Renowned Fiji fashion designer Adi Koila Ganilau of the Haus of Koila (HOK) insists the health of the ecosystem should be at the heart of any business amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Launching the fashion franchise’s Sustainable Fashion with a Purpose Show that is scheduled for December, Ganilau said with respect to fashion, it meant embracing a system that keeps with the latest in fashion but most importantly is environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Supported by MaiTV, Mix FM and Novotel Suva Lami Bay Hotel, the 17 December-scheduled Haus of Koila event, will feature a collection that pays homage to her lineage but is tweaked to the latest trend and embodies sustainable fashion.
Ganilau said her new collection comes after a re-think of fashion prompted by COVID-19 that has meant designing or incorporating looks from a humanitarian, and community centred perspective and not solely for profit as was the norm.
For the fashion label, it meant adapting and incorporating new approaches that aligns with sustainable fashion such as being ‘green and clean’ whereby that use eco-friendly water-based paints as well as engages in repair and up-cycle, which involves working on old garments and thrift-finds, redesign them before selling them off at reduced prices.
“We’ve taken this opportunity to reassess our fashion direction of trend,” Ganilau said. “The pandemic has exposed cracks in the system…there isn’t any resilience and retail was hit really hard,” Ganilau said.
“The new collection is a time capsule collection reflecting the different generations from my late grandmother, the late former First Lady Ro Adi Lady Lala Mara to her great-granddaughters, who are learning to embrace the new world that has and will become post-COVID-19.”
Haus of Koila director Adi Koila Ganilau
The December event also marks the launch of the brand’s corporate social responsibility initiative that seeks to empower women and youths through sustainable entrepreneurship and development.
“We hope that through this platform, we inspire many others to continue doing what the do in the creative sector and adapt to sustainable measures in the long run.”
Tickets for the show that will be held at the Novotel Suva, Lami Bay will go on sale online from 19 November at $150 each. Mai TV will air the delayed coverage of the event as a one-hour special on Boxing Day, 28 December.
