize at the inaugural Mindful Fashion Circular Design Awards. William’s design crafted a slick suit from “shoddy’” a material spun from shredded fibres from pre-used textiles. The designer shares the complicated histories of the material and explains his perspective on the importance of looking back to move forward.
Clothing Recycling: The NZ Fashion Designers Turning Textile Waste Into Something Beautiful
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Advertise with NZME.This shoot showcases 10 designs from the finalists of the Mindful Fashion Awards 2023. The collection of exciting designs includes a co-ord set constructed from retired parachutes, a faux fur resembling vest made from end-of-life denim and a silk pantsuit made from a wedding dress dyed with onion skin.
Local brand Kowtow marked a milestone moment earlier this year, with the release of its first plastic-free collection.
Writer Julia Gessler visited the Wellington showroom, as the team was sowing seeds of sustainable practice. Speaking to founder Gosia Piatek, Julia explores the design principles and processes that led to the launch of their plastic-free range. Managing director Emma Wallace explains the beginnings of this approach.
“The key thing with circularity is you design out from the start. It’s a bit like recycling. Rather than thinking about how to recycle something, reduce it from the beginning.”
Worn out by the pace of fast fashion and overwhelmed by its growing environmental impacts, Madeleine Crutchley took the sewing machine into her own hands. The multimedia journalist attempts to construct her own clothing using patterns from local brands. The making begins with treasured memories.
“I perch on Nana’s couch, watching her wooden needles crisscross steadily. Awkwardly, I echo her movements. My stitches are too tight and then too loose. She soothes as my frustration grows. But then, all at once, I’m holding a few wonky rows of woven yarn. She pats me on the back. I bubble with quiet pride.”
In March, Thomas Adamson of AP covered the unanimous approval of a “pioneering bill” in the lower houses of French Parliament. The bill aims to target the influx of low-cost and mass-produced garments into the country by fast fashion giants. Key tenants of the bill include a ban on advertising for the cheapest textiles and the introduction of an environmental levy on low-cost products (as well as a call for companies to disclose their environmental impacts). The bill currently sits with the Senate. Its introduction has also stirred media coverage with experts speculating about the possibility of copycat legislation in other countries.
Viva’s Emma Gleason unpicked the details in this comprehensive report from Mindful Fashion released earlier in the year. The report, titled Threads of Tomorrow: Crafting The Future of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Fashion, Clothing and Textiles Landscape, outlines the state of the fashion industry in Aotearoa, projects a desired future and details a roadmap with 15 recommendations for action across four key areas. Emma highlights key takeaways from the report as well as insightful comments from industry leaders.
“We have invited key staff from government agencies to the report launch and will be following up with meeting requests and we are actively seeking meetings with the relevant ministers,” says Jacinta FitzGerald, chief executive of Mindful Fashion. “We contribute significantly to the New Zealand economy and to jobs; we are saying we’re here, and we want to talk to the government.”
Marlo rainboots are stocked across the country and have become the must-have gumboot of the winter season – approved by the most trusted forest certification organisation in the world. Creative and fashion director Dan Ahwa speaks to the founders of Marlo, Nicky Robinson and Kate Moffat, about their reinterpretation of the iconic New Zealand wardrobe staple. The boots are lined with vegan sherpa and natural rubber tapped from living trees.
Ruby’s best-selling “Firebird” pants are made in a garment factory in Glen Eden. Cactus Clothing utilises Albion Clothing in Christchruch, one of New Zealand’s biggest and longest-standing factories. Fashion designer Rachel Mills only sells garments made in her workroom.
In this piece, Jessica Beresford takes the temperature of the “Made In New Zealand” fashion industry, speaking to industry professionals about the possibilities and limitations of a cottage industry. Fashion designer Kate Sylvester speaks to the work required to protect locally produced fashion.
“I look at New Zealand manufacturing like our New Zealand birds. Our local manufacturers are an endangered species, and they will absolutely disappear unless we actively work to support them and keep them rolling.”
Finding an incredible piece in a second-hand shopping session can feel like uncovering some long-lost treasure. Madeleine Crutchley canvassed serious shoppers of pre-loved clothing to find out the stories behind their favourite thrifted garments. There are a range of picks; comedian and Fred Award winner Courtney Dawson highlights a coat with a peek into New Zealand fashion history; Rubbish Bin store founder Mitchell Tan chooses a cosy, no-fuss sweater; and Viva’s Dan Ahwa tells the story of a shirt snatched up at the Balmoral flea markets.
“When shopping for clothes, price is often the dominant deciding factor when it comes to the choices we make,” writes Dan Ahwa.
So, in an economic environment where mass retailers like Zara or H&M churn out poorly-made clothes using cheap labour, local designers are forced to compete with a supply chain using different rules.
Dan turns to local brands, including Knuefermann, Twenty-seven Names and Penny Sage, to better understand the costs that come with locally-made garments.
As the tensions between fashion and climate change continue to build, creatives from across the globe are collaborating to explore how fashion might innovate to respond to climate change. Madeleine Crutchley considers three projects, local and abroad, that respond to the climate change emergency.
Lucianne Tonti, fashion journalist and the author of Sundressed: Natural Fibres and the Future of Fashion, is an advocate and leading voice for circular fashion. In this interview, Lucianne unpacks a road map to a mindful fashion future and considers the overwhelming impact of ultra-fast fashion.
“Unfortunately, the prevailing global culture for the last 40 or so years has been to make as much money as possible regardless of the consequences for people and planet,” Lucianne says. “Hopefully, this period of cultural and intellectual poverty is coming to an end and we’re at the beginning of a global shift back towards value systems that honour the earth, kindness, respect, wonder, generosity, community, quality and longevity.”
