Fashion Week in New York: On the way to the green catwalk

The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters. But more and more designers are using recycled material for their creations. Shortly before Fashion Week, New York wants to make the entire industry responsible.

When fashion designer Lisa Von Tang sends her elegant evening dresses down the catwalk, things get fruity. “We use pineapple leather, apple, banana. But also flower petals,” she says. The fabrics and imitation leather of the Dutch manufacturer Circular Systems (circulating systems) are produced on the basis of grain waste.

For fashion designer Tang, they fit perfectly into the concept of her label of the same name. The Chinese with a German-Canadian father creates cocktail dresses and statement jackets as well as luxury lounge wear and meditation clothing on the basis of “East meets West”.

Less waste, fewer greenhouse gases

Everything is made of silk or recycled material: “Our stretch is made from recycled plastic. Old fishing nets are taken from the sea as waste, melted and pressed into pellets,” says Tang. “This creates a thread that is mixed with different materials. “

Only some parts of the collection go into mass production. Tang generates the rest on request. Less waste, fewer greenhouse gases. The designer is in line with the trend. More and more fashion designers are going green and want to show responsibility.

The state of New York wants to strengthen them with a new law. The Fashion Act should oblige them to provide evidence of their environmentally friendly and fair production.

Delivery routes should be disclosed

Shannon Welch from the NGO Fashion Revolution is thrilled. Her movement has been fighting for responsible production under humane conditions since a factory collapsed in Bangladesh nine years ago. Hundreds of people died then.

“The law doesn’t just affect brands that manufacture in New York,” says Welch. It affects all companies that make more than $100 million a year and do business here in New York.

The fashion industry should disclose at least half of its delivery routes: from the farm from which the raw materials come to the factories. They should prove that they pay fair wages and reduce environmental toxins.

“There are no targets”

The $2.5 trillion industry is one of the world’s biggest polluters. Clothing and shoe manufacturers worldwide are responsible for up to 8.5 percent of greenhouse emissions.

Without regulation, nothing would happen, says Fashion Revolution expert Welch. But the New York draft law still falls short. “He only demands that the companies disclose many things carefully. But there are no targets.”

Costs are likely to increase

The green way over the catwalk is long. Fashion designer Long Xu is presenting his label Loring New York at Fashion Week for the third time. Before that, he spends a lot of time in Brooklyn’s thrift stores. “I always find a lot of vintage parts there, but also new ones,” he says. And then he always asks himself how he can use them to create something new out of them? “There’s already so much rubbish in the fashion industry. And people keep buying.”

An estimated 92 million tons of textile waste are disposed of worldwide every year. Only a fraction is recycled. Xu hopes the New York law actually goes through. Even if it means more costs and challenges for fashion designers like him.

“It’s a historic step. The fashion city of New York is making the right decision,” says Xu. This makes fashion more ethical. And so will Fashion Week.