Tag: sustainability

Categories
Technology

Going Green Tech

Green Tech Berlin

Green Tech Berlin arrived with 200 exhibitors showcasing products and services. The two day fair is a place to learn about products and services tackling carbon zero and sustainability challenges with fresh ideals.

German automotive company presented a mini concept car made from recycled and 3-D printed materials.  The 240hp was made by twelve interns in the Neckarsulm factory over a six-month period.

Audi
Audi
Ou Yanshan
Gia Studios

Chinese designer Ou Yanshan had Balenciaga inspired piece made from recovered disposed materials.

The range of recycled sources and the way they are designed always excites me.  Vietnamese brand Gia Studios showed off white transparent jackets made from casaba melons. 

Sol Electric Bike or Noped
Lufthansa’s Green Fares Pledge
Susmata Trainers made from Recycled Tea

Germany’s Lufthansa Group is pivoting to becoming them most eco-friendly airline.  Europe’s largest airline concern has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050 with modern fleet renewals, using Sustainable Aviation Fuel, Power-to-Liquid Fuels and Green Fares.

Green Tech is a travel fair held in Berlin, London, Los Angeles and Singapore.

Categories
Fashion

The S WORD @ Press Days

Rayas

During two cold days in April, Berlin’s fashion and lifestyle press agencies held the bi-annual Press Days events for journalist and influencers visiting offices around the city. 

Beauty took front and center, with high end, drugstore, traditional and new labels getting the word out their products are on the shelves.  The second noticeable trend, sustainability.  The “S” word looks great in a press release, but do consumers want to pay more for sustainable products?

Rossmann's new Products
Rossmann moves toward more Store Brands
Clarins
Clarins

German drugstore giant Rossmann introduced new lines of health and lifestyle store brand products.  Following the consumer trend, buyers are shifting their purchases downward away from premium marks to moderated priced generic store brands.  As a two-time-a-week Rossmann shopper feeling inflation increases, this is a smart move. 

Packaging, trying to get the attention of buyers on the shelves, beauty brands now emphasis packaging to stand out.  Clarins shook off its traditional staid look for a more Gen Z friendly appealing colors.

Kess Refill
Möller's Kottbussar
Möllers Köttbullar

Berlin based beauty brand Kess founded in 2020 has an interesting sustainable package. Some make-up tubes can be reused, just slip in a refill.

In the curious section, the Victoria Beckham preview collection with Mango.  I always ask “Who Buys VB?”.   The London label has struggled since inception despite Victoria’s global celebrity status.  Perhaps, a capsule collection with a fast fashion store could help.  Who knows! The pieces on display were minimum chic for a woman with a full social calendar.

Rayas is a collective from Berlin producing handwoven bags in EL Salvador by local women with the proceeds benefiting the community.

Möllers Köttbullar had a tasty surprise.  The sustainable Berlin restaurant from Henrik Möller introduced a new Cinnamon Treat to the delight of visitors. 

Categories
Before Tacky Fashion podcast

Intagram’s Fast Fashion Affect

An excerpt from Before Tacky Podcast the team spoke about Instagram’s affect on fast fashion. Trying to live the large life while caring about sustainable fashion is a contradiction for the social media set.

Categories
Cinema entertainment news Fashion

Green Fashion Credentials

Fashion Reimagined.

Brands are brandishing green credentials for the sake of being caring, or at least on the surface. Green is the new Black Dress in fashion. Suddenly, designers and labels have become Earth Conscious. Walk down any main street or shopping mall, retailers are bragging about sustainable clothing lines.

During the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, Fashion Reimagined unspooled at the New York cinema gathering.

Becky Hunter’s documentary follows rural born designer Amy Powney’s quest searching for sustainable materials. The London based fashioner practices what she preaches, all the more remarkable because in the times of long, at times untraceable, long supply chains.

“Passion is the bridge that takes you from pain to change”. Frida Kahlo. How does an independent label afford costs associated sustainability? As the story unfolds, compromising seems to be the easiest solution. Amy and her Mother of Pearl fashion label team go from supplier to supplier with with hens teeth questions and requests for green goods. The quest leads to a South American supplier for wool. The viewer has to give the fashion designer a high mark for effort.

Hunter and Powney are on a stretch of terrain going from compelling to bordering on molly coddled righteousness for a moral cause. A wool sweater from Mother of Pearl retails for $500, not exactly affordable for many consumers.

Is Fashion Reimagined a soft commentary on disposable culture? No. More, a personal story about trying to be true to ones beliefs in the face of globalization and harmful production practices. Given the headlines about disposable fast fashion, cheering a dedicated fashion designer searching for an ethical way to produce clothes may not be a bad thing. Meanwhile, go online to buy a Mother of Pearl sweater on sale.

Screened online at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival

Running Time 92 minutes

Categories
Fashion podcast

Sustainable with a Conscious

Before Tacky

Before Tacky podcast talk to fashion entrepreneur Rodrigo Doxandabarat about his label Dotz.

Click below

Categories
Technology

Connected Green Thumb

Home Garden Center

Connected and having a green thumb now go hand and hand. Growing food in 2022 has been made easier. At IFA 2022 there were many options.

House and counter top gardens trended this year in Berlin. Several start ups along with established white goods brands showed new in house gardens for bringing nature inside. The techniques went from hydroponics to recycled materials.

This is encouragement for all us brown thumbs.

  • Pininfarini
  • Veritable
  • Pret a Pousser
  • Mine Farm