Monthly Archives: October 2012

Creative Sustainability

I strive, with all of my designs, to be as environmentally conscious as possible. From my “green” furniture line for Jofco to my Redux eyewear for Kenmark, I think a lot about the environmental impact of my work and aspire to create truly sustainable designs.

This season I took sustainability to a new place. Like many manufacturers, we had many hundreds of yards of leftover fabric from last year. I was determined to not let all of that beautiful (and costly) material go to waste. Rather than just recycle the designs from last year, I found ways to reuse the fabrics AND create completely new looks.  The results are stunning. This season I have several new shirts from creatively reused materials.

Emblazoned is pretty special.  We started with one of my Japanese yoroke fabrics. If you look at the inside cuffs and inside yoke, you can see the fabric I’m describing. We decided to try to make the pattern more subtle, so the mill dyed the fabric a dark purplish-navy. I love the way it came out.

Finagle is another great example. We printed on top of one of my push-pull fabrics to get a rich color, creating a subtle and sophisticated look.

These reused textiles are among my favorites for the season. Each a true must-have, especially since I’ll never be able to create these looks again.