• This well-known designer has been chosen by Ecoembes and MBFWMadrid, through the event's Sustainability and Fashion Committee, to be the next person to take recycling onto the catwalk.

• With this initiative, the two organisations are seeking to promote sustainability and the circular economy in the fashion industry. 

And he'll do it during the 2019 Spring-Summer edition of MBFWMadrid, which will be held from 6 to 11 July at IFEMA-Feria de Madrid, with a fashion parade under his brand Oliva.

Having been chosen, the prestigious designer will present a unique selection in which the clothes will be made of fabrics manufactured using recycled materials, mainly plastic (PET) bottles. He will thus bring continuity to a project that Ecoembes started in 2015, which has already enjoyed the collaboration of designers Moisés Nieto and María Clè Leal, and the shoe firm Etxaburu. They all accepted this challenge before Oliva, showing how containers can be turned into a new raw material for high quality textiles.

“Being part of this project has made us reflect on where we want to be as stakeholders in the sector, as brands and as designers. Today, the language of fashion has an ethical dimension and we must therefore be committed to the environment and create awareness with personal gestures that range from creativity to the cutting edge. In this way we will advance towards a more reasonable, sustainable model”, explained Oliva. “With this collection we are exploring a new range of possibilities that are opening up for us through research into new fabrics and materials developed using sustainable processes, by studying all the possibilities they hold for finding the beauty that we are seeking in our creations,”, he continued.

A top-flight committee to promote the circular economy in the fashion industry

With this initiative, Ecoembes and MBFWMadrid are strengthening their partnership to show the applications that recycling can have in fashion so as to promote the principles of the circular economy in this industry. This is another step forward after the presentation in January this year of the first Fashion and Sustainability Committee associated with the show, which was created to show off the versatility of fabrics made from recycled PET and to promote their use among top designers. The committee is made up of Benedetta Poletti, director of Elle and editorial director of Hearst España; Kavita Parmar, founder of The IOU Project; María Eugenia Girón, director of the IE Observatory for the Premium and Prestige Market and an expert in premium sustainability; Paloma García López, founder and CEO of The Circular Project, and Lala Herrero, a sustainable fashion consultant. Nieves Rey, director of Communication and Marketing for Ecoembes, and Charo Izquierdo, director of the Fashion Week, are its chairwomen.

“Today it is already possible for waste like PET bottles to be transformed into a variety of versatile, high-quality textiles. It is a tangible, aesthetic demonstration of what can be achieved thanks to the efforts made by people every day to separate plastic containers and put them into the yellow bins. The fact that great designers like Juanjo Oliva are championing this new fashion concept with their creations confirms that the circular economy already has a place in the industry. This is something that makes all of us who work to care for our planet enormously happy”, said Nieves Rey.

Charo Izquierdo added that “This collaboration is a magnificent starting point in the sustainability process that fashion and the catwalk must undertake. The fact that the designer responsible for the first show developed by the Fashion and Sustainability Committee is Juanjo Oliva is undoubtedly a privilege. I am sure that it will be a milestone in the history of our fashion show”.

Juanjo Oliva, a successful career

Juanjo Oliva, a designer from Madrid, started out his career as a fashion illustrator and designer for some outstanding names in the Spanish fashion industry, such as Sybilla and Zara, until some years later he founded his own company. His first show at MBFWM, then known as the Pasarela Cibeles, took place in 2004, with his 04/05 Autumn-Winter collection. Since then, he has been present at all the editions of the Madrid fashion show. He is now taking part in MBFWM with his brand, Oliva.

Oliva’s extensive, solid professional track record has received much heartfelt recognition, as shown by the number of awards he has received over time. Among the most notable are the L'Oréal Award for Best Collection , which he received four times: Autumn-Winter 05/06, Spring/Summer 2009, Spring/Summer 2012 and Spring-Summer 2018; the 2005 Marie-Claire International “Le Prix d'Excellence” for Best New Designer, the 2006 T for Telva” Award for Best National Designer and the ELLE Style Award  for Best National Designer in October 2014.

About Ecoembes

Ecoembes (www.ecoembes.com) is a non-profit organisation that handles the recovery and recycling of plastic containers, cans and cartons (yellow bin) and paper and cardboard packaging (blue bin) all over Spain. In 2016, over 1.3 million tons of light containers and cardboard and paper packaging were recycled in Spain, a recycling rate of 76%. This high rate led to numerous environmental benefits, such as preventing 1 million tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and saving 7 million MWh, or, in other words, the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of over 700,000 Spanish households. 20.1 million cubic metres of water were also saved.

The partnership between Ecoembes and MBFWMadrid extends beyond this ambitious action with Oliva. The environmental organisation will also be present at the next edition of the country’s major fashion show as an environmental collaborator.

About MBFWMadrid

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid is the major platform promoting Spanish fashion, organised by IFEMA. It will hold its 68th edition from 6 to 11 July at IFEMA-Feria de Madrid and other locations around the city, showing that it is a driving force and binding element in the creative time Spanish fashion is going through. Over six days, this event will host collections from big names in Spanish fashion design—established names and new talent—showcasing yet again the richness of Spanish design. Since its inception in February 1985, the MBFWMadrid fashion show has hosted fashion on the catwalk from more than 300 Spanish designers.

A commitment to Spanish fashion that IFEMA has sponsored for more than thirty years, gradually incorporating Spain’s leading designers throughout that time.

IFEMA, Madrid
(17/05/2018)