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CFDA 2013 Eco-Fashion Challenge Winner Announced

CFDA2013

Winner Alabama Chanin with runners-up Mark Davis, Britt Cosgrove, and Marina Polo. Photo from CFDA.

The CFDA and Lexus hosted a lunch at local New York City sustainable eatery, ABC Kitchen to announce the winners of  the CFDA/Lexus Eco-Fashion Challenge, a competition launched in 2010 to recognize eco-fashion designers. Competing designers are judged on how dedicated they are to sustainable design and production, sourcing ethical materials, transparency about their practices, and of course designing beautiful clothes. Notable guests included models Amber Valletta, curator of sustainable fashion collection Master & Muse, and Coca Rocha.

Seven finalists included Karino Kallio and Erin Isakov, with the $75,000 grand prize awarded to Natalie Chanin for her namesake brand Alabama Chanin, and two runners-up, Mark Davis, and Britt Cosgrove and Marina Polo of Svilu, were awarded $5000 each. Chanin’s upcoming collection will also be included in the Embody collection on the mezzanine level at ABC Carpet & Home.

Chanin is a well-deserved recipient of this year’s eco-fashion challenge award, as she’s been an eco-fashion leader for more than a decade and her label embodies many of the best principles of sustainable design. Using a lean manufacturing method, Chanin makes pieces upon order in her home state of Alabama, eliminating unwanted and unneeded stock and reducing environmental impact – the very antithesis of fast fashion, as orders take a minimum of three weeks to fill. Each design is handmade in the USA by artisans working out of their own homes, combining new, organic and recycled materials. Here are some Feelgood Style favourites from Chanin’s award-winning designs.

Written by Angela Wallace of Sasstainable

Angela Wallace is the founder and editor of www.sasstainable.ca, an expert voice on ethical luxury and sustainable lifestyle. In 2009, she was granted Ryerson University’s Top 30 Under 30 Alumni award, because of her work as a motivational speaker, when she inspired over 30,000 students across North America. In 2013, she completed her MSc in Environmental Management at the University of London, at the Centre for Development, Environment and Policy. Her passion for the environment grew out of her family’s rural property in Raglan, Ontario, now a designated Natural Heritage System area in the Ontario Greenbelt. She is a published writer, contributing articles to Women's Post, Toronto’s leading business magazine for women. She enjoys urban gardening, writing, fashion and yoga and currently lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband, Owen.

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