Carbon labelled Sri Lankan designs to make waves at London fashion shows

Saturday, 20 August 2011 01:43 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Carbon Consulting Company (CCC)-created carbon labels for two Sri Lankan designers making waves in London.

Designers Charini Suriyage and KT Brown have been selected to exhibit at two of London’s most prestigious fashion shows. KT Brown will be at Pure London and Charini Suriyage at London Fashion Week.

As winners of the Sri Lanka Design Festival Ethical Fashion Awards, they were selected by a panel of judges to be put on show. The CCC as knowledge partners to the Ethical Fashion Awards calculated the carbon footprint for their designs and also mentored them on their overall sustainability message.

“It is our duty to help these up and coming designers to claim Sri Lanka’s position as a green and ethical destination,” said CCC Director Subramaniam Eassuwaren. “We extended our support to these designers so that they will be able to back up their green claims based on sound scientific premise.”

Sponsored by M&S, MAS Holdings, SLDF and Reclaimed-To-Wear, the two designers will launch their sustainable collections for the first time in London this autumn. Lingerie brand Charini and ready-to-wear womens brand KT Brown, as part of the award prize, worked alongside ethical fashion and business experts from the UK and Sri Lanka to develop collections for the European marketplace. By boosting their business potential and focusing on a sustainable supply chain they are set to have a competitive edge with European buyers this autumn.

“As part of creating environmentally sound products, these designers collaborated with the Carbon Consulting Company to calculate the product footprint for their garments. Each designer chose one item from their collection, and the Carbon Consulting Company performed a comprehensive Carbon Life Cycle Analysis for the chosen item. In doing so the total carbon emissions emitted for each product was calculated from ‘cradle to gate’; or from the stage of raw material extraction to the stage of distribution. After evaluating the product footprint for each garment, a carbon label disc losing the carbon footprint was attached,” said Eassuwaran, explaining the process.

This comprehensive yet challenging exercise proved to be a winning solution for the designers as not only did the carbon label add value to the products catering to high end, environmentally conscious consumers, but also proved to be a valuable educational tool.

Armed with the information of where and how most carbon emissions are emitted during the production process, these designers were better equipped in making sound environmentally conscious decisions during the design stage itself.

“In doing this project we at CCC hope that these talented designers will set new environmental trends in the fashion industry and go from strength to strength.”