Eco Chic

Another Shanghai Fashion Week has been and gone, with next year's Spring/ Summer collections by designers both local and foreign gracing the catwalk in Fuxing Park. If you didn't make it to any of the shows, then consider checking out a small but inspiring display by the Swedish Institute, on show until 2 November that aims show how sustainable fashion needn't come at the expense of style.

CreativeHunt met with Kajsa Guterstam, project manager at the Scandinavian organization to discover just what it's all about, and how to inject a bit of eco-chic into our wardrobes. "Since we started touring the exhibition in 2008, it's been really well-received in each of the nine international cities we've visited", she explains. "We keep asking ourselves how can we bring the same exhibition, with the same content to all of these different countries with the same message and I think the answer lies in the fact that this is something that speaks to everyone – we will always need clothes, and the issue of sustainability and consumption are very much current topics, and also ones that will be relevant for some time"


Julian Red

The exhibition, Eco Chic, features 14 Swedish designers who take an environmentally-friendly and ethical approach to their work – without sacrificing style. Those pieces, ranging from menswear, womenswear and some pretty funky shoes, are shown alongside works by five Chinese designers and two students from Raffles Design Institute, all currently occupying a space in Bridge 8.

Kajsa is quick to point out that "none of them are 100% guaranteed, certified organic, or even ethical, but the quality they share is that they all strive to get more and more close to those ideals. The criteria we asked these designers to meet was to always be improving these elements, that there's a percentage increase year on year – that could be more garments per collection that do meet organic standards. It has to have some sort of fashion level – not high fashion, but something accessible. They have to be commercial – you have to be able to buy the clothes. Fashion brands need to make money – this is the challenge we're facing. How can we make money and still be sustainable?"


Revery Stockholm

It's a refreshingly honest approach, and one that seems infinitely more attainable than the of course still desirable ideal. What's more, given that there is currently no officially-recognized Chinese certification system for organic materials, educating consumers to make savvy shopping and lifestyle choices makes sense. So, what to look for?

"It all comes down to how much energy it takes to produce the materials", explains Kajsa. "Take cotton versus lyocell: of course cotton can be organic, but it needs so much water. Producing one pair of jeans uses the same amount of water as one person uses in a year. If you think we generally use around 80 litres per day, times that by 365, and that's how much it takes. When it's not organic, pesticides are a big problem – growing cotton kills 40,000 people per year and poisons 3 million via pesticides. We need to get out of this thinking that cotton is good because it's a natural fibre, although other fibres processed into fabric are great energy efficient materials. Lyocell is made in a similar way to bamboo fabric, but it feels more like viscose. It's made using a captive system so you reuse 99.9% of the chemicals, and it definitely lasts a lot longer than viscose. It's one of my favorite materials, it's so clever!"


Anja Hynynen

Both organic cotton and lyocell make an appearance in the exhibition, whilst Swedish designer Anja Hynynen makes stylish use of sheep's wool from Scotland's Ardalanish Organic Farm & Weaving Mill in Scotland. Another brand on display, Julian Red, takes quite a different approach to eco-chic: "They're a very small company and so don't want to place orders of 20,000 or something like that – you might only want 200 of a specific piece. They work exclusively with places that will do small orders, so as to avoid big sales – constant sales in stores encourages over consumption; hence, they look into minimizing volume whilst still maintaining a successful business".

Organic materials and limited quantities sound great, but as Emy Blixt, founder of Swedish Hasbeens points out, it ain't going to be cheap. "It comes down to choices – and if something seems unbelievably cheap, ask yourself why. There's always a hidden cost somewhere along the line." Her fabulous – and famous – footwear also feature in the exhibition: constructed entirely from natural materials, the sustainably-sourced wood and Italian leather in her shoes are treated using only time-tested, traditional methods. The resulting 70s-inspired collections are funky, yes, but with boots priced at just shy of 3,000rmb, must being eco-chic always come with such a hefty price tag?


Swedish Hasbeen

No, according to Kajsa, who suggests various wallet-friendly choices, such as airing clothes as opposed to regular washing ("for one thing, they'll last longer"); slow fashion, or following personal style as opposed to each and every trend; and vintage or recycled clothing. That last option is demonstrated in impressive style in the exhibition by Nudie Jeans whose Napoleon-inspired coat made from myriad cast-off jeans may not be the most wearable outfit on show, but is certainly one of the more spectacular.

Part of the fashion week festivities, the exhibition is just one of the Swedish-centric events contributing to the biannual showcase which has so far seen Gudrun Sjödén's colourful collection take to the catwalk, as well as a Fashion Exchange Night this Friday. Kajsa notes, "young Chinese seem to like Scandinavian fashion, and they're really quite up to date in terms of awareness. The Eco-Chic exhibition is about ideas, presented alongside the facts: we are using too many resources. The Western world has been exploiting this for too long, but I think in China there's a chance to make it right – carbon dioxide doesn't respect borders, this is something we're all facing. What we want to show are ideas to counter that"


Gudrun Sjödén

Eco-Chic continues until 2 November 2011 at Bridge 8. For details, click here.