Conscious Choice Seattle: Style Point: Fashion, Sustainability Do Mix

July 2004 | Evergreen Citizen

Style Point: Fashion, Sustainability Do Mix

by Emily Garland

“Look fabulous, live well, do good” is the tagline for the Sustainable Style Foundation (SSF), and many people seem eager to do just that.

Started in Seattle in May 2003 by style veterans and social and environmental activists Sean Schmidt and Rebecca Luke, the international nonprofit launched a Los Angeles chapter in April. Chapters in New York City and San Francisco are scheduled to start up this fall. There is also interest in Milan, Italy.

SSF has lectured at the Art Institute of Seattle, the industrial design program at the University of Washington and several architecture firms. This summer it will begin the Peer Alliance for Leadership Sustainability (PALS), a program that will provide an official forum for companies to meet and educate each other about practicing sustainability. The foundation’s Web site, www.sustainablestyle.org, offers information about local companies that practice sustainability. Its annual Outstanding Sustainable Style Achievement (OSSA) Awards provides recognition to social and environmental do-gooders on a grand scale in an annual Southern California event that includes Hollywood stars, nonprofit leaders and youth.

Recently, Evergreen Monthly sat down with the ambitious duo and talked sustainability and fashion.

EM: So what is SSF?

Luke: Our vision is to bring sustainability to the forefront and make it a standard of our lifestyle choices. That’s why we’ve chosen the style industries. Across the style industries, everything has to do with lifestyle choices — from the car you drive to the coffee you drink, to the clothes you wear.

EM: What are some of your goals?

Luke: There are so many things going on that people don’t know about. Our end goal is to bring people to the forefront. Like Armani has been using hemp for three or four years now. A lot of people don’t know that; they wouldn’t associate Armani jeans with hemp.

Schmidt: There was a great quote from the model Angela Lindval. She said, “Just because I wear stilettos doesn’t mean I can’t be interested in the environment.”

Luke: And that’s partly why I got into this. I would walk into environmental meetings and other events wearing designer clothing and wouldn’t be taken seriously. But wanting to make a difference and having barriers hasn’t stopped us. We have a history of the last 11 years of doing projects. We weren’t as...

Schmidt:...conventional.

Luke: We weren’t as conventional. The whole point was to make fun, positive events. Part of the reason we’ve been so successful is that style and design want to do creative things. But a lot of people don’t wear tie-dye and Birkenstocks. So we say put on your Prada and come down.

EM: Okay, so how do you define sustainability?

Schmidt: We started with the broadest one that’s out there — improving the quality of life for everyone. You can’t have one group getting all the benefits and not others. We have four parts on our Web site: living enterprises and economies; family, friends, community; equality; and seven generations. This is like the Holy Grail of social and environmental responsibility, defining this word.

EM: Why is practicing sustainability important?

Luke: Well, I think it’s primarily a personal choice. What I do impacts my world, my environment and future generations. There are two parts to it. The first is enlightenment — knowledge is power. The second is that by practicing sustainable choices you can ultimately make an impact. Making sustainable choices makes them more available in the market. By more and more people practicing sustainable choices, we can make an impact economically.

Emily Garland is a staff writer for Evergreen Monthly.

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