EDUCATORS FOR SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE APPAREL PRACTICES

ESRAP Guest Blogger: Taryn Hipwell
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CLICK THE LINK ​www.esrapglobal.org/blog/esrap-guest-blogger-taryn-hipwell

Recently I had the opportunity to meet Shona Quinn, Sustainability Leader at Eileen Fisher, who so graciously shared her knowledge about sustainable fashion on at the inaugural Beyond the Label Event. Learning more and more about what Eileen Fisher is up to as a brand and as a person is game changing.  Not only does she implement brilliant and strict guidelines for her own brand, she works with the CFDA to educate students and consults other brands to design more mindfully.  

Here is a quote from Eileen that neatly sums up the impact of sustainable fashion:

"We always ask ourselves, “How can we help make a positive change in the world?”  Becoming more mindful about clothing means looking at every fiber, every seed and every dye and seeing how to make it better.   Our goal is simple: design without negative impact right from the start. We want to make sustainability our way of life; we want it to be universal.   We want to rally other fashion companies to do the same because our future depends on it.”

Another wonderful program that Eileen Fisher has put into place - The Social Innovators initiative.  Eileen designs a sustainable line, and she also takes responsibility for the textile waste created by her clothing.  

"Essentially designers are taking old EF pieces that we receive from our Green Eileen recycling program and upcycling it into incredible new product or simply mending it to then be resold. At the end of the day, we want to create a zero waste environment and take on the role of extended producer responsibility to ensure it doesn’t end up in a landfill," Marie Larson shared.

Take a peek at the full program here – some really incredible stuff!
click here or here http://www.eileenfisher.com/remade

As a Recycle-a-holic "Behind the Label" is truly inline with the Beyond the Label mission.  We are elated to give consumers and designers new ways to look at clothes! 

​-Taryn Hipwell

P.S. Some of my fave picks...as a tank top and jeans kinda girl. (Love me some Bluesign fabrics and Viscose...so soft!) click here

Click on the links below to meet women and men that actually make your clothes.  

A collection of pics and videos, which are also called "Beyond the Label"...created by Claudio Montesano Casillas

I first learned about Claudio when I saw his series of pics from Bangladesh. 

Beyond the Label photo series (click here)  

Note from the creator  "For the past months, I have been documenting the life of Cambodian workers outside the factories. I thought you may be interested in looking at my multimedia project.". 
 
Beyond the Label video series (click here) 

#MakeShiftHappen #WhoMadeMyClothes #BeyondtheLabel

-Taryn Hipwell

Team Meeting in Santa Monica

​Last week we brought together our core team of Beyond the Label women, plus several of our amazing volunteers!

We had introductions first, since many of the volunteers had not met each other yet. Then we got busy and got organized on our upcoming May 24th T-shirt exchange at the Skirball Center. We had a ton of to-do items, which we delegated to different teams.

I was so excited to meet some of these volunteers. I had no idea how many incredible people are making it their mission to heal the planet. I'm excited to share more of their stories with you on this blog!

New Website Launch!

​Our new Beyond the Label website has finally launched! (You're looking at it now!). It was a long and challenging but fun process that many of our team collaborated together on.

Thank you especially to Taryn and Michelle who helped me take care of most of the design and written work!

We hope you enjoy it... and come out to a Beyond the Label event soon!

-Robin Shirley

Our launch event for Beyond the Label was such an exciting success!

With over 100 sustainable fashion enthusiasts in attendance, we were able to get so many Los Angeles designers, fashion students and experts excited to join us on our mission.

I had a really good time moderating the "Fashion and Health" roundtable discussion during the second half of the evening.

Andrew Morgan (producer of The True Cost), Kathleen Talbot (Sustainability Consultation for Reformation), Shona Quinn (Sustainability Lead for Eileen Fisher), Susanna Schick (Sustainable Fashion LA), along with dozens of other fashion industry leaders gathered as we explored sustainable fashion, the challenges it presents and its accessibility to consumers.

Read the write-up on this event in www.apparelnews.net

Let's #MakeShiftHappen! I hope you'll join us at our next event...

-Robin Shirley