JACKET REQUIRED TO HIGHLIGHT SUSTAINABILITY IN ITS NEWEST EDITION

Jacket Required
by Stephen Garner

Jacket Required London’s premier menswear trade fair Jacket Required returns for the spring/summer 2019 season tomorrow with a lineup of great brands and activations focusing on sustainability. This edition takes place at Old Truman Brewery in the Shoreditch neighborhood of London on Wednesday, July 25 and Thursday, July 26, bringing together the latest and most exciting collections from brands such as Han Kjobenhavn, Portuguese Flannel, La Paz and many more.

This season, Jacket Required looks to shine a spotlight on the growing emphasis and importance placed on sustainability within the fashion sector. In an industry all about supply and demand, there are a growing number of brands, buyers and consumers that place innovation and transparency at their center.

Jacket Required team up with Portuguese brand La Paz, to introduce Ricardo Nicolau de Almeida, an artivist (artist and activisit) who creates artwork out of plastic found washed up on beaches. Ricardo’s aim is to raise awareness of the growing plastic pollution on the planet. One of his eye-catching installations will be featured at the entrance of the show.

Jacket Required Rather than simply embracing a ‘sustainability trend’ Jacket Required will present a panel discussion providing insight into sustainability and responsibility to our environment, as industry leaders share knowledge with retailers, press, and consumers about best practices, and encourage us to introduce this crucial way of thinking.

For the past few seasons, Tencel Lyocell has featured in the women’s apparel collection. This summer, Kings of Indigo have brought it into the men’s styles as well, meaning that almost 10 percent of the entire collection is made from this sustainable fabric. The ingenious of Tencel Lyocell is that it is a closed loop process – it recovers and reuses 99 percent of water. The outcome is a range of soft feel shirts, jackets, shorts, trousers, that are lightweight and allow the skin to breathe, all the while contributing to the circular economy in the textile industry.

And, new this season, the show will introduce the first spring installment of the Element Griffin Studio collaboration project. This season’s Future Mature collection brings Griffin’s expertise in design, innovation and sustainability together. Influenced by exploration, outdoor & military styling this season mixes modern and vintage details and shapes combined with a single fabric; an 100 percent cotton canvas based on an original military tent fabric modernized with a fluorine-free DWR coating. This coating contains no flurochemicals, making it the ultimate environmentally-friendly solution for garment water repellency.