Green: Sustainability,
Significance, and Style

The 10th New York Fashion conference “Green” adopts a polymorphous approach to the central issue of the 21st century: sustainability. How does fashion meet its planetary obligations? Natural materials, alternative fibers and ethically sourced stones and metals, reuse and repurposing, eco-responsible and bio-friendly packaging, and the marketing of Green to a diverse, global consumer are among the topics addressed.

Additionally, we consider the crucial aesthetic dimension of this new Green Revolution and its creative and inspirational potential. Enlarging the notion, we explore the physical properties of dyes and pigments, as well as the cultural symbolism of the color itself.

A distinguished panel of fashion and jewelry world insiders and mavericks discusses the many facets and ramifications of a paradoxical idea: Green Fashion.

Among confirmed speakers to date (9/24/2008):

• Mike Kowalksi, Chairman and CEO, Tiffany & Co., who is strongly committed to protecting coral and supporting the ban on Burmese rubies and who played a key role in the establishment of responsible sourcing of stones
• Tom Cole, Vice Chair, Macy’s whose portfolio includes sustainability
• Steve D’Esposito, president of RESOLVE and the EARTH SOLUTIONS CENTER; formerly Executive Director of EarthworksAction.org which spearheads the campaign No Dirty Gold  
• Tamsin Smith, President, RED and former public policy manger for Gap Inc.
• Leslie Hoffman, executive director, Earth Pledge, which spearheads FutureFashion an initiative committed to proving that style and sustainability can co-exist and which produced the Future Fashion White Papers
• Christina Kim, designer for the clothing and house-wares company, Dosa, which recycles remnants into beautiful creations and promotes “imperfect white,” the natural color of cotton, and using natural dyes
• Julie Gilhart, Senior Fashion Director, at Barneys New York, who organized the fashion show that demonstrated that sustainability is not a trend but a movement
• Natalie Chanin, who has involved her community and its traditional artisans in an initiative to create sustainable design and author, Alabama Stitch Book: Projects and Stories Celebrating Hand-Sewing, Quilting and Embroidery for Contemporary Sustainable Style (2008,with S. Stukin and photographer R. Rausch)
• Reiko Sudo, co-founder and head NUNO Institute whose works are firmly based on innovating new fibers and creating textiles and patters that have never been seen or touched before, and Eminent Professor, Tokyo Zokei University
• Scott Hahn, cofounder of Rogan, an entirely new premium denim company in 1998 and of Loomstate (2002) which launched its clothing line made of 100% organic cotton in 2004
• Tina Lutz and Marcia Patmos (Lutz & Patmos), designers who founded their company in 2000 looking for the fusion of modernity and tradition and committed to green, in such as ways as sourcing environmentally friendly yarns and production facilities
• Toby Pomeroy, a jeweler committed to the use of silver and gold derived entirely from reclaimed sources
• Benjamin Zucker, renowned authority on precious stones and author who uses them as centerpieces in fictional works including Green, Blue and the newly-released White
• Monique Péan, a jeweler who uses fossilized ivory from woolly mammoths as an alternative to elephant ivory
• SeaWeb, the organization dedicated to protecting ocean life, including coral, and which launched the Too Precious To Wear Campaign (among panelists: Dawn M. Martin, president of SeaWeb and Andrew Baker, scientist and professor at the University of Miami)
• Simon Doonan, who conceived the whimsical windows and Christmas 2007 marketing campaign devoted to Green for Barneys
• Nicole Mackinlay Hahn, visual artist and film maker whose second film is the Project Reap What You Sew, which promotes awareness of the chain of production through consumption with the goal of improving, trade, conservation and sustainability.

We express our deep gratitude to: A Diamond is Forever, Aaron Faber Gallery, Macy’s, Harry Winston, The Louis and Lena Minkoff Foundation, and Tiffany & Co, for their generous support (as of 9/30/2008).

Registration

The conference fee is $355/($300 prior to October 16); a discounted rate of $170 is available for full-time students with ID; you will be asked present your ID at the registration desk. Single-day registration options are available; please send inquiries to info@artinitiatives.com or call 646-485-1952

To register with a credit card, go to: www.acteva.com/go/green

You may also call (646) 485-1952 to register by phone or fax the completed form below to (212) 935‑6911, 24 hours a day, or mail the form to: Initiatives in Art and Culture, 333 East 57th Street, Suite 13B, New York, New York 10022 or email the information below to lisa.koenigsberg@artinitiatives.com