Slow Fashion Award 2010. Wien - Agadez (de/en) - a podcast by CastYourArt.com

Slow Fashion Award 2010. Wien - Agadez

Choosing the organic eggs off the shelf, eating locally grown apples, drinking fair trade coffee, going without strawberries in December—by now, these are things we take for granted. Is it due to our awareness of climate change? Perhaps. Or maybe we are looking to shift gears - to slow down and live more sustainably. For years now, the word “sustainability” has come up time and time again as a catchphrase of the moment.

The fashion industry seems to have dodged this demand for sustainability for quite some time now - just look at the annual craze to follow the latest trends from fall/winter or summer collections—not to mention all those cheap t-shirts made in Asia. However, the Viennese Slow Fashion agency proves that this does not have to be the case, that one does not have to just jump on the bandwagon. Their concept is based on sustainability within the fashion industry and design. High quality, small lines, regional productions, and fair labor conditions—as opposed to children sewing in Bangladesh—make Slow Fashion “the organic egg” of the fashion industry. The movement is based on a socially conscious approach to fashion: “We must re-develop a sense of quality, take into consideration what kind of clothes we buy, by whom and under what conditions they are manufactured,” says Lisa Niedermayr, who runs the Slow Fashion agency together with Barbara Denk. A change in thinking is required, by the consumer as well.

The Slow Fashion Award 2010 is an unusual design competition. Ten designers will take on the challenge of going through a cycle of production and application of African textiles, processing them into recyclable accessories that are presentable to the public. Following the slogan, “making the old into the new”, the participating designers received clothes from the African Agadez: holiday clothes, house clothes, everyday clothes - a cross-section of clothes from the region, including a baby sling from the Niger. The task consisted of developing economical and innovative accessories from these pieces.

Sustainable work is also about quality: clothes that can be worn longer. “I cannot accept that one must throw out a dress just because it’s spring”, Coco Chanel was once quoted to say. Such style icons were already progressive thinkers.

It remains to be seen whether the concept of recyclable fashion catches on with the general public in the same way that organic food has. But in any case, it has already been proven that one must not rely on Birkenstocks and self-knitted items to be a Slow Fashion supporter. The clothes make the man (or woman). (oh/jn)

MODEPALAST 2010, the exposition for fashion, jewelry, and accessories, which takes place at MAK, the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, is based this year on “Green Design”, applying ecological and economic criteria to design and fashion. In conjunction with this year’s MODEPALAST, the Slow Fashion Award will also be awarded.

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