Lookbook for Aeon Row

One of my favorite things about being a creative entrepreneur is having the chance to team up with fellow artists, feed off their passion and let our inspirations ignite the collaboration. When Griffin Vanze, the founder of AEON ROW, the fresh, sustainable fashion start-up approached me about shooting a lifestyle lookbook for them, I was all in. Because I always need to know the how and why, I asked Griffin a few questions about AEON ROW’s background, but be sure to pop over to their website to learn more about their process for recycling clothing yarn by yarn, and turning it into new, beautiful pieces. And while you’re there, you might find your new favorite piece of clothing.

How did you come up with the idea to start Aeon Row?

The inspiration for AEON ROW stems from the idea that sustainable fashion should be affordable and sustainable behavior should be encouraged.

I had been working on preventing ocean trash at a nonprofit called Ocean Conservancy. We did beach cleanups too. I was inspired by how many people would come to volunteer – over 500,000 every year – and shocked at how much discarded clothing we would find during cleanups.

At the same time, I had always been into fashion, and I was looking to transition my wardrobe to be more sustainable. However, the sustainable clothing I found was so expensive and I couldn’t afford it on my nonprofit salary.

So I started researching eco-fabrics. I became captivated by how affordable revived fabric was in relation to other eco-fabrics, and I was getting all of these ideas in my head about looks that I could design using the revived fabrics to bring down costs. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and a week later I was on the phone recruiting fashion industry insiders to help me make it come to life.

But coming from a nonprofit, I knew that I also wanted to empower individuals like those participating in beach cleanups. So I developed a strategy to let customers recycle old clothing every time they made a purchase, which would keep clothing from becoming trash and also be a material source for our future clothing.

Thus began AEON ROW, a clothing company dedicated to transforming the sustainable shopping experience.

Special thanks to Lauren, Ashley, and Mia for modeling.