August 16, 2019 |
Photo by Garcon Jon
This is 2019. Being a model isn’t just about looking your finest in images and having the best hip sway on the catwalk. Boys and girls who front campaigns are using their public platforms to make a change in the industry and the world as a whole. That’s why we decided to spotlight some of the trailblazers in the modelling world. Meet Peter Dupont, the Kim Jones muse who is also tackling climate change.
The ongoing climate crisis and talks about how to make the industry more sustainable continue to be top of mind on fashion’s agenda. By now, many of us agree that the rapid consumption of newly produced goods is only speeding up the depletion of natural resources that we depend on to not only live, but to survive, and that fashion must adjust quickly to provide solutions. This month, the BBC published a startling realisation that sent the world in a frenzy – while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report published last year suggested we had until 2030 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45%, it appears the necessary legislature to ensure reductions are enforced needs to be decided in the next 18 months. The severity and frequency of droughts, heat stress, and flooding depend on it. Working in the fashion industry and wanting to do something that would not only raise awareness about the issues surrounding land degradation and food security but provide tangible ways to address them – Danish model Peter Dupont co-founded Dura Solutions.
Dura Solutions is a lifestyle brand dedicated to raising awareness about climate change and supporting the organisations dedicated to preserving the environment. While Dura is not exclusively a fashion brand (there are talks about a sustainable cooking app in the works), launching with fashion was a no-brainer for Dupont, who grew up in a politically active DIY culture that placed a lot of attention on using clothing as a means to promote a message: “I’ve always been very interested in clothes, and I’ve always looked at style. I don’t think I was aware that I was actually doing that when I was younger but I was involved in this punk scene where we would pay so much attention to how we dressed up.”
Image taken from Issue 47 of 10 Men; styled by Hector Castro, photographed by Salvatore Caputo & Rememberyouweremadetobeabused
Before he started modelling, Dupont was heavily involved in the punk DIY activist scene around Christiania and the Youth House (Ungdomshuset), arranging demonstrations, parties and football tournaments that focused on anti-racism, refugee rights and climate change. As he became more established in the industry, walking the runways for Louis Vuitton, Dior and 1017 ALYX 9SM, and modelling for the pages of L’Officiel Hommes as well as our very own 10 Men, Dupont spoke with a friend and realised he could use his platform to address these issues by bringing more attention to them with the help of his industry family. “The most pressing problem right now is climate change, so we agreed that it would make sense to do something about it and create awareness, because awareness comes first, then comes action.”
The first drop produced by Dura is a series of t-shirts made of 100% upcycled organic cotton scraps and bottle caps which feature illustrations of the world melting and set aflame. The striking illustrations and accompanying slogan “No Hope For Our Kids” were drawn by Rainbow, the five-year-old daughter of Fashion East founder and Dupont’s good friend, Lulu Kennedy. The made-to-order shirts are available now for pre-order until August 26th and are expected to deliver by the end of September. Sound like a long wait? That’s exactly the point. Dupont knows that fast fashion perpetuates the climate crisis and is encouraging a more conscious consumption behaviour where we not only purchase goods that we’ll want to wear months (and hopefully years) down the road but know were delivered in a way that will not aid in further degrading resources future generations will depend on. An added bonus, proceeds from clothes sold are invested into World Land Trust and Buy An Acre program, both of which Dura sponsors.
Dura Solutions got the name after Dupont and his co-founder Frank Hilmer brainstormed words that would signify sustainability without sounding like another potential cog in the greenwashing wheel. “We had a discussion about durability and sustainability and how we as a human race are not sustainable,” Dupont shared. “The way we have treated the world is not sustainable, and we have damaged it so much that the only thing we can do is to be durable and figure out a way to live in the mess we have created.” Dura means hard in Latin, and with the launch of this brand, Dupont is looking to provide hard solutions that the fashion industry can adopt to address the ongoing climate crisis. Of course nothing is ever perfect, but as Dupont stresses, it’s important to not let “perfect” come in the way of doing something good.
@peter_fra_petrograd // dura.solutions
