We love smart green design competitions here at Inhabitat! Any opportunity to identify and support bold original talent is a mission that we take pretty seriously. Earlier this spring, we were onsite to judge and serve as a sponsor for Project Earth Day, and just this week a design pal gave us a great tip regarding the Chicago based fashion designer, Abigail Glaum-Lathbury, a June 2008 finalist in the Ideablob Design Competition. We wanted to give our reader’s a first-hand opportunity to see and vote on Abigail’s fabulous, eco-friendly fashions. Her label, Elmidae, needs your vote in order to close in on the possibility of winning a $10,000 award!
Read on for details on how you can CAST YOUR VOTE to make this rising design star a key player on the sustainable style circuit>>>
Elmidae’s collections are innovative and resourceful in their clever use of leftover, ‘remaindered’ fabrics and gorgeous natural fibers. Abigail-Glaum Lathbury is a big Natural Sciences geek and is unabashedly inspired by entomology and neurology for her most recent creations. (Yes, those are little pins that you see securing the model like an exotic beetle for closer inspection!)
In order for the young designer to continue on her mission of creating improved sustainable fabrics and a rockin’ environmentally responsible design company, she decided to apply for the Ideablob Design Competition cash prize. Not only do we think that her work is unique and worthy of the big prize, but we love that her heart is in all the right places when it comes to doing good business and setting up good practices.
If you are as convinced as we were upon discovering Elmidae, cast your vote before the Monday, June 30th deadline!
Abigail Glaum-Lathbury writes:
“Much of the fabric that I currently use is remaindered fabric, or fabric that would otherwise often end up in a dump (left overs from larger design houses). But more importantly, all of the fabrics that I use are made from natural fibers. Each collection also features a hand printed (and drawn) repeat pattern. The inks are all water-based and non-toxic, and by hand printing on a small scale, I print exactly what I have orders for, eliminating the majority of the waste that comes from industrial printing. All of the materials used for shipping are from recycled and recyclable materials, also eliminating excess plastics and waste. Additionally, all of our production is sewn locally. Not only does this eliminate huge amounts of carbon emissions, but it also promotes a sustainable, local economy. And last but not least, the company is completely car free!”
“A great deal of the prize money (fingers crossed) would go towards expanding the sustainable and organic fabric selections within my collection. The Spring 09 collection, which I am in the finishing stages of, will have the most eco friendly fabrics of any to date (about half). It is surprisingly difficult to find materials that are not of the classic raw hemp variety. For my Fall 09 collection, my goal is to have the line completely transitioned and made entirely from eco-friendly materials.”
Please vote online before the Monday, June 30th deadline!
+ Elmidae on Ideablob Design Competition
+ Elmidae Collection by Abigail Glaum-Lathbury
Elmidae Collection by Abigail Glaum-Lathbury, Spring 2008
Elmidae Collection by Abigail Glaum-Lathbury, Fall 2008
I really like that last dress, it’s gorgeous. I love how they’re all eco-friendly designs.