Brand of the Month: Stella McCartney

This month’s “Brand of the Month” is the legend herself, Stella McCartney! I usually do my brand recommendations based on products I’ve actually bought or if I’ve met the designers from the brand, but I felt this company was well worth a mention anyway. My long-term admiration of this brand has led me to follow the developments they’ve made over the years and observe how Stella has continued to champion sustainable fashion and make it desirable. 

Veggie for life

Stella McCartney has always been a vegetarian fashion brand, ever since it’s launch in 2001, which means she’s never included fur, leather, exotic skins or feathers in her designs. Over the past few years the brand has also made several huge steps to becoming a completely vegan company, as well as dropping a lot of unsustainable materials from her designs. All her perfumes are vegan cruelty-free and she doesn’t sell in China so no animal testing is involved at any stage. She only uses viscose and other tree-based fabrics that come from non-endangered, sustainable forests, and since 2010 all Stella McCartney products have been PVC free. In 2013 she also stopped using angora in all products following a PETA campaign.

Dedication to innovation

Stella McCartney has always been one of the most innovative designers, often experimenting with new materials before anyone else dares to. Instead of using cow’s leather, they use alter-nappa for the bags and shoes; made from polyester and polyurethane and has a recycled polyester backing. The alter-nappa coating is made with over 50% vegetable oil, a renewable, natural resource. They are also currently exploring lab-grown leather – a very exciting (if not controversial) material development!

They have set a target to only use recycled polyester by 2025 and currently use organic cotton for 61% of their cotton products. 

Room to improve

·     They still use wool in their knitted garments - but at least they only source from farms that don’t allow mulesing.

·     Still use a combination of traditional silk and Peace silk – but they are exploring the use of Microsilk (by Bolt Threads), a completely vegan alternative.

·     Still uses cashmere – but not virgin, only recycled. 

So, while there are materials that could be switched to 100% vegan alternatives, the animal materials they do use are of a higher animal welfare standard than what the rest of the fashion industry is using. 

Green campaigns

In 2018, Stella McCartney co-sponsored the Biodesign Challenge that brought design students and biotech professionals together to create new materials and envision the future of biotechnology. The challenge for the 2018 contest included the PETA prize for the first time; awarded to the team that develops proof of a concept for animal-free vegan wool. The award was won by a group of students who created Woocoa, vegan wool made from hemp and coconut fibers treated with enzymes extracted from the oyster mushroom.

Stella recently used 5 Extinction Rebellion members instead of models for her Fall 2019 campaign, which sparked conversations about how environmentalism and fashion can work together. 

Grandermarnier’s top picks

I’ve always wanted a Stella McCartney bag and one day I’ll be able to buy myself one, without worrying about whether or not I can afford food that month! For now, I’ll just keep adding my favourite pieces to my mental wishlist for the future. Here are some of my favourite items in the Stella McCartney collection…

Black boots

Made with vegan leather and a gold tipped toe - just because.

Reversible Falabella tote bag

Black and mustard - my two go-to colours for Fall

Fur free fur coat

If Carrie Bradshaw had been vegan…

Moama top

For those “nice top and jeans” events

Crepe sable dress

How to look like a fashion Jedi 101