Sylvia Calvo, a native of Barcelona, presented her recent Indonesia collection at Eco Fashion Week Australia 2024 in Perth and Busselton.
I had the pleasure of meeting Sylvia Calvo at Eco Fashion Week Australia 2017. After reviewing her sustainable fashion collection, I discovered she is an innovative, eco-friendly designer gaining recognition in Europe.
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Her commitment to using sustainable materials, like salvaging jute coffee bags from Barcelona’s Harbour, is innovative. She collaborates with Hilaturas Jesús Rubio to shred and repurpose these bags into new yarn. All are locally crafted in Barcelona, bolstering the local economy, minimizing carbon emissions, and contributing to her couture collections.
In her latest Indonesia fashion collection at EFWA 2024, she repurposes cotton coffee bags sourced directly from Indonesia through a joint project involving local growers and This Side Up, an Amsterdam-based specialty coffee importer.
The project began with This Side Up employing a local artist to create an original design and colours for the cotton coffee bags. They decided to silkscreen the bags using inks derived from food waste, like coffee grounds, to produce a brown colour, thereby avoiding toxins and generating more jobs within the local community.
Preparing cotton coffee bags for reuse before their first use has eliminated the transportation carbon footprint.
At This Side Up, the Amsterdam warehouse has benefited from using vibrant cotton coffee bags. These bags have improved inventory management efficiency, minimized shipping errors, and reduced operational costs by lowering the carbon footprint associated with additional deliveries and pickups due to mistakes.
Sylvia Calvo has created something extraordinary with her partners based on Circular Economy principles, positively impacting the entire value chain from Indonesia to Barcelona.
In her studio in Barcelona, she creates garments from cotton coffee bags. From skirts to pants, each item highlights circular sustainability by utilizing minimal new materials and a high proportion of recycled content.
The message for all of us is to embrace the beauty of eco-friendly fashion and allow our wardrobes to reflect our values—because looking stylish should never be at the expense of our planet.
