Spring €™05 ushers in the €œNew Organics€

Organic fabrics are not only great eco-choices but also great sustainable business choices, leading a burgeoning €œgreen€ marketplace. According to the Organic Trade Association, organic-fiber products in the United States and Canada grew 22 percent annually between 1999 and 2003 ringing in $85 million for organic fashions in 2004 and are set to surpass that in 2005 totals.

The new weaves and textures complementing reclaimed and renewable choices create a myriad of opportunities for eco-fashionistas for Spring €™05. That€™s why SASS asked designer Linda Loudermilk to tell us what€™s really behind the new terms and titles you may see on organic fashions and fabrics:

  • Herbal weaves: Loudermilk is in the avante garde of eco-fashion leaders working with manufacturers around the world to create new textiles, not just repurpose or update age-old fibers. For example in Fall €™04 she featured Silk Hemp designs and in Spring €™05 is launching Sasawashi and will even venture into Soy Cotton in Fall €™05. Sasawashi is made from a blend of Japanese paper and herbs. The paper properties were originally intended for use in housing, regulating humidity and to protect rooms from thermal changes. The Japanese herbal weave consists of various fibers, vitamins and even amino acids. It also is said to have an anti-bacterial, blood purification and anti-allergic agent that is beneficial to the human skin.
  • Reclaimed Lace Blends: a mix of organic lace and reclaimed lace and antique lace from top world manufacturers. Reclaiming these vintage designs honors a heritage of weavers and a tradition of detail almost impossible to recreate in this modern era. From lace centers around the globe €“ from Belgium to India to Thailand, reclaimed lace is blended together to create new textiles for inserts and decoration.
  • Renewable Jerseys: often made from Bamboo Pointelle and Bamboo rib. Bamboo fibers are biodegradable textile material. The entire production of Bamboo is a green and does not pollute the earth. After 50 washes, the textile still possesses anti-bacterial functions. Bamboo features the properties of breathability and coolness. Because of the weave bamboo fiber has better moisture absorption and ventilation.
  • Sculpted Textures: Loudermilk is at the forefront of the industry as she works with textile mills to create new 3-d sculpted textures transforming finishes from flat to flattering. Haptics is the €œtechie€ word where feel is as important as form in an era where high-touch, complements high tech.

Linda Loudermilk's vision of the future of fashion.
For decades, the terms €˜Eco€™ and €˜Luxury€™ seldom intertwined in the fashion world. All too often, the environmentally aware were confined to wearing shapeless sacks of ill-woven fibers to be true to sustainable style. Now, a new combo, €œLuxury Eco,€ promises to be one of the top three trends for Spring 2005.

€œThe new season is the perfect time to usher in a new upscale sector for sustainable style that caters to the demands of discerning fashion forward leaders in a burgeoning €˜green€™ marketplace,€ Linda explains. In her own collection, previewed at the opening event of LA€™s Fashion Week, Loudermilk says she strives to shatter out-dated concepts of eco, recycled, organic and vintage. She is quick to salute the innovators in fashion, fabrics and sustainability as a new era of sustainable style blossoms to fruition this season.

Linda believes that €œit has taken incredible creativity and commitment from leaders in the areas of eco-agriculture, combined with the greening of the textile manufacturing industry and revolutionary new natural fabric design creation and production to lead us to this re-sculpting of sustainability and eco-fashion.€

From the avante garde and sophisticated to the weird and even shocking, Loudermilk€™s survey for the new season upturned a range of innovative organic style innovations, ranging from glistening jerseys made from wood pulp to luscious sherpas fashioned form bottle-caps. She shares a trio of the top trends here that assure fashionistas that true sustainable style is coming of age far beyond the era of €˜eco-gimmicks€™ or aging €˜green-guru€™ guidelines.

The top three sustainable style trends for Spring 2005 are:

  1. Luxury-Eco Designer Sportswear -- a new category that breaks tradition and redefines comfort across latitudes and longitudes in the world of home, work and travel. Taking their cue from nature, fluid pants flow like blue streams and bias-cut skirts shimmer in spring€™s breezes reflecting different dimensions of light and darkness as the sun rises and sets. Slacks and tucked-in blouses of past eras, give way to pants, tops and even dresses that flow, offering a new ease to today€™s eco-friendly designer sportswear.

    Inspiration for color and tone for Spring €™05 comes from all aspects of nature according to Loudermilk. €œIn her own line, the spring palette reflects strong silhouettes of Dove and Stone earth tones, harmonizing with energetic influences of Citrine, exuberance of Flamingo and warming rays of Sunshine softened by the allure of Bluejay. Watch for a natural panorama of hues spanning from sky to ocean and beyond, she urges. €œI challenge you to delve beyond eco€™s tried and true khakis and olives and charcoal tones to Luxury-eco tones spawned by Mother Nature herself. To complement her design collection, Loudermilk has created a new online social network called www.€œLuxuryeco.com€ on the Internet where sustainable style leaders and eco-fashionistas can learn more about events, trends and new products and services that will complement the Luxury-eco fashion line. For more info email: or go to luxuryeco.com and join now.

  2. Couture made from the €˜new organics.€™ Never in the history of the textile industry, have we seen such changes! Most sustainable style readers know about the growth in popularity of organic cottons and more pliable hemp textiles, but watch now for the growth of the €˜new organics,€™ offering the latest spin in textile technology. For example, exclusive to Loudermilk€™s spring line is Sasawashi, an avant-garde fiber blend of Japanese paper, herbs, vitamins and amino acids said to feature anti-allergen and anti-bacterial properties. Be sure to check out new types of Pointelle Bamboo fibers, grown green so that it is non-polluting and offers breathability, coolness and also anti-bacterial agents. Couture means custom-fit, and only now can upscale consumers arrange for designs styled to their form and function versus a mannequin€™s angles.
  3. Watch for Wearable Art as an evolving eco-trend for Spring 2005. By combining training as a sculptor with a passion for the environment, Linda knows that it€™s an asset to add an artist€™s touch to couture creating one-of-a-kind collector designs destined to be the new vintage collectibles of the future. She creates original artistic prints for each season; for Spring 2005, birds ranging from Blue Jays to Peacocks take center stage. €˜Seek out the extra-ordinary,€™ urges Loudermilk. €œLook for three-dimensional designs and fabric embellishments, unusual insets fashioned from vintage laces and trims transform frocks from classic to collectable. Venture beyond the plain and simple to luxury-eco artistic designs that usher in a new era of environmentalism fresh from an artist€™s palette of sophisticated styles.€
Spring 2005€™s innovations, born of an unfaltering commitment to save the environment, cannot help but inspire the creative spirit of sustainability around the globe. Here are some samples form Linda Loudermilk€™s Spring 2005 collection that illustrate these three trends and inspire us to move beyond the tried and true to new adventures in sustainable style.