Microfibers and microplastics from textile materials: what are they and how to reduce them?
Thanks to two interesting studies*, reviewing the research on microfibres and microplastics, we try to shed light on a topic more and more preoccupying. The increase in the production of textile fibers in the last 20 years, in particular of synthetic ones, and the discoveries on the effects they have on man and the environment place more and more attention on the subject. Fiber fragments released from clothing and home textiles during washing, drying and use are considered a new source of environmental pollution and a health threat. What are microfibres? What size are they? “Microfibre” is a consolidated term in the textile industry to indicate fibers between 10 and…
Dress code for a special occasion: now what? The sustainable solutions
A Christmas dinner, announced as an occasion to celebrate with a dress code that was soon to be announced. Everything starts from here. You’ll ask yourself “What’s special? Why are we talking about it here?”. What is special is that, instead of rushing to buy something new as soon as we received the details of the clothing required for the evening, it turned into a challenge to arrive dressed in theme and satisfied by choosing the perspective of greater sustainability and awareness. Yes, that’s fine, but where do I find an elegant (sustainable) red dress now? I have two or three of them in my wardrobe, not for evening wear.…
Biodesign: the possible future of fashion
We are being urged to reconsider what we eat, how we travel, and what we buy to lessen our collective environmental impact, which is frequently marketed under the term “sustainability.” But shouldn’t sustainability be fundamentally incorporated into how things are designed and made if we’re going to drastically reduce climate impact on the scale necessary to stop climate change? What environmentally friendly way to create houses, clothes, cars, and food? Following nature’s blueprint and incorporating biological systems into the creation of objects, according to a growing community of designers and scientists, will help ensure that they are symbiotic with our planet rather than parasitic or polluting it. Let’s get deep…
A bitter story for Audio-à-porter
It was not easy to make this communication. We don’t give up, but… A sense of powerlessness in the face of the arrogance of the bigger companies. Is it right to appropriate commonly used terms? Why deal with so many small brands, when there is no remote risk of a real threat? Appropriating common words scares me. We would like to make this story known. Thanks for your help. I’ve waited a long time to post this message. Because it’s not easy to tell what happened and also because, since it’s something to do with lawyers, I had to wait before talking about it. A few years ago Audio-à-Porter was…
Shein: Channel 4’s investigation into Chinese factories
Channel 4 enters Shein’s Chinese factories undercover and tells the dark social side of fast fashion. The video investigation, entitled Inside the Shein Machine: UNTOLD, brings to light the conditions of the workers who produce the garments of the ultra-fast fashion giant: they work 7 days a week up to 18 hours a day they don’t have a break, the employees are forced to wash their hair during their lunch break they only have one day off per month they make 500 items of clothing a day they are paid a maximum of 4,000 yuan per month (about 550 euros) for every mistake made, they lose 2/3 of their daily…
Apps to organize your wardrobe and create your style more consciously
We wear a garment on average 7-10 times, and then discard it somehow. We buy new clothing in larger quantities and faster than in the past (clothing purchases have doubled in the past two decades). If we want to help create a more sustainable fashion sector, we can only curb our purchases and use more of what we have. Thanks to Giulia, we told about apps to optimize the wardrobe such as: Your Closet Smart Closet Plan what to wear Pureple We like to return to the subject, because tools available to help us manage what we have more consciously brings more than one advantage: economic saving reduction of…
Patagonia vs Fast Fashion – Leaders in comparison
Who is behind Patagonia? And Shein? What about Uniqlo, Zara, H&M, Primark? The latest decision of the founder Chouinard leads to reflect on who is behind the most well-known clothing companies with missions other than the brand in the outdoor sector. Yvon Chouinard and family have transferred the ownership of the Patagonia brand, worth about 3 billion euros, to an NGO. The news is not surprising: for some time Chouinard told of his different idea of capitalism. Patagonia once again proves to be a brand with a long-term and credible sustainability plan. “You’ve got to reinvent capitalism altogether. It leads to a whole bunch of poor people and a few extremely…
The upcycling fashion show under the stars of Frasso Sabino
With the upcycling of the most diverse materials, the ecological dresses walk the catwalk in Frasso Sabino (province of Rieti). An unmissable appointment. Every year the creativity of recycling designers shows how it is possible to look at what we would otherwise throw away as waste with different eyes. The clothes parade through the streets of the small village under a clear sky, among the tables arranged for the occasion. In the jury, we observe them one by one to evaluate the complexity of the realization, the recycling of materials, the originality, the creative commitment. In the meantime, a special dinner cooked in a pot and without meat is served.…
H&M sued for misleading marketing: false and inaccurate data
Thanks to a collective action against H&M, this time it is in the United States that the truthfulness of the information on sustainability communicated by the Swedish giant is being investigated. On July 22, Chelsea Commodore filed a lawsuit in a federal court in New York alleging that H&M is engaging in misleading practices and advertising “taking advantage of consumer interest” in sustainability and products that “do not harm the environment” . According to Commodore, a consumer could reasonably believe such claims, particularly considering that H&M is a nationally recognized company. The fast fashion brand is accused of “trying to differentiate itself from other fashion products with greenwashing”. Practice deemed…
5 more sustainable brands of underwear for men
Choosing men’s underwear in a more sustainable way may not be easy. Most of our articles focus on how to dress in a greener and more ethical way, on materials, on production and other business processes, on a more conscious consumption. We also like to talk about brands and shops where to find new clothes, to make life easier when you need to buy them. Underwear is not a type of garment for which we can easily draw from the second-hand world. For this we indicate 5 more sustainable brands for men that you can consider if you are looking for these garments. MANIERE ITALIANE Underwear, swimwear and sportswear “We decided…
