How sustainable are London Fashion Week Men's designers?

London - Now in its 12th edition, London Fashion Week Men’s is half way into its long weekend of shows, with Italian ready to wear brand Iceberg, currently under the creative helm of British designer James London, officially opening the SS19 presentations.

At first glance the official calendar does not suggest much in the way of sustainability, with no special mention or links to brands who produce ethical clothes. Unlike the women's fashion week in September, which has a longer schedule and features more designers and brands, there is less visibility and emphasis on ethically produced collections and accessories.

Perhaps because in menswear there is less on offer, although that seems unlikely, or there are less men's brands championing sustainability. Here we scrutinise how 'green' the London Fashion Week Men's designers are.

Christopher Raeburn

The stand-out British menswear label practicing sustainability is Christopher Raeburn. Raeburn recycles and repurposes fabrics and garments and each season surprises both the industry and his customers with his vision to rework and remake these into distinctive and functional pieces.

His Remade studio, a platform open to the public with access to the workshop and atelier, allows visitors to experience first hand the craft and innovation behind making the clothes as well as the opportunity to design and customise their own tote bags using off-cuts from the atelier.

Bethany Williams

Bethany Williams is taking the sustainability story a step further with her ‘Breadline’ range. Fully traceable for make and fabric, the 100 percent sustainable collection is developed in conjunction with the Vauxhall Food Bank and Tesco, with 30 percent of profits from the collection going to charity. Williams believes social and environmental issues go hand in hand and through exploring the connection between these issues we may find innovative design solutions to sustainability.

Furthermore, each of williams' garments is made in the UK, even down to the buttons which are hand crafted in the Lake District.

E. Tautz

For this Savile Row brand, sourcing and developing fabric is not necessarily a sustainable act in itself, but E. Tautz takes great pride making a large portion of its collections in Britain. It manufactures in its own factory in Blackburn Lancashire, alongside sourcing from a small number of mills and producers in the UK, all of which can be traced, such as wool from Yorkshire, Cumbria and Scotland, hand-woven tweed from the Isle of Harris and Lewis, and the silk and wool produced for its ties from Sudbury in Suffolk.

Oliver Spencer

Producing predominantly in Portugal and the UK, Oliver Spencer is a formidably sized brand that observes the conduct and transparency of its supply chain, however complex that is for a brand of this size. Interestingly, the company is removing folding paper from its garments packaging from autumn winter 2018. According to its website, this small refinement has the potential environmental savings of 36,934kg of carbon per year. To put that into perspective a London bus emits 20kg’s a day on average.

Fashion Switch to Green

Last year the BFC, Dame Vivienne Westwood and the Mayor of London joined forces in a campaign encouraging brands to commit to switching UK offices and retail stores to a green energy supplier or to green energy tariff within the next three years.

"Transitioning energy usage into a renewable source can play an integral part in reaching business sustainability goals and tackling climate change, directly improving the health and wellbeing of our population and planet," the BFC said in a statement.

While London Fashion Week Men's may not have had a very vocal and focused sustainability platform for SS19, brands committed to switch to green energy include Christopher Raeburn, E.Tautz, Harvey Nichols, Kering, Marks & Spencer, Oliver Spencer, Positive Luxury, Selfridges, Stella McCartney, steventai, Teatum Jones & Vivienne Westwood.

Let's see how 'green' London Fashion Week women's will be in September.

Photo credit: E. Tautz, Bethany Williams Breadline, Christopher Raeburn SS18