Paris Fashion: Where Green Is the New Black

As evidenced at recent Paris fashion runway shows, the industry is rising to meet the global challenge of adjusting its carbon footprint — and Paris leads the way with slow-fashion initiatives slated to become fully operational by 2024. From eco-conscious designers to boutiques showcasing recyclable wearables, the latest in Paris fashion is strutting down greener catwalks.

Here are few notable French brands and Parisian shops making their mark on sustainability.

Ekyog

Built on an ethos that’s equal parts fashion, comfort and sustainability, this French brand offers ladies casual wear, jackets, occasion dresses and accessories made from recyclable, organic and natural fabrics.

Alongside stalwart materials like cotton and linen, garments are made with thread woven from eucalyptus and beech trees, recycled plastic bottles and premium alpaca wool.

For a head-to-toe ethical look, Ekyog features leather belts tanned with tree bark or plant extracts alongside a collaboration with handmade-jewelry designer Les Mots Doux.

Picture Organic Clothing

When the weather cools, this Paris-based ready-to-wear line sells everything from ski, snowboarding and hiking gear to winter casuals made with organic and/or recycled materials.

To create its water-repellent jacket, arguably the brand’s top seller, Picture takes several steps to maintain high ethical standards, including the use of 50 percent recycled bottle polyester fabric, scraps sewn into linings and a special Teflon treatment that does not expel harmful chemicals.

Even CO2 emissions are factored in; every order is shipped by boat, cutting the usual carbon impact of truck delivery by half.

Post Diem

Inspired by the Mediterranean lifestyle of its two French and Corsican designers, Post Diem switched from producing 100 percent bio clothing (fashion made from sustainable materials) to ethical home decorations in 2015.

The brand creates original motifs on a collection of sofa cushion covers and rugs — available in adult and child versions — made with organic wool meticulously dyed using vegetable colorings.

Dedicated to preserving the planet, Post Diem produces all their merchandise in France, where work can be monitored to ensure authenticity, with every leftover scrap turned into recycled thread.

Veja

With a flagship store located near Canal Saint Martin in a popular Paris neighborhood lined with voguish concept shops, Veja specializes in just one product: fashionable, ethically made sneakers.

Favoring social responsibility, every step of this sport shoe’s production is eco-minded, from the organic cotton bought directly from fair-trade farmers to rubber responsibly harvested to save Amazon forests and repurposed household waste products.

For a truly unique pair of kicks, invest in a tilapia leather model made from vegetable-tanned, freshwater fish hides.

1083

Situated in the stylish Le Marais district, a short distance from the Picasso Museum, is 1083, a unisex streetwear shop with a focus on bio cotton jeans and denim accessories.

Every pair of jeans is designed, woven, stitched and treated in France to ensure quality control and transparency. To obtain faded-style fabrics that traditionally pollute the environment, the company uses a special laser washing machine that eliminates water waste. Other denim items include children’s jeans, tote bags and lounge chairs.

Ambrym

French designer Gabrielle Ambrym pays homage to her cross-cultural upbringing in the South Pacific, followed by schooling in Paris and a professional stint in Rio de Janeiro, through artisanal designs with bespoke flourishes.

Firmly dedicated to fair-trade practices, she tags each of her shop’s items with an identity card detailing the clothing’s place of origin, date of “birth” and city of production. Pieces maintain a one-of-a-kind quality by way of hand-painted, screened or woven designs on breathable natural fabrics.