Going Green Has Never Been More Fashionable

The world’s most expensive wedding was held in 2004 by steel tycoon, Laxhmi Mittal, for his daughter Vanisha. Costing an astounding USD$60 million, it spanned six days and boasted a bridal party that wore over fifty custom-made outfits. For today’s bride planning her big day, while it may not be as extravagant as the Mittal celebration, there are many things to consider including venue, food, flowers, and most importantly, the bride’s outfit. With the wedding industry generating billions of dollars each year, vendors are looking for new ways to differentiate themselves in this increasingly competitive market.

The next big idea: eco friendly wedding dresses.

As environmental awareness grows in today’s society, more brides are looking for ways to reduce the impact their celebrations have on the ecosystem. All the travelling done by guests, and the products and outfits purchased for one day’s use does add up to create a huge impact on carbon emissions and general waste production. Bridal wear designers are capitalizing on this ever conscious consumer by targeting the “eco-bride” and offering her the option of wearing a “green wedding dress”.

Green wedding dresses, are for the most part, dresses made of fair trade and organic materials such as cotton, linen, hemp, and peace silk [1]. They also do not contain many of the chemicals that dresses are doused in to avoid wrinkles and stains. Furthermore, the manufacturing process is conducted in an eco-friendly manner to ensure minimal environmental impact during production. Some designers go so far as to tag each garment with its specific carbon footprint value. They then donate a portion of the sale proceeds to carbon reduction organizations based on the size of the footprint.

Considering the description so far, most people would expect some cotton fabric potato sack shaped garment. However, savvy designers like Deborah Lindquist, Olivia Luca, and Christina Hurvis learn to balance being both fashionable and environmentally conscious. Their couture designs are trendy, award winning runway fashions. These designers also cater to those looking to get custom made pieces.

The “green wedding dress” is an innovative way of creating a new niche in the market by generating demand for environmentally friendly bridal clothing. It also offers a justifiable reason to charge a premium for the garment since there are very few retailers who cater to this concept. Furthermore, it allows designers to grow their business while minimizing the impact their operations have on the environment.

This is an amazing and innovative product for which demand is sure to increase as environmental awareness continues to soar in our society. As this increase occurs, designers such as Lindquist, Luca, and Hurvis will have the first-mover advantage, with an established brand presence and efficient supply chain management.

When that special day comes around for all you ladies in class, be sure to consider buying your dress “green”.

To learn more about designers offering “green” collections, please visit:
http://www.deborahlindquist.com/
www.olivialuca.com/home/studio
http://www.couturesf.com/

To learn more about peace silk, please visit:
www.aurorasilk.com/info/peacesilk.shtml

To learn more about green weddings in general, please visit:
www.greatgreenwedding.com/
www.ourgreenweddinglist.com/

[1] Peace silk, not widely known, is the ethical process of extracting silk from the cocoon of a silk worm. The current method of processing is to boil the cocoon, kill the worm, and extract the thread. This is done in an effort to shorten the process times of silk production. Peace silk manufacturers do not allow the killing of the silk worm, and rather wait for the worm to emerge as a moth before conducting the extraction process on the empty shell.