Southeast Asian fashion designers push eco-friendly designs and save traditional culture and methods
On a trek through Southeast Asia, Walk Sew Good campaigners meet designers and producers offering sustainable alternatives to fast fashion’s wasteful consumption, while revitalising local communities and preserving techniques
After almost a year on the road in Southeast Asia, eco-fashion campaigners Megan O’Malley and Gab Murphy are hoping a growing number of designers offering sustainable alternatives will help offset waste and exploitation in the region’s garment industry.
“The fast fashion model has steered this giant industry in a direction that exploits people and the planet in favour of cheap, speedily produced clothing,” says Walk Sew Good co-founder O’Malley. “It’s not sustainable and it doesn’t make any sense.”
She and fellow Australian Murphy have been walking through Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos since leaving Melbourne in November in search of eco-friendly lines produced in a fair and sustainable way. “There are so many people in the region creating diverse solutions to the problem and we wanted to meet them and share their stories,” says O’Malley.
The pair have met many progressive designers who are drawing on a long history of textiles, tailoring and weaving techniques.
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In Cambodia, local designer Vannary San was worried the country’s golden silk industry and cultural pride would be forgotten as the clothing industry grew to become the country’s major exporter, employing an estimated 700,000 people.