California Apparel News

If it takes a village to raise a child, the same could be said about creating a sustainable capsule collection.

During Munich Fabric Start, the international textile trade show held Jan. 29–31 in Germany, a partnership of several companies unveiled the Planet Rehab capsule collection.

The partnership brought together sustainable-apparel specialists from around the globe, including Guatemalan designer Juan Carlos Gordillo, Austrian textile company Lenzing, Spanish fabric producer Tejidos Royo, Italian sustainable dye maker Oficina+39 and Tonello, an Italian wash specialist.

The Planet Rehab collection incorporates Lenzing’s Tencel and Tencel x Refibra lyocell fabrics manufactured by Tejidos Royo and dyed using Officina+39’s Recycrom process, with Tonello providing the finishing process.

“Personally I could see the whole process, and this gives me confidence to show and say that Planet Rehab is transparent and 100 percent earth friendly,” Gordillo said. “As a designer, it is important for me to try to show this message to the industry but also to the public because all the actions we do to nature, especially water, come back to each one of us.”

From design to manufacturing, all companies that participated in this collaboration recognized the importance of showing how sharing ideas and coming together to produce more ecologically created clothing can be done successfully.

“We strongly believe in this type of cooperation. Planet Rehab was a real catalyzer for a positive change,” Officina+39’s chief executive officer, Andrea Venier, said. “It was a genuine synergy between companies that are investing huge efforts in green innovations during the last few years with a sustainable-oriented designer like Juan Carlos Gordillo.”

The womenswear capsule includes blouses, pants, shorts, skirts and outerwear that feature details such as ruffling and a unique use of buttons and bows. Through this Latin-inspired collection, Gordillo was able to showcase the capabilities of sustainable-apparel supply-chain practices with innovative fibers and fabrics, safer dyes and washes that can provide unique accents. The Planet Rehab capsule has pieces in hues of red, yellow, purple, gray, light green and different tones of blue.

“Juan Carlos has proven Planet Rehab’s premise that global collaboration of sustainability-minded companies can result in gorgeous designs that are made with respect for the environment,” Tricia Carey, Lenzing Group’s director of global business development for denim, said in a statement.

“Companies who want to be in business 100 years from now must become cleaner and more sustainable right now,” noted Jose Royo of Tejidos Royo. “Planet Rehab represents the business model of the future.”