Producers of The Energy Trust Better Living Home, Garden & Lifestyle Show (Better Living Show) are working with Portland Fashion Week Productions to host an eco-fashion panel discussion and installation fashion show at the largest sustainable lifestyle show in the Northwest.

On Saturday, March 29, members of the global eco-fashion community will gather at the Portland Expo Center to discuss environmentally responsible design and manufacturing processes. Attendees of the Better Living Show, which is free to the public, are encouraged to attend the event to learn how Portland is leading the international fashion community in its quest to go green.

National and Local Experts Discuss What “Eco-Fashion” Really Means

The Portland Fashion Week event at the Better Living Show will kick off at 5 p.m. at the SustainableLife Stage with a panel discussion featuring two eco-style experts from New York City and Seattle: Leslie Hoffman and Rebecca Luke. Both will discuss their roles in influencing the global fashion community to adopt sustainable design and manufacturing processes.

• Leslie Hoffman, the executive director of Earth Pledge, recently shook up the fashion world with her buzz-worthy FutureFashion runway show, which debuted during New York Fashion Week in February 2008.
• Rebecca Luke founded the Sustainable Style Foundation (SSF) in 2003 along with Sean Schmidt to prove that consumers shouldn’t have to give up style or living well in order to be socially and environmentally responsible.
• Ian Yolles is the vice president of brand communications at Nau, a Portland-based a technical outdoor and lifestyle apparel company dedicated to turning traditional business notions upside down through the integration of environmental, social and economic factors.
• Portland designer Anna Cohen and Seattle designer Lizzie Parker will bring a more intimate point-of-view to the discussion, as they discuss their experiences as hands-on designers living in the sustainability hot bed of the Pacific Northwest.
• Anna Cohen founded her label in 2005 and is recognized for helping to bring sustainability to the global fashion community.
• Lizzie Parker has leveraged her experience in the technology industry to create a unique line of eco-friendly pieces made from bamboo and organic cotton that appeal to a broad spectrum of women.

Sustainable designs from Nau, Cohen and Parker will be showcased during a live, installation-format fashion show immediately following the panel discussion.