Do you know what eco fashion means? By analyzing the name, it’s possible to understand that is a kind of clothing production concerned about the environment.
But what exactly is this?
Eco fashion is defined, at first, as a concept that applies to all the productive chain of the clothing fabrication: since the fabric manufacturing until the sewing. The amount of water to produce a piece of cloth, the pesticides used in the fabric raw material plantations, such as cotton, and the average of chemical components used, are all questions that are important in the eco fashion. Such questions are uncommon in the mainstream fast fashion industry, which is concerned, at first, about prices competition, releasing new tendencies and profit.
In Brazil, eco fashion initiatives have been increasing in the last years. Here are four of them:
1. Conceito Ada
Image Source: Distintos
This brand located in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande Sul, works only with organic cotton. Conceito Ada is also a vegan approved brand, and what is more interesting about it is that it doesn’t work according to the mainstream fashion season collections, for its production of atemporal clothing, that can be used anytime, for many years. Conceito Ada is also a body positive brand, bringing 28 different sizes to the customers. Besides that, a cool fact about it, is that every piece of clothing has a feminist woman’s name, such as Leolinda (the brazilian suffragist) T-shirt or Maya Angelou dress. The clients can find Conceito Ada’s clothes physically in Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo and Minas Gerais or buy it online (https://conceitoada.com/) . The average prices are between 100 and 300 reais.
2. Insecta Shoes
Image Source: Inhabitat
This brazilian vegan shoe brand has conquered the international market and have its products available, besides Brazil, in the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain and France. Insecta upcycles second hand clothing, plastic bottles and other things considered useless to the market, and produces original and eco-friendly shoes. The brand is also concerned about gender equality: all its products are unisex, and the shoe models have the same size for men and women. Insecta also has a clothing fabrication of jackets, following all the same patterns than the shoes. The average price is around 300 reais.
3. MIG Jeans
Image Source: Menos 1 Lixo
MIG Jeans is a recently created upcycling brand from Rio de Janeiro. The raw materials used for the clothes’ confection are second hand jeans and textiles wastes, that are customized by the MIG Jeans’ designers, and become a total different piece of clothing. MIG Jeans applies the slow fashion concept to its clothes, and the fabrication doesn’t follow the fast fashion seasons. The brand’s studio is located in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, which, for the creators, is a way of contributing to the economic growth of that area. At this moment, MIG Jeans sales its products by making collabs with bigger fashion shops, such as YOUCOM or AHLMA.
4. Brisa Slow Fashion
Image Source: Carol Pinheiro
Brisa slow fashion brings the concept of minimalism to its products. The brand only works with organic cotton, natural dyes and manual techniques. Brisa Slow Fashion also supports the local market: all the fabrics used are made in Brazil, and all the seamstresses are artisans from the Brazilian south. Like all the other brands quoted in this article, Brisa Slow Fashion works with an atemporal idea of its fashion products. It is possible find it online (https://www.brisaslowfashion.com/) or physically in Porto Alegre and Florianópolis. The average prices are around 300 reais.