The eco-friendly designer maven Nicole Bridger has opened her second store in the Main Street community. Its not very often that we see clothes with the label made in Vancouver and also ethical manufacturing. Nicole began designing after she graduated from school in 2003 and started her own brand of clothing in 2007. Her first store is located on West Fourth in Kitsilano.
Sustainability and ethical manufacturing are large parts of her brand. Each seasons collection also reflects a life lesson that she has learned. Vancouvers fashion industry embraced Nicoles vision during her presentation at this years ECO Fashion Week.
The process in getting the second store was largely quite painless, says Nicole. In fact, it sort of all fell into place when the previous owner of this store location who carried my brand decided to move onto other ventures. She asked me if I wanted to take over the space and it just seemed like it fit at the right time.
Main Street is a community that Nicole has wanted to be a part of and is excited to now finally have a chance to connect with people from around that area.
The opening was intimate while friends and supporters trickled in to view her collection and congratulate her. So what is in store for next year? Nicole is in the process of designing her fall 2013 collection and shared that the drawings for that line were completed on a return flight from Paris and Turkey to Vancouver.
Drawing from inspiration is what Nicole does best. She is a new kind of designer that constructs clothes for the real woman and honours the beauty in that. She will also be participating in ECO Fashion Week once again in the upcoming year. Its encouraging to see local designers thrive and celebrate their successes.
Nicoles favourites for this season are her honesty dress and flow tunic. For now the only unanswered question on Nicoles mind is how to ethically incorporate sequins which have exploded as a fashion trend into her collection.
Dont worry, Nicole. Your collection will surely shine without the help of sequins.
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Amy Yew is a contributing columnist at Vancouver Courier. Tell us what you think and submit any questions you have to [email protected]. You can also tweet your thoughts on Twitter @AmyYew.
