Kit Willow took a break from showroom appointments this past Friday to join the thousands of young people who took to the streets of London as part of the global Climate March. As a designer who is deeply concerned about the future of the planet, Willow is faced with a difficult question: how to reconcile the impulse to create with the knowledge that creating new things—sustainable or otherwise—is a burden on the environment?
Though a zero carbon footprint is virtually unattainable, Willow believes there are manifold ways in which fashion can lessen its impact. And that’s true down to the smallest details. Case in point: After discovering that the recycled PET labels she had been using were releasing tiny plastic particles when washed, she promptly switched to linen tags this season.
As far as bigger picture inspiration for Spring, Willow began by looking at the cellular structure of plants under a microscope. Those images were blown up big on draped long-sleeved dresses that were part silk and part viscose. The same organic patterns informed the ruched cut-outs along the waistline of white draped jersey dresses—cocktail-hour fare clearly made with hard-bodied Pilates practitioners and clean-living yogis in mind.
Her best-selling button-up shirtdress had a more forgiving line and was rendered in white Italian linen and finished with coconut-shell buttons. She was quick to point out that the smart blue linen check suiting was made at solar-powered factories in Italy as well.
Willow loves an ecologically minded slogan tee, and this season her Defenders of the Earth shirt came with hard-hitting messaging printed on the back, including the following: “46% of trees have been cut down.” Perhaps the most important news from Kitx wasn’t immediately evident from the clothes hanging on the rack, however. Willow has recently switched to fully biodegradable packaging made from a base of cassava root. The fashion community would be wise to follow her lead.
