'Celebrating Sustainability, Design Excellence and Education' at Eco Fashion Week Australia
For the first time, Australia will set the scene for an Eco Fashion Week (EFWA). Organised by the organic Haute Couture label Green Embassy, the event will take place from the 23rd to the 27th November 2017 in Perth, welcoming both local and international uprising eco designers to present their creative and sustainable fashion creations.
The Fashion Lens has interviewed Green Embassy designer and founder of the EFWA, Zuhal Kuvan-Mills, about her aim to celebrate sustainability, design excellence and education, and to globally integrate Australia´s eco fashion industry.
Zuhal Kuvan-Mills, founder of the EFWA
What is so appealing about Perth that it will be the location for the first Eco Fashion Week in Australia?
In Western Australia, and especially in its capital Perth, every day is extraordinary, full of endless sunshine and amazing sunsets over the ocean. Apart from bustling with new bars, restaurants, shopping and cultural spaces, Perth is also home to Kings Park – one of the world’s largest inner city parks – to beautiful wineries and stunning beaches where you can even swim with wild dolphins. The city effortlessly blends urban cool with raw natural beauty, so it makes for the perfect venue for a unique Western Australian Eco Fashion experience. With eco fashion weeks spreading across the globe, it appeared only natural for me to take the wheel in my home town Perth.
As the creative head of an organic fashion label, what does the EFWA personally mean to you?
Considering that the fashion industry is one of the largest polluters worldwide - not to mention one of the least ethical – I wish to collaborate with designers, artists, activists, the community and the media to raise awareness for environmentally conscious fashion. The selected designers will prove that eco fashion can be just as stylish as its fast fashion counterpart, while remaining socially and environmentally responsible. Our goal is to ignite and inspire attendees and the community to change their perspective on fashion.
What kind of sustainable standards are you following in your own label Green Embassy?
My commitment to sustainability, organic agriculture, art and slow fashion is expressed in each extraordinary textile piece that constitutes a labour of love. Green Embassy believes that sustainability should be at the heart of the fashion and textile industry. The label’s philosophy is based on reducing our environmental footprint, operating in fair trade practices and labour conditions, to not take advantage of deprived communities.
Green Embassy is supporting the Australian organic agriculture for animal welfare, wildlife and soil preservation and thereby intends to inspire other artists and designers to reach similar benchmarks in organic fashion production. Using 100% certified organic Australian alpaca, merino, silk and recycled natural fibres, Green Embassy’s handmade collections are earthy yet sublime, authentic yet edgy. With a rare commitment to zero-waste production and natural handmade materials, I have committed to create a collectable haute-couture label that serves a higher purpose.
Is the Green Embassy’s fashion line entirely manufactured in Australia?
From the single fibre to finished wearable and fashionable art pieces, the entire production takes place in Australia. Green Embassy will neither produce offshore nor in factories. We want to offer every customer the pleasure of experiencing handmade artisan clothing that is crafted with care, great passion and love in the studio of a designer.
For what kind of designers is the EFWA opening up its runway?
As EFWA wants to promote a world where garments have a clean and positive story to tell, our focus is on brands and designers who use environmentally friendly fabrics such as organic cotton, wool, hemp, bamboo, silk; designers who re-cycle or up-cycle materials; designers who produce with zero waste in their collections and furthermore are we embracing locally and ethically produced fashion lines, and collections showing handmade textile techniques and craftwork. Unethical production like fur fashion or any other fashion that harms animals will definitely not be seen on the EFWA runway.
Can you give us a preview of the EFWA fashion brands and designers?
Even though we still have six months until the EFWA, we’ve already gathered sustainable labels from the United States, Canada, Spain, Japan, New Zealand and, of course, Australia. So far we are looking forward to present Prophetic by Jeff Garner (United-States), Green Embassy (Australia), Lima Jordan (Australia), Connally Mc Dougall (Canada), Sans Soucie (Canada), Kirsten Ley (Canada), Sylvia Carvo (Spain) and Senorita AweSUMO (New Zealand). We would love for more international designers to join and can´t wait for the event to start!
For more information on attending the event as a designer, consider EFWA´s designer application information. Registration is possible until September 30th, 2017.
