Ethical Fashion Event Edinburgh: Fashion Revolution Week 2017

As I write this, I've just come back from the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation (ECCI) after an insanely eventful event all about celebrating all things ethical fashion during Fashion Revolution Week with Colour Elements, at which I spoke on a panel of experts after a film screening of Slowing Down Fast Fashion. This picture shows one of the Scottish sustainable fashion brands that showcased at the night, Cloh, a new contemporary menswear label that utilizes quality re-purposed textiles, like 'linen' made from plastic bottles used to make stunning oversized shirts.

Kimberley Grahame, who is one half of Wardrobe Conversations and amongst my favourite Scottish fashion bloggers, gave an excellent workshop on vintage fashion and why buying second hand clothing is far from the drab, dead people stereotype. Vintage boutiques and charity shops are a fun, easy and affordable way to invest in ethical fashion, and Edinburgh is full of amazing outlets, like Carnivale, Godiva and Barnardos.

My long-time fave fashion brand operating sustainably and with supply chain transparency in Scotland is Nu Blvck, founded by all round good eggs Becca and Andrew, who joined me on the ethical fashion panel to chat about the parts that consumers, brands, influencers, education and government have to play in promoting a better fashion industry that doesn't exploit the most vunerable. They also displayed their gorgeous capsule accessories collection designed by Hannah Louise Baxter and crafted by artisans throughout the UK.

It was brilliant to see the Edinburgh Textiles Collective (ETC) here also with a brand new collection of accessories. ETC work with eco organisation Zero Waste Scotland to re-use otherwise wasted fabric from none other than Ikea. These talented Edinburgh College of Art textiles students have made beautiful, one of a kind, waste free bags with a unique contemporary style. I want them all!

Another fab exhibition at the Fashion Revolution event at ECCI was from 4th year fashion design students at Edinburgh, Polly Rose Thomas. This ethical fashion enthusiast is making her graduate collection from unique, bespoke textiles with a sustainable edge. Polly (whose group project I've actually modelled for before!) has created cruelty-free exotic animal skins. So think crocodile and snakeskin, but made from liquid latex; which is awesome.

The atrium was filled with stylish and sustainable folk from around the country, chatting about why we need a fashion revolution and shopping from the brands that are pushing the ethical movement. As the public poured in, more workshops took place including a Colour iD sesion with Karen from Colour Elements and a wardrobe management talk by Jen from capsule wardrobe blog Tartan Brunette. Jen's mantra is: buy less, wear more, and valuing quality over quantity, something we all (especially fashion bloggers- guilty!) could take on board in our everyday life, and of course our shopping trips.

Other brands that exhibited at the ECCI included new Scottish ethical fashion start-ups Studio Five, Cloh, Remode Collective and One Memoir. Studio Five, my personal fave, run by the lovely Lucy and Kitty PRessland, is Scotland's coolest new fashion and lifestyle brand, offering adorable illustrations and collage designs on a range of sustainably made products including t-shirts, cushions, bags and stationary. We stock Studio Five at The Scottish Design Exchange and they are so popular with our fashion forward customers; I'm thrilled to see them thrive and grow!

Finally, I just want to say a massive thank you to the wonderful team behind this event, Colour Elements' Maggie and Karen! Well done for organising such a successful night, everyone enjoyed it and found it thought-provoking, particularly the film screening and the panel talk where we went into more depth about the topic of ethical fashion. I already can't wait for next year's Fashion Revolution Week!

Ruth @ Urbanity xxx