“Buy Less, Choose Well, Make it Last” are famous words from Dame Vivienne Westwood, and should be followed in all aspects of life, especially fashion. As with all industries, the fashion and textile industry has been hit hard with global warming, and the call of sustainable fabrics is as high as ever. Copenhagen Fashion Week, SS2025, partnered with Dylon, using dyes to give clothes and fabrics a new life, which you can do on the runway, or from the comfort of your own home.
Second-hand clothes, and dyeing owned fabrics, are a brilliant option, to repurpose items and give someone’s unwanted items a new home. But what about the source of these fabrics, how can we make fashion sustainable from the very beginning?
Mycelium, a network of fine filaments called hyphae, may seem like part of a mushroom, and nothing more. However, mycelium forms the vegetative part of many fungi and can be used in more than just antibiotics and as a fertiliser. Not only does Mycelium have a symbiotic relationship, where it uses energy while giving out energy (which is pretty cool), it is being used as an alternative for leather, and can be dyed and manipulated into bags, belts, and boots. Stella McCartney, one of the most iconic names in 21st century fashion, refuses to use leather in her designs, and has used mushroom and algae alternatives for several years, such as Mylo.
Textile designers are coming up with the styles of the century, all while saving their materials from landfill.
These sustainable fabrics do not just stop at vegetables. Textile designers are coming up with the styles of the century, all while saving their materials from landfill.
Prior to the SS22 season, designers across the world asked themselves the same question, what happened to last season’s designs? At London Fashion Week, designs are often created to match the runway, and commercial, expectations, with the sustainable impact being put on the back burner, for the chance of a design in the limelight. It is estimated that just 2.4% of brands at SS24 LFW had climate change targets aligned with the Paris Agreement, which lead a SS24 Fashion Week partnership with Oxfam and Vinted, as well as many designs featuring wood-pulp.
British Vogue has highlighted the talent of several young designers, pioneering their way to a sustainable fashion future. The Challenge The Fabric Award launched by the Swedish Fashion Council in partnership with Ekman, sees all eight of these designers strive to sustainable success. The challenge was won by Yaku Stapelston, a graduate from University of the Arts London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins, with a look made from 100% recycled fibres – a striking green outfit complete with spikes, as if it were straight out of a science-fiction novel.
Yaku was up against fantastic designs from all around Europe, using responsibly sourced and recycled fabrics, as well as natural alternatives such as cellulose, Spinnova – a wood based fibre, Pyratex’s seaweed-based fibres, and Nanollose, which turns industrial and agricultural waste into rayon.
Across the pond in the United States, Deadstock fabrics were seen in 30% of collections at SS24 New York Fashion Week, with organic and recycled materials being introduced into designs by Prozena Schouler and Melke. Further biodegradable textiles were used by Melke, which, when combined with natural dyes to create striking colour combinations, would biodegrade if they ended up in the natural environment.
Similar designs even appeared in 2023 editions of Vogue, as designer Sam Finger repurposes vintage jeans into skirts and tops, bringing the true DIY feel of Brooklyn to the runway.
