Great news! Levi Strauss & Co. and U.K. charity Forum for the Future have jointly launched a new project to urge the fashion industry to collaborate on sustainable development with an eye to the future.

The Fashion Futures project includes a sustainability report and the production of four videos that envision what the world will be like in 2025 (focusing on the role the fashion industry plays in helping bring that about).

Says Peter Madden, CEO of Forum for the Future:

“The global fashion industry generates a trillion dollars a year. What we wear – and how it’s made and sold – can have a huge positive impact on our society and environment. This report describes how fashion’s future could be greener.”

You can watch the “Slow Is Beautiful” video above, and the other three mini-movies — titled “Community Couture,” “Techno-Chic,” and “Patchwork Planet” — can be viewed on the Fashion Futures website.

As the fashion industry mourns the death of Alexander McQueen, we at E.S. would like to salute the British designer for his contributions to the ethical movement. He inspired many young minds in the fashion world with his avant garde ideas and although his apparent suicide took him from us too soon, his legacy will live on.

Here, a retrospective of his work in the eco-realm:

• In his Fall 2009 Ready-to-Wear collection, McQueen explored the ideas of recycling, reinvention, and sustainability. “This whole situation is such a cliché,” he said in an interview last March before his Paris show. “The turnover of fashion is just so quick and so throwaway, and I think that is a big part of the problem. There is no longevity.”
• In November, McQueen gave items from his collections to the “6 Degrees of Cool” project, which encourages Brits to don warm clothes indoors to reduce their reliance on energy-sucking heat.
• McQueen nurtured the next generation of talent by offering internships to many up-and-coming fashion visionaries, including Ada Zanditon and Mark Liu.
• As one of the spearheading brands behind the Fakes Are Never in Fashion campaign, McQueen sought to end the use of child labor in the production of counterfeit designer items.
• McQueen also lent his name and talent to many charitable causes, including 21 First Century Leaders and Breast Cancer Care.

Love has inspired poets going as far back at the Torah — and even further, we’re sure. How has love been interpreted by ethical fashion enthusiasts? Read on for a sampling from the Behind the Seams blog.

• For the next couple of weeks, TOMS Shoes is accepting submissions of socially conscious love stories (whether they have to do with its special charity-minded canvas slippers or not). Aw!
• Have you fallen out of love with certain items in your closet? Check out ThredUp.com’s swapping service to trade clothes with your style twins across the globe.
• You may love your labels, but do they love you back? Sometimes yet. Fashion Loves People shows its commitment to social issues by donating $1 from every tee-shirt sold to Not for Sale, a charity that combats human trafficking.
• Fun fact: The original Chanel Quilted Flap was designed with a special pocket to hold Coco’s love letters. Read more about timeless designer handbags here.
• Cosmetics company Bobbi Brown has teamed up with The Heart Truth to promote awareness of heart disease in women with this limited edition Bronze Shimmerbrick set.

Cosmetics superstar Bobbi Brown has partnered with The Heart Truth, the charity arm of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to raise awareness of heart disease in women.

This $40 limited edition Bronze Shimmerbrick and Blender Brush set benefits The Heart Truth and its programs to get more women tested and teach healthy habits to prevent heart disease. (However, it hasn’t been disclosed how much of the proceeds will go to charity.)

And a reminder that the Red Dress Fashion Show — the big event sponsored by The Heart Truth — kicks off New York Fashion Week on Thursday night in the main tent in Bryant Park! More details here.

You may love your shoes, but can your shoes find you love? If they’re TOMS, they just might!

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, the TOMS blog is asking for stories about how their charity-minded shoes have helped you out in the romantic department. The first story is pretty cute:

When we were in Virginia on vacation this past summer (from our home in CA) our delightful, 22 year old bearded, tattooed web designer son and our family were eating burgers at little retro diner in Williamsburg.

We were approached by a (brave!) girl “My friend wanted me to give you her number” is what she told our son.   Yes, this cute and stylish 20 year old thought our son was cute… but what clinched it was that he was wearing TOMS!  Because he was fashionable AND socially conscious she could NOT let this opportunity pass by!

Even cuter? They’re engaged now — and they’re outfitting their wedding party in TOMS. Super fitting.

If you’re not in love with TOMS yet, check out our review of this awesomely aware company.

In the spirit of our February commenting contest, we want to draw attention to one of the many thoughtful messages we have received from E.S. readers over the past year and a half. (Yes, this week marks our 1.5 year anniversary!)

This one comes from Roe at YesHoneyChyle.com in response to our post about Aeropostale’s denim drive for Haiti:

Do you think Aeropostale is really doing something ethical or that they might be “charity-washing” themselves to gain more buyers and creating marketing ties in a country they didn’t have before (Haiti)? And if Aeropostale uses cheap sweat-shop labor to make their products and ships that product to a country without jeans, is it still considered benevolence?

It’s a great question.

In 2002, Abercrombie & Fitch, Aeropostale’s parent corporation, admitted it used sweatshop labor in its manufacturing and settled in a landmark $22-million class action lawsuit on behalf of factory workers in Saipan. Since then, allegations of unethical labor policies have quieted down, but it’s worth noting that Abercrombie’s history (and, by extension, Aeropostale’s) isn’t so squeaky clean.

We can certainly see the contradiction in a company sending relief supplies to one impoverished country while employing cheap labor in another. How about you? Do you think Aeropostale is sincere in its campaign to help Haitians?

While not as urgent a need as the need for blood donations and clean water, the ongoing relief effort in Haiti will now benefit from the donation of clean clothes, thanks to casual brand Aeropostale.

Through February 12, the mall retailer is accepting donations of gently used jeans and will match each donated pair with a new one from their own line. And Aeropostale is offering a 25 percent off coupon to anyone who brings in a pair from his or her closet.

And there’s no reason to hold back: If the company collects more than 100,000 pairs of pants, the surplus will be donated to local charities and homeless shelters.

For more details, check out the Teens for Jeans page on DoSomething.org.

Vancouver is looking to lock down its position as the world capital of green fashion, and we’re pretty excited for Vancouver Eco Fashion Week, this year from April 20 to 22.

And if you live in Vancouver or will be in town next month for the Olympics, kick the party off early with an event on February 19 at the Vancouver Public Library.

The deets:

Enjoy an evening filled with live music by international performers Jill Barber, Vince Vaccaro, Adam Thomas and the Mike Allen Quartet, live painting by Caroline Weave, and DJ Phoenix Olivia. Opening speeches will be given by Lindsay Coulter from the David Suzuki Foundation and Our Social Fabric’s Kim Cathers.

You won’t want to miss the fashion show featuring favourite eco-friendly designers like Adhesif Clothing (adhesifclothing.com), Ashley Watson (ashleywatson.net), Dotted Loop (dottedloop.com), Kim Cathers Elements (kimcathers.com), Nixxi (nixxi.ca), and WE3 (we3.ca).

Mark your calendar for the Eco Fashion Forward Fundraising Night on Friday, February 19, 2010 at 8pm, happening at The Promenade at the Vancouver Public Library (350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC).

Tickets are $45 and can be purchased online at EcoFashionForward.EventBrite.com. Part of the ticket price will be donated to the David Suzuki Foundation, a Canadian environmental charity.

Want more info? Check out VEFW.com.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) is set to release a tee-shirt to raise money for earthquake recovery efforts in Haiti.

Designed by Peter Arnell and manufactured by contemporary brand Theory, the CFDA tee titled “Hope Help Heal Haiti” will donate 100 percent of the proceeds to the Bush Clinton Haiti Fund.

CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg says of the effort:

“The tragedy in Haiti has affected everyone and most of us individually have given money for relief … However, I think it is now important to send a message and create a channel for funding from fashion as an industry.”

You can buy the $25 tee starting February 12 from any retailer whose designer is a member of the CFDA or from CFDA.com.

In honor of our tee-shirt giveaway courtesy of Fashion Loves People — a brand that donates $1 from every tee sold to fight human trafficking — we’ve found a bunch of other stylish gifts that support nonprofit groups. If you’ve procrastinated on your Christmas shopping, these couldn’t come at a better time:

• John Hardy plants a bamboo sapling in Bali for every Woven Leather Bracelet ($195) sold — perfect for the tree-hugger in your life.
• Have a niece who’s a miniature fashion plate? Ann Taylor is donating a  generous 60 percent of the sales from its adorable Cashmere Toddler Cardigan ($98) to St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
• Paige Premium Denim designed the Be Comfortable in Your Genes Bracelet ($25) to raise awareness of bulimia and anorexia among young women, and proceeds benefit the National Eating Disorders Association.
• MAC Cosmetics’s longrunning Viva Glam line ($14) has expanded to seven shades of lipstick and three shades of lipgloss — but as always, 100 percent of the sales are donated to the nonprofit MAC AIDS Fund.
• Send a Sweet Home ($35.95) box of cookies from the Dancing Deer Baking Company and 35 percent of the proceeds will support One Family, a nonprofit coalition that helps homeless women and children.