What's in style: Green fashion

Trash, thought to be useless, can be transformed into anamazing work of fashion. A poetess conveys a verse typifying the appalling truth: the all-pervadingpresence of garbage- A pathetic sight not so rare heaps of garbage everywhere leftover, paper and glassware are people's worst night mare.

Candy wrappers, used tarpaulins, softdrink crowns, sacks, aluminum wires- litter here and there. Ubiquitously dotted everywhere, but they can be metamorphosed into a work of art.

As trash posessnagevery rainy season cloggingthe drainage, leading to the perennial deluge, this scenario can be lessened, if not totally stamped out by an initiative of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Incorporated (RAFI) last August 3, 2013 at SM City Cebu Trade Hall. On its second year, it pioneered a fashion show dubbed as Green Fashion Revolution of which it magnificently showcased garments made of recycled materials.The event aimed "to promote the group's five pillars of sustainability: reduce, reuse, recycle, rejuvenate communities and renewable energy regeneration". From the original 3 Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle), RAFI added two creative components: empowering local communities and finding ways for energy revival-vital for environmental equilibrium.

Competing for the green fashion show, six Metro Cebu universities and colleges adopted communities that would be the beneficiaries of the seed money from the contest. Garbed in their stylish costumes from waste materials and trash, student fashion models walked the runway.

Recycling of materials that are perceived to be worthlesshas a tremendous economic benefit. Indeed, there is fashion-and money in garbage. How can you imagine that a piece of garbage is now the object of economic undertaking and prosperity, scrutiny and admiration for its use in fashion?

Akin to the idea of sustainable fashion is eco fashion, a part of the growing design philosophy and trend of sustainability. The goal of which is to create a system which can be supported in terms of environmentalism and social responsibility.

This is an ingeniousinitiative to help the problem of garbage. Instead of throwing them away or setting them aside, it's better to take a look at them again and evaluate their usefulness.

This is a creative idea from our young who would help the community by empowering the constituents, giving them the opportunity to earn a living. And the idea of helping a certain community is laudable as the academe satisfies its main thrust to be of service and be relevant to the community where it belongs. Gone are the days when intellectuals were untouchables by creating walls, living in towers.

"The fashion industry creates excessive amounts of waste that causes environmental pollution. With China manufacturing approximately 40 percent of the world's textiles and 30 percent of the world's apparel, these negative impacts are all too close to home," said Dr. Christina Dean, founder of Redress.

The challenge is how we can transform a perceived useless object into a work of art and be functional and fashionable without even a semblance of being trash.There is now a great challenge to duplicate and sustain the efforts of our students. This initiative has created a ripple as it started to increase the level of consciousness among our young and the community as a whole on environmental protection. But we should not stop here; rather I am hoping that other groups and companies would follow such an initiative. This would hopefully form part of their corporate social responsibility.

When we think of sustainability of green fashion, it is something beyond the expression and appreciation of beauty or satisfying a certain market niche. It transcends and transforms design into a strategy that can help solve ecological problems and maintain environmental balance.

Essentially, perceiving fashion is not only for human aesthetics but also, or even most importantly, for environmentalconservation and preservation.It is undeniably a revolutionary paradigm shift-challenging yet laudable.

And as more local designers, institutions, companies, academe and the general public embrace the change, it will get easier to support our local economy, our environment-and still dress up inexquisite, first-rateclothes.