First Day Of C.L.A.S.S.

A few weeks ago on December 11th, I had the pleasure to attend the opening of a sustainable textile sample library in Manhattan. C.L.A.S.S. (Creativity, Lifestyle And Sustainable Synergy) is located inside the Allsteel showroom, at 233 Park Avenue South, and 19th Street, on the second floor.

There had once been talk of setting up such a sample library at the Fashion Institute of Technology, but director Valerie Steele had committed her entire budget to the museum.  C.L.A.S.S. is co-founded by Giusy Bettoni and Sandy MacLennan. They have two other locations, in London and Milan.

The panel was hosted by Barbara Kramer of Designers & Agents and included New York consultant, Bahar Shahpar, model and eco-consultant Summer Rayne Oakes, BerBrand founder Dr. Emanuele Bertoli, Elinor Averyt, Founder of L.E.A.F. (Labeling Ecologically Approved Fabrics), Sergio Sessini, President of CADICAGROUP USA, Inc, and Paolo Garotta, a Project Manager of Relight.

It’s always been very difficult for young sustainable fashion designers first starting out in the business to get access to limited quantities of fabric. There are a couple of sustainable textile stores in New York which cater to the needs of sustainable interior designers, but that I know, as of yet, not a single dedicated fabric store in the New York garment district selling small quantities of sustainable textile. It means young designers must go directly to textile manufacturers, who are usually not interested in talking to you unless your plans are to purchase a minimum of at least 40 yards.

My hope is that an environment like C.L.A.S.S will give the creative spirit a place to touch, feel, get a sense of what is available out there, act as a middle ground between designers and textile mills. The Material Connexion has been doing this for architects and engineers. I suspect there will be a natural synergy between the two.

Ralph Lauren came up as an example of a top fashion house who has a very laudable porfolio of charitable endeavors, including its own cancer center. But the company itself still doesn’t publish an environmental report or a have an environmental affairs officer. Ralph Lauren doesn’t make any information available on its fabrics, where they come from, how they are made. The house considers this a trade secret.

This lack of necessary transparency in the day of green concerns in the fashion industry is what C.L.A.S.S. hopes to address.

I posted the entire detailed press release for the event on the o2 List. You can view more pictures from the evening on the Lü website.

The C.L.A.S.S. media contact is Kristina Ratliff.
646-714-2520
kristina@statepr.com

The permanent NYC home of C.L.A.S.S. is
The Four Hundred,
286 Spring St., Suite 202
New York, NY 10013
P 212.206.8319  F 212.206.8329
www.showroomfourhundred.com