Fashion is finally taking note of sustainability, but Vivienne Westwood pre-empted it. For some time, the British design stalwart has put her menswear (and womenswear, and accessories) where her mouth is, teaming political messages with organic and upcycled fabrics, and even editing the full brand output into one cohesive unisex range. Less production, less waste.
And now, Vivienne Westwood has just announced a new partnership to coincide with World Earth Day (which is today, in case it’d slipped off the radar), teaming up with green not-for-profit venture Canopy. The organisation, which seeks to work with the forest industry’s biggest customers, encourages solutions that protect dwindling forestland, and fashion’s hidden ecological cost feeds into this: more than 150 million trees are felled each year for cellulosic fabric, and dissolving pulp – the key ingredient of viscose – wastes around 70 per cent of the entire tree.
That’s a lot of rubbish. And that’s not very Vivienne Westwood. So to celebrate the new partnership, spoken word artist, model, and visibility activist Kai-Isaiah Jamal joined up with visual artist Aiden Zamiri to release a video titled ‘Vivus’: an ode to the brand’s founder and creative director, and to the new ecological project.
“We are long-time campaigners about the impacts of clime change, and we use our voice to mobilise people around its effects on them and the planet,” said Christopher DiPietro, global brand director of Vivienne Westwood. “Fashion has a disproportionate impact on the environment and to remedy that we have for some time been changing the way we make clothes to reflect this.”
