Last week (31th of August – 3rd of September) Amsterdam Fashion Week took place.
Similar to Paris, New York, and Milan this event celebrates fashion through runway shows, presentations, parties, and other fun events.
Amsterdam Fashion Week supports young talent, as well as, well established designers, brands, and other artists from the fashion world.
As sustainability is becoming more prominent in the fashion world it can not be missed from the runways during the Amsterdam Fashion Week. Let’s discuss the (different) sustainability initiatives of four brands that have showcased their new collections.
MARTAN
Amsterdam Fashion Week opened with the runway show from fashion brand MARTAN.
MARTAN is a circular fashion brand that uses old textiles from different luxury hotels and turns them into new clothes.
Currently the brand is owned by Diek Pothoven, Eugenie Mulier, and Douwe de Boer.
Diek Pothoven is the founder and creative director of MARTAN.
Douwe de Boer is co-creative director of the brand and is mainly focused on the design and the creative development.
Eugenie Mulier is the head of sustainability and is responsible for the circular production cycle and brand development. Next to this, Eugenie was the co-founder of the brand Archivist, which is part of MARTAN since this year.
For more information of MARTAN please visit their website or take a look at their Instagram (@martan.official)
1/OFF Paris
For the first time ever, 1/OFF Paris has shown their new collection during Amsterdam Fashion Week.
1/OFF Paris is a fashion brand that primarily focuses on up-cycling old and vintage designer clothes.
The brand was established by Dutch designer Renée van Wijngaarden in 2019. Renée started the brand with reducing textile waste in mind.
The vision of the brand is based on the ideology that fashion should no longer be disposable, and instead is part of an endless creative cycle.
The brand sources vintage designer items from all over the world, and transforms them into one-of-a-kind pieces. The items are re-imagined and designed by a team of highly skilled couture makers.The brand works with individual creative ateliers that all have mastered their own specialties.
For more information on 1/OFF Paris please visit their website or take a look at their Instagram (@1offparis)
FRANCON
FRANCON is a womenswear label from Rotterdam, established by May and Kees Kaan.
What makes this brand so interesting is that it is inspired by architectural thinking. Instead of following the different fashion seasons, FRANCON follows five architectural archetypes: the Lake House, the Tower, the Cabin, the Chalet and the Palazzo.
With this way of thinking FRANCON pulls itself out of the fashion cycles, and avoids clothing going out of style. Rather, FRANCON looks at the place and occasion where people wear something.
The whole design process of FRANCON all happens in Holland. The production process takes place within Holland and practices small batches in order to reduce the waste. The brand tries to create as much of the process in Holland in order to increase sustainability. All items are made from high quality materials.
For more information on FRANCON please visit their website or take a look at their Instagram (@francon_editions)
NATAN
Fashion brand NATAN is the oldest in the list today. The brand first was established as couture house Paul Natan. In 1983 Edouard Vermeulen rented a space in the Paul NATAN couture house. Later he takes over the brand and renames it NATAN. Vemeulen has been dressing royal families for years including the royal family of Belgium and the Netherlands.
In 2019 the brand participated in the Amsterdam Fashion Week for the first time.
NATANs brand philosophy revolves around originality and ethics. In 2020 the brand introduced plant-based, eco-friendly cactus leather into their couture collection. Moreover, the brand reinvents fabrics from previous collections and gives it a new purpose.
For more information on NATAN please visit their website or take a look at their Instagram (@natancouture)
Interested in learning more about the brands that participated during Amsterdam Fashion Week? Take a look at their website or Instagram (@amsterdamfashionweek)
All pictures are taken from the internet and contain a link to the sites where I found them. All credits to the rightful owners.
