Putting Your Best Foot Forward at NYFW

On a quiet street, in a chic warehouse studio in SoHo, one of the hottest trends in energy took to the catwalk, creating a buzz to rival the likes of Kanye’s headline rocking three-hour fashion extravaganza.

What it was however, was a first of its kind couture experience where content and debate about energy, sustainability and the future of fashion owned the runway.

At NRG, we’re committed to changing the fundamentals of our own industry and the way we do business, in order to empower other industries (and our customers) to transform themselves.  Nearly one year ago to the day, we had set in motion the start of a partnership with COSIA to cosponsor the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE: a four year long competition focused on turning CO2 into products that people would use every day.

At New York Fashion Week, we manifested a tangible, relatable example of the kind of imaginative results we hope to see resulting from the contest.  At an invite-only event – moderated by Nina Garcia of Marie Claire and Project Runway fame – we presented the world of fashion influential, media and sustainability proponents “The Shoe Without a Footprint”: a prototype made from partially recycled CO2 in tandem with a documentary that captured the creativity and process that went into creating the shoe. 

We were joined on Facebook Live by digital fashion icon Coco Rocha, Dean of the venerable School of Fashion at Parsons School of Design Burak Cakmak, XPRIZE’s Principle and Senior Scientist on the Carbon XPRIZE Paul Bunje and CEO of 10XBeta – and the brains behind the shoe – Marcel Botha. Together, the panelists broadened the understanding and focus of our efforts to change the way our industry and others think of CO2, as well as the understanding of technologies available today to help improve the environment. 

“I believe we need more innovation in the way we produce fashion,” noted Coco directing the audience’s attention to the shoe. “I think everyone here is pretty amazed – I don’t know how you do it, but it is just the most amazing thing to me that we can make a shoe – and if we can make a shoe, why can’t we make accessories. Why can’t we make cloth?”

Building on conversations about the outcomes for the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE that happened back stage, she went on to add “all of this makes me believe it is possible.”

The activist and model discussed how tech thinks fashion is frivolous and conversely that tech can be frivolous as well. Pointing out the gap in the conversation between the two powerhouse industries, she touched on the importance of the shoe, as “we start to produce things, designers take notice. And tech takes notice that if the two worlds can come together, they can change a lot.”

Nina Garcia pointed out the overwhelming nature of the conversation between fashion and tech is due to the “different languages” each industry is accustomed to speaking. Engineers and the pure science of designs like the shoe can be daunting to Fashion. While tech can be tripped-up in the creative aspects. However the shoe brings the two together around the conversation of sustainability.

“I was mesmerized by the idea,” Marcel Botha added, when asked about his involvement in creating the shoe.  “This was a challenge we (10XBeta) wanted to be part of.”

You need look no further than the resulting headlines or the reach on social to understand the impact the conversation had on fashion, business, design and energy press and their readers.  Forbes included it alongside news from the Kardashians and Samsung in their Fashion week wrap-up. Fast Company highlighted that what was once pollution has been transformed into a new material.

We’re proud to see that a little creative thinking could spark such a hot debate about the future of carbon conversion technologies. And that’s exactly why we sponsored the XPRIZE in the first place.  By crowdsourcing the best minds, XPRIZE and its sponsors intend to transform a waste product and clean the planet.

This prize gets a much-needed dialogue started with experts from around the world, with diverse backgrounds, all to help turn CO2 into a positively viewed byproduct.

Over the next few months, we look forward to sharing more with you from the many teams taking part in the challenge. 

In the interim, I invite you to visit www.nrg.com/xprize for more information on the prize and to view the documentary.