EMESHA - Behind the Label

Hello readers! This post is quite important for me, as  Emese, the lovely girl behind this wonderful eco-luxe label, is very close to my heart.  I met her last year at LFW, and since then we became really good friends: we cheer each other up, we try to push each other when the road gets rocky. Emese is working so hard, and her determination is commendable. Plus her designs are amazing, and I am not just saying it: I find them always classy, simple but still with a unique twist, effortlessly elegant! The girl-meets-boy theme is always present in her collection, nevertheless every season she gives more and more: the latest A/W 2011/12 collection is so far my favourite: Amazing eco-friendly high quality fabrics, precise cutting, draping and beautiful tailoring. She takes the delicate nature of pleating to another level by juxtaposing it with the heavy fabrics, and the harsh angular detailing. 


Please go and check out her designer profile for much more interesting details HERE! also you can find more details on her early days and works HERE!



 She kindly agreed to answer some of my questions, so we can learn a bit more about her as a person and just see what and who is behind EMESHA the label.





CREDITS
Photographer: Mariell Amelie
Hair and make-up: Ole Elias Reinholdtsen Høve
Styling: Shyla Hassan
Model: Natalia Doktor at D1 Models

See-through fitted shirtDouble layered pleated skirt

1. What does your label mean to you and why?

 My label represents my philosophy towards life and fashion. I believe in fair working conditions and unfortunately, particularly within the fashion industry these are not always implemented. The desire to consume has created a more disposable attitude towards fashion, which means no real value is place upon the hard work and skill that goes into making garments of high quality. I think people should invest their hard earned money into wardrobe staples and break the pattern of "one-night-stand" attitude towards fast paced trend shifts. This would save a lot of garments from the landfill! 

Boyfriend blazer & Wool trousers with cuff hem detail

2. What do you think about fashion as a business? 

Fashion is a very difficult business to enter. You have to know your customer and develop good strong contacts within the industry. It’s not enough to be a good designer to create a successful fashion business, you have to be good in sales and have a flair for PR as well – it is very hard work.  

3. What is the biggest challenge for you as an ethical designer? 

The biggest challenge each season is to find the right fabrics for the collection. Although this has improved significantly in the past years, it is still relatively difficult to find sustainable fabrics of really high quality and an interesting texture. Another challenge is to bridge the gap between the consumer’s perception of ‘ethical’ clothing and the truth behind fair fashion. We have come a long way since the days of the first "hemp sacks", however there is still an acute stigma attached to sustainability yet when we take a look at contemporary ethical designers and the collections they are producing, it is clear that this the case anymore. On the contrary, we can find very high quality, beautifully crafted clothes.  

Wool mix fitted dress

4. What does sustainability mean to you as a person?   

To me it means not to waste. This I see as a lifestyle of conscious choices as a consumer, including fashion, food and even the electronic gadgets, buying things that have a minimal environmental impact.  

5. What are your top 3 favourite materials to work with? 

I really like working with silk because of the soft, flowing texture of the fabric. Cotton is really nice for daywear pieces, but my favourite fabric is definitely wool. It comes in such a great variety of textures, form and weights, from very light wool to soft, fluffy pieces. 

6. Give me a highest and lowest moment in your career/life as a designer?

I've had a few highs and lows. One of my greatest fashion moments was being backstage at a Vivienne Westwood fashion show in Paris. I was still a student, but I think that particular moment was pivotal moment in my career which determined my future. Another great moment was when I was accepted to showcase at London Fashion Week with my first collection. I was and still am really proud of being featured on Vogue Italia’s Talents. The lows you try to learn from, each business is difficult to start and I have been faced with all the start-ups problems and challenges.

Pleated shirtdress

7. Your favourites from your A/W11 collection? 

One of my favourite pieces is the navy pleated cocktail dress, but I'm also in love with the pink coat which I cannot wait to wear! For a casual evening out I would choose the black minidress. Every wardrobe should contain a fitted black dress. They suit everyone and can be dressed up or down depending on what you require, and black is never ‘out of fashion.’ 

Fitted evening dress with several different front pleat details and zip detail at back

Fully lined, wool mix winter coat with oversized lapels. Loose fit

8. What or who is your biggest inspiration? 

I like reading about ordinary people, who started out with nothing and found success through hard work and innovative ideas, I find these stories very inspiring. Otherwise my Mom is my biggest inspiration, she has always believed in me and without her support I would not be where I am today.  

9. Give us one word as a sneak peak for your SS12 collection?  

Collaboration! :)   

10. What are your future plans?  

I would like to create a team with like-minded people with whom I could make the label thrive.   

Now you can ask me a question as well, if you want to ;)

What made you become interested in sustainability?

To be honest I cannot recall when it started and why. If I am thinking hard, then I think the first feeling that comes to my mind is that I was a bit bored and sick of the high-street shops. I started checking on Google and read about articles on how they operate, then one thing led to another and I started to check on sustainability, recycling, waste etc. Then came fashion. Then all of a sudden came the idea, I want to have my own sustainable fashion business. I have to say,  I am not perfect, but I am trying to live a more conscious life: buying less clothes, shoes I am having troubles with :); producing less waste, consume less in general.


So there you have it, a little bit more, a little bit personal :)


I hope you enjoyed it!


xxx


Kingu

Hang up your Pants and Carry on!

Hello, I hope you are all having a nice week, here's a little summary covering some interesting topics in the field of ethical/sustainable fashion. Sit back, relax and get ready for quite a long post this time, but I still hope that I can offer you something interesting.

 

As I mentioned you in my previous post I attended The Ethical Fashion Source Expo last year and listened to some of the seminars organised. First up for coverage is the seminar on Innovation:

Speaker: Emily Pearce, Project Manager in EFF’s Excellence Ethical Fashion Forum

Panel: Julia Gash, Company Director of Bag it Don’t Bin it

Pieter Theron, founder of Norman Hangers

Ben Ramsden, Founder of Pants to Poverty and PI Foundation

Emily's introduction established the fact that ethical fashion is the fastest growing part of the fashion sector. To have a competitive advantage is vital in any business, and 'primary entrepreneurs in the ethical fashion sourcing sector are using creative thinking to turn challenges into opportunities' by innovation, differentiation to fill a niche in the market by invigorating their product offerings, production processes etc.

So how did the above companies create that competitive advantage to make their business thrive?

Norman Hangers

The stylish, design-led, innovative,sustainable clothes hangers. It does sound a bit overwhelming, doesn't it? :)

Let's see what or who is behind this product?

Peter Theron, who previously designed CD cases from paper, decided to start producing hangers from 100% recycled paper. The first problem he faced is that it definitely had to be durable if it wanted to compete with traditional wooden, plastic hangers. once the basic idea was born, they started to think about adding further features such as the marketing tool of print surface. The number of benefits is impressive: reduction of waste, cost and CO2; space saving (flat-pack); natural, recycable, biodegradable; and the big PLUS where the innovative idea lies is the new marketing platform it establishes :)

Bag it Don't Bin it

It is and ecologically driven manufacturing company based in Yorkshire, in Sheffield; innovation is essential to its existence.

They work with eco-friendly inks; they are making bags for a wide variety of customer: retailers, schools, artists, designers etc. for events, fundraising for charities, and it is a great alternative for plastic bags that are great polluters in the planet.

They are pushing boundaries with their screen-printing tehcnique.Julia’s background is in printing as well, started as early as a child in her dad’s printing factory.They train unemployed people in Sheffield to learn the skill of screen printing, so they can become skilled printers.

They also bring design intelligence to other partners such as universities; they work very close with universities in Sheffield.

Their main aim is to engage with the end user! Therefore design is very important: they have stockist in The British Museum; they did Manolo Blahnik design on bags etc.

New Projects:

• Working with university students to design a bag with a safety feature on them. The bag from its own weight when it is packed, seals itself on the top.

• Monthly cooking (innovation not restricted only to product development but other aspects too), employ 12 young people (1st jobbers) from bad social backgrounds; teach them how to cook, take them to the shops, negotiate with the butcher, sit down and eat together

Julia considers design and innovation to be very important to encourage customers in this shift of not using any plastic bags, and switch to eco-friendly bags. Design eco-bags that are useable, the design elements make these bags unique, and can be personalized to customer’s taste too; so they become fashionable, often statement items. Also, it is essential to use their persuasive power to persuade big retailers to change their operations. We can live without them; we just need to find suitable alternatives.

Pants to Poverty

They started selling pants 5 years ago, with the campaign Make Poverty History their aim was to make Nelson Mandela’s message accessible and sustainable for people.

'Underwear is the perfect tool to deliver this message: it is intimate, it is cheeky, if you’re not wearing it you are totally naked, pretty much everyone is engaged in wearing it.' (Ben)

Innovation is core to absolutely everything they do. Innovation is a form of evolution enabling people to raise their ‘underwearness’, to liberate people to Make Poverty History with Fair Trade.

'What so great about it is that fashion as an industry can link the poorest people to the richest people, and it is also the celebration of diversity and independency etc. The wealth generated on the top, often doesn’t not go down all the way to the farmers, workers.' (Ben)

They are working with 5000 farmers in India, they set up charity to support them and their work, and the farmers are in control of their lands and seeds. They are aiming for freedom of association, good living wage, and at the end of the day to make it viable both commercially and socially to reach PROFIT: social, environmental and financial.

Production, distribution and design: being inspirational in design, representing them in recycled waste fair trade cotton, and recycled cardboard boxes, recycled CD cases (children’s range packed in these cases that can be up-cycled into a pencil case)

Marketing:They are launching a campaign to take off pesticides from farms.

Financing in a socially sustainable way: it is an ongoing work, having a good product, proper distribution in 15 countries in the world.

Making customers feel a bit of ownership in their purchased sustainable brands is their important goal.

Maximum poverty is amongst people at the age of 18-25. They work with 3 YMCAs, homeless, unemployed kids, they train them up to set up sales units: they learn sales, marketing, finance, accounting; all with the view of selling their pants. Also, they are collaborating with Big Issue Vendors and 15 restaurants as retail units.Hence they are making profit through the value chain to maximize benefit for all the stakeholders in the chain, also looking at how retail can generate positive social and environmental impact on people living in poverty in this country.

Their innovation also lies in their Finanical Model: as a result of paying upfront they have a negative cash flow. They created crowd founding bonds that they sell @ £2500/bond @ 8.6% APR interest or charity. Through this they established working capital; Innovative new finance tool.

'Innovation is cool, innovation is risky, and innovation is exciting: innovation is the future.' (Ben)


What do you think? Which idea do you find the most innovative and why? What other ideas/companies do you consider innovative?

Thanks for reading this!!

xxx

Kingu

Let's just go back...to see what's to come

Yes, finally I am in the process of really pulling myself together and the reality just dawned on me: I have been doing quite a lot and still not enough!!

Just some of the materials I collected over the last year while attending a couple of events on fashion, sustainability etc.:

NOW it is the time to actually share it with you too! I would like to cover most of the things before LFW commences as that needs my undivided attention ;), plus I am starting a new job very  very soon, so probably I will be quite busy and stressed for some weeks coming. I will do my best!

So what is to come?

My visits to London Fashion Week - Estethica Exhibition, some great, talented designers; a very special presentation I got invited to by one of the kindest designers I met! :)

LFW/SS11 - Estethica Exhibition

The Ethical Fashion Source  Expo 2010 - a great event organised by The Ethical Fashion Forum; the only fashion industry trade-show dedicated to ethical sourcing with inspirational suppliers, designers, sourcing support bodies, seminar programmes.

I attended some of the seminars which I will also share with you soon: Sourcing Excellence, Innovation, Production to High Ethical Standards in the UK.

The UK AWARE Show 2011 on contemporary sustainable living: seminars,sustainable lifestyle, fashion show, fantastic companies and brands with amazing ideas!!

All the above would lead us straight to the start to LFW SS12.

So stay tuned and watch this space!

P.S.: I will do a little give-away as well!! :)

xxx

Kingu