Dear Friend,
Hi. Experiencing another version of my ego death here as I've been re-integrating myself into fashion industry insider's life in NYC, attending events and seeing & hearing the truth in what's still happening at a bigger scale: there's still deep insecurities, lies and ego wars. Inspired, I want to pause for now with sharing my own perspective on the fashion industry, and support the voices of people I admire in our industry. So many of us, fashion activists, already said incredible things that need to be spread. I'm creating this newsletter to support a fashion unification movement and not to promote myself as a professional. I'm here to be authentic with my friends, readers, followers and industry professionals that happen to read my newsletter and blog. Noticing that even in responsible fashion movement, our ego game is so strong that we sometimes forget that we're moving towards the same goal of co-creating the new fashion industry and forget it's not about us at all. It's about the COLLECTIVE movement we're taking part in. But for that, we need to learn how to express our individuality, not an ego-driven desire to be seen, heard and accepted. I'll tell you a simple secret: if you're into responsible fashion, you're IN fashion. You belong big time. But it starts with YOU being YOU, not trying to prove anything to anyone. Revolution starts within and spreads out into the world to inspire others to be conscious consumers, business owners, and professionals.
Orsola De Castro, Founder and Creative Director of Fashion Revolution said in her interview for ABC news “We can be activists with small gestures we do every day”. She continues saying that fashion is an aesthetics industry and that we speak volumes with clothes that we wear. "If we choose to really wear the symbols of our principles, if we really choose to use our clothes as weapon for mass education and show what we feel with the clothes that we wear, choose what we wear to match what we believe then this is potentially the beginning of a very strong movement." It's all about the NEW aesthetics guys, the new aesthetics of individuality, responsible consumption and authentic expression of our values through our style. We are the best advertizers of the movement we're part of. As Oscar Wilde said, “One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art.”
I'll stop here for now and invite you to check in with yourself if what you wear truly matches what you stand for.
Now here's the other important piece of info for my fashion tech start up tribe: the powerful and longest-running NY's accelerator for fashion tech innovation - The New York Fashion Tech Lab - is accepting applications to its next cohort. NYFL focuses on women-led, B2B, early to growth-stage companies that have developed innovations at the intersection of fashion, retail, and technology. Details about our Areas of Focus can be found HERE. You can apply HERE.
NEW INDUSTRY NEWS
- Fashion's Latest Trend: Eco Bragging Rights - The New York Times
- How fashion shapes politics, according to whistleblower Chris Wylie - Dazed
- The Outside View: 5 Actions CEOs Can Take to Drive Sustainability - WWD
- How Sustainability Is Changing the Way Consumers Get Dressed - AdWeek
- Let 'The Conscious Closet' Show You How Easy It Is To Wear Sustainable Fashion - Bustle
- Generation Z & The Fast Fashion Paradox - Refinery 29
- Does Ranking Fashion Companies By Sustainability Commitments Actually Help The Industry To Improve? - Forbes
- How Apparel Leaders Rethink ‘Throwaway Fashion Culture’ - Sourcing Journal
- 'Sustainability Buzzwords' Don't Mean Anything - WWD
FASHION AS ART
- How to buy clothes that are built to last - New York Times
- Under the microscope: the intersection of technology, biology and fashion design - Luxiders
- Why Nostalgic Fashion Holds a Deeper Meaning for Millennials - Sourcing Journal
- duran lantink's upcycled designs are changing how we think about sustainability - i-D
- How Nicolas Ghesquière's vision has shaped fashion - The Greats
- Why 5,000-year-old fashion is making a comeback - Business of Fashion
FASHION AS SERVICE
- Farfetch founder on the future of resale - Highsnobiety
- Fashion resale, a booming market: interview with Max Bittner, CEO of Vestiaire Collective - Fashion United
- Good Fashion Fund Seeks Sustainable, Scalable Supply Chain Solutions - Sustainable Brands
- Navigating the Investor Landscape: How to raise funding as a textile tech start-up. - Fashion for Good Blog
- Secondhand clothing predicted to overtake fast fashion within a decade - Newshub
- How to make sustainable activewear - Business of Fashion
- Farfetch partners with Thrift+, a second hand donation platform - Retail Gazette
- Adidas introduces ‘Infinite Play’ trade in-programme - Adidas
- It’s time for fashion to remove toxic chemicals from clothing - Vogue Business
FASHION AS EXPERIENCE
- 7 ways fashion brands are harnessing hologram technology - The Current Daily
- Are virtual influencers the future of luxury retail? - Jing Daily
- Augmented reality to connect consumers to wine sustainability - Forbes
Follow my twitter account for the rest of the news.
TOP EVENTS in NYC:
Thursday, October 24
6:00 - 8:30pm BoF’s First Live Podcast Recording with Eileen Fisher
In this session, BoF will be hosting our first ever live podcast recording in New York, with Chief Correspondent Lauren Sherman in conversation with sustainability pioneer, Eileen Fisher. Invitees will have the opportunity to ask questions, as well as connect directly with other BoF Professional members at a post-recording networking event. Price: Free Location: Parsons, The New School for Design Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street
6:30 - 8:00pm Fashion, Anxiety, and Society: Labor
Fashion, Anxiety, and Society is a conversation series curated by Kristen Owens. Organized in conjunction with Bard Graduate Center Gallery’s fall exhibition, French Fashion, Women, and the First World War, these monthly conversations explore contemporary questions of gender, labor, justice, and subversion as they relate to fashion. This conversation is curated and moderated by Sara Ziff Price: $5 – $8 Location: Bard Graduate Center, 38 West 86th Street, Lecture Hall
6:30 - 8:30pm Night School: Blockchain Technology in the Fashion Industry
Explore Blockchain technology with Fair Trade Advocate, Melissa Rusinek. Explore how Blockchain can create opportunities for storytelling and transparency. Price: $30 Location: WeWork, 1460 Broadway
6:00pm We Wear Fair: Sustainable Fashion Networking with Celebrity Stylist Rachael Wang
Come connect with the change-makers who are transforming the fashion industry for good. Hear from stylist and creative director, Rachael Wang -- of We Wear Fair Trade – about the trends and forces that are re-shaping fashion through activism and advocacy. Learn about Fair Trade USA’s apparel certification program, and join a speed networking session designed to spark thoughtful conversations about sustainability in fashion. If you work in fashion, sustainability, supply chains or conscious consumption, this is the event for you. Light bites and drinks provided. Price: Free Location: Fair Trade Difference 8 Fulton Street
6:30 - 8:00pm Fashion, Anxiety, and Society: Labor
Fashion, Anxiety, and Society is a conversation series curated by Kristen Owens. Organized in conjunction with Bard Graduate Center Gallery’s fall exhibition, French Fashion, Women, and the First World War, these monthly conversations explore contemporary questions of gender, labor, justice, and subversion as they relate to fashion. This conversation is curated and moderated by Sara Ziff. Price: $5 – $8 Location: Bard Graduate Center, 38 West 86th Street, Lecture Hall
Wednesday, October 30th
11:00am WEBINAR | Making Sense of Sustainability
Join our webinar where we will share: Our data analysis on the top sustainable brands in the fashion and cosmetics industries. Which Influencers and Celebrities are driving the conversation around sustainability. The key steps for creating a zero-waste collection, using data and technology. Price: Free Location: Online
5:00 - 9:00pm The Sustainable Fashion Community Meeting: Pop-Up & Storytelling Party
Too old to enjoy Halloween? Non-sense. Join us Oct. 30th for a storytelling and pop-up experience like no other. Enjoy sweet(& healthy) treats, throw on a NYC FTC costume from our swap closet, and grab a seat to hear a scary(maybe) story from our NYC Fair Trade Coalition community. Stick around to support fair trade by shoping our pop-up shop! Price: $8 Location: WeWork 1460 Broadway 6 FL
Friday, November 1st - Saturday, November 2nd
9:00am - 5:30pm Fashion: Now & Then: Identity
Launched in 2011, Fashion: Now & Then is a two-day event in which participants discuss the past, present, and future uses of fashion information. Presenters are drawn from academic institutions, museums, libraries, archives, publishing and the fashion industry to represent a full range of expertise. The conference attracts speakers and attendees from throughout the globe, with themes that have included sustainability, fashion and art, and the global landscape of fashion. This year’s conference theme is "Identity". Price: $5 – $95 Location: LIM College - Maxwell Hall, 216 East 45th Street
Monday, November 4th
6:30 - 8:30pm How to... Work a Pop-Up
The struggle is real! Ever do a pop-up and wasn't sure what to bring? Bring too much? Forgot to get change? Ah so much to organize. Then there is how to set up, display, and breakdown. Let us share our best tips for finding the best pop-up for you, how to select products for the pop-ups customer, and show off your products. Price: $30 Location: WeWork 1460 Broadway
Thursday, November 7th
6:00 - 8:00pm #SUSTAINTHIS A Discussion of The Global Impact of Fashion on Workers and the Environment
We are committed to make this an engaging interactive discussion. From the time you drop off your unwanted clothes until the very end. We know there are many sustainable fashion panels out there with tons of information. However, we want you to walk away with keys actions that will empower you as you transition into your fall wardrobe and prepare for your holiday shopping. Price: $15 Location: 6 River Terrace
Saturday, November 9th
1:00 - 3:00pm Free Luxury Fashion Design with Sustainable Materials
Come join us to our Luxury Fashion Design with Sustainable Materials workshop. Price: Free Location: 1032 6th Avenue 3rd Floor
Tuesday, November 12th
Climate Change and Human Trafficking in the Fashion Industry
As leaders in the fashion industry, what can we do to prevent human trafficking in our supply chains? This class uses systems thinking to examine the nexus between climate change and modern slavery; explore risk mitigation tools and initiatives; and discuss how to reduce the potential for forced labor by changing the way fashion items are designed and purchased. Price: $50 – $75 Location: Glasgow Caledonian New York College (GCNYC) 64 Wooster St
Wednesday, November 13th
The Business and Sustainability of the Fashion Industry
The fashion industry is second only to the petroleum industry in its impact to the environment. Spend an evening with us as we explore the impact of fashion, the changing perspectives of end consumers, the people looking for sustainable solutions in an industry with the same manufacturing practices in place since the early 1900s, and the undiscovered opportunities for investors, manufacturers, retailers, and the end consumer. This event will feature Jane Philbrick (founder of TILL bioFASHIONtech, committed to promoting biomaterials for manufacturing), Julie Tong (commerce editor at Vogue), and Sharon Lungrin (operations manager at OakNorth). The event will be moderated by Randy Ramirez. Price: Donation-based Location: 250 Park Ave
8:30am - 10:30am LMHQ Women’s Breakfast: Pathways to Sustainability in Fashion
Join us at LMHQ’s November Women’s Breakfast to hear from the women leading the charge to bring sustainability to the fashion industry and learn how to incorporate the principles of sustainable consumption into your everyday life. Price: $5 Location: LMHQ, 150 Broadway, 20th Floor
LATEST INDUSTRY REPORTS, LISTS & FACTS
- Sustainability Report by Launchmetrics
- Facts the Fashion Industry Do Not Want You to Know - by Remake
- The Fashion for Good Investor Database
FASHION INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS THAT ARE MUST FOLLOW
- Global Fashion Agenda
- Whitney Bauck
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation
- Remake
- Orsola de Castro
- Fashion Revolution