SONG fashion label | How Big Is Your Eco

Song

Let’s journey offshore for a moment and take a look at SONG, a label with a shopping list of eco-ethical practices as long as your arm. Designer Valeri Gregori is French but her HQ is Vietnam where the bulk of the collection is made. Not surprisingly, her look combines elements of pared-back Parisian elegance with Asian influences and detailing.

Gregori sources sustainable materials such as bamboo and ramie (created from a non-water intensive, fibrous flowering plant from Asia), all natural silk and pesticide-free organic cotton. Organic dyes from tea, plants and roots account for the collection’s rich, earthy tones.

In an impressive display of attention-to-detail, pieces are designed largely without the need for zips or gratuitous hardware. Instead, any embellishment is in the form of recycled sea shells, coconut shell and horn. In fact, SONG ensures the absence of synthetic materials right through to buttons and labels.

One of SONG’s big ambitions since launching in 1996 is retaining traditional (and often dying) craft skills. To that end, pieces are hand embroidered, dyed and finished by rural villagers and particular attention is paid to water and waste management and energy use. The label’s effort have paid off with the tick of approval from the International Fair Trade Organisation (IFAT) which monitors everything from pay and working conditions to gender equity and environmental responsibility.

In Australia, SONG can found at lifestyle/home emporiums like Orson & Blake and Rose St. Trading Co. For more stockists, call 03 9416 3599.