MORE GREEN FASHION IN BERLIN

Yesterday I wrote a post about the Green Showroom in Berlin. I had to split it up, there was just too much cool stuff to see. So today I wanna show you some more sustainable fashion labels.

One interesting project is Algeamy by Blond & Bieber. Together with the Fraunhofer Institute they are developing different coloured algae dyes to use for textile printing.

The interesting part is the dye, depending on the binding agent, developes different textures. From what feels like regular dye, to what feels like a quite tough, rubbery surface.

And the even more interesting thing is that the colours change after time due to UV exposure. So green turns into a light and then a medium blue. Orange turns into yellow or red or the other way around, I don't quite remember.

Love their printing machine too. It looks like a posh toy market stall for kids.
So elegant and simple, but so sophisticated. Very cool.

I think it's really interesting to see these innovations at the Fashion Week. Some people are really into their research and working together with science institutions.

Blond & Bieber even have a pretty video showing their process.

Who doesn't love videos, right?!

Envido is a label from Brazil working closely together with different local craftspeople, recycling bronze, leather, rubber, and even gem stones. Because apparently Brazil has so many gemstones and the small ones ain't good for exporting, so they are just getting thrown away! Like emeralds and amethysts and stuff. Crazy! The girls are super nice and I think it's great that they work with so many community projects and are doing so much upcycling.

Here is a picture of the recycled bronze, I really love the bracelet, even though I'm not a fan of the leather in the background. Still wanted to post the picture.

We briefly spoke about football too, the match between Germany and Brazil being that night. Well, that must have been a hard night for them! I hope they didn't take it too bad and have recovered by now.

Farrah Floyd is another fashion label based in Berlin, which integrates a zero waste system into their business. Like for example, developing cuts with no cutoffs, where you use a rectangle piece of fabric and just use seams to change the shape of the garment. Tricky stuff!

I like the cross between streetwear and a more eccentric, elegant silhouette.

And here is the show piece of the green showroom in my opinion, a gown by Lionel Morin. Not my style, but I thought it was interesting. It's more conceptual art than wearable fashion.

I'll probably write another post later, but first I got to go back to take some more pictures..

GREEN FASHION IN BERLIN

Yesterday I helped out a friend at the Green Showroom in Berlin. The Green Showroom is one of two connected sustainable fashion shows in Berlin, the other one being the Ethical Fashion Show. Basically the Ethical is for Streetwear and the Green Showroom for the more posh, luxury sector in the industry.

Both have a sustainable agenda, if you want to participate your label has to cover at least one environmental and one social aspect, which could be using organic fabrics, upcycling, local production, waste reduction, paying fair wages and so on.
I always like those fashion shows, because I feel more at home there and I know people are kind of on the same page with me when it comes to sustainability, eco conscious production and their work being socially viable.

The Green Showroom is held at the Adlon Hotel right next to the Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate in the middle of Berlin. It's one of the poshest hotels in town and crawling with rich people. Basically people, that I never get to fucking see during the rest of the year.

Which makes it really entertaining in itself. It's like a social study or something for me going there.

Here is a bad picture of the restaurant area.

And here is an example of the terribly cheesy artwork they have crowding the place. This one costs 5000€ btw. It looks like something bad from a 90's Berlin gift shop.

The ladies at the fashion show reception are super nice!

Here is a quick look into the cozy fashion expo setup, including carpets, heavy drapes and wood panelling.

The location makes for a quite intimate atmosphere.

And now let me show you some of the labels I liked.

There is of course my friends label, Maria Seifert Collections, pretty women's wear made from organic cotton or other organic fabrics. This time parts of the collection were featuring an interesting peacock print and yellow pants.

Her stall neighbour Skrabak had some cool dresses on offer which are printed and produced in Germany featuring interesting patterns inspired by Moroccan mosaic tiles.

Then there was Living Blue, who make indigo tie dyed scarfs made in Bangladesh. I'm always amazed by what's possible do make with tie dye, straight lines and everything, very impressive.

And here is Katrien van Hecke's collection, she's using plant dye exclusively for her lovely dresses and scarves. Unfortunately they are not vegan, as she uses silk fabcris only. But I wanted to show you anyways, because it's really amazing what you can do with natural dyes!

So expressive!

Ok, I just decided I will make 2 or even 3 posts out of this. There is just too much cool shit I wanna show you! Tomorrow we'll continue. Stay tuned and I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions regarding the shows just ask me. :)

NATURAL COLOURS AND DYEING

As you can see in my last blog post I have been experimenting with natural dyes. The dyes are all plant based and different parts of plants can be used as dyestuffs, like barks, roots, leaves and flowers.. To set the colours and make them more lightfast I treat the fabrics with mordants, which can be certain kinds of salts for example.

It's quite a labour intensive process. Especially considering that I don't have a water supply in my studio.
But I love doing it, it's quite meditative and I love seeing the results.

I will start offering a few items, such as dresses and women's and men's t-shirts in my Webshop, in the beginning in a few different colours. Right now I have yellow, sand, brown and grey available and I'm also experimenting with different shades of purple.

I'll post some experiments and results on my facebook page too, so, if you haven't already "liked" it, you can do that now.

The first item I listed in my webshop is this beautiful men's t-shirt I made from an organic sweatshirt fabric and dyed in this absolutely lovely yellow colour. There is also a slight tie dye optic to most hand dyed items. Colours and patterns vary in each item and make them truly unique.

Will be posting more soon, keep updated here on my blog or on facebook or my webshop.

ETHICAL FASHION SHOW BERLIN

This week was Fashion Week in Berlin and I went to the Ethical Fashion Show. Some of my friends were showing their stuff there and it was pretty interesting to see what everyone is doing and to meet some new people.

I went to see the stall of Lebenskleidung, my new main supplier, to check out their certified organic fabrics. 

Naturally I showed up 5 minutes before closing time asking about fabrics, availability and delivery times, as you do. Great fun!

Then I went to see my friend Maria Seifert who was there presenting her label Maria Seifert Collections. She is very talented and isn't she sweet?!

Then I went to see the lovely people from Aluc, who had a booth together with Brainshirt. Arianna(on the right) is also part of the awesome Upcycling Fashion Store in Berlin.

There were info tables by Get Changed!, The Fair Wear Foundation and GOTS, giving out informations about their projects, sustainability, certifications and organic and fairtrade fabrics.

I also went to the British Upcycling Showroom at the Upcycling Fashion Store, there was a dance performance by Zeitgetroffen Kollektiv and lots of cool clothes by British labels.

So yeah, fashion week was a lot of fun. It was great to see new designs and meet new and old friends.

SUSTAINABILITY AND ECONOMICS

Just wanted to give you an update of what I’m doing.

I have been in Germany exactly for one year and two days now. I LOVE IT!! I’m so glad I’m back!

I’ve met up with old friends, met lots of great new people, went to places in Berlin I hadn’t been before, some of them didn’t even exist when I left, went to workshops, moved a couple of times, got a studio, then got a new studio, made things, did a business course, wrote a business plan, changed it, then changed it again and am just enjoying life.

Impressions of my new studio: lantern

I started to think about my business in a more holistic, professional way. About, how I could integrate it into my life better and be more satisfied with it. Not exploiting myself, nature, other people or animals.

Wow, that’s quite a task! I got pretty high standards on how it should be and sometimes have some doubts if I can pull it off with the business skills I’ve got ...

There are so many things to think about..

I got this in my studio too now. So me!:)

I’m feeling bad, coz a few times I’ve said I’m getting there, but then it took much longer then I thought.

So I’ll give you a few things I’m working on,

 ♥ I wanna change production to exclusively organic and recycled fabrics

 ♥ I wanna produce everything locally

 ♥ everything needs to be vegan(except for a couple of wool dresses I sold in the beginning of Lyptis, all of my stuff was anyways)

 ♥ there will be stuff for kids and for men

Strangely, I just figured out the other day, that Lyptis was quite a sustainable brand already. You know, handmade in Australia, but also cuz, I almost exclusively used deadstock fabrics. I knew what deadstock was, I just didn’t know I was using it. Strange, right?!

So, that makes me feel better and now it’s just about taking it to another level.

Picture a friend gave me. Also in my studio.

About the economics, I haven’t studied business or something like that. I’m just making things up as I go, picking something up from other self-employees, from classes and the net. 

I would like to live off my own label, but sometimes it feels like there is so much to learn. And it feels quite overwhelming at times.

Spring Greetings from Berlin!

But then, I think about all the cool things I could make, and how making things in a more environmentally conscious way would be a great thing to do. And most importantly, I think of all the sweet customers I had, some of which are still writing to me, after I had my Etsy shop closed for over a year, asking when I’d open again, so they can buy more dresses. Wow, really, I gotta say that’s so nice! 

And the once that always left such sweet feedback on my page(I think I need to show it off), it always made my day, even after so many feedbacks. Thank you so much!

I hope I will be able to show everyone some new stuff soon. And I think it’s gonna be cool. 

And I’m very grateful that you’re still with me! Thanks!