When earlier in 2017 Gucci announced it was ditching fur, the move was met with a global green applause! Gucci’s decision to ditch fur, wasn’t just a humane one, but also because fur as a raw material isn’t eco-friendly. Behind-the-scenes, millennial-magic was offered as the real motive. Millennials have been labeled as an eco-conscious generation and all marketers are speeding to add CSR, sustainability and responsibility to their brands and products. However, we were in for a surprise when we learned that fur is seeing a renewed rise all due to Millennials! So fur is here to stay. Gucci said it would pursue green fashion by exploring alternatives like wool and faux-fur. But while Faux-fur may be an alternative, it also has a sneaky polluting side.
 

Fur? Faux-fur? We say alt-fur!

Confused? Is nothing genuine green fashion anymore? Don’t give up your fashionable dreams! We solve your style conundrum with the latest green brand we present to you! UrbanMeisters is committed to making the latest in food, fashion and green lifestyle accessible to you – so we present Krasimira Stoyneva. A British luxury womenswear brand, whose brand ethos is #WearHairNotFur. While the label is a full-blown collective of topwear, bottomwear, jumpsuits, dresses, we are totally enamored by their innovative outerwear offerings.
Faux-fur Krasimira_Stoyneva
 

Why you need to be a material girl

Being the 2nd biggest polluting industry, fashion brands are growing serious about cutting their carbon footprint. Founder Mirela at COP23 this year relayed an exclusive talk that covered how brands like H&M are adopting circular economy principles to act. The starting point most of these brands are adopting is switching to eco-friendlier materials. One of the brands at the talk was Orange Fiber that turns orange waste into fiber. And Salvatore Ferragamo has already dropped a collection with this fiber!
Similarly, fur isn’t just cruel but also a big polluter. Faux-fur has been everyone’s go to but it’s equally polluting given the materials. Which is why we did a double-take when we came across this Brit womenswear luxury label. Fashion innovation is scaling new heights with Krasimira Stoyneva, which is a British luxury womenswear brand that uses hair instead of fur as a raw material. So be material-minded and give your wardrobe the best in trend. We are featuring Krasimira Stoyneva without any paid sponsorship because it’s brilliant and fulfills all of our 3 important criteria required by brands to be featured.
Faux-fur Krasimira_Stoyneva
1. Green Living- The designer brand is super sustainable with its innovative, trendy collections that use eco materials like hair. This is especially important because we only support products that help fight pollution or help you live sustainably without causing pollution. We ensure the solutions we provide to you are REALLY GREEN instead of GREENWASHING.
2. Efficient and Easy- As global citizens who live fast-paced and time-crunched lives, it’s easier to have sustainable options that are efficient and yet convenient to help us make the switch. We understand this and ensure that the solutions we provide have a realistic and seamless fit into our urban lives. Krasimira Stoyneva is again super accessible and its product-care practical.
3. Cool and Stylish- We love brands that destroy the myth of sustainable living being tedious and dull. Brands that prove Sustainable can be Sexy, Ethical can be Edgy and Conscious can be Cool get full marks from us. No debate here as Krasimira Stoyneva designs are right-on-trend.
 

Meet the creative captain!

Krasimira, the Bulgarian creative mastermind behind the designs, uses synthetic hair as a luxury alternative to fur. Krasimira believes that by wearing, producing or advertising any type of fur, whether real or faux, is somehow supporting the unnecessary suffering that millions of animals go through.

Faux-fur founder Krasimira_Stoyneva

After graduating in fashion design with a First Class honours degree, Krasimira established her brand in 2014, and quickly attracted the attention of the Fashion Industry by winning in the same year, the ‘High Commend Award’ by Diversity Now as well as the ‘Vogue & Muuse Young Vision Award’. She also won ‘The Ones to Watch’ during London Fashion Week in February 2017, heightening her visibility and recognition.
Her artistic approach to ethical luxury has been supported by big names such as the British Council, in which she collaborated with to promote her brand to the Chinese luxury market, as well as the Oxford Centre of Animal Ethics, which enthusiastically received her vision about hair being the ultimate alternative to fur.
Krasimira’s designs are unique for their bold use of colours, quirky prints and innovative use of sustainable raw materials. Each product is made by hand, is durable long lasting and requires minimum care. Her’s is the only globally recognised luxury fashion brand that uses synthetic hair in an innovative manner in clothes.
 

Who says women can’t have it all!

We had the opportunity of having a chat with founder Krasimira who is a creative director, founder and a mom! Here’s our chat verbatim!
 
Q: Krasimira, please tell us more about the women behind the hair 😉 where are you from?
Krasimira: I’m originally from Bulgaria a small country in Eastern Europe with a beautiful  » Black Sea » and mountains that would make you love and appreciate nature. For the last 14 years I have been working and living in United Kingdom, were I graduated in fashion from University of East London in 2014. I’m also a wife and a mother of two beautiful children and expecting a third one this February.
 
Q: When did you convert to a Greenie?
Krasimira: I think I have always been one! I remember the first time I saw a short video of what every neglected little bit of rubbish chucked on the street does to our planet. Since then I have never thrown anything on the ground ever, I keep it in my bag if I don`t see a bin.
 
Q: How did this idea of using hair come about?
Krasimira: So when I started in fashion I managed to explore different variations of recycling, up-cycling and more. But only when I found synthetic hair I realised that this is a new thing no one has explored. There could be a positive change towards animal cruelty and this is just the start of what this material can do.
 
Q: Do these products offer the same degree of warmth as faux-fur outerwear?
Krasimira: Yes, they do!
Faux-fur Krasimira_Stoyneva
 
Q: What about the longevity of the outerwear?
Krasimira: If I have to compare it to faux-fur I’ll say even longer as faux-fur coat will only last you a season and wear out. With the synthetic hair I use it lasts longer. I use high quality hair that can also be styled, heated and more. The other thing is, it is exactly like hair if it damages you can cut it and this automatically will refresh the way it looks.  All the garments are hand made in my studio, most of it are personally cut by me. There is so much craft in it and I believe that people that buy them understand that,so the more they are loved the longer they live.
 
Q: Woah! Styling the outerwear like real hair! Tell us more then on maintenance?
Krasimira: You can dry clean it or hand wash it. If you decide to hand wash the only specific thing is that it needs to be air dried on a hanger, as hair tends to stay in the shape it has been dried in. (If you bend it it will stay like that until next wash). I also send with every purchase a plastic garment bag to protect it when it is put back in the wardrobe next to other garments. This is to ensure longer life of each garment. I also send a brush to brush it (I found that it makes people love it even more and care more for their product).
 
Q: Where is the raw material i.e. all that gorgeous hair sourced from?
Krasimira: I source and now buy all my hair from China. Most of the local suppliers get it from there and only re-package in another country.
 
Q: How do you make sure it is treated in an eco-friendly way?
Krasimira: I have worked with one Chinese company for a while now. I have communicated with them for a long time to make sure they are a fair trading company, but for now I can only take their words as a guarantee. My next step is trying to find funds and sponsorship to actually visit them and make sure they are. Another thing I have found and discovered that will improve my product is a new synthetic bromine-free hair Unolon-Eco and SF-Remi. They have fibres which are easy to curl,tangle-free, flame redundant and are changing the hair industry, the release of their second- generation products of eco-friendly synthetic hair is indeed bright.
Faux-fur Krasimira_Stoyneva
 
Q: You have already done something pat-breaking! It has us all excited to know what are your future plans?
Krasimira: I always try to improve my products or do better in any of the fields that I happen to work in. Firstly I am try to improve what i can offer with the new fibres I just mentioned. So that the product is better, more durable, long lasting and much more eco- friendly. Second I recently started developing a way to reuse the waist I create within my products, that means new products are on the line. I have also started running a weekly blog explaining my designs, believes and I hope that through that people will be inspired to buy less, invest in good products and this way eventually people will create less waist. I am also working on a system where I will be able to offer bespoke renewal of already sold hair garments and where the garments will be given a second life and completely new look and style.
 
Q: Do you have a tip for other green entrepreneurs like you?
Krasimira: I think all ideas can be good but people often don’t start because they are too scared of the time it will take them the effort it requires or they just can’t see the full picture. My advice will be to just start small and not give up, even a small change is still a change. One good thing at the time, until we fix the whole picture.
 

Cop a cool jacket from Krasimira Stoyneva!

Fashion-victims, winters are in full-swing! With Krasimira Stoyneva offering shipping outside UK too, there’s ample reason to get yourself a warm edgy statement jacket from KS. Or even a uber-sexy hair-trimmed dress or a fringed skirt! You can shop Krasimira`s luxe garments on her website and also available on Wolf & Badger.
Faux-fur hair outerwear
Her most recent collection for SS18 is called Shogito – inspired by the swift movement & energy of skater girls! Wild and bold with it’s use of colour, the free-flowing motion and energy was added with the unbridled use of hair.  Watch the preview video for this collection.
Faux-fur Shogito
You can find products starting from £240 up to £1320 for her Signature Fur Free Hair Garments. In the New Year Krasimira is expecting to be stocked at various international shops all information will be available soon on her website under the stockist section.
 
Now we know the only place hair shouldn’t be is probably in our food! To stay updated with the latest collections and explore stylish looks follow the brand on twitter, instagram and Facebook.
Revamp your fashion soul & wardrobe to a greener one with tips from wunder-woman Mirela!
sustainable fashion tips
 

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