Friday, October 15, 2010

Design Philadelphia

The Design Philadelphia events have been really enlivening the city the past week! Fortunately, I've been able to attend both panels of Fashion Forward: A Two Part Series on Sustainable Fashion and Philadelphia.

The second installment of the Fashion Forward panel was just last night and it was incredible! The panelists were Natalia Allen from Design Futurist, Kristin Kantner of Deviant Jeans, Seun Olubudon of Duke & Winston, and Nicole Fisher of NIC*FISH. Each of them shared their own origin stories of how they built their own companies within the past few years, the trials and obstacles they withstood, and gave advice on the challenges that designers face for the up and coming.

It was inspiring to know that people can be successful, even during a time of an economic recession - especially those involved in the fashion industry. They didn't cut corners with materials and design/manufacture locally and also consider what it means to be responsible in design. They all touched on subjects ranging from innovative materials that can biodegrade, cradle to cradle design, target markets, and capital.

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