Making Eco Fashion Cool

Online, December 21, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Is making eco cool the answer to Sustainable Fashion?

This year London Fashion Week hosted its first sustainable fashion show, prompting the question; is sustainability forcing its way to the forefront of mainstream fashion? An eco fashion brand from the Isle of Wight is taking on what it believes is fashion's last barrier to reaching the masses -making eco cool.
After a week of stark New York shows, London Fashion Week opened in an explosion of colour and personality. The first sustainable fashion show at LFW, held in partnership with START - an initiative by The Prince's Charities Foundation to promote and celebrate sustainable living - showcased established and emerging sustainable designers with the aim of proving that high fashion needn't cost the earth. Eco Fashion brand Rapanui; from the Isle of Wight, were in attendance and aim to mix 'looking good with doing good'.

As a brand, Rapanui designs its garments with sustainability at the core of their business ethics and structure. Rapanui's secret is actually so simple that it's hard to imagine why no-one has thought of it before.

"It's about making eco-fashion cool, about using fashion and trend to inspire people to do things out of the ordinary" says Rob Drake-Knight, co-founder.

"We like to make cool clothes, just like the high street, that don't cost the earth. It's as simple as making the same item, but with an eco-textile. Eco-fashion no longer has to be solely for earth mothers or in the shadows of mainstream fashion and can now start to become globally recognised as being stylish and cool. The recent hike in cotton prices could prove to be a turning point on the highstreet and the catwalk; we could be seeing the end of cheap highstreet cotton and a shift in consumer perception of the value of clothing. " said Mart Drake-Knight, designer and co-founder.
The brand says that it's not that people don't care about child labour, climate change or the damaging effects of pesticide, it's just they don't know.
Find out more at www.rapanuiclothing.com/eco
Take your pick from their women's organic clothing and men's organic clothing collections.
ENDS
Notes to Editor
For further information please contact Rob Drake-Knight, on 01983 873430 or email [email protected]. Or for specific information on sustainability Martin Drake-Knight on 01983 873430 or email [email protected]

About Rapanui:
Rapanui is about making cool eco-fashion for young people; that means clothing that is eco-friendly, ethical and sustainable: Made from natural organic fabrics in a Fairwear Foundation audited, wind powered factory. Through surfing the brothers saw and experienced the changing environment and climate at their local beach and as inspired, unemployed graduates in a recession, they took a different path; if you can't find a job, make one.

Rapanui has held Seminars and Lectures at UK and EU universities and multinational companies such as Centrica PLC on Sustainable Business and sit on the Panel at Plymouth University's All our Future Conference.

Rapanui has made bespoke versions of its clothing for multinationals and charities including Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and the Marine Conservation Society.

Rapanui was set up by brothers Mart and Rob Drake-Knight in early 2008 with £200 of savings and was listed in the Top 100 Startups of 2008. Rob and Martin are listed on the Future 100 List of Top young Entrepreneurs and were recently finalists in Enterprise UK's Young Brits awards. Rapanui was the youngest company to reach the finals of the Sustainable Business Awards in 2008 and has recently been nominated for the internationally-recognised ISPO Brand New Award.