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NOIR
The luxury Danish fashion label NOIR was known its sultry high style, but also gained recognition for its focus on ethical and environmental concerns. “I decided to make the sexiest product out that there that happens to be socially responsible,” explains founder and chief executive Peter Ingwersen (1962- ). “We have to be able to sell the product first—then people will want to buy into the idea behind it.”
When NOIR launched in 2005, Ingwersen had the foresight to establish a long-term plan for the company. “Setting out to revolutionize an industry and change people’s behavioral patterns and level of awareness takes time,” he says. Since its inception, the company steadily increased its use of certified organic fabrics and improved on methods of ethical manufacturing, its primary points of interest.
NOIR partnered with the textile manufacturing company Illuminati II, which provided certified organic cotton from Uganda. Workers were treated well and paid fairly, and the boost that NOIR gave to their economy provided such basic necessities as medicine and water wells. NOIR’s high-profile collections also helped to promote Illuminati II fabrics to other luxury designers and clothing manufacturers.
Although NOIR’s focus on corporate social responsibility was a regular topic of discussion in the fashion press, its fashion-forward, wearable designs proved to be its selling point. The label's success demonstrated that eco-fashion has come far from its former associations with coarse hemp fabrics and shapeless silhouettes. While the company dissolved in 2010, NOIR’s ability to bridge the gap between high style, environmental consciousness, and ethical accountability provided an exemplary model for the future of sustainable fashion.
