Today, the term "eco-friendly fashion" is heard by absolutely everyone! Together with our expert, we understand what it is and what value it has for each of us in particular and for the fashion industry as a whole.
Glam radar Today, our guest is again Galina Kravchenko, director of the assortment department of Fashion Consulting Group. In an interview with Burda magazine’s editor-in-chief, Marianna Makarova, Galina will tell you what “slow” fashion is, what trend is coming to replace the hugg, what to do with unnecessary things, and what materials help preserve the environment!
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For those who prefer not to listen but to read, we have prepared a transcript of the conversation!
00:00:00
Marianna Makarova: Good afternoon friends! You are listening to the Burda magazine podcast about fashion, style, and trends. With you I, the editor-in-chief, Marianna Makarova. And today we are again visiting Galina Kravchenko, director of the assortment department of Fashion Consulting Group. Hello, Galina! Very glad to meet you again!
Galina Kravchenko: Good afternoon, Marianna, good afternoon, dear listeners!
MM: Last time we discussed a very interesting topic - fashion trends. But today we are waiting for an equally interesting conversation. Galina, you wrote on Facebook that today an average person buys 60% more clothes than 15 years ago. However, the service life of things was halved. People would be more responsible about buying things if they knew that textile production is comparable in terms of harmful waste, you just think, with the metallurgical industry! However, is it possible to follow fashion trends and not be a shopaholic?
GK: Yes, today it is one of the important trends. Respect for life, respect for nature, ecology, and even one of the fashion trends for the spring-summer'20 season absolutely reflects this concept of a lean attitude to production and consumption, including. This fashion theme is called the “lag” of the international brand Fashion Snoops, with whom we cooperate. The term "lag" is taken from the Swedish language, this is such a new lifestyle that replaces the hugge lifestyle. He shows that everything can be enough, let's say, responsible for reasonable consumption, for the exclusion of excess consumption, and this is, first of all, a different philosophy. This is the philosophy of a very careful, unhurried attitude to life, when it is possible to pause, drink tea, open a beautiful book, think about the beautiful and then plunge into the ocean of life. This is philosophy ... here I have one of the slogans: "A lag is not a lot, not a little, it is enough." When a person thinks about why he needs extra things, whether they really will benefit ... This is a concept that supports the concept of recycling, upscaling ... That's just recycling and upscaling, in principle, very much in tune with what your publication does, that it promotes.If you decipher these terms, then upsizing means creating clothes from already used ones, in fact the very change that many people do ...
MM: Which many of our listeners love ...
00:03:07
GK: Yes, and recycling is just the reuse activity. That is, waste recycling and the production of new threads from which new products are created, this is essentially the very recycling.
And there’s another interesting story - the so-called slow fashion, slow fashion. That is, a counterbalance to what is accepted among trendsetters: constantly, every season to buy something new. In contrast to this, slow fashion is the basic things made of very, let's say, wear-resistant materials, on the one hand. On the other hand, this is when the buyer thinks about where this fabric is produced, where this fiber grew.
These colors are usually noble, basic, discreet, which can be really worn for a long time. If we talk about the fashionable topic in general, which will be in demand in the spring-summer'20 season, these are free silhouettes, pure colors, elongated skirts. This is clothing that encourages us to always be functional, not to deceive ourselves, first of all, not to look attractive to please others, to dress comfortably. She is very fresh, burning, all built on natural colors, not synthetic. On the one hand, sunny shades of yellow, pleasant mint green, shades of orange, shades of orange peel. On the other hand, these are the colors of ceramics, which they seem to make in the workshop with their own hands, then they are painted over, so the colors are a little dusty, not pure, like, say, azure blue, but so blue, as if even aged. This is not just a terracotta shade of burnt clay, but terracotta, which is covered with enamel. These are the colors that we meet in home design, we meet very often, buying dishes, coming to cafes in which we are comfortable, comfortable, which are furnished with this wonderful ceramics and wooden furniture.
And, on the other hand, we are ready to wear all these colors, they are understandable to us, they are the embodiment of a very natural lifestyle. Today, to think about ecology, about the future, about how you will live, how your children will live, this is not just a certain philosophy of life, it is also an opportunity to emphasize your approach to life with what you put on yourself.
00:06:08
MM: Galina, please tell me, how much are global manufacturers, world designers, brands ready to follow this fashion trend? It is no secret that the entire fashion industry is built on producing as many interesting ideas as possible so that people consume, wear, stand out. Is there a contradiction here?
GK: Today this contradiction does not exist; it lies somewhat in depth. There is another problem, which I will discuss later. As we said at our first meeting, trends appear against the backdrop of a social demand, a social trend, and this just supports the mood of society and our attitude towards environmental friendliness, environmental protection, and a different psychological approach to life and its course. This is generally a different philosophy of life, associated with a more, I do not know, balanced approach, as opposed to haste, dynamics, some kind of momentary desires. Still, this is a philosophy that is built on values, it is more resilient.
And therefore, of course, fashion brands, and this is, first of all, all the companies that are at the forefront, that is, on the one hand, luxury houses, on the other hand, these companies that work in the mass segment support this concept. For example, let’s say there’s a famous quote from Francois-Henri Pinault, Executive Director of Kering, which now simply flooded social networks that the global problems we are facing are very complex, they know no boundaries, only a coalition can overcome them, unifying government, business and civil society.That is, this is such a call of the fashion industry company to unite in order to introduce new technologies that will be for the good. And on the other hand, we already see such companies and well-known brands, for example, H&M - going to the store you will see a collection of recycled material. Let's say Timberland has released a line, our companies do it, Unichel, for example, makes shoes from Pinotex, this is a new organic material, and so on. This is a wave that cannot be stopped.
You can even take Russian brands, not only international ones, in which this has long been happening. For example, designer Janis Chamalidi, he has things in the collection made from vintage banners of the eighties, recycled into fashionable bomber jackets, into fashionable coats that also turn out aesthetically. This is nothing more than recycling. We are constantly meeting this. Of the banners that Adidas used at the World Cup, they made fashionable bags. Tiffany from recycled waste makes its fashionable blue boxes. It surrounds us so much that we stop paying attention to it, we are all involved in this lean consumption. There is the term sustainable fashion, which just includes all the concepts, recycling, up-cycling, slow fashion and so on. Therefore, today, those who are wondering what clothes are made of, how long they will last, in order not to constantly buy new things, are very fashionable advanced users, users, as they say now. They are in trend!
00:10:10
MM: I also urge our readers to be in the trend and use what you have in your house, perhaps to create new interesting things, and take a closer look at this trend.
But please tell me, nevertheless, the environmental problem, in particular for Russia, is very acute, but at the same time, we do not always keep up with all these Western trends. Fur both wore and continue to wear. What should we do with this?
GK: But this is a personal choice of everyone, and in the wardrobe of a modern person there are various clothes. You see, you can have a fur coat made of natural fur and just go buy the next fur coat, but from faux fur, which is happening now. Therefore, if we talk about the trends that are growing in outerwear, then this is certainly a new round of popularity of faux fur. This is a round of popularity for materials that are more wear-resistant so as not to buy outerwear as often as they used to be. But this applies not only to outerwear, in fact, this also applies to clothes of the lower layer. And, interestingly, certain materials that quickly wash, dry quickly, they also help protect the environment because less water is consumed. You can buy jeans with a certain treatment. For example, Wrangler has now launched new denim dyeing technologies that save water. Well, I will not go into technological professional details, but this is very important, because it is an important resource on Earth, which is limited in certain countries, so it is very important to use as little water as possible in denim production.
MM: Galina, please tell me what to do with that huge amount of fashionable things that accumulate in the wardrobe of so many modern women? Are there any ways for these things to still serve their good service, and not only to their mistresses?
GK: Now there are a huge number of opportunities to do this. The first way is resale, a very simple thing. The second thing is rent. There are a lot of services for renting things, there are charity companies that accept clothes with pleasure, and they are absolutely multidirectional. This is not when you brought the clothes, but then they were distributed to the benefit of those in need. For example, there are very beautiful boutique-style shops where clothes are accepted only for certain brands, but nonetheless, the proceeds from the sale of these clothes go to charity.This is accepted by large brands, you can, for example, bring things to H&M and turn them in. And, in the end, in Moscow we see containers into which you can bring and hand over the clothes, and the criteria are clearly spelled out: that it must be clean, of such and such quality. And people are happy to use this opportunity. And, surprisingly, in order for these things to get a second life, they need to be courted. That is, they should be washed, they should not be any too worn out. And indeed, people sort it out, rent it out, and they, on the one hand, free up their space, on the other hand, they want to bring benefits.
00:13:59
MM: I’ll even say such a thing, many of our listeners, readers of the magazine Burda, all the things that they sewed for themselves, which served for some season and already have a desire to sew something new and interesting, they give these things to their friends, girlfriends, sisters. It's great! I think that in this way you develop your passion for sewing and needlework, but at the same time, do a good deed and give part of your soul to other people. It's not a secret, something that you do with your own hands has a very special imprint. In this regard, the following question: how developed is the trend for needlework, when you invest something in the thing that you create.
I know that in many Western countries, in particular in England, in the countries of Scandinavia, this is very popular. What do you say about this?
GK: There is a certain category of citizens who, in principle, cannot live without it. You know, probably, a bunch of services, they used to turn paper into elegant baskets that cannot be distinguished from truly authentic ones made of twigs, and some other such stories. But the stories with needlework are different, there can be needlework of different levels. You can make elegant applications, you can sew, you can embroider, knit. Interestingly, the children now have a topic with modifying Lego constructors, when they do not just collect some new figures at their discretion, they also upgrade them with clay, paints, varnishes, and this is also a certain community. They spread it all on social networks, tell each other, share how to do it, it’s called customized figures, how they need to be changed, and so on. Judging by how interesting this has become for modern teenagers who are now interested in doing something with their own hands, we can say that yes, indeed such a trend exists.
MM: And I want to say that we observe this among our audience, because our audience is rejuvenating, new members of our community, very young girls who want to do something with their own hands and at the same time always be in trend, join us. Visit us to study at the Burda Academy, where you will not only learn to sew, you will try to find your own style, individual, in order to always look fashionable and interesting. Visit our website BurdaStyle.ru and, of course, buy the magazine Burda. And I thank my interlocutor, Galina Kravchenko! I remind you that our guest was the director of the assortment department of Fashion Consulting Group, and I was with you, the editor-in-chief of Burda magazine. Thanks a lot, Galina!
GK: Thank you, Marianne, all the best, dear listeners!
