"Through a manufacturing process, trash can turn into something beautiful. Just imagine a dress having a positive impact on the planet's condition," says Natalia Vodianova in the video, "The Journey of a Dress".
Vodianova is the ambassador of the new H&M Conscious Exclusive collection. The line, which belongs to the Swedish brand, is dedicated to producing clothes out of post-consumer recycled waste: plastic bottles, carton boxes, and filthy clothes left from previous seasons. If an old sweater turns your stomach, H&M will gladly accept it in return for a generous discount.
Currently, 20% of H&M products are made out of environmentally clean materials. Each year, the brand tries to increase the figure and use new technologies in production that promise to make fashion more environmentally friendly. Vodianova's outfit for the advertised campaign, for instance, was made of a special fabric called bionic, which is synthetic and consists of bottles and shore-generated waste. "It is a very beautiful dress, easy and inviting to the body. It is unbelievable to concern that it is literally made of trash," said the Russian beauty.
Natasha Poly, Vanessa Paradis, Amber Valetta, Olivia Wilde, and Julia Restoin Roitfeld presented H&M eco-collections before her, which popularized "sustainability fashion" in celebrity circles. They posed proudly wearing reworked clothes not only in advertising photo sessions, but also at numerous red carpets, confirming their active philanthropic positions.
According to projections, people in the future will be more interested in local problems, consider differences as opportunities, and find new things in common. There is a video that shows people of different races, occupations, and ages invited on stage. At first, they are grouped by occupation, education, and place of residence; afterwards, they are asked questions and it turns out that there are people in all the groups who like the color green, or who were mocked at school, or who adopted children.
Gucci donated $500,000 for a free weapon access fight in the USA (after shooting in the school of Florida, where 17 people died).
In practice, it means that activism in fashion will become something more than just a slogan on a t-shirt. Understanding that we all are different but walk the same ground are initiatives that we are currently seeing.
Burberry dedicated a collection to the LGBTQ+ community and made a rainbow version of their check work (and donated a large amount to the fight for LGBTQ+ rights).
Balenciaga donated $250,000 to the World Food Programme and will donate 10% of sales from each item with its logotype.
Lacoste released t-shirts with its logo replaced with a few rare species of animals — and money from the sales will go towards saving these species.
Pinko releases t-shirts and plants trees in Kenya with each shirt sold.
Ikea announced that it hired 200 female Syrian refugees to make carpets. Many niche brands started to do the same (for example, the beautiful French brand, Kilometre, which employs the indigenous people of Mexico).
If you want to buy things that make the world better, there will be plenty more opportunities.
More attention will be paid to roots and the search for authenticity. The value of handmade items will increase, as will the the growth of interest in country aesthetics, neutral palettes, simplicity, and textures.
About the author
Melisa Marzett is an author of killer guest articles and currently works for www.livecustomwriting.com where she provides live academic essay writing services and has the opportunity to travel along with working on her pieces. Curious by nature, she enjoys communicating with different people and reading books in order to enrich her mind and provide enthusiastic readers with some good pieces of writing.
Amber Valetta / Burberry / GUCCI / H&M / Julia Restoin Roitfeld / LBGT / Natasha Poly / Olivia Wilde / Sustainable Fashion / Vanessa Paradis