VIRTUE SINGLING
With a more sustainable future in our sights, Vogue dedicates space to single out the latest in positive-impact, ethical and environmentally sound fashion, worthy of your investment.
GOOD AS GOLD
While once it might not have been given second thought, the ethical credentials of jewellers are now proudly worn. Mineralier is one such need-to-know name, a New Zealand-born zero-plastic enterprise utilising 90 per cent recycled gold and silver with the remainder ethically mined. A supporter of The Wilderness Society, and previously collaborators with fellow sustainably minded New Zealanders Paris Georgia, it’s more than precious little.
– a slew of retailers is now steadily adding capability to their e-tail sites allowing users to do ethical searches. That is, searching by value or concern, as you would by style or colour. Australia’s Well Made Clothes, that sells the likes of Nagnata, Veja and Arnsdorf, offers a drop-down menu of categories to shop by including handcrafted, vegan or minimal waste. Similarly Stride offers ‘Australian-made’ and ‘impact’ as two of more categories, while on Thread Harvest you can select from filters including ‘empowering women’ and ‘employing the marginalised’. It comes as recent research from McKinsey & Company showed Australians making more considered purchases in the wake of Covid-19: of those surveyed, more than 25 per cent said they would buy more from brands based on their values and whether they promote sustainable solutions. Happy shopping indeed.
SUSTAINABLE SHOPPERS REJOICE PURE WATERS
The ability to turn ocean plastics into born-again swimwear has been on offer for years, so it’s little surprise Australians are experts in it. This summer, turn to local labels like Melbourne-based Baaby and Cleonie and the Net-A-Porter-stocked Peony, both of which use Econyl, made from upcycled nylon. See also Lé Buns, Boteh and modest swim label Azyä, making full-coverage pieces.