Stella McCartney is one of the most eco-friendly fashion houses around. Which is totally intentional. From the very onset, Stella McCartney decided to ban fur, skins, feathers or animal glues from her collections. Seven years later in 2008, the brand began using organic cotton. A couple of years later, PVCs were banned. Fast-forward to 2012 when bio-acetate was introduced into the eyewear category, recycled polyester became a mainstay, shoe soles became biodegradable and any wood pulp was required to be FSC-certified. Heck, the label even requested staff stop using plastic water bottles while in the office. Then came steps to eliminate angora and virgin mohair, a move to recycled nylon and much, much, much more.
Now the brand is teaming up with champagne maker Veuve Clicquot to take things to the next level. The two houses have created a vegan alternative to animal leather by using the byproduct of Veuve Clicquot's harvest. To make the new materials, grape stems are manually collected and sourced from the environmentally certified Grand Cru vineyard of Bouzy in Champagne, purchased by Madame Clicquot 200 years ago. The byproducts are then combined with both natural fibers and vegetable oils, which allow the materials to have a 40 percent lower impact on global warming. Not to mention a 50 percent drop in water usage.
