Hanoi (VNA) - Vo Cong Khanh, Nguyen Tien Truyen, and many Vietnamese designers debuted dresses made of coffee fiber and oyster shells at Vietnam International Fashion Week 2022. "ReFashion", the theme of this year's fashion week, from May 26-29 in Ho Chi Minh City, captured the audience's attention with 1,000 designs made from recycled materials that adhere to sustainable fashion trends around the globe. The event conveyed the message of limiting fast fashion production to protect the environment, avoiding waste and emissions, and directing people to thrifty, healthy lifestyles that prioritizes quality of life. Designers like Vo Cong Khanh, Adrian Anh Tuan, Hoang Quyen, Hoang Minh Ha, Ly Giam Tien, Nguyen Tien Truyen and many others up-cycled fabrics made from oyster shells, lotus fibers, coffee grounds and recycled plastic bottles. The upcycled materials helped to make moisture-wicking, heat-permeable, breathable, quick-drying, anti-static and UV protection dresses, and evening gowns. Designer Vo Cong Khanh introduced his new collection “H2O” to open the Aquafina Vietnam International Fashion Week (VIFW) Spring-Summer 2022 in HCM City. Khanh has used “green materials” made of oyster shells, coffee ground, lotus fibre and recycled plastic to highlight the AVIFW 2022 theme of “ReFashion”, stressing the need for and desirability of sustainability in the fashion industry. According to Khanh, “H2O” conveys a message of re-using discarded materials, recycling them with high-tech material handling techniques and reviving them as artworks. His journey to fashion prominence began after winning top prize at the Vietnam Collection Grand Prix 2002, which gave him the chance to work with French fashion designer Stéphane Rolland in 2003. He has since released several collections including “Truc Mai” (Bamboo and Ochna Flower), “Con Co” (Stork) and “Butterfly” at events like Vietnam Fashion Week, Elle Fashion Show and Festival Hue. Early this year, Khanh and fashion firm Faslink launched a collection made completely from coffee-derived fibres. When talking about the material creation process, Khanh shared that the oyster shells are collected from farms and dried before being ground into powder and rolled into small balls similar to polyester. The balls are melted to create fibers, which are spun and woven into fabric. Meanwhile, there are five stages involved in the production of coffee fabric. The processed coffee beans are roasted at temperatures above 200 degrees Celsius and later ground, then mixed with polymers before being weaved into fabric. Many global fashion houses have also incorporated natural or recycled materials in their Spring Summer 2022 collections. Stella McCartney pioneered the use of grape waste from Italian wineries in leather bags. Chloe works with Gee's Bend Quilters, a small community of black women in Alabama who make clothes out of cotton blankets and discarded fabric.

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Minh Trang, 20, from Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts expressed her admiration for Adrian Anh Tuan and Linh San's collection, which featured outstanding color patches and modestly sexy cuts. "This year's fashion week has a very meaningful message," she said, "It helps future designers learn and change their thinking about fashion in order to protect the environment." The show also saw a new collection by fashion brand Camicissima from Italy. The AVIFW 2022 has attracted the participation of 18 Vietnamese and international designers and brands like designers Hoang Hai, Le Long Dung, and Nguyen Tien Truyen, and brand Zimmermann from Australia./.