Beyond Bamboo: Elaine Kim and Thieves Think Out of the Box With Sustainable Fabrics
April 15 2009
What’s next? Today’s sustainable designers are thinking beyond bamboo and organic cotton, working in eco-fabrics created from recycled materials and/or cruelty-free processing. In the past, we’ve covered exercise gear created with fabric made from recycled plastic. Last month we—and what seems like every stylist in Hollywood, including Anne Hathaway’s—discovered Casey Larkin’s gorgeous dresses made from milk.
But our new favorite eco-fab is Cupro, which is the centerpiece of designer Elaine Kim’s jaw-droppingly gorgeous collection. Made in Japan, this is essentially a fabric from recycled materials: Using a closed-loop system in which any chemicals used in processing are captured and reused, rather than dumped, Cupro is created from regenerated cellulose fiber from discarded cotton husks or wood pulp. But in contrast to Tencel, which is manufactured in a similar way, Cupro feels like no other fabric we’ve found: Heavy like satin and smooth as silk, it has a rich matte appearance and flows like liquid, especially in Kim’s body-skimming concoctions such as high-waisted, full-legged pants, deconstructed dresses and sexy off-the-shoulder tops.
And old favorite that’s been sustainably reborn is silk. For those of us who take their animal rights activism to the max, silk has been a PETA no-no since we discovered that it’s harvested by boiling the silkworms alive in their cocoons, so that producers could easier unskein a single continuous thread of silk. “Peace silk,” also known as “vegetarian silk,” allows the silkworms to emerge from the cocoons and live out their lives naturally. For some reason, we’re seeing a lot of Peace silk concoctions coming out of Canada. (Something in the water?) Standouts are the gorgeous dresses created by Sonja den Elzen, the genius behind Toronto-based Thieves, whose aesthetic is asymmetrical and angular with ribbons and flowing fabrics that add a feminine, romantic touch.
