Diesel and denim go hand-in-hand together. The fabric is paramount to the brand and therefore needs to undergo a constant style evolution to stay relevant. The new Pre-Spring drop has done just this, but has also taken huge leaps in sustainable production which makes this collection fit for the future of fashion. Fabric sustainability specialist, Tejidos Royo, has joined forces with the brand to help make ‘Rehab Denim’ their most environmentally friendly release to date. So, what is specifically unique about this game-changing drop? 

In the creation of the denim garments, scraps from the cutting process have been incorporated, cutting down on material waste and material consumption. Garments are constructed from 100% recycled cotton and recycled elastane, which is super important as pre-consumer waste has been utilised and not disregarded. The denim drying process typically requires mass water consumption and high chemical usage. By utilising Dry Indigo® Technology, there is a zero-water consumption rate and chemical and energy usage significantly decrease. These are amazing initiatives which we are happy to support.

The collection itself is full of styles we want in our wardrobe asap. The three washes available are Bleach, Shadow and Fade-Out, giving us multiple choices to pick from. The silhouettes and styles are cool and laid-back, but trust us, you don’t want to be laid-back about getting your hands on the new denim, as it is sure to be a sell-out.  

Monster cargo pants with a toggled waist and an asymmetrical A-line skirt will be perfect for Spring 23 and right on time for the resurgence in denim. An over-sized bomber jacket and zip-up trucker jackets are available in men’s, women’s and all-gender silhouettes. Paired with the trompe l’oeil detailing and raw edges which feature on the low-rise straight leg jeans and you have your Spring staple sorted.  

_{Words By Erin Wilson}

The post Diesel Rehab Denim: The New Collection Rehabilitating Fashion appeared first on Voir Fashion.

Another year, another big step for digital fashion and for sustainability. The 2021 fashion events calendar could have not started better than through a glimpse of a hopeful future, where our planet is cleaner, and fashion expression is broader.

The Fashion Tech Summit, which was today held by MoreDash, in partnership with DRESSX and No More Plastic, has seen a wide panel of professionals from all parts of the world delve into the topic of sustainability and digital fashion, and the intricate problems that the fashion industry is facing in its quest to become Carbon Neutral.

In its third consecutive year of running, the Fashion Tech Summit has not disappointed, and, apart from some traditional Zoom glitches that could make anyone despair a little, the event was seemingly hosted by Olga Chernysheva, who is the Chief Sustainability Officer of DRESSX. Participants were also lucky enough to get a glimpse of the of the DRESSX founders, Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova, who own the first ever multi brand retailer company of digital-only garments.

“We didn’t want to conquer the fashion industry, we just want to make it more sustainable,”

said Daria Shapovalova, when expanding on the role DRESSX has and will be playing in the industry.

The conference started with a presentation on the negative impacts of the fashion industry on the environment, held by Ms Chernysheva. In a short 30-minute speech, viewers became aware of the concerning data collected by DRESSX on the pollution produced by the retail sector. The DRESSX officer said: “Fashion accounts for 20 to 35% of microplastic flows into the ocean and outweighs the carbon footprint of international flights and shopping combined.”

While the manufacturing of physical garments has been recognized as detrimental to the sustainability ethos, that we have seen slowly emerging in the fashion industry across all brands, big and small, high end or luxury, DRESSX claim that digital-only garments emit 97% less CO2 than physical garments.

All this information put forward, has started a conversation between the panellists, where terms such as “microplastic”, “creative economy” and “sustainable financial sector”, have been mentioned multiple times, leaving viewers intrigued, and hungry for answers to their most burning questions.

Delving into the topic of microplastics, Rosalie Mann, the founder of No More Plastic, has revealed some shocking information, about how microplastics have been introduced into our day-to-day environment: “Now we found microplastic in the snow and I think it is very important that people understand that if we find microplastic in snow, it suggests a new problem. This is certainly air pollution, because right now, when you breathe, you breathe microplastic.”

“When you breathe, you breathe microplastic“

Rosalie Mann

The No More Plastic founder has also added that microplastic makes its way to the oceans through a simple chore we are familiar with in our daily lives: doing laundry. She stated that, “with every washing cycle, there are created 700 thousand microplastics, which come from the materials in garments. The fashion industry talks about circular fashion. Recycling synthetic material is not a solution because you are still creating microplastic,” she said.

Investing in innovation seems to be the solution to this problem, as Ms Mann explained. But investing in innovation, and in the creative or sustainable sector (whether within fashion, or other industries), has proved a challenge in the past, as highlighted by Michael Stanley-Jones, who is a Programme Management Officer for the United Nations Environment Programme, and Manuela Fritzch, the Director of Sustainability Risk & Compliance at Agents for Impact GmbH & Co. KG.

Mr Stanley- Jones touched upon 2021 being declared the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, after a viewer addressed a question on how developing countries are responding to the digitisation of fashion. The UN representative said that developing countries, among other major industrial countries, such as Canada, recognize the opportunity that creative economy brings to their development. He said: “The resolution on the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development 2021, calls for an enabling environment to support creative economy through digital economy.”

Manuela Fritzch expanded on the emergence of impact driven investors, and how creative business can take advantage of impact investing funds, which go beyond sustainable marketing strategies: “I really think that it is important to show investors the ability to monitor your own operations, the whole supply chain and value chain, and also give this data to your investors, which is the information they need.” Ms Fritzch also expanded on how risk investments are being assessed today in the creative sector. While a lack of an impact strategy or sustainable strategy within a fashion business, is not necessarily viewed today as a red flag for investors, she claimed this could be a problem in the future. Businesses who do not think about an impact strategy or sustainable strategy, could soon be assessed as risk investments, as sustainability is gaining more momentum, she said.

The conference ended with a few questions where all panellists could express their views, all agreeing that the sustainable and digital fashion industry, needs to add the word “Reimagine” (as initially suggested by Mr Stanley-Jones), to its “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” well-known mantra. After all, this is what digital fashion is all about: reimagining an industry from head-to-toe.

Words by Emilia Roman

The post Fashion Tech Summit 2021 Cheat Sheet: “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” And Much More appeared first on Voir Fashion.

Like many industries during 2020, fashion was forced to form to the era of lockdowns. As
many of us have migrated to online shopping to keep us feeling some sense of normality
during national, and local lockdowns, COVID-19 has been the final push to fashion becoming
increasingly digital, a trend already on fashion’s horizon before the pandemic. With
Instagram adopting a shopping section on business pages, the rise of CGI models (e.g.
@lilmiquela) for designer campaigns, and online retailers such as PrettyLittleThing and
Missguided becoming global fashion forces to recognise, this year has only accelerated the
digital direction of fashion. With this being said, and 2020 having such a cataclysmic effect
globally on businesses, will fashion be changed forever? Or has 2020 become the year that
woke us up to the cataclysmic effect fashion has had on the planet?

We spoke to futurist, designer, educator and analyst Geraldine Wharry on how we are
already on borrowed time.

Can you explain to our readers what you do, and your job, in your own words?

“I’m a futurist, designer, and educator. Most of my practice at the moment centres around
being a fashion futurist. I evolved from being a fashion designer to then working with an
interest forecasting. I look at macro trends that impact five to ten years, looking at tech,
science, social-economics, behaviour and culture trying to look on the fringes of what’s going
on because generally, that’s what will indicate what might be mainstream later down the line. I
use a mixture of fact-finding and a lot of gathering of information; whether it’s academic or
from conferences, events or interviews, conversations, panels or also just secondary research
online. But I also obviously use my expert intuition making as well take to guide me.”

As many of us are well aware of the increasing damage, our fashion purchases have been
making towards the environment, with fashion approximating 22% of carbon emissions made
globally, over the past few years there has been a divide in consumers. Those of us acting
business as usual in our seasonal shopping habits, and those who have turned to thrift
shopping, DIY, and fashion app of the decade Depop.

We asked Geraldine on what’s the future of hyper-consumerism in fashion, as an industry so
heavily reliant on continual purchasing of good what needs to happen? And what is the
damage we have caused?

“It’s not clear whether excessive buying has taken over there are conflicting data on that
because some surveys show people slowing down, culling and focusing on what they need.
Other surveys show that in some areas their spending increased in shopping. [Generally, there
has been] decreasing consumption, obviously because a lot of people have lost their jobs or
been furloughed. In the future, it’s not clear what will happen in the UK. Still, other countries are starting to legislate the industry and taking it very seriously, so, for example, a ban on plastic bags, so in reality, the UK is quite behind.

There is a growth in consciousness and accountability on both the individual side and on the
government side, towards climate change as it starts to become more apparent to the naked
eye. But, right now, people are not taking it that seriously because they don’t necessarily see it
something obvious. The more apparent it is that is to our economies, and our security, the
more likely governments may step in.

More and more people are becoming aware of climate change, and some people are starting to
understand the link between what they are buying and climate change. However, one thing
that is important to understand is that climate change and fighting climate. It’s not about
purchasing an item that’s made from recycled materials, it’s about understanding that the only
reason you can afford these clothes is because they’ve been made by underpaid workers an
often connected with the slave labour. The UK specifically has a big problem on their hands
with these corrupt fast fashion brands that are money laundering.”

As fast-fashion has become such a pivotal part of this industry, making millions for brands
across a year by providing cheaper, quicker made and trend-based items, can fashion survive
consumers buying less, or boycotting an entire section of the industry? Can fashion adapt to
become sustainable? And how had COVID affected this?

[Ultimately, we need to] cut down on carbon emissions and stop a kind of runaway effect
where we’re very close to a tipping point. There’s a 9% chance that by the end of this century
we will be extinct because there’s already a massive wave of extinction. Whilst we are
continuing business as usual, according to hundreds if not thousands of scientists, we are living
on borrowed time. Every day hundreds of species are going extinct, and basically, the planet is
finally shutting down.

“The magnitude of this is so significant that even during COVID as entire industries slowed
down, traffic shutting etc., we only managed to achieve a 4% decrease in carbon emissions
when we had to reach a 12% to this year alone to start rebalancing things. Even a global shutdown with the pandemic wasn’t enough; we need to rethink the way we manufacture and produce entirely. It’s a top to bottom change that is huge and will cost the world a lot of money, but if we don’t do anything, it will be even higher.”

Anna Wintour finally admitted earlier this year that fashion needs to change for sustainability how sincere is this statement? And how genuine are brands about change?

“There is a lot of greenwashing going on, and the low hanging fruit for most people is to think
that because you bought something made from recycled and sustainable materials, but that’s
not true. What makes a garment sustainable is how the garment workers are paid and
transparency about the whole supply chain. Sustainable items are a good start, but it’s not
everything. If you have only one collection that’s made from recycled materials, for example,
Primark, ultimately, you’re not looking to revise your system and change the way you operate
entirely – it’s just greenwashing. While it’s great there are a lot of brands popping up in terms
of grassroots organisations emerging brands or some amazing young sustainable designers
popping up; ultimately I don’t think in the UK specifically enough is being done at all.”

In your opinion, has COVID changed the need for fast fashion?

“Personally, [concerning] the Coronavirus and lockdown, I’m not sure why people are still
shopping so much; maybe it’s for social media or form of retail therapy? I’m not sure.
People have migrated more towards loungewear and items that are more about you know
conducive to being at home. Diptyque candles, for example, searches went up 527% on
Liberty’s website during lockdown. It’s expected that people want to buy themselves new
things and feel excited; there’s nothing wrong about that. What we need is to start to
differentiate between needs and wants, as well as finding creative ways [to bring excitement]
into your wardrobe. Start looking more repairing and DIY and like finding exciting ways of restyling
your wardrobes to manufacture that feeling of newness without necessarily buying
something brand new, like Depop.”

As COVID woke up a lot of fashion retailers to their actual capacity to their e-commerce
sales, with many brands floundering to find the logistics behind moving their wasted stock in
stores to online sales, we wondered what’s the future of the high-street? As an already dying
concept before this year, will fashion outlets slowly move to become predominantly ecommerce?

“I’m not in the business of making hard predictions; I don’t think that’s a good way of being a
futurist, I believe the future is somewhat more fluid. Clearly, e-commerce is taking over, and it
was before lockdown. Lockdown has accelerated the trend of being online, and now people are going to think twice before going into more central areas to shop. On the other hand, I think being in a lockdown for months people are expressing that they miss being around other people and missing socialising or being able to be out in cafes.”

Fashion Week became a nightmare this year. As the pivotal event so crucial for brand image
and sales were pulled from beneath them, designers made a move to digital, holding online
shows and even exploring 3D design to model on a virtual catwalk. With the hope of a
vaccine on the horizon, and a return to normal by Spring 2021, will SS21 be digital? And how
has this drastic change affected such a long-standing tradition in fashion?

“[Corona has] stopped a whole community of people being able to come together for an event.
A lot of people think that things will [continue] to showcase digitally, there’s a real rush within
the student body to learn how to design in 3D and create avatars. [It’s a] really interesting new
space and that’s going to change the catalogue show system that was already honestly also
running on borrowed time. I mean financially [designers] need to showcase their collections,
but the whole system of catwalk shows was also incredibly polluting [and unsustainable]
Yet, it’s also a tough time for entire parts of the industry that relied on these shows and these
events which are now suffering. What’s so sad about the lack of events this year is the impact
on the editorial side of the industry, which is dying. There’s been no transition for the artists,
organisers and producers of that industry because of this very violent shift, its brutal for people
they are incredibly talented and skilled. What we need to think about now at this stage in the rebuilding process is the transition system, what do we do to transition to digital.”

You can find Geraldine on her website https://www.geraldinewharry.com/about-geraldinewharry
for more information on her work, courses and community.

Words By Geraldine Wharry, Graphics By Millie Pollok

The post How We’re Running Out of Time: Fashion and Its Future with Geraldine Wharry appeared first on Voir Fashion.

In the age of YouTubers and Influencers, minorities finally have a space to push their identities into the spotlight; to celebrate what makes them different, and spread awareness of the difficulties that they face. The fashion industry is finally starting to wake up to the benefits that diversity brings, and this is paving the way for a whole new generation of talent that has previously been shunned into the background.

It seems as if the world is having negative news and content regarding trans people shoved down their throats on a daily basis. From Trump’s ban on trans troops in the military to the whole Victoria’s Secret debacle last year in which Chief Directing Officer, Ed Razek said he didn’t think they should cast transgender models in their show because they can’t sell the fantasy element as well as cis models.

Stories like these are constantly overshadowing the brilliance of trans talent that exists across all industries, especially in fashion. In response to this, today I’m putting the spotlight to four trans talents that deserve much more attention, because it’s about time that trans people take their rightful place in the spotlight.

Emma Ellingsen

Emma Ellingsen is the 17-year-old that people have dubbed ‘Norway’s rising Kendall Jenner’ with over 250,000 followers/subscribers on Instagram and YouTube, it’s obvious that she’s adored in the same way as most of this generation’s Instagram it-girls.

She took a different turn from her regular YouTube videos last year as she posted her first English video, a simple Q&A entitled ‘I’m Transgender’ which took social media by storm, and pushed her even further into the international public eye.

She is currently taking a year out of school to focus on pushing her career, after signing to Heartbreak Management last summer she’s also set to star in a Norwegian TV Series, Generation Z.

Chella Man

20-year-old Chella Man is right at the forefront of championing for trans and disability rights. An Asian-American, deaf, Jewish and trans person, he’s proud of his identity and uses platforms such as YouTube and Instagram to talk about the problems and difficulties he’s faced, as well as taking viewers on the journey of his transition with him. He regularly films testosterone shots and talks about his gender dysphoria.

He signed to IMG Models in 2018, and has featured in campaigns for GAP and Adwoa Aboah’s ‘Gurls Talk’ merch, as well as walking for ASOS at New York Fashion Week. Alongside modelling, Chella is an artist and student studying virtual reality programming. He’s multi-talented, and the face of a movement that has diversity at it’s heart.

Aaron Philip

Aaron Philip is a complete badass, she doesn’t want you to follow her as a soft, princess-esque activist that makes you feel woke, she wants you to follow her for the complete looks she serves on a daily basis. If you’re a follower of hers it’s expected that you big her up, and push her forward on the journey towards becoming the A-list supermodel she’s destined to be.

In July last year, she became the first disabled trans woman of colour to be signed to Elite Model Management, and since then she hasn’t stopped, moving from photoshoot to championing inclusivity on the runway, she truly is the future of fashion, and we urge you to watch her space.

Laith Ashley

Model Laith Ashley came out back in November 2013, and started his medical transition the following year. After a picture of him in CK briefs led to an outpouring of transphobia on his Instagram, he almost gave up, then after actress Laverne Cox posted, that outpouring turned into one of love, and positivity.

He is seen as a poster boy for trans-masculinity, and recently spoke openly with GQ about the difficulties he faces as a male person of colour, that differs from issues he faced pre-transition. Laith’s story of the difficulties faced by trans men is one that is very rarely spoken about, and Laith is opening up new conversations.

Since his career really took off he has walked at New York Fashion Week, been featured in GQ, and appeared on the cover of Gay Times and Attitude.

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The post Transitioning With The Times appeared first on Voir Fashion.