It's gold for green designer

By Adam Tschorn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Photo: from Treehugger.com Wallpaper interview with Rogan Gregory (left).

Eco-friendly clothier Rogan Gregory wins Council of Fashion
Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund top prize.

SCORE another one for the green team: Rogan Gregory, a New York City designer of socially conscious, eco-friendly brands, has won the Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund top prize.

The award, created to support emerging American designers, comes with a $200,000 prize and a track record of raising the profiles of those who have won it. Last year's winner was Doo-Ri Chung, with the Trovata collective winning in 2005. Earlier this year the Valentino Fashion Group bought a 45% stake in Proenza Schouler, the label launched by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who took home the inaugural prize in 2004.Gregory's win was announced at a New York gala to benefit the CFDA/Vogue Initiative for HIV/AIDS on Nov. 15. The runners-up, Philip Crangi and Phillip Lim, will each receive $50,000. All three will receive a year of business mentoring.

Gregory, 35, is best known for the Edun line of men's and women's sportswear, a collaboration with U2 frontman Bono and Bono's wife, Ali Hewson. The line was launched in 2005 with the goal of providing sustainable employment in developing countries. In 2001, Gregory launched the Rogan denim label (with business partner Scott Hahn), followed by the all-organic Loomstate denim collection in 2004. In addition to selling at high-end department stores (Barneys New York) and boutiques (Hollywood Trading Co.), there is a Rogan retail shop on Franklin Street in New York City. In a phone interview, Hahn said the prize money had already been allocated "many times over."

"We don't need it for any one thing like putting on a runway show or opening a studio. We need it to help develop things like our sourcing, which is crucial for brands like ours," he said, referring to the company's goals of organic and sustainable production.

The Fashion Fund is supported by Gap, Vogue magazine and a handful of fashion manufacturers and retailers.

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Rogan Gregory Interview at Wallpaper.com
by Collin Young, Seattle

Hot on the heels of a feature in Wallpaper's EcoEdit, designer Rogan Gregory (the guy behind Loomstate and Edun -- that's him on the left) sat down for an interview with the style and design mag. He talks about what it's like to work with Bono and wife Ali Hewson, as he did with Edun, combining high fashion with social equity in Africa, about which he says, "We are pushing though, wherever we go, to create sustainability." Rogan's line of bespoke industrial-style furniture and objects, Rogan Objects, is also a topic of discussion, allowing the designer to elaborate on his personal design and sustainability values. "I am definitely aesthetic-oriented. If I don’t like the way the way something looks but it’s super-eco, I don’t give a shit. It’s got to look nice," he says. "I’m just not so extreme and I don’t expect people to be so extreme. I expect people to buy things for the way they look. I don’t count on people to do it out of the goodness of their heart, I don’t think you can." Yeah, we know this stuff is more expensive than conventional alternatives, but when it comes to looking good when walking the walk, not to mention Rogan's part in helping create a new green cultural zeitgeist, it doesn't get much better. Read the whole interview here at Wallpaper.com.

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