New York Fashion Week Goes Green and Lean
Posted by Lucky on Feb 10, 2010
Green is the new black. IMG announced Tuesday that Mercedes-Benz fashion week in New York, which starts Thursday, will net zero carbon emissions.
The fashion industry hasn’t necessarily been known for its environmental efforts. Its town cars, elaborate runway backdrops, gallons of hairspray and international imports of textiles (and models) haven’t exactly won green awards. And they aren’t going away, either. Instead, IMG, which puts on New York fashion week, will buy carbon credits from sustainable projects elsewhere to offset the 948 tons of CO2 emissions it says it emits from the shows.
In a sponsorship deal, Tetra Pak, a food processing and packaging company which is helping provide water at the Bryant Park tents, will pay a forestry project in California and farms in Idaho for carbon credits. This transaction will allow those projects to reduce their carbon emissions, while fashionistas in New York continue to have their shows — without any eco guilt.
“I think it’s exciting to think that our runways and lights and shows are lighting up a dairy farm in Idaho,” says Fern Mallis, senior vice president of IMG, who has headed New York fashion week since it started in 1993. “It is the socially and politically conscious thing to do.”
But while fashion week is going green, it’s also going lean. More and more designers are showing outside of the Bryant Park tents and paring down on extravagances. Two days before the start of fashion week, Ms. Mallis talked to Heard on the Runway about the state of the fashion industry and the economics of the Bryant Park tents.
Heard on the Runway: People are saying that we’ve hit the end of trends. Is that true and how will that impact fashion week and the industry as a whole?
Fern Mallis: Fashion is about getting people excited, about that magic and illusion that “this is going to change my life,” “this outfit’s going to get me on the page of the newspaper” and “this is going to make that man fall in love with me.” It’s about that emotional connection with fashion and that’s what the top designers do.
We may not need the “It” handbag this year, but I guarantee by the end of the week of shows that there are a few things that will make you say, “I have to have that.”
There’s a real business model here: doing collections, having them photographed, having them bought by the stores. The excitement that fashion week builds so that people start to know about designers — it’s a business ritual. It all trickles down from that.
Getty
Fern Mallis, senior vice president of IMG Fashion This will be the last fashion week in Bryant Park. Next season you’ll move up to LincolnCenter. What are your thoughts?
It’s definitely going to be a change. The details will be announced at the end of March or April. We’re going to celebrate everything we enjoyed for the 18 years in Bryant Park. Our graphics and tent fronts are filled with quotes about what people remember about Bryant Park. We want everybody to have a last great season here before we move uptown.
Are you worried about attracting downtown designers to go up there?
No, we’re not worried about any of that. Everybody I heard about is anxious to show up there and want to be there. I’m more worried about the snow on Wednesday than our move to Lincoln Center.
Many designers, including big names like Marc Jacobs and Jason Wu, don’t show in the tents. Last season, a bunch of designers pulled out for financial reasons. What are you seeing this time?
Over the last several seasons there have been people who decide not to spend the money. But we always have a full schedule. We have a very full schedule this season.
I do think that the economy is not the main story anymore. It’s showing some signs of recovery. People aren’t running out of the gate to go shopping, but people are OK with it again.
I think that what’s happened is very healthy. People are shopping smarter and making wiser choices. And that makes the designers more focused on who their customers are. We’ll think twice about those $800 shoes and several-thousand-dollar outfits and that’s OK.
