DaWanda Backstage

Last month, DaWanda sponsored an ethical fashion event, Fashion Evolution in Dublin, and we are very proud to have been a part of the amazing Fashion Evolution development and to support the movement against mass produced and sweatshop produced goods!

Thank you dearly to our DaWanda members for the time and care they put in to submit their samples for inclusion in the sample packages we organised for the guests of the Fashion Evolution launch party. Members of the press, fashionistas, fashion design students and ethically minded folk made up the crowd (approx 500 people attended on the night). The launch was a great success, it was picked up and promoted by Vogue and received lots of relevant press coverage (see links at bottom of post!).

Due to the variety of samples that were sent in to us, each pack was choc full of different sample goodies, here are a couple of examples of what you could find inside your DaWanda sample package this time around!

our beautiful DaWanda samples included paper goods from LaSrtaPil, buttons from Hasenohren, unusual trinkets from Alinea, business card “bags” & artwork by Biliana, gift tags from Little-Z, jewellery by Slavko, earrings from AlwaysAmy, art work and buttons by SternennMann, paper goodies from Siebenmorgen, ethical fashion buttons by DeLaValle, postcards, prints and bookmarks by Kissthefrog, buttons by Carot, postcards from Charlinchen and postcards from Kitaken.

On March 24th, the launch party for Fashion Evolution kicked off with an exhibition and reception at Filmbase. The exhibition was by Language, a design and ad agency who aim to be certified carbon-neutral this year, and they asked Re-dress (the organisers) for the opportunity to respond creatively to the issues raised by Fashion Evolution:

As you can see, it was a mix of fashion vignettes and shocking statistics – it was definitely a reality shock to learn about where cotton actually comes from and the current dire situation of cotton farmers!

On a lighter note, I happened to be sitting beside two fashion students from the National College of Art & Design when they opened their DaWanda sample packages, Vraja Blake and Amanda Grogan, they were really delighted and impressed!

After the reception at Filmbase, we moved on to the Button Factory, the venue for the launch party where a public debate was scheduled with speeches from iconic fashion designer and ethical campaigner Katharine Hamnett, Mike Barry (head of corporate responsibility at M&S) and Constance Harris, the fashion editor for Sunday Independent.

Katharine Hamnett delivering her speech on ethical fashion at Fashion Evolution

As you can see the message was quite clear! I was scribbling so many notes in my journal, somebody came up and asked if I was a fashion design student : )
One point that was clearly emphasised is that it is very possible for us to make a difference. If one person has the attitude that their input is irrelevant, then all of us together can make a big difference as a group. Simple ideas like asking, “Where is the Fair Trade section?” when you are shopping at your favourite clothing store can put the wheels in motion.

Fair Trade is the only sector in clothing business to show a 300% increase. For the first time, demand for ethical fashion outweighs supply.
While I was in Dublin I had a great opportunity to meet with a selection of fashion journalists and editors. On Saturday I met up with Annmarie O’Connor, a freelance journalist who has written for Elle, Dazed & Confused and Image magazine among others. It was really fantastic to meet Annmarie and we spent the afternoon discussing DaWanda, fashion and haircuts (Annmarie was on her way to the hairdressers):

You can keep up with Annmarie at her top notch blog, I Blog Fashion. Check out her post on DaWanda there too!
I was also very lucky to have the chance to meet up with Dierdre McQuillan, the fashion editor for the national broadsheet The Irish Times. Dierdre is an amazing and inspiring journalist who has led an exciting life and career, and it was an honour to sit and have coffee with her and introduce her to DaWanda!

Check our DaWanda Flickr for all the photos! Here are some of the press articles that are also available online if you would like to read:

Let’s smarten up our buying ideas

Guiltless Garments

Hamnett highlights ethical concerns for fashion’s real victims

Dublin set to become Europe’s first Fair Trade city by 2008

Thanks again to everyone who helped us be a part of Fashion Evolution! Thank you to everyone who took part, to Kate at Re-dress for looking after us, Holly for mentioning this on decor8 – please let me know if I made any mistakes above or left anybody out in my post, all mistakes are mine! You can get in touch and let me know, elizabeth [at] dawanda [dot] com.