After exploring Slow Fashion Brand-Eileen Fisher I thought I'd look into another slow fashion brand that may cost a tad less. A new Eileen Fisher t shirt runs $78+ while a new Everlane t shirt runs $18+. Both prices may seem high, but with slow fashion, you are paying for sustainable practices. Unlike fast fashion, these companies aren't focused on pushing quickly made clothes out their doors for their next shipment of the most recent fashion trend. And the cycle goes on and on and on.
On Everlane's "About" page they state the importance of knowing where their clothing is made. Following a link I was taken to a page displaying a world map with Everlane factories noted across the map. I clicked on a pin on the southern tip of India and was taken to an information page on MAS Holdings.
​What I loved about this page was the information Everlane shared about their shared history with each factory; why they worked with them. Everlane states often on their site how they wish to be as transparent as possible. This can be seen through the above mentioned map and info, but in also their cost breakdown info graphics. 
For those of you who like to/can wear wool, Everlane has a new cashmere line called ReCashmere. These sweaters are made of 60% recycled cashmere and 40% merino wool. The wool is collected through recycling programs. The vintage crew ReCashmere is so cute. I wish I wasn't allergic to wool.

Other items are also made of recycled items including their quilted coats, underwear (regenerated nylon), bags and backpacks.  

*I was not paid or contracted to write this post on Everlane. I am interested in learning about and sharing information about slow fashion brands and how they are working to change fashion's negative impact on our world. 

While working in the television and film industry I come across many different fashion brands. Many, because of the fashion culture, are fast fashion. 

Fast Fashion (n.) clothing created rapidly, often of poor (or lesser) quality, that is cheap for the consumer to purchase. 

I wanted to learn a little bit about fashion brands known as slow fashion. 

Slow Fashion (n.) clothing created with a social and economical consciousness; usually of higher quality and often more expensive than their fast fashion counterparts. 

One brand I have been working with recently has been Eileen Fisher. I enjoy their items, color choices, and often choice of fabrics, so I wanted to delve a little more into their company information. I started with their website which has a tab titled "behind the label". Subcategories include: organic fibers, undyed and natural dyes, human rights, fair trade, waste no more, etc. These sub categories are promising! (I had already researched a little into some supposed slow fashion brands so I knew Eileen Fisher was on the list)

My first visit was the "waste no more" section. I learned that Eileen Fisher takes back your Eileen Fisher brand clothes in any condition. Lightly worn pieces are resold on their website Eileen Fisher Renew. This is an amazing way to get their classic pieces at a discounted price. It's like thrifting online!  I can buy used clothes in my pjs! (I would like to take this moment to mention this is not a sponsored post nor and ad. I was genuinely curious about Eileen Fisher's practices and equally excited about their Renew program) 
Clothing that is not able to be resold is turned into art pieces, accessories, and pillows. In my research I could not find any way to purchase any of the artwork (which I would happily display in my apartment), but you can see some of the works at different exhibitions around the world. 

In addition to recycling and renewing their old lines, Eileen Fisher has pledged to use only organic cotton and linen by 2020. They are also hoping to only use recycled polyester in their clothes. In 2020 they also want to have roughly under half of their dyed clothing dyed with responsible usage of chemicals and water. Hopefully they can get all the way to 100%! I was impressed with the fact they map their entire supply chains, which is sadly not the norm in today's fashion industry. 

I wanted to know more about what happens to Eileen Fisher clothing that is already in stores but doesn't sell well so I found a contact on their website and sent in my inquiry. Within a week I had an in-depth answer to my inquiry. A lovely woman named Joan sent me an email explaining Eileen Fisher's dedication to sustainability in their design and construction process. Here are a few excerpts from that email:
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I am so pleased with this response from Joan. The fact that this brand can trace their clothing items from raw materials to its final sale, gives me hope in the viability of fashion. 
I know Eileen Fisher can be rather expensive for some people, so I hope if that is you, you check out their Renew section. But, I am also planning to find more slow fashion companies (maybe some less expensive options) and highlight them. 
It makes me happy that although I work in an industry that can be wasteful, there are some making deliberate steps to become sustainable. 

*Wanted to note again: I was not paid or asked to highlight Eileen Fisher or any other slow fashion company. I am genuinely interested in researching slow fashion and anything else in our industry that is better for our planet.  

The massive Halloween costume stores started to pop up all around New York late September. I was looking for some quick item for a show I was designing so I decided to just pop into a few to see if I could grab the item. While combing the racks and racks of bagged costumes I started to form a question that began to bother me greatly. 

If a costume company is selling a character's costume from a well known tv show or movie, does the costume designer for that production get paid/recognition? (ie: There were about four or five different costumes for Eleven from Stranger Things and all I could think of: "Are the designers getting paid for her deign work for each of these being sold?")

My first stop was to figure out if designs for movies and tv shows had any legal protection. Here are a few things I found:

• "In general, there is no copyright protection for the shape of clothing, and that includes many costumes. In copyright law, “useful articles” don’t get copyright protection because they are considered functional, rather than aesthetic. This means nobody can own a copyright in something like the shape of an automobile or a television set". -The Reeves Law Group
• "In a 1989 case, a court of appeals refused to protect costume designs even though the company had registered its costumes as "soft sculptures" with the Copyright Office."..."There may be instances where a movie company that owns a series such as Indiana Jones could complain that your costume sale -- for example, hat, jacket and whip -- could violate trademark laws if you used the name of the character in your advertising. -Dear Rich
• "...how can something (like clothing) that is not itself eligible for copyright protection be an infringing derivative work? However, a very similar argument was made in the Batmobile case, where the defendant was making and selling actual cars, and the court rejected it, reasoning that the Batmobile was under copyright and therefore cars that looked like the Batmobile were copyright infringement. The same would presumably go for costumes." -Knowmad Law

​From what I could find, even if the character is copyrighted or trademarked, the clothing they are wearing can not be. The patterns or artwork on them could potentially be, but the clothing itself can't. 
I also looked if I could find any information about if designers are involved in the creation of these bagged Halloween costumes of their costume designs. I couldn't find any information. I would be interested in learning what happens once a costume has been filmed; what rights do a costume designer have to any Halloween costumes of their designs. 
Something that did come up in my research was collaborations between costume designers and merchandising and/or the lack-there-of. The Hollywood Reporter has an article from 2016 speaking with a few costume designers about merchandising fashion linked with the shows they designed for. It answered a few questions and just piled more in their places. 
So, for now it seems like designers don't collaborate on the Halloween costumes of their designs that you can buy at these mega Halloween stores. If you want to be your favorite character from a tv or movie I would suggest learning about the designer a little, gathering photos, and thrift the items or looking in your own closet to pull together the look for the character. It is fun, eco-friendly, and maybe in some way a nod to the designers who created these looks to begin with. 
This may be my hot take. What do you think? 

I have written about eco friendly and green theatre practices twice before: See here and here.
Whenever I find something clothing related that can help our planet I want to share!

I have recently been diving deep into the UK television programming and have come across a show called "Second Chance Dress". The premise of the show is a bride is looking for her wedding dress and is given the choice of three other women's used bridal dresses. This is fun television and it is GREEN! Buying second hand dresses and even re-purposing second hand dresses (premise of a TLC show "Something Borrowed, Something New") is a great way to keep good quality cloth and clothing out of landfills. So many companies in the fashion industry burn last season's clothing/scraps/unsold pieces as opposed to donating or selling items, that it is a great practice to buy high quality, sustainable sourced fashion, or vintage/consignment/thrift. I understand some in theatre/film/television need to use fast fashion in their designs (I do sometimes) but, if you can re-purpose pieces in designs or everyday life, try to incorporate the practice.

I am so happy to see a show (even if it's not their main objective) that is shedding light on reusing fashion.

One of my post popular articles was my 5 Quick Change Tricks. I recently designed a musical (Bye Bye Birdie) that included on stage quick changes for eight characters in rapid succession. I think it is time to revisit quick changes.

In addition to the above pictured changes (description of change in captions) we created a flip skirt which the actress was able to unfasten while twirling and refastening showing another side with new fabric. I also had four gents who needed to change on stage. To create this quick pace change I found a pattern for baseball/bomber jackets and had my stitcher make them reversible. The guys did flips, spins, etc. to pull their dark New York jackets inside out reveling bright colors for Sweet Apple.
The director caught me off guard with his request for on stage quick changes but with the help of the costume shop supervisor and some very patient stitchers I was able to create the overall desired effect. The actors loved their unique quick change pieces and the audience had a blast watching them perform the choreography. 
​Photos by: Rachael Kennedy