Kim Cathers’ Kdon fashions at Vancouver Eco-Fashion Week Sept. 2010. Photo courtesy of myvancouverstyle.com.
Vancouver’s bi-annual eco-fashion weeks just keep getting bigger and better every year, expanding in designers that are continually coming up with new materials and designs for clothes and accessories. This week will be no exception.
Vancouver’s historic Salt Building will be the venue for the fashions shows, exhibits, seminars and other events that will kick off this Wednesday for the public.
With over a dozen clothing designers showing off their styles, and even more accessories designers, this will definitely be a can’t-miss event. Some of the more established design brands whose fashions will be strutting the runway will include: Kim Cathers’ Kdon, Echo Rain, and Nicole Bridger’s NBD.
Kim Cathers’ Kdon
Kdon’s new fall/winter collection is called ‘suture’ and will debut at the show. Cathers’ press says there are “a grand many reasons this word is the ultimate title and presentation for this coming collection.” It will blend and tie together many contrasting forms and colors.
Cathers specializes in handmade, draped dresses. The designs will include a lot of flowing cuts, with a palette that will include single color pieces, prints, and strips. Cather’s collections are inspired by a mixture of vintage, urban, and couture styles.
All of the fabrics used in Kdon come from Our Social Fabric’s recycled materials. Cathers is also on the board.
Echo Rain
Echo Rain’s collections are made up of dresses and separates that span styles including: contemporary, classic, sophisticated, modern, and casual elegance. The designer uses natural colors, including deep reds, blues, and purples in fabrics, as well as floral print designs.
Echo Rain uses a blend of eco-fabrics such as bamboo interlock (70 percent bamboo; 25 percent organic cotton; and five percent spandex). Bamboo is a great eco-fabric because it’s naturally antimicrobial. It’s also naturally thermo-regulating, so it keeps you warm when it’s cold and cool when it’s warm.
Another great Echo Rain fabric blend is its Eco 50/50 (50 percent organic cotton and 50 percent recycled polyester – made from post-consumer and post-industrial recycled plastics). This fabric great because it’s quick to dry, breathable, and resistant to fading and shape changing – shrinking or stretching.
NBD
Nicole Bridger’s NBD’s eco-fashions. Photo courtesy of gliving.com.
Nicole Bridger’s NBD’s collections have a distinctly contemporary feel to them with styles running the gamut from flowing draping to form fitting. She uses primarily earth-tones and natural pastel colors.
NBD also has a lot of pieces that are great for expectant moms. Bridger says, “Many of our styles work as maternity wear. It is far more sustainable to buy less, so having pieces that work for before, during, and after pregnancy - is ideal.”
Bridger is also proud that her fabrics are made from renewable resources. She uses a lot of fibers including: organic cotton, organic wool, hemp, bamboo, and modal, which is a little unusual. Modal comes from sustainably harvested trees. It’s then processed into yarn and knit into fabric. Everything is washable without dry cleaning.
All of the designers participating in this fashion week also had to abide by other criteria such as observing Fair Trade practices, which includes: paying fair living wages to workers; no child labor; provide a safe working environment; and reasonable work hours.
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