Letter from Israel

'Green' Fashion in Israel

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By Meredith Price

 

Left to right: Elanit Neutra makes her fashions from recycled rubber from tires; Irit Vilensky's designs are made from old plastic bags; and Zohar Yarom reuses old sofa samples to make purses.

From the inner tubes of worn black tires to the ubiquitous plastic bags, some young Israeli designers are finding ways to help the environment with their eco-friendly designs and clothing.

Ever since Richie Rich wowed the New York fashion world with a brightly colored skirt made out of corn fiber topped with a recycled polyester silver bustier in 2005, eco-fashion has been a steadily growing, international trend.

U2's lead singer, Bono, and his wife launched an environmentally friendly clothing brand labeled Edun ("nude" backward), Levi's has a new line of "green" jeans, and eco-fashion pioneer Linda Loudermilk is promoting the use of exotic, sustainable materials like sasawashi, bamboo, sea cell and soya in her luxury eco line.

According to the Sustainable Technology Education Project (STEP) Web site, www.stepin.org, eco-fashion is defined by the following elements:

1. The use of organic raw materials, such as cotton grown without pesticides and silk made by worms fed on organic trees.
2. The nonuse of harmful chemicals and bleaches to color fabrics.
3. The use of recycled and reused textiles. High-quality garments can be made from secondhand clothes and even recycled plastic bottles.
4. The use of durable materials so that people keep them longer.
5. practice of fair trade, which means that the people who make the clothes are paid a fair price and have decent working conditions.

Although the Israeli government's favorite excuse for its lackadaisical attitude toward the eco-fashion industry and organic farming is hard to argue with — it has other wars to wage — more and more designers here are finding creative ways to join the eco-fashion movement.

Irit Vilensky found a way to reuse waste and rid Israel of a few more of those plastic bags that litter natural landscapes across the country.

"I wanted to create something beautiful out of what everyone already has at home, so I decided to make things out of plastic bags," she says.

Vilensky uses a special technique to dissolve the plastic and then reshapes it by hand. Her uber-cool, delicate line of accessories, called Satik, includes one-of-a-kind bracelets, wallets and handbags. She points out that in many countries the noxious, non-biodegradable plastic bags are not even legal anymore, but at least by recycling them, she can do her part to help the environment.

Heavily influenced by the environmentally conscious city of Toronto, where she studied film, Elanit Neutra started making purses, wallets and notebooks out of the recycled inner tube of worn black tires two years ago.

"I have always been a collector, taking things from the street to make new things, and when I saw the tires, I decided to try to make something nice from the raw material," she says. Her soft, finished designs closely resemble leather, and although the process of reshaping the rubber is long and difficult, Neutra says the benefits far outweigh the challenges. "I maintain the natural shape of the material in order to keep an authentic texture. The imperfections are what make each piece unique."

Zohar Yarom reuses old sofa samples to create her unusual purses, and Ossi Yalon recycles old clothing, giving it new life by using it as a canvas for artistic scenes.

"Our society has a tendency to throw things away too quickly and buy new things. It borders on obsession, especially with some women who find buying clothing therapeutic," Yalon says. "I wanted to point out that old things can be renewed and become beautiful again. It's my small contribution."

The line of eco-fashion clothing called Cotton, owned by Galit Broyde and her husband, Erez Moded, makes each item out of organic material. They design high-quality clothes that are versatile and durable so that customers can keep their clothes longer, and their factories, which make the clothes locally, respect fair-trade laws.

"Over the last two years, eco-fashion has become really trendy, but we are not a trendy company," Broyde says. "For us, this is a lifestyle, not a passing fad."

According to Nirit Sternberg, the owner of an all-Israeli design store in the fashionable Tel Aviv port Le'ela, at least 35 of her creators are working on environmentally friendly projects. "I have designers making jewelry out of buttons and small change and shawls, dolls and furniture out of recycled fabrics. It's a trend that has grown a huge amount in Israel recently."

Nevertheless, because of the near impossibility of finding organic materials that are grown in Israel and the expense of importing them, not as many fashion designers adhere to eco-friendly principles as elsewhere in the world.

For Sophie O'Hana, a new mother and a British immigrant who grew up on an organic farm and in an eco-household, exasperation led her to make her own line of organic baby clothing here in Israel. "I started looking for chemical-free clothing for my daughter, and I couldn't find anything. It's readily available abroad, but nothing existed here in Israel, so I decided to do it myself."

Her company is called Tinok Yarok (green baby), and O'Hana uses organic cotton that is manufactured with respect to fair-trade laws. Impressed recently with widespread media campaigns here in Israel and educational events to promote awareness, she nevertheless points out that change is slow and the average Israeli is not aware of the larger implications.

Sternberg agrees. "Eco-fashion is a relatively new thing here," she says. "It hasn't fully become part of the consciousness yet, but we're hoping that it will continue to grow and that there will be more and more awareness and interest."

Meredith Price Levitt grew up in Marietta and bought a ticket to Tel Aviv on Sept. 10, 2001. She writes a column on Israeli innovations and cultural features for The Jerusalem Post. You can reach her at meredithmprice@yahoo.com.

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