“To not deal with the realities of the world is the most dangerous thing you can do,” professes fashion consultant Julie Gilhart at the Afingo.com Fashion Forum at FIT on Friday. Round two of panelists consisted of some heavy hitters in the sustainable push. The discussion focused on the balance of incorporating eco-friendly and socially responsible initiatives within fashion businesses without sacrificing or the bottom line. A common thread throughout was the fact that “green” should become inherent in company practice, not just a marketing ploy. Read on to see the impact that Costello Tagliapietra, Julie Gilhart, Goods For Good founder, Source4Style founder, Eco-Chick publisher, and Lulu Frost founder have on the fashion industry’s environmental and social impact on the world.

Jill Fehrenbacher, founder of Inhabitat.com moderated the talk and guided it through topics of eco-oversaturation in the market, how to work sustainability into mass market, and making philanthropy lucrative.

Costello Tagliapietra’s Jeffrey and Robert (respectively) spoke about their use eco-friendly methods in production. Traditional dying methods contaminate trillions of gallons a year, leaving 1/3 of all human beings without access to clean water. That’s why they color their fabrics by means of AirDye, a new technology that dyes textiles without any water. They also acknowledge that the trend driven nature of fashion is so wasteful and therefore they strive to make heirloom quality garments.

Melissa Kushner founded Goods4Good.org, a non-profit that gives big companies’ excess fabric to orphans in Malawi, teaching those of age how to sew and to create uniforms for said orphans to go to school, and giving them a money-earning skill. She shows us how we can “take excess and transform lives with it.”

Summer Rayne Oaks purposefully did not put any eco keywords in the name of her sustainable business-to-business fabric-sourcing website, Source4Style.com. She also provides the infrastructure for how to get artisan products to market. When consulting for mass-market companies like Payless, she works backwards, starting at the textile, using shoe molds that exist, proving they can hit that low price point sustainably. In addressing the conundrum of corn, bamboo, and other recycled materials that are actually environmentally harmful, she points out that the industry is in its teenage years, still experimenting to find the answers. She wants designers to ask themselves the questions: “What externalities are important to you?  What’s your story? Do you want to source local? Source artisan? Because you don’t have to cure all the world’s ills at once, especially as an individual designer.”

Julie Gilhart, after spending 18 years as Barneys’ Fashion Director, is now a Fashion Consultant, bringing awareness of social and environmental issues to the industry. She’s “attacking the big guys with education” by teaching how to make it economically attractive and making philanthropy lucrative. She’s attempting to inspire people that aren’t inspired – it’s our greatest challenge – but we must find what motivates them to change. For instance, telling factories that if they clean up their act, she’ll get them clients.

Lulu Frost founder and designer Lisa Salzer’s love of old things plays into her sustainable business practice of giving new life to used jewelry by repurposing.  She’s sells not just on her own website, but to a nationwide brand! That J. Crew is willing to sell handmade one-of-a-kind accessories says there is hope for this type of repurposing on the mass-market scale. For Lisa, it’s about forming a sentimental connection to our possessions.

Eco-Chick Publisher/Editor-at-Large Starre Vartan has a dream of how sustainable fashion could be done properly: standardized like organic food, given different levels and categories, like LEED, so that the consumer can be properly educated about what type of “green” they’re buying into. A statistic that motivates her on a daily basis is that 90% of what’s landfilled can be recycled.

See yesterday's post about Fashion Innovation at the Afingo Fashion Forum. And check back tomorrow to see what top designers like Adam Lippes and Duckie Brown have to say about how to launch your line. 

Launching later this month, Afingo.com is a self-proclaimed “match.com” for designers and factories. Their goal is to provide real world knowledge and connections to fashion professionals and newbies alike to enable sustainable production and the ability to Get It Made.