Chloé Pre-Fall 2022 – WWD

With two new eco badges, Certified B Corp and members of The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, earned over the past two months, Chloé continues to combine luxury with social responsibility.

Creative director Gabriela Hearst has been advancing that mission since her arrival a year ago and, in an interview, she spent as much time introducing the French brand’s low-impact materials and methods as when she She does the actual designs.

She is particularly pleased with B Corp’s status because in the future it will act as a “report panel,” helping to check the brand’s progress as it seeks to reduce carbon emissions, using using recycled fabrics and spinning natural materials, such as wool and reclaimed wood, into the collection.

Since her arrival last December, Hearst has favored linen over pure cotton because of the lower environmental impact of growing and producing it.

She also shrinks her jewelry collection and tries to ditch the “toxic” plating methods for various metals and instead opt for natural elements like baroque pearls, amethysts and silks. Recycling.

In an interview with Zoom from New York, Hearst said that lower-impact materials, such as hemp and recycled cotton, make up 70% of the supply, up from 40% this winter. 2021.

Additionally, about 99% of knitwear has a lower impact, in part due to her use of recycled cashmere fabric, which she treats with vegetable dyes and sews into a ribbed wool ensemble, and a dress striped poncho.

Len Merino is one of the stars of the collection. Hearst, who grew up on her family’s sheep and cattle farm in Uruguay and who Won the Woolmark Award in 2017, praising wool’s lightness, flexibility and ability to help regulate body temperature.

She’s crafted it into gowns, coats, outerwear — and even into the flimsy hooks of the brand’s sneakers. Among the highlights are a khaki-laced cape jacket with details – and lots of military looks – and a gabardine jacket with well rounded sleeves.

The denim suit is made from a blend of recycled cotton and hemp, part of an ongoing collaboration with the Italian denim specialist Adriano Goldschmied, who specializes in innovative textiles. There’s no metal anywhere in the design, while the buttons are made from recycled natural materials.

Natural dyes come from bloodwood, herbaceous roots, and safflower, and those earthy tones run throughout this elegant collection, from jigsaw leather jackets and tobacco dresses to perforated floral designs, to floral embroidered long coats with shades of tomato, olive and rust.