‘You should never have to sacrifice style for ethics’

Cora Hilts launched Rêve En Vert because she found few eco-friendly designer clothes. Now, finds Caroline Leaper, it’s fast becoming the Net-a-porter of sustainable style

If you’re ever in need of some motivation to reassess your lifestyle choices, spend an afternoon with Cora Hilts. She’s wearing an organic silk blouse and upcycled jeans when she invites me into her plant-filled, responsibly furnished London studio, and yet she doesn’t feel any need to point out that my Lurex jumper was probably made from brainless amounts of plastic. As founder of sustainable fashion e-tailer Rêve En Vert, she’s more likely to leave you feeling inspired about the new style options that exist than guilty about sins you’ve already committed.

“My whole point is that you should never have to sacrifice style for ethics,” she confirms as the reason she decided to launch her website four years ago. “I was changing a lot of my lifestyle habits to be more eco conscious, but I selfishly still wanted to dress how I have always wanted to dress. I started researching and finding all of these smaller designer brands that did beautiful, but sustainably manufactured, clothes and just thought, why can’t you buy all of these labels in one place?”

With a background in environmental politics, Hilts says that her family initially didn’t understand why she wanted to start a fashion business. “Even my friends thought I was insane,” she laughs. “People thought that sustainability and luxury fashion are at odds with one another, as fashion is meant to be beautiful and a bit thoughtless. The industry is a massive polluter, but it’s also a place where there is a lot of opportunity to make changes that will have a lot of impact.”

In 2018, sales at Rêve En Vert have Future of fashion: Cora Hilts, above, takes the hard work out of sourcing eco-friendly and stylish designs. Left and right, looks from the new REV collection been increasing by 30 per cent month on month – an extraordinary growth rate that shows we are willing to shop ethically if the options are A) easy (we don’t have time to research the credentials) and B) gorgeous. It’s essential, Hilts says, that you are not buying something just because you think it’s for a good cause. “It can’t ever look the way that people expect sustainable fashion to look, as that in itself is not sustainable.”

As well as a general consumer movement towards buying less and buying better, Hilts puts the recent influx of sales down to an unlikely fashion influencer: David Attenborough. “We’ve definitely seen a Blue Planet effect,” she says. “That programme created an empathy that hadn’t existed before. You don’t find many people now who say that climate change isn’t real. People email me with a lot more questions – do we use plastic packaging, is this produced with dye that would pollute water systems? It’s great that people are thinking more about what they’re buying and how it was made. I think we’ve reached the end of thoughtlessness when it comes to shopping.”

Rêve En Vert now ships to over 45 countries (the company plants trees annually to offset the inevitable carbon footprint) and stocks more than 40 labels. Any designer sold on the site has passed Hilts’s extensive questioning to establish their exact principles and production processes. “No brand can ever tick every single box,” she notes. “But I feel I could stand up for every label we stock and say that their ethics are as good as possible.”

Price is a very important point of contention for the retailer. “I’ve made sure that there are really accessible price points on the site, but, of course, it is more expensive to shop sustainably,” she considers. “At the same time I think we’ve come to expect things to be so cheap and we’ve lost track of what expensive actually is. Spending £5,000 on a bag is excessive. Spending £300 on a bag that will last you forever I think is OK.”

Hilts says there are two tests that you can conduct on any garment to check its credentials. “Firstly, look at the label to see where it was made,” she advises. “If it’s in Europe, you can assume that there was some regulation. The carbon footprint is also less than if it’s been shipped from Asia. The second is fabric content. Anything polyester, nylon, Lycra or rayon is made from plastic.”

Her own wardrobe is incredibly streamlined. “There are only six items that I always reach for; my silk blouses, these jeans, a recycled denim jacket, my by-product leather trousers,” she says. “Those are my staples.”

The one thing she will have something new for, though, is her wedding this September. “I’ve found a bridal brand that does made-to-order dresses using deadstock fabrics from luxury houses,” she smiles. “As I’ve been doing the research I’ve discovered so many great new eveningwear brands.” An occasionwear section on the website, naturally, is now imminent.