Sustainability : The Future of Bridal Fashion
Pure unadulterated luxury and joy. That’s what you are looking for on your wedding day, right? A day which is elevated above the humdrum nine-to-five, where the entire wedding party gets to indulge in feel-good vibes and unfettered fun. After all the saving and planning, it’s a pleasure and a delight for you to spend your hard-earned cash on the elements of your wedding which fill your hearts with happiness.
For the modern, ethically minded bride, of course this means finding a wedding dress which is as gentle to the earth as possible, along with the reassurance that the people making it have been treated and paid fairly. The wish to purchase a luxury gown which is not only at the forefront of bridal fashion but also completely guilt-free is something we’re hearing more and more from Rolling In Roses brides, and it’s such a thrill to be able to deliver this dream. The demand for slow-fashion and sustainable fabrics is growing rapidly as the general public become more fully aware of fashion’s terrible impact upon the environment around the world, and so many RIR brides choose our dresses not only for their style but for their eco credentials too. We have worked incredibly hard over the years to make our brand as low-impact as possible so you can be completely confident in our gowns and enjoy the feel-good factor an ethical purchase brings, It’s at the absolute core of our business and a real passion for me and every member of our little team. Lets take a look at the steps we take to make our collections as kind to the planet as possible…
Eco-Friendly Fabrics
There are so many great sustainable fabric options these days, I think it’s really quite an exciting time to be a designer. Even just two or three years ago it was much more difficult to find eco alternatives, but now there are more incredible materials becoming available all the time. Organic fabrics, anything organically certified not only guarantees a chemical-free production (which protects the earth and surrounding habitats), but also a high level of water conservation and ethical production which protects workers. Factories are inspected regularly to make sure they meet the high standards required. No slave labour, and happy plants and insects! Closed-loop viscose fabrics are great too, which is when natural cellulose fibre viscose is produced using a circular system which cleans, recycles, and reuses all the chemicals and water used during the processing of the fabric.
Materials which are recycled, low-impact and British-made are obviously great too: we have a whole section dedicated to fabrics on our website, and we make sure we give a detailed run-down of the fabrics used in each dress at the bottom of each dress page so take a look at the dress pages if you want to know the fabric used on each piece.
Beware of Greenwashing
If we all work together and make a concerted effort to bring about change, (however small), we can make a real difference, so even if you don’t get your wedding outfit from us we still want you to understand what to look for and what to avoid.
Greenwashing, this is a difficult one, because obviously there are varying degrees of greenwashing just as there are varying degrees of sustainability. It can be a real minefield, so who to trust? Presumably a certain amount of greenwashing is unintentional and innocent, due to being unaware of how fabrics are made or how to obtain information about muddy supply chains. According to Vogue, shockingly, a recent study by Changing Markets Foundation found that nearly 60 per cent of green claims made by 12 major brands in the UK and Europe were unsubstantiated or misleading. With so many elements to consider when looking for your dress, where to begin?
Obviously made-to-order bridal is a great option as there’s no over-production and associated waste. But to market something as truly sustainable I like to consider as many facets to the product as possible, from manufacturing, to materials, to packaging, and the overall ethics of the company. It’s great when there’s official certification such as the global Oeko-Tex organic label, as that makes choosing much simpler! Materials such as 100% silk or cotton may sound great as they’re natural and biodegradable, but actually silk production can be very harmful to the environment unless it is certified organic, so it’s worth weighing that up when making your decision.
Weigh up transport, carbon footprint; British is good, but is it made in Britain or simply designed here? A brand may recycle their waste, make separates which can be worn again, or plant trees or use biodegradable packaging, but is that enough to be truly sustainable? But as we all know, ticking all the boxes can be difficult, expensive, and time consuming, so it’s all a balancing act! In the end the most important thing is that we’re all trying our best whenever we can and that you can enjoy your day knowing you did everything you could to make your wedding as sustainable as possible.
