Eco-friendly fashion, ‘conscious fashion’ that saves the Earth is on the rise.

An automobile company has made clothes. Hyundai Motor Company and Hyundai TRANSYS came up with eco-friendly clothing with an eco-friendly fashion designer who works in America. The combination of an automobile company and fashion industry seems unusual, but this is part of the eco-friendly wave, conscious fashion, that’s being more and more recognized in the fashion industry. Conscious fashion is the phrase made up of the words conscious and fashion; it refers to clothes that have been produced in eco-friendly and ethical way from its material selection to manufacturing.

Fast fashion causes environment pollution.

Clothes that have been discarded due to over production is one of the causes behind environment pollution.

Have you heard about fast fashion? What about the phrase SPA brand? It refers to fashion with design that immediately reflects latest trend, relatively cheap price, and a fast production turnover. You may think it allows you to access various products for inexpensive price, but it’s also criticized for causing environment pollution for over production and using synthetic textile that is not easily degraded naturally.

Chemical substances produced during clothing manufacturing cause environment pollution.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe announced its research findings which says about 20% of wastewater and 10% of carbon in the world is from the fashion industry. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, Chinese textile factories that produce most of the world’s clothing burn so much coal every year, which pollutes the air. The science magazine also says polyester t-shirt will emits 5.5kg more CO2 than cotton t-shirt.

Famous fashion brands around the world have announced their participation in the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action.

As the fashion industry’s environment pollution issue surfaces, and the air of prioritizing being eco-friendly is created socially, the fashion industry itself is also showing signs of introspection. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties drafted the ‘Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action’ which promises to reduce greenhouse gases by 30% by 2030 and bring exhaust emissions to zero by 2050. Many fashion brands including Adidas, Burberry, Guess, H&M, Levi’s, Puma, etc., announced their participation in this Charter.

Conscious fashion rises to replace fast fashion.

Conscious fashion is about using eco-friendly materials and going through manufacturing process without ethical issues.

Making fashion industry eco-friendly starts from the clothing production process. Not only should ‘conscious fashion’ use eco-friendly materials, manufacturing should also be free from ethical problems such as using child labor from the third world, etc. Conscious fashion can be categorized into clothing made with waste, clothing that reduces the amount of water wasted in dying material, clothing made with leftover materials from making other clothes, clothing that recycles used clothes, etc.

BCI ((Better Cotton Initiative) is a non-governmental organization formed with the intention of pursuing eco-friendly cotton production. BCI supports 1.6 million cotton farms in 23 countries and produces durable shirts that put low pressure on the environment (Photography from H&M official homepage).

H&M, one of the most well-known names in the fast fashion industry, introduced a collection made by recycling old clothes. They also had made a dress by a new type of textile, ‘bionic yarn’, which is made by refining plastic collected from the ocean. Recently they announced that they will replace all cotton products with sustainable material by 2020. And since 2015, Adidas has partnered with a marine environment protection organization and produces upcycle running shoes.

Hyundai Motor Company also participates in conscious fashion.

In collaboration with fashion brand Zero+‘Maria Cornejo’, Hyundai Motor Company recently introduced a collection of upcycling clothes in New York.

With the rise of eco-friendly wave in the fashion industry, news of collaboration with an automobile company is quite refreshing. As the automobile industry is also working hard to making eco-friendly cars that produce zero exhaust gas, and the waste created when discarding old cars is a concern, the necessity to work towards being eco-friendly is the two industries’ common ground. In this sense, the collaboration of two industries is great news.

This fashion show received much attention with Sarah Jessica Parker from wearing Hyundai Motor Company’s upcycling outfit.

Hyundai Motor Company and Hyundai TRANSYS collaborated with the fashion brand ‘Zero+Maria Cornejo’ which mainly actively works in New York, U.S., and produced eco-friendly clothing made with discarded automobile leather seats. They used leftover leather used in automobile seat research and manufacturing process of Hyundai TRANSYS. On the 6th, a small collection called ‘Re:Style’ was introduced in New York, U.S., with 15 upcycling pieces. The items shown this day will be sold through ‘Zero+Maria Cornejo’ stores and homepage in limited edition, and the profits will be donated to an environment organization.

Re:Style fashion show will take place for the second time in China, in October. This time collaboration will take place with China’s eco-friendly fashion brand ‘Reclothing Bank’. Hyundai Motor Group puts future customer experience and satisfaction above anything through the eco-friendly campaign and plans to carry out various activities which will contribute to a better future. Please look forward to Hyundai Motor Group’s eco-friendly actions that will carry out through collaborations with many industries.