On January 17th, 2013, the Columbia Business School Sustainable Business Committee held a packed forum in Manhattan entitled, “Sustainable Fashion- Timeless or Trendy?,” discussing the sustainability of our clothing. Many audience members were shocked to hear about how toxic the production of fabric is, given the amount of pesticides and chemical dyes used. The panel included several eco-designers (hemperjeans.com; gretchenjonesnyc.com, thereformation.com) who use natural or repurposed fabrics. Also speaking were film-maker Catherine Tyc, and Sass Brown, Dean at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, and author of a beautiful book entitled “Ecofashion” and the blog Ecofashiontalk.com. Q&A centered around how to make more people aware of this issue, and the concept of transparency and labeling requirements for clothing. Several designers brought their designs, and particularly impressive was a NY-based designer who created the “Elsa” dress- simple and classic, made of organic cotton (See Elsa and Me) . Also of note was another NYC company encouraging clothing exchange, called Closet Dash. For more on this event see http://www.cbsacny.org/article.html?aid=1260.
