Dualité – Montreal Fashion Blog
Posted in Designers by Dahlia on July 31st, 2008
Every so often at my blog, I get requests in writing about a new designer for sake of promotions. But as I’m still in the course of developing a certain point of view, I decided to put one of them to the test by asking some more serious questions. I get tired of run of the mill “So what’s the name of your brand? How did you become a designer?†yadda yadda, they can sum that up in a nice little biography for all I care.
After being happy to find out about my Ecco sandals’ provenance, I wanted to know if clothing brands would do the same in revealing where their clothes were made and what were their ethical standards.
Well, Toronto-based JUZD (pronounced “joostâ€) Bamboo is a particular case – it’s an unknown urban street wear designer that has been recently picked up by Holt Renfrew. I asked them a couple of serious questions and I was surprised by the thorough responses and learned a thing or two, it gave me some hope that there are brands out there who aren’t afraid of answering questions that are really relevant to the fashion industry. Jing Liu, Chief Designer of JUZD, happily answered my questions. Read on:
I have visited the factories and the technology required for creating these clothing is very advance. The facilities are clean and staff are treated well. My mom used to work in a clothing factory here in Toronto and honestly the facility in China is much cleaner and I would say safer.
From a personal standpoint I was born and spent most of my early childhood in China. This is one way for me to give back to my people.
Q: How is bamboo fabric “eco-conscious†(i.e.: Aren’t bamboo trees part of the environment? How does it compare in being eco-friendly from the likes of cotton or wool?), and with so many brands pulling the eco-friendly card on consumers, what makes this brand stand out?
You can find our research article on bamboo here: http://www.juzdbamboo.com/benefitsofbamboo.php
To sum it up, bamboo itself is way more environmentally friendly than growing cotton or any other textile plant, and it has loads of benefits. The only reservation one might have is how it is actually produced (not labor wise, but how it’s made in the factories) that may be criticized. Now this goes well into the textile industry and I certainly don’t have much say on ethics in creating fabric (that’s a whole other realm altogether). Just know that the fashion industry is whole lot deeper than people are led to believe 🙂