Fashion labels drop Asian Paper & Pulp after party highlights the plight of Indonesian forests

Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com 21 Sep 09;

The fashion world has been rocked: not by the newest designer or the most shocking outfit, but by the continuing destruction of forests in Indonesia. On September 15th, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) helped open New York City's styling Fashion Week with a party to encourage fashion designers to take a closer look at the paper bags they give customers.

Many luxury shopping bags are destroying forests as far away as Indonesia, impacting the world's climate and threatening orangutans, Asian elephants, tigers, the Sumatran rhino, and innumerable other less well-known species, according to RAN.

The organization decided the best way to reach out to the fashion world was to throw a party and it appears to have worked. RAN says that several companies have cancelled contracts with Asia Pulp and Paper through New Hampshire based company, Pak 2000, including H&M, Billabong, Baker & Taylor, Osborn & Little, and OKA.

APP has long been accused by environmentalists of massive and unsustainable forest destruction in Indonesia, including clearcutting wildlife habitat, contributing to global warming, and destroying indigenous peoples' land.

The party was hosted by fashion standby Tiffany's and Co. The company was the first to make the switch in its paper bags—and all other paper products—to those certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

"Tiffany & Co. has a long history of concern for the natural world," said Michael J. Kowalski, chairman and chief executive officer of Tiffany & Co. "From our shopping bags to our gemstones to our gold and silver, we’re trying to tread more gently upon the Earth so that our customers can be assured we share their desire to protect the world our children will inherit."

The destruction of forests and peatlands in Indonesia has given the nation the dubious status of the becoming world's third highest greenhouse gas emitter after China and the United States. Globally the degradation and destruction of rainforests is responsible for fifteen to twenty percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Stopping such destruction has been considered by many environmentalists to be the cheapest and quickest way to mitigate the impact of global warming.

Having discovered that nearly 100 fashion labels are complicit in rainforest destruction due to the bags they give away, RAN has also sent letters to the world's top fashion labels.

"The world looks to New York Fashion Week to set trends," said Michael Brune, RAN’s executive director. "After this party, top designers around the world will see that the trend for Spring 2010 is to get rainforest destruction out of their boutiques."

Previously, APP has lost contracts with Staples, Wal-Mart, Office Depot, and Woolworths over its environmental record.

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Asia Pulp & Paper and fashion for glossy, paper shopping bags is ‘destroying rainforest’ Ben Webster and Emily Gosden Times Online 19 Sep 09;