California Apparel News

Returning to Los Angeles for its second installment, Vegan Fashion Week, the ethical-fashion runway and trade-show event, will be hosted Oct. 10–15. Produced under the theme “Fashion Is Activism,” this installment of VFW challenges the apparel industry to explore ecology and climate-change connections to fashion by education regarding innovation, ethics, science, technology and legal practices. Following the success of the inaugural event in February, founder Emmanuelle Rienda chose to maintain a presence in Los Angeles due to the city’s deep roots in conscientious fashion.

“I have been thinking about how to sustainably develop the movement. A good thing to focus on is Los Angeles as the world’s ethical-fashion destination,” explained Rienda. “It’s important to keep going with that story and gain support from organizations toward a stronger way.”

A launch event will be hosted at the Theatre at Ace Hotel on the evening of Oct. 10, complete with fashion and music, including a performance by Kate Nash. There will also be an awards ceremony to recognize high-profile vegan advocates such as performer Miley Cyrus, actor Natalie Portman and fashion stylist Tara Swennen, who has worked with actor Kristin Stewart.

Following an online public-voting process that will take place from mid-September until October 8, a final decision will be made by a jury of judges, which includes actor Emily Deschanel, designer Chloé Trujillo and Karen Rappaport. Eight categories will be highlighted including fashion design, furniture design, photography and modeling.

“We are trying to highlight and support the vegan creatives in different areas, not only fashion design. Being vegan is a lifestyle, it’s not only about fashion. We are celebrating people who are really moving the industry and the world forward,” she said. “I wanted to highlight this in the most creative and appealing way so people will understand that it is beautiful to be cruelty free.”

Oct. 14–15, Vegan Fashion Week will host Vegan World, a vegan-fashion trade show that will occupy the penthouse of the California Market Center, located in the Los Angeles Fashion District. A second edition of The Future of Fashion conference, which launched in October 2018, will continue the discussion concerning issues facing the fashion industry, with input from designers, scientists, policymakers and media.

In addition to the ethical shopping opportunities on the show floor, the event will also include a vegan lounge, a vegan-clothing swap and experiential activations. For this edition of VFW, Rienda is committed to establishing a connection between cruelty-free fashion and nature through reducing the environmental impact of the event.

“We’ve launched the first vegan-fashion trade show in the world. It is important because we are cruelty free but also trying to care about the environment by including sustainability inside the event,” she said. “This is a new kind of fashion industry and a new kind of trade show.”