Good jeans, now for real
No, the reason for this report is not that the legendary model Shalom Harlow (the woman who was splattered with paint by the robot at Alexander McQueen) is the new face of the Citizens of Humanity campaign is. Of course, that alone looks great. Rather, this spring collection is the first to use products from the company’s own regenerative cotton project. It doesn’t sound spectacular, but it’s much more ambitious than it seems at first glance. Denim has been under critical scrutiny for years because the dye used to be discharged directly into the wastewater, most recently because growing cotton is very water-intensive, depletes the soil and workers were often not treated fairly. Then just “Organic cotton!” was the slogan for a clear conscience. However, most manufacturers still don’t know – keyword supply chain laws and such – where exactly their cotton comes from and under what conditions it is actually produced.
The Citizens of Humanity Group from Los Angeles, which also includes the fashion world’s favorite jeans Agolde heard, therefore began working directly with cotton farmers in 2022. Similar to the flower farmers in Grasse, who often have fixed contracts with the large perfume houses or supply them exclusively, here too they work closely together and pay a higher price because regenerative agriculture is better for everyone in the long term, but initially more cost-intensive. The group spent around an extra $1 million on the changeover in the first year of 2022. The program has now been expanded to eleven farms in the USA and three in Turkey. The harvest from this is now practically fresh on the shelves (citizensofhumanity.com).
Game, set, sweatband
Zendaya and Tom Holland singing to Whitney Houston at the tennis final in Palm Springs – the picture recently went viral and not only because this actor couple is just sooooo cute together. The mix of lots of white, a polo shirt, pleated skirt or sweatband on a stand with plastic scarf seats is also unbeatable. The classic tennis style has been back in trend for some time now, and people are apparently playing it more again, so even luxury labels like Celine have launched their own small collection. However, the first brand to bring the style from the court to the streets was Fila, whose “F-Box” logo is still legendary today. In the now published book “FILA: Timelapse“With, of course, Björn Borg on the cover, many pictures and texts look back on the more than hundred-year history of the Italians, but also always build a bridge to the present. Things are going much better for the label recently. An end of the tennis hype is not in sight for the time being. The long-delayed new film “Challengers – Rivals” by Luca Guadagnino will be released in April with Zendaya and lots of tennis rackets in the lead role. The costumes were designed by none other than Jonathan Anderson (Fila: Timelapse, Rizzoli75 euros).
Elegant and essential
Elegance and the horrors of war – can they go together? The manufacturer Gantlights dared to experiment with an “elegant pendant lamp”, according to the description on the website, which also tells of Russia’s attack on Ukraine: The Berlin company designed the “Block” model together with the Ukrainian label +couple. The lamp is reminiscent of the concrete building blocks that serve as defense barriers on many roads in the country; the shade is made of powder-coated steel. block is available as a pendant lamp with a textile strap (in six colors, from forest green to coral), as a table or wall lamp. The proceeds go to aid vehicles for the Donetsk region. Experiment successful.
What soon connects smoking and shopping
“What would happen if fashion were taxed the same as cigarettes?” asked the industry service at the beginning of the week Business of Fashion (BoF). The answer was obvious: That would certainly be a blow for notoriously cash-strapped teenagers with a fashion obsession. Likewise for their parents, who are no less addicted to shopping – it doesn’t matter that the wardrobe is already bursting from its hinges, you can always throw away the cheap stuff after one season. Which brings us to the undeniable advantages of such a measure: There would be less waste. Less environmental destruction. Less workers in third world countries have to slog for starvation wages. And that would be a gigantic profit at the end of the day, wouldn’t it? The French National Assembly has now, with rare unanimity, introduced a law that… Penalty fees for fast fashion products of up to ten euros. The law still has to pass the Senate, but if it comes into force (and it is expected to), cheap chains like H&M, Zara and the Chinese cheap giant Shein will have to add up to five euros to each product next year, depending on how how much they harm the environment. In 2030 the fee could be up to ten euros. “Other regulations, on the other hand, look like a kindergarten sandbox,” said Baptiste Carriere-Pradal, an expert in fashion and sustainability BoF. “Some companies could see their entire business model fall apart.” That wouldn’t be a big loss for humanity. Especially not for nature.