Posts Tagged ‘teijin’

Japanese designer, Chie Imai, and her daughter, Chiaki, presented on October 28th their 2008-2009 Royal Chie of fur designs. Stars at the show included Spike Lee and Tonya Lee Lewis, Ivanka Trump and her brother Donald Trump, and model Irina Panteava.

Chie’s coats still are made from chinchilla fur from Finland, but also uses recycled fabric made from used polyester by Japanese chemical company Teijin Limited. In 2005, Teijin partnered with Patagonia to take used polyester linings of their coats to create a recycled fabric for the sporting company’s line. The fabric is waterproof and breathable.

Imai wanted to design a line for customers who wanted to participate in the “green” movement.

FYI, the pelt of chinchillas is relatively small, so many must be killed to make a single coat. This led to the extinction to the extinction of one of the species and put two others in danger. Wild chinchillas are no longer hunted for fur, but they are still bred for fashion use.

Let me officially say the I think Imai is full of sh*t. I have leather, but at least I’m not trying to justify it through some marketing gimmick.