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Katarina Dress By Ciel
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Introducing The Label, Ciel
Sarah Ratty is the queen of walking her talk. She has been working towards ecological and sustainable fashion for many years, but beyond that her clothes capture the imagination. They are design conscious as well as eco-conscious.
Pioneering eco-fabrics and techniques, she has been awarded both the UK Fashion Exports new Ethical Award as well as nominated for The Observer Ethical Award for Fashion Product of the Year.
For years she was ahead of her time, waiting for techniques and fabrics to catch up with her ideas…. And now she pushes boundaries.
Ciel Is All About Respect
Her clothes go way beyond organic. With her label Ciel she works with environmentally and ethically produced fabrics, including 100% Azo free dyes (non-toxic) and recycled fabrics. She uses sustainable rapid growth textiles like bamboo and hemp which do not require pesticides (unlike traditional cotton which is like the nicotine of the environmental fashion world.) And the extra kick is that the fabrics are all sourced with consideration to labour laws (http://www.labourbehindthelabel.com/).
"I chose the name Ciel because it makes you feel good when you work out what it means…like the secret smile on the Mona Lisa!" says Sarah. "It makes you feel warm inside - it has Prana, life force! Blue sky, open vistas…an ocean of possibilities. It infects me with a sense of freedom and passion for what I do; it makes me feel inspired and alive! I make clothes to make you feel like you matter."
So Sarah Ratty packs the eco credentials - but what about the clothes? The current collection is sumptuous, sexy and sensual. You find organic alpaca sweaters and dresses, gold and black hemp silk dresses and glamorous Hollywood Belle jackets cinched in at the waist.
Her next summer collection will include beautiful dresses with hand block printing from an Indian Women's collective as well as organic linen and bamboo denim.
Sarah does not compromise style… she is style and substance, the clothes are eco-aware and drop dead gorgeous. "Fabrics have caught up. We are using a hemp, silk and linen mix for the next collection which is really luxurious. It is marvellous that ethical clothing's time has come."
"I design clothes for cosmopolitan, busy, funky and fashionable people who may well care about the planet but don't want to sacrifice style for content. They know that if it has a Ciel label stitched inside, they can feel confident that it has ‘eco-philosophy' at its core and is covetable and conscious as well as designed to look great! Ciel has that all important feel-good factor of knowing YOU have made a difference."
Going To The Source
Hemp silk… organic cotton lingerie and bamboo denim… Sarah has always been innovative when it comes to sourcing fabrics. Her first label and urban stalwart Conscious Earthwear featured fleece jackets made from recycled bottles. So looking behind the alpaca cardigans in the current collection you find yourself in Arequipa in the Peruvian highlands where Sarah sources the fleece.
"We wanted to see if organic standards could be applied there, but we were amazed and delighted to discover that they've been doing it for more than 20 years!" says Sarah. "We work with a brilliant mill there. They collect the fleeces from the farmers and pay them a fair price. They then sort them into colour grades so they don't have to dye them. The farms have set up health care for their workers and the animals roam free."
As well as shows at Paris Fashion Week, the Well-Fashioned show at London's Craft Council and contributions to the V&A's permanent collection, Sarah was commissioned by Solar Century for the Royal Institute of British Architects to create a multi-pocketed zip-up waistcoat featuring solar panels to power portable technology as part of the RIBA City Living Exhibition in 2003.
A long-time member of Greenpeace, Sarah is also now a consultant for the Organic Exchange and an advisor to the Soil Association textile committee.
Why Eco-Fashion Is So Important.
Gabrielle Dress By Ciel |
Cotton farming uses only 2.5 per cent of the world's cropping space but packs a mighty 25 per cent of global insecticide use. Seven tablespoons of chemicals are used to make one cotton T-shirt and in Britain alone half a million tonnes of clothing is added to landfill sites per year.
"Every part of the Ciel range is ethically and environmentally considered from design concept to end use and we try to educate our clients by clear labelling and to make the best considered choice available at any given time," says Sarah. "We aim to create a 100% ethical product base and we probably currently sit at between 60-80%. We are constantly up-dating our knowledge and will always switch to a more ethical product should we become aware of it and it fits with our
carbon footprint. Ciel operates a policy of preferring to use local products in each area of trade to cut down on transport emissions."
Sarah sources globally and with fair trade in mind from Peru to India. "Ciel sources its products from the best places possible that fit the Ciel eco-philosophy within the UK and Europe, Peru, India and is constantly looking to improve its supply chain and cut down on air miles by working with local people in each territory and carbon offsetting with www.staro.org which runs projects to save the Amazon and re-employ local people in traditional crafts like rubber harvesting etc."
Future Forecasts
For the next Summer collection Ciel is working with "an embroidery group in India and operating a sponsorship scheme with the ladies that stitch the designs for us. We are currently raising funds to help send one of the ladies sons to college."
Putting a fashionable foot forward is becoming increasingly easy with everyone from Marks & Spencers and The Gap trying their hand at organic cotton ranges. Even the high street stalwarts for the intensely fashion conscious Top Shop and H&M are introducing organic clothing.
"When I started all those years ago so many people told me that it couldn't be done. Even I didn't know whether I could achieve it, but I hoped. And now you can walk down a high street and even small companies are adding organic ranges. At last the tide has turned."
Ciel is sold from Scandinavia to Japan. Check it out online at http://www.ciel.uk.ltd/ or buy at http://www.naturalcollection.com/