Fashion Takes Action Green Fundraiser

The couture show was eco-friendly in everything from its shuttle service to its runway design.

Fashion Takes Action was the latest Toronto event to play hard but leave a light footprint. The earth-friendly benefit attracted a strong lineup of environmentally-aware Toronto designers, including Thien Le, Pat McDonagh, Farley Chatto, and Ula Zukowska, and profit from the event went to the national not-for-profit group Environmental Defense. However, this eco-conscious gala was about more than green name dropping or feel-good fund-raising. Event promoters and planners Kelly Drennan, president of Third Eye Media, and Katie Lister, president of Katie Inc., covered all the bases in their efforts to create a major party that hardly had an impact on the environment. To begin, the website encouraged media and invited guests to travel by subway to a station close to the venue, where eco-friendly Toyota Prius cars would be on hand to provide complementary shuttle service to the party site. Unfortunately, the number of guests overwhelmed the shuttle capacity, forcing some guests to take cabs to the party site. The non-profit, reclaimed Evergreen Brick Works building provided a partially open-air setting for the event. The venue is essentially a concrete floor with one crumbling brick wall, strategically placed beams, and a corrugated iron roof. EnWise Power Solutions attached miniature green-and-white plastic wind turbines in a vertical line on the iron beams that serve as dividers between the venue’s interior and exterior spaces. To reduce the gala’s hydro footprint, EuroLite installed energy-efficient lighting throughout, and Bullfrog provided electricity obtained from clean, renewable sources such as windmills and water power. As well, Green Shift supplied eco-friendly disposable cutlery, cups, and napkins; Eco Flora provided ecologically grown flowers; and the City of Toronto poured free tap water from an HTO to a Go mobile water tank. For dinner, organic caterers En Ville served hot goat cheese and mushroom risotto, while Toronto Sprouts had guests lining up for an organic seven-sprout salad with poppy-seed dressing. Locally grown organic vegetables with dip, cheese, and crackers covered two large, round tables in the middle of the space. No dinner seating was provided for the reception, encouraging guests to mingle around the silent auction area. Corporate sponsors donated eco-friendly auction items such as gift baskets filled with environmentally friendly products and a one-year membership to auto-sharing company ZipCar. EuroLite, EnWise Power, Bullfrog Power, Aesthetic Earthworks, Banrock Station, and Carbon Zero were all major sponsors. Each donated products or services to the fund-raiser and were rewarded with a logo on the event Web site and signage on tripods at the venue. For the fashion show, Aesthetic Earthworks designed a 20- by 80-foot sod runway, complete with plants and trees. A number of guests were unaware that some chairs flanking the runway were reserved. This led to the awkward situation of volunteers asking them to vacate their seats shortly before the lights dimmed. The show included performers from Silhouettes Modern Dance Company dancing to recorded music. The clothing models walked barefoot along the sod runway, around live potted plants, and under the energy-efficient lights. Most tickets were confirmed electronically, and signage was printed by CJ Graphics on earth-friendly FSC paper. Published BizBash.T.O., October 19 2007