Recycled Dresses And The 30-Wear Rule: Emma Watson Is Becoming A Stalwart Of Sustainable Fashion

Emma Watson might be best known for her feminist activism in recent years, but this uniquely intelligent actress also has another cause very close to her heart; sustainable fashion. She's never been one not to make an impact with her red carpet looks, but there's a lot more going on behind the fabric than you'd guess.

Emma's interest in eco-style first became clear at the 2016 Met Gala when she wore a frankly incredible black and white Calvin Klein piece made out of recycled plastic bottles as part of the designer's collaboration with Eco-Age for their Green Carpet Challenge. Not only is the material recycled, but the fact that each bit of the outfit was detachable meant that it could be worn differently again and again.

In a recent interview with Coveteur magazine, she opened up a bit more about her interest in eco-friendly fashion, confessing that her initial interest began in school when she learned about fair trade. '[I] couldn't understand why it wasn't standard business practice to pay people fairly for their work', she said.

She eventually took a trip to Bangladesh with a representative of the clothing brand People Tree who specialise in fair trade, but three years later came the Rana Plaza collapse which saw a garment-factory crumble to the ground killing more than a thousand people due to a structural failure after workers were forced to return to work despite warnings over cracks.

'It reignited my passion all over again', Emma continued. 'Since then, things like [the documentary] 'The True Cost' came out, and [fair labour practices] have actually become something people are talking about, which is fantastic.'

Sustainable Brands

Sustainability is something that she tries to incorporate into her everyday wear with brands like Veja, Kings of Indigo, Coltrane, Gabriela Hearst, Chinti and Parker, Outlander Denim, Good Guys, Chakra Intimates and many more. Her favourite brand of yoga pants is Teeki ('They have really fun, crazy prints, and it's all made from recycled plastic bottles'), but the real challenge comes with finding the perfect ensemble for a major red carpet event.

'I'm trying to set a challenge of how much sustainable stuff can I wear on the red carpet', she reveals. 'I've been working with Livia Firth a lot. She does the Green Carpet Challenge, and she has an agency, Eco-Age. It's been a huge learning curve; really challenging, but really rewarding.'

If you follow her on Instagram, you might be well aware of her attempts to bring fashion sustainability to the forefront. On a new account following her 'Beauty and the Beast' press tour, she descibred the eco-vibes behind each outfit.

For example, she's been wearing a lot of jewellery from Article22. '[The brand] upcycle Vietnam War-era bombs, planes, and other aluminium scrap to make Peacebomb jewellery', she explained in one photo caption. 'The more Peacebomb jewellery is worn, the more land is cleared and made safe for the surrounding communities.'

She explained further in another caption: 'Each piece helps clear unexploded ordnance, making land safe and providing new metal to artisans. Article22 began working with a village in Laos in 2009, that now has 15 families, husbands and wives making Peacebomb jewellery. They work part-time and earn at least 5x the local hourly minimum wage, providing them with the disposable income for books, school, fuel and medicine that their subsistence farming livelihoods can't.'

Cienne is a New York clothing brand that she has been working with a lot. 'Cienne produce locally and in small batches, so they never make more product than needed and aim to reduce fabric waste through pattern-making', she explained.

Make Your Wardrobe More Eco-Friendly

Of course, brands like these don't come cheap, but sustainability isn't just about buying clothes made out of organic or recycled materials. 'It's actually not just about even what you purchase; it's about, 'Whatever you buy, would you wear it thirty times?' That makes anything ethical and sustainable', she insists. That's really the issue that we have with fashion, that people are buying clothes and throwing them away after wearing them twice, filling land[fills], creating unsafe working conditions.'

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That explains the #30wears hashtag she's been using a lot on her Instagram account lately. Plus, she has a few tips on how to make your wardrobe more sustainable. 'People forget about vintage and secondhand clothes a lot, they forget about buying things that are more durable, or shopping a bit less. Taking care of what you already own, getting shoes resoled', Emma explains.