Welcome to part II of my local sustainable fashion highlights from 2019. Enjoy!
Phoenix Fashion Week
Every October Phoenix Fashion Week hosts the largest fashion event in the entire Southwest. This year, for the first time ever, PHX FW gave sustainable fashion the stage. Day 2 included a sustainable fashion panel discussion, titled Wear Your Values. The panel was moderated by Heidi Altree, and included Laura Tanzer, Hermann Plank, and myself.
FABRIC
I was so grateful to report on FABRIC and cofounder Angela Johnson. Angela Johnson is a fixture of Arizona fashion and is known for sustainably building Arizona’s fashion industry. FABRIC is the fashion incubator located in Tempe which recently celebrated its three year anniversary.
FABRIC has literally put Arizona on the sustainable fashion map, providing the opportunity for an emerging fashion brand to design, manufacture and market domestically, right here in Arizona. Local manufacturing continues to be an important trend in redeveloping a more sustainable industry. FABRIC also hosted the second annual Arizona Eco Fashion Week in April. We are already looking forward to Year #3!
Secondhand Fashion
As the trends have proven this past year, Arizona continues to support the circular economy and secondhand shopping with many of our consignment stores thriving, such as To Be Continued, My Sister’s Closet, Well Suited, My Sister’s Attic, and Airpark Consignment, and even the popularity of the clothing swap.
In the June issue of Green Living Magazine I covered Men’s resale fashion: Men’s Fashion that’s doing Good for the Planet: Secondhand. I was excited to learn that the men’s consignment market is going strong in Arizona too!
In the September issue of Green Living Magazine, I covered sustainable home decor trends: Sustainable Styling For The Home. I talked about both the ecofriendly benefits and the popularity of consignment for the home in Arizona, and even had my own home featured in the spread.
Goodwill
In addition to our plethora of consignment venues, Arizona is known for it’s growing selection of thrift stores, such as Goodwill.
Goodwill is doing a great job promoting and publicizing the ecofriendly benefits of shopping secondhand fashion by partnering with local fashion influencers and even hosting stylish insta-worthy shopping events, such as their RECLAIMED Fashion Events.
This past November’s RECLAIMED Event even included a panel discussion exclusively devoted to sustainable fashion featuring some of us local sustainable fashion advocates. I was lucky enough to be a featured panelist.
Clearly, sustainable fashion is not going away for Arizona; it is not a trend. Sustainable fashion in Arizona is a growing movement that is quickly gaining momentum.
Although I’ll be focusing less on writing and reporting this year, I will continue to promote sustainable fashion trends, local designers and sustainable shopping tips you can employ so that you too can merge style with sustainability...And we all just might change the world in the meantime.
As I learned in my January interview with Marci Zaroff, “2019 is the big tipping point year for sustainable fashion. You can look good, feel good and do good in the world. It is cool to be conscious now.” Now, 2020 is the year we all jump on board.
Cheers!