Alan Eckstein launched his Everyone Wins label around sustainability and the idea of taking existing inventory and reworking it into fashionable clothes. To celebrate our CFDA Loves Sustainability opening at Fred Segal on Sunset, we checked in with the designer about recycling and the important of working with an eye to the environment.
What inspired you to embrace sustainability in the first place?
It was about the obvious. I wanted to use fashion that exists instead of making altogether new pieces that would eventually become potential garbage. I have such a love of the second-hand industry and I focused in on what’s readily available right now. Overstock, dead-stock, vintage, and fashion pieces that are overlooked really spoke to me.
How do you incorporate sustainable practices into your design process, and the way you run your company?
For Everyone Wins, we are not about making new garments from start to finish. We use items that exist in the world and we turn them into something fresh and new. We add embroidery that exists, potentially found in a warehouse, and embellishments that are in someone’s physical inventory. Our company is small so it is possibly easier than most, but we just try to conserve and reuse as much as possible.
Is the design approach for sustainable product different? How so?
We have this major limitation of not being able to think of an entirely new silhouette and make that idea. But we can get pretty close with what’s available. We get so into the craft of fashion by pulling things apart, seeing the way fashion has been made throughout the ages, that it’s fascinating. We are always discovering new ways of being able to accomplish the reusable vision. It’s all about invention and trying things, which makes our process so much fun.
What’s your advice for designers looking to become more sustainable?
Any little idea you can do to be a little more sustainable is a great thing. You do not have to be green from top to bottom, but anything and everything helps and works towards the world lessening our brutal footprint. I think the major advice would be to not get caught up on making every part of your world perfec. Just try and do what’s possible and the result will make you and your customer extremely satisfied.
Why is sustainability so important now, more than ever?
It always has been so important but the major factor today is the cycles of making clothing and buying clothes. Fast fashion has changed our shopping habits to this extreme place of buying, buying, buying. We throw out 80 lbs of clothing a year on average. That’s incredible. That’s just what is thrown out in the garbage. We don’t buy clothes made with love anymore, but clothing that suits a quick need and desire made for quick satisfaction. We need to go back to appreciating craft and something made to last. The consumer needs to get back into buying fashion for the long haul. Making clothing with tons of love will help. Reusing clothing will help –but we are only scratching the surface. I can’t wait to see what the future will bring for everyone involved!
