Sustainability Is a Journey, Not a Destination

May 28, 2023

By Lillian Pexton

Co-Creative Director Hillary Teymour, Photo courtesy of GQ

image from GQ

Hillary Teymour, a FIDM graduate, is the creative director, alongside Co-Creative Director, Charlie Engman, of Collina Strada. A transparent, radically inclusive and lively label, bursting with color and funk, which launched in New York, in the fall of 2008. Hillary and her team make tremendous efforts to be real with their customer base, providing palpable realities of their impact as consumers, while still managing to produce beautiful, thought-provoking clothing that embraces colorful self expression and advocacy for climate crisis solutions.

“COLLINA STRADA IS A PLATFORM FOR CLIMATE AWARENESS, SOCIAL AWARENESS, CHANGE AND SELF EXPRESSION.

SUSTAINABILITY IS A JOURNEY”

Within today's fashion atmosphere, the way Collina Strada is run as a label feels refreshing and hopeful. Teymour and Engman both agree that sustainability is a huge part of their personal lives—why would it not be an extension of what they do as designers? Hillary claims it feels selfish to make clothes in the current climate; at Collina Strada, the team works their very best at making products with the most eco-conscious solutions. The majority of  garments made at Collina Strada are created from deadstock and upcycled materials that are sourced from the label’s past collections as well as Ghana’s Kantamanto Market. 

In an interview with Ssense, Teymour describes how the reality of creating fashion that is sustainably produced barely exists in today's manufacturing methods, but efforts can be made. “As seemingly everyone grasps at a way to make their lives less at odds with the project of keeping the planet habitable, Taymour is unabashedly on a journey to find that answer for herself. She knows when to admit defeat. “I’m actually at a loss of how to make sustainable t-shirts, because it doesn’t exist and everyone who says they’re doing it is lying,” she says. Hillary hopes that being honest about what can be made less damaging will enlighten some reality to the conversation about fashion’s role in abetting the crisis.

Along with using deadstock textiles, Hillary is consistently on the lookout for new, innovative, low-impact, virgin materials, like AW20’s rose “sylk” which is made from the natural waste of rose bushes. “It’s the most sustainable version of silk on the market,” the designer says. Collina Strada garments are also all locally made and sewn in-house at their studio in Brooklyn with each production batch capped at 500 units to avoid over production and waste. Hillary is the first to admit that Collina Strada is not yet 100% sustainable, it is her goal to achieve that. Teymour has been at the head of “slow fashion,” insisting that all manufacturing is “ethical enough that I would feel good about making the fabric myself, or having any one of my friends make the fabric. Actually, sometimes, they do.” Collina Strada runway shows honor nature and display bizarre fantasies, bringing to life imaginative worlds with a message for action, with the use of immersive installations, special FX makeup and a range of unique models. Their shows are known to include models in wheelchairs and models of a variety of ages, with several models over 50. The label consistently makes a point to impact their audience with a message, or leave them with something to engage and care about. Like their SS19 show, which featured garments made from completely repurposed materials and was set at a makeshift farmers market, with fresh fruit and veggies for guests to enjoy. Collina Strada was one of seven designers to take part in what magazines called Metaverse’s first runway show, hosted by online virtual world, IMVU, in 2021. Hillary is one of the first designers to debut a full virtual outfit in the Metaverse before manifesting it IRL, on pop star Kim Petras at the 2021 Met Gala.

Photo courtesy of Vogue

Click the image above to watch the IMVU 2021 Metaverse fashion show featuring Collina Strada.

Photo courtesy of Vogue. Pop Star Kim Petras wearing Collina Strada At the 2021 Met Gala. This garment was first debuted in IMVU virtual fashion show

Photo courtesy of Collina Strada. Models from Collina Strada F/W NYFW 2023

Teymour is a frontrunner in the fashion industry, leading great examples for younger designers to follow. She is down to earth and transparent about her intentions as a designer, and actively doing her part to combat the climate crisis. Her dedication and commitment to leaving the earth better than she found it is admirable and inspiring to creatives around the world. With minds like those at Collina Strada, hopefully the eyes of the fashion industry will open up to the realties of what needs to change on order to keep both the Earth and the industry alive.

Photo courtesy of Collina Strada. Super model Aaron Philip

“Fashion’s Latest ‘It’ Destination Is the Metaverse.” ELLE, 17 Feb. 2022, www.elle.com/fashion/a39093092/metaverse-virtual-fashion-events/.
An Interview with Hillary Taymour of Collina Strada | Ssense, www.ssense.com/en-us/editorial/fashion/an-interview-with-hillary-taymour-of-collina-strada. Accessed May 2023.
Kendall, Zoë. “The Cult of Radically Fun NYC Label Collina Strada.” I, i-d.vice.com/en/article/dy8mzx/how-collina-strada-became-one-of-new-yorks-most-beloved-fashion-brands. Accessed May 2023.
Krentcil, Faran. “Hillary Taymour Wants to Save the World. When Will Someone Let Her?” Harper’s BAZAAR, 9 Mar. 2022, www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a39139700/hillary-taymour-wants-to-save-the-world-when-will-someone-let-her/.
Stubblebine, Allison. “Collina Strada Held a Repurposed Runway at a Farmers Market.” Nylon, 9 Sept. 2019, www.nylon.com/collina-strada-nyfw-ss20-runway.
“When Your Consumer Is an Avatar: Fashion, from the Physical Runway to the Metaverse.” Irenebrination, www.irenebrination.com/irenebrination_notes_on_a/2021/05/imvu-fashion-show.html. Accessed May 2023