SVLIM takes sustainable designer fashion to Tokyo

By: Karlyne Manrique

Sustainable, avant-garde, and luxury design is what Mexican designer Elizabeth Salim creates, who has already become a reference in author-driven sustainable fashion in Mexico with her brand SVLIM. She creates her pieces from upcycling, biomaterials, and uses discarded supplies from the industry to give them a new life through fashion.

SVLIM gives sustainability a new vision through the unique design present in each garment, from minimalist t-shirts and hoodies to elaborate pieces made with electronic or metallic waste.

Her collections are mainly composed of materials that some maquilas classify as remnants and donate to the brand, from where each garment is produced and transformed, also using technological processes such as laser cutting and 3D modeling to reduce waste during production.

Elizabeth Salim has already presented at New York Fashion Week and today prepares for a new stage: Tokyo Fashion Week, in collaboration with Global Fashion Collective. Her HANAHĀKI 春夏 26 collection integrates touches of robotics and technology, merging innovation with purpose in every detail.

On the occasion of her upcoming presentation in Tokyo, we had the opportunity to speak with her in an interview where she shares her vision on sustainability, her new collection, the role of her collaborators, and the current state of the fashion industry in Mexico.

How has your career in fashion with Salim been and what have been the main challenges, especially being a woman and promoting sustainable fashion in Mexico, where this subject is still not fully established?

SVLIM is a brand that emerged in the midst of the pandemic, at the beginning of 2021, as a response to the need for sustainable fashion that transcended the merely artisanal and distanced itself from the colorful and stereotypical archetype commonly associated with Mexican design.

Since its origin, the brand has sought to explore other forms of Mexican identity and generate a different discourse, using music as a bridge to experiment with political and artistic connection.

It has been interesting that from its beginnings, SVLIM had great international acceptance that took us to Fashion Week NYC when we were barely one year old.

Mexico has practiced a circular culture out of subsistence for centuries; therefore, the concept of upcycling or material reuse is not new in our context. The real challenge has been educating consumers about the value of permaculture and its link with technology. Although at first this approach seemed strange, today we can proudly say that we were pioneers in these practices, driving the creation of intercultural and commercial communities that give meaning to our vision.