Eco Fashion Week Returns for 12th Season

The sustainable fashion initiative will feature eco-friendly collections from Vancouver and around the world

Vancouver’s annual sustainable fashion event, Eco Fashion Week, is returning for its 12th consecutive season from March 31st to April 2nd at The Fairmont Waterfront. The event revolutionized the slow fashion movement in Canada, and it continues to ignite appeal across the Canadian fashion industry through its progressive and innovative approach to clothing.

This year’s highly-anticipated event will feature an array of environmentally conscious labels such as Vancouver’s cruelty-free Bianca Bellantoni and New York City-based Kromagnon. A showroom displaying sustainable fabrics, clothing and accessory options from local businesses will also be set up during the event.

Eco Fashion Week kicks off on March 31st with Collective Conversation, a series of panel discussions featuring experts in the textile and supply industry, with subject matter focused on creating solutions for increased sustainability in the textile industry. Esther Speck, vice president of global sustainability at Lululemon; Karen Storry, senior project engineer with the City of Vancouver; and Tony Shumpert, vice president of reuse and recycling at Value Village are among the eclectic range of speakers at the event.

The event will once again feature the Chic Sheets Challenge as well as panel discussion segments (this year will be moderated by local TV personalities Fiona Forbes and ET Canada‘s Erin Cebula), but there are also some notable changes in this spring’s roster.

Eco Fashion Week will be taking its famous 81-pound Challenge to Toronto where Project Runway Canada winner Evan Biddell will create an entire clothing collection using 81 pounds of scraps of old fabrics and recycled clothing and accessories from Value Village (81 pounds signifies the average amount of textiles that each North American throws out each year). Upon completion, the collection will be showcased at the Museum of Vancouver for Eco Fashion Week’s finale night on April 2nd.

Following Collective Conversation will be the Chic Sheets Challenge presentation, a challenge where student designers from LaSalle College were tasked with transforming a set of used sheets and pillowcases from the Fairmont Waterfront into a garment that celebrates Canada’s 150th birthday.

Click here for ticket listings and the full schedule for Eco Fashion Week.