Catalytic Clothing- a pioneering collaboration between London College of Fashion and the University of Sheffield. Headed up by the universities' respective Professor Helen Storey MBE and Professor Tony Ryan OBE, the partnership seeks to bring the world of fashion and science together, exploring how clothing and textiles can be used as a catalytic surface to purify the air. In essence, how the clothes we wear can clean the air.

"Catalytic clothing is a beautiful manifestation of a deeply technical process. We will engage the public in formulating its nature and application allowing us to develop something that is both user-friendly and technically excellent," says Ryan of the campaign.

Story adds: "Catalytic Clothing is the most challenging, globally relevant project I have ever attempted. Behind almost all human advancement lies a science. Through my work I try to share and involve the public with these possibilities."

To spread the word, they've enlisted the help of Erin O'Connor. The model sports a dress which uses this purifying technology.

Vivienne Westwood 'War And Peace' -shirt

COTTON: Have You Picked Yours Carefully?

Margot Bowman collaborates with swim and lingerie designer- Auria for her S/S 13 collection. These vivid, mythical prints are worked on ethically sourced fabrics, recycled from discarded products such as old fishing nets and carpets.

Pendleton is one of few American manufacturers who’s stuck it out and remained dedicated to producing everything locally and responsibly, as well as to a legacy of long-lasting quality. In addition to employing 100 years old mills in the Northwest, they commit to using sustainable wool, recycling materials, and continually reducing water and energy usage through better technology.

Despite being launched just three years ago by a designer with no formal fashion training, Minna has garnered widespread recognition for its ability to combine high fashion and a strongly ethical ethos. Known for her whimsical vintage-inspired pieces, designer Minna Hepburn has won plaudits for her unique brand of ultra-wearable, feminine fashion. Minna also introduced a children’s line inspired by her daughter Kristiina, made entirely from leftover and end of roll fabric. The Finnish designer incorporates her environmental ethics into every element of the production of her clothing. ‘We use organic, fairtrade and recycled UK-made fabrics to create our sustainable clothes, which are handmade locally,’ she says. ‘This gives the clothes a longer life so they don't end up being dumped after their “it-season,”’ she explains. 

Although her brand only launched in 2011, designer Carrie Parry is no fashion industry novice. The California native, who studied fashion design at the University of the Arts in London, previously worked at Jonathan Saunders, Zandra Rhodes and Marc by Marc Jacobs. Carrie’s interest in green fashion was sparked when she moved to New York. She now works with Earth Pledge, an NGO committed to raising awareness of sustainable materials and processes within the fashion industry. She think about the entire lifecycle of the garment from the fabrics, to the manufacturing, to the time a woman wears the clothes and design and source with that in mind. She hope to design garments that fit into every aspect of a woman's lifestyle while addressing our environmental and social impact. To her, it’s really about being transparent and understanding that social responsibility is really a process that can continuously be improved and that we all can play an important part in it. With ever-growing interest in the brand, Carrie is an up-and-coming talent who’s certain turn some heads.

Winner of the Ethical Fashion Forum’s ‘Fashion Innovation Award’ during last September’s London Fashion Week, Henrietta Ludgate specialises in minimalist tailoring. Inspired by the landscape of her homeland, her pieces always include a Celtic component. She sources her fabrics locally and upcycles wherever possible. She used recycled baseball caps and horse blankets, and for A/W11, she has used upcycled Scottish yarn to create her first knitwear range. Ludgate says her label helps reduce waste because her pieces are high quality and will last. ‘She try to create pieces that are timeless and that hopefully give spectacular joy over and over again. Her aim is that she get handed down through generations. Her ethos is in a way anti consumer establishment, pieces that integrate beautifully into your wardrobe no matter the season or trend.’

A close-up of a tinkling, bell-covered dress from Viktor & Rolf  Haute Couture, photographed by Wendelien Daan for Vogue Paris, September 2000.

‘Bedtime Story’ Autumn/Winter 2005-2006 collection by Viktor & Rolf .

Making fashion sustainable means taking into account more than just style, quality and cost. Being hailed as a carbon neutral event, Bottega Veneta, Bandicca, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Diane Von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, Doo.Ri, Dero Olown, Giambattista Valli, Givenchy, Isabel Toledo, Jil Sanders, Marc Jacobs, Marni, Martin Grant, Martin Margiela, Michael Kors, Moschino, Narciso Rodrigues, Ralph Lauren, Rodente, Rogan, Stella McCartney, Thahoon, Threeasfour, Vercase and Yves Saint Laurent celebrated Future Fashion by creating garments that are made with sustainable materials that included sasawashi, pina, bamboo, organic cotton and wool, corn – based fibers, recycled fibres or fabrics and biopolymers. One of the six initiatives by Earth Pledge, leading non-profit and innovator of sustainable solutions for business, Future Fashion celebrates environmentally conscions fashion by working with the industry to promote renewable, reusable, and nonpolluting materials and methods.

Christopher Raeburn on Remade

“Remade is about completely deconstructing and then reworking an original garment. Christopher Raeburn started out working in this way, using upcycled fabrics, with his graduate collection almost seven years ago. At the time, very few people understood the idea of remaking things completely, but it totally fascinated him, and he continues to. Taking an oversized, badly cut and not particularly flattering menswear military garment and completely reworking it into a womenswear bomber jacket excites him.

Christopher Raeburn was always interested in the wheeler-dealer side of business, buying old fabrics and remaking them. He loved the functionality of particular fabrics and that you couldn’t get them on a roll. It can be very hit and miss in terms of colour and grade; some pieces have been worn forever, some have never been worn before. He enjoy the history factor.

Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2006 and launching his eponymous label two years later, Christopher Raeburn has inadvertently become the poster boy for sustainable fashion in the UK. Winner of the 2011 British Fashion Award for Emerging Talent - Menswear, Raeburn’s innovative menswear and womenswear collections consistently challenge negative prevailing notions of ethical fashion, laden as it is with connotations of hemp underwear and patchwork skirts. Through the use of re-appropriated military fabrics, Raeburn creates garments that are not only beautifully crafted and cut, but remarkably functional and intelligent. Ultimately, Christopher does all this with quiet modesty, remaining true to his values without ever exploiting them to sell clothes.

"Though they pour toxic waste into the rivers, humans will only pay attention to it on the day the dead fish rise to the surface"

Yohji Yamamoto highlights the biographical and almost identifiable emotion brought on by a second-hand, vintage or antique piece of clothing. They touch a piece of our past, a personification of those who have worn them. Indeed, it was Coco Chanel who once stated, “old clothes are like old friends.” However the sustainable appeal of re-worked and re-used fabrics is more relevant than ever before, with designers realising the global impact of their fabric choices and sartorial actions. Ethical clothing underpins a bigger picture, acting as a catalyst for environmental change.

Swedish fashion designer- Sandra Backlund, is a wizard at sculpting hand-crafted garments that celebrate the everyday form in a most unusual and resourceful manner. Her  ‘In No Time Collection’, celebrates the best of sustainable risk-taking in design and fashion with a twist of haute-couture know how and DIY craftiness. 

Backlund typically incorporates unconventional materials such as paper, hair, and fiber into her garments but in her latest feat of tailored brilliance, the designer finds a whole new way to sport clothespins as well as collaged pieces of wool knitted elements. The designer views these components as integral to the vigor and viability of the handicraft tradition and method.

Rei Kawakubo, of Comme des Garcon, has also been working with reclaimed garments and dry goods for years. In her Fall 2009 collection tailcoats were superimposed on larger greatcoats. Sections of khaki fatigues, and military tents & jackets, were collaged in. Ethnic blanket prints became involved, too.

Upcycling and Reclaiming Fashion

Maison Martin Margiela, well-known fashion designer house, has been fond of reclamation since the 80s. Above, the Sleeveless jacket made from vintage leather baseball gloves.

Dutch model Saskia de Brauw is photographed by Ruth Hogben and styled by Katie Shillingford in the story 'Modern Couture' for the current Autumn/Winter 2012/2013 issue of AnOther magazine.

Faroe Away

Designers from the Faroe Islands are stitching up a storm with adventurous designs whilst maintaining sustainable ethics.

Trying to make interesting fashion whilst sticking to the guidelines for sustainability is an arduous task. But the designers in the Faroe Islands are doing just that, with crayon coloured knits by Jóhanna av Steinum and doubled-up symmetrical leather pieces from Barbara í Gongini. Elsewhere, Guðrun & Guðrun and the Sirri label use only home-farmed Faroese wool from sheep that live in the surrounding mountains feeding off unfertilised grass. Focusing on sustainability and traditional ethics, much of Guðrun & Guðrun's collection is also handmade by Faroese and Jordanian women in the North Atlantic. 

Place where I live. Photograph by me. Original photo.