Ethical Design Lab

Mark says, "I envision a future where innovation and aesthetics are driven by sustainable design: where ec-efficiency creates exquisite new products for the consumer." In trying to acheive his objective he has ceated techniques to create zero-waste garments with the pattern pieces being cut like a jig-saw from a single piece of fabric. Traditional cut and sew garment making produces 15% waste.

Mark looks set to have have a fantstic career in fashion having worked as an an intern for Alexander McQueen (2007) and studied at Central Saint Martins College, London (2005-7). He already has an international perspective with exposure to the fashion industry reality of China and Australia and has participated in exhibitions focused on sustainability and fashion.

Mark Liu 

Ceil fashion from Sarah Ratty already attracts an A-list following worn by Cate Blanchett, Sienna Miller and Zoe Ball. Ciel makes a more ethical and environmental choice available to the fashion conscious woman. Her collections benefit from gorgeous design led garments developed with a high tech eco-philosophy.

Her modern collection is both environmentally and ethically produced using 100% Azo free dyes, re-cycled fabrics or fabrics certified by 'Oekotex' & 'Confidence in Textiles'. Sarah says, 'I design clothes for hip, stylish and fashionable people who do not want to sacrifice style for content'.

She also works closely with her suppliers to ensure they comply with fair labour laws as set out at www.labourbehindthelabel.com so Sarah is definately ethical, not just eco. No wonder she was short-listed for the Observer Ethical Awards in 2007.

Sarah describes herself as an eco-fashion textile design consultant and advises both Pan UK & the Soil Association Textile Committee she is also vice chair of the Ethical Fashion Forum.

She cannot be said to be jumping on the eco bandwagon either. Sarah has been working in eco-fashion since 1990 with Conscious Earthwear the first UK eco-pioneer brand.

Ciel follows Consious Earthwear as the next generation eco-brand from Sarah. Products are made in UK, Europe & South America with fabrics sourced worldwide, [3% profits go to animal and green charities to offset the carbon footprint].

Ciel now  also make stylish organic cotton underwear, which is complimented by the 'Ciel Well being body 'n bath Spa' collection which includes organic cotton towels and robes along with organic plant based scented candles in recycled glass  and body and bath products.

Materials & Ingredients used are organic & sustainable green products and textiles produced within certified guidelines from Skaal, Soil Association, Oeko Tex Certification & Fair Trade Foundation. Using Organic Cotton and Linen, Hemp Silk, Bamboo, Soya, Modal, Fair Trade Silk, Organic Alpaca and fibres from recycled, bi-products and post consumer waste. Basically Ciel uses whatever they can find that is the best solution environmentally from natural organic products to super synthetics.

In addition to being spotted on celebrities Ceil gets great media coverage: Vogue Uk, i-D magazine, Selvedge, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Organic Living, Crafts, Nylon, Elle USA, Living Etc, TreeHugger.com, Pure Living, Ergo, Flux, Happy, Cooler, Sleazenation, Mail, Express, Ok, Heat, Grazia, Project.

Invitations to exhibitions are also common for Ceil: V&A Streetstyle 1994, Barbican The Jam 1998, Cool Britannia Melbourne & Sydney 1998, British Hotwave Tokyo 1999, Crafts Council Eco-Style 2006.

Ceil

The Roots 

In 2002 Karen Stewart and Howard Brown, partners in life and work, realized their destiny; They gave birth to a baby girl named Hazel Stewart Brown and a baby brand named Stewart+Brown.

Design for Karen and Howard is a passion and a way of life. Their professional journey stems from a union of creativity and purpose. Karen, a trained painter and New York native, and Howard, a graphic artist and Montana native, oversee every aspect of the product and brand themselves. Each Stewart+Brown collection, at an elemental level, is a fusion of experiences and insights filtered through their creative core and rendered into their own unique and personal aesthetic. While finding inspiration in all aspects of life, their collaborations are primarily influenced by art, design, culture, travel, and nature.

Mission 

Stewart+Brown believes in optimizing their designs and lives to attain the highest standards of quality and functional style while extracting the bare minimum from Earth's precious capital.

Aspire to Inspire 

Stewart+Brown practices and promotes a symbiotic and harmonious relationship between business, community, and nature. They aspire to apply the wisdom of sustainability to everything they do while inspiring others, just as they have been inspired, to do the same.

1% for the Planet 

Stewart+Brown is a member of “1% for the Planet,” an alliance of small businesses that pay a voluntary earth tax and donate 1% of all sales to non-profit, non-governmental environmental organizations.

Katharine Hamnett is an iconic British Fashion Designer, with international status. Catwalk shows have been held across the world in London, Paris, Milan, New York, Tokyo, Stockholm and San Paolo. Experimenting with different ways to present shows Katharine Hamnett produced two short films one named ‘Katharine Hamnett -The Movie’ starring Naomi Campbell, and Boy George, directed by Ellen Von Unwerth. The other, entitled ‘Lost Luggage’, starred Iris Palmer, Annie Morton, Johnny Zander and Richie Birkenhead.

Katharine’s international clientele include celebrities, film stars and musicians from Mick Jagger to Elizabeth Taylor, Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, George Michael, David Bowie, Bob Geldof and Minnie Driver.

Education and Early Successes

Katharine had a well-travelled upbringing, settling in London to study fashion design. In 1969, Katharine graduated from Central Saint Martins School of Art, by the age of twenty-one, Katharine had set up her own business.

‘Katharine Hamnett London’ launched in 1979, and ‘Katharine Hamnett London Menswear’ in 1981. ‘Katharine Hamnett Denim’ launched in 1982. In 1984 Katharine Hamnett also signed a license in Japan where she now has 20 licences.

In 1983 Katharine received ‘Cotton designer of the year’ award, in 1984 Katharine was named the ‘Designer of the year’ by the British Fashion Council. ‘Bath Menswear Award’ in 1984 and the BKCC export award. Katharine has received awards for advertising campaigns in which she launched the careers of Ellen Von Unwert, Juergen Teller and Terry Richardson and has been made professor of fashion and textiles from Central Saint Martins College of Art / The London Institute.

Katharine worked with architect Norman Foster on the design of her first London store in 1986 situated at Brompton Cross, followed by her Sloane Street store in 1988 designed initially by Nigel Coates followed by David Chipperfield.

The Cotton Catastrophe

Throughout Katharine’s career she has always tried to behave ethically, whilst remaining a successful designer. In 1989 Katharine commissioned research into the impact of the clothing and textile industry and discovered a catastrophe. In conventional cotton agriculture. 10,000 deaths a year have been recorded due to accidental pesticide poisoning, while a million people a year died due to long term acute poisoning (since then the figures have doubled). Cotton farming has induced desertification and long term contamination to aquifers. Throughout the rest of the industry the production of raw materials involved huge discharges of serious toxins into the environment. In textile manufacturing millions of people work daily, here and now, in conditions tantamount to slavery. The clothing industry is therefore environmentally and ethically untenable.

Innovation And Style

Katharine has introduced many innovations into the clothing and textile business, which have instigated numerous new trends in fashion. These trends include: power dressing, spearheading the return to tailoring, the military look, the utility look, a new kind of casual sportswear, definitive 80’s glamour.

Her products include:

Media comments include:

“Nobody does denim like Hamnett” - Suzy Menzes - Herald Tribune

“The most copied designer in the world” - Sarah Mower – The Guardian

In the 80’s and 90’s Katharine set herself a project of working through the cycle of definitive clothing for the late 20^th Century, working on the principle of quality clothes that suit the occasion, and remain wearable in your wardrobe forever.

Her innovations include:

Space dyeing.

Stonewashing

Distressed denim.

Stretch denim.

Garment washing.

Garment dyeing.

Charitable contributions on products.

Katharine made protest fashionable and smartened up the T-shirt, using a now universally adopted typeface and layout.

T- shirt slogans include:

Andy Birkin from ‘The Stop the War Coalition’ commented that the following four T - shirts instigated 30,000,000 people to march against the Iraq war in March 2003.

No War

Women against war

Stop and Think

Life is Sacred

Recent Fashion

Apart from her political campaigns Katharine has remained at the forefront of international fashion, selling to the best shops in over 40 countries all over the world,

2003 : Her Autumn / Winter 2003 women’s wear collection was shown at London Fashion Week, the ‘Stop War Blair Out’ T shirts featured on the catwalk, and this resulted in UK and International newspaper coverage including front page features worldwide.

Katharine was invited by OXFAM to visit African cotton farmers in Mali to promote Fair Trade. Katharine met with African farmers and visited government officials to help raise awareness, while photographs and interviews appeared in key UK and International Newspapers and Television Worldwide.

2004 : In Spring / Summer 2004, Katharine Hamnett on schedule at London Fashion Week, featured amongst others Naomi Campbell wearing ‘USE A CONDOM’ and ‘SAVE AFRICA’ T-shirts. These were aimed at raising awareness of using protection, because there is no cure for AIDS.

The Struggle For Textile Industry Reform

Since 1989 Katharine Hamnett has been trying to change the industry from within, working with normal manufacturers, making clothing more environmental and ethical with little success. Total disinterest from the industry has been the rule, sneaky non-organic fabric substitutions have been perpetrated by some manufacturers, and she has even found herself obliged to collect a cheque for African organic farmers with the help of a Channel 4 TV crew as shock troops. In rage she has returned to manufacturing, as this is the only way to ensure total control over her product, including what it is made of and where and how it is made.

Visit Katherine Hamnett