ColieCo x ECOVOCATEUR
What is Ecovocateur?
Ecovocateur is a brand new digital monthly magazine which collaborates with artists, designers and activists to create original, thought-provoking, boundary-breaking content at the intersection where sustainability, fashion and art meets.
The brainchild of artist and sustainability activist Mariel Gomsrud, Ecovocateur will showcase sustainable fashion and other ethical, eco-friendly retail brands across the consumer market that challenge the idea that sustainable living has to be boring and limiting.
Where can I find the debut issue?
Issue one of Ecovocateur - featuring ColieCo Lingerie, Studio Pia, Tom Jean Webb, Catori Life, Christalla Buttle, Fara and Nightswim - is available for download here.
Find a sneak peak of Ecovocateur's interview with ColieCo Lingerie's founder Nicole Neaber below, and the full interview here.
Both models wear the MIDNIGHT soft cup bra and MIDNIGHT crossover wrap panties in reclaimed black power mesh.
WHAT IS THE HEART OF YOUR BRAND?
Our vision is to offer is a more stimulating alternative to the bland essentials found across the stylistically-limited sustainable lingerie market.
We live by three core values: respect for people, respect for the environment and respect for quality, and we commit to considering each of the three in each and every business decision we make.
WHERE DO YOU DRAW INSPIRATION FROM?
As an eco-centric brand, we’re heavily focussed on our fabrics, and inspiration will often come from the discovery of a new material.
The texture, weight and finish of our bamboo jersey fabric, for example, lends itself beautifully to a luxurious vintage loungewear look. And our DAISY playsuit and MONA french knickers fell naturally out of playing with the fabric.
The ColieCo studio is also surrounded by nature. We’re situated in a national park full of pretty spectacular and unique coastline, which inspires us inside and outside of work.
WHAT MATERIALS ARE YOU USING TO CREATE YOUR LINE?
We work near exclusively with two categories of materials.
The first is fabric which has an inherently low carbon footprint. Here, right now, our focus is on bamboo, and we’re using a beautiful, lightweight cotton jersey-like fabric and a lustrous vegan silk alternative.
Bamboo is such an incredible raw material – it needs so little water, zero pesticides, zero herbicides and is fantastic for CO2 sequestration. Both fabrics we’re using are made from organically-grown bamboo, are manufactured in a closed-loop process (which recycles the chemicals required to break down the bamboo fibres and keeps them out of the outside environment), and are OEKO-TEX certified.
The second category is what we call ‘zero carbon’ fabrics, which are those our suppliers reclaim from line ends, offcuts and rolls rejected by the mass market fashion industry and otherwise destined for landfill or the incinerator.
Amongst these we have short run mesh fabrics from luxury lingerie brands, and offcut and misprinted scuba jersey fabrics, which are great for lingerie: smooth, stretchy and really sturdy for their weight.
WHAT MAKES YOUR BRAND SUSTAINABLE?
Hopefully, everything we do!
We try to take an holistic approach. From our perspective, there’s no point in us using inherently low carbon fabrics, but then air conditioning our studio, using non-recycled or non-recyclable packaging, or shipping our products by courier with DHL or UPS for next day delivery.
So we’re continually reviewing and revising our end-to-end process to try to make environmental improvements, from sourcing through fabric usage to order delivery.
Read the rest of the interview here.
Discover Ecovocateur
Credits
Photos 1-4 and cover
Photography: @lucas_markman
Director, producer, stylist: @marielnoir
Model: @kristinamenissov
Jewelry: @catorilife
Photos 5-9
Photography : @lucas_markman
Director, producer, stylist: @marielnoir
Model: @claudiamusikul
MUA: @yulitzin
