Striving for sustainability in the fashion industry has been Edda Hamar’s goal for the entirety of her career. Her latest project, Lána is an online platform that connects individuals with others who want to share and rent their clothes in an effort to reduce the amount of clothing that ends up in landfill. Named after the Icelandic word for ‘lend,’ Lána has been an ongoing success for six years and continues to make a meaningful contribution to the industry by changing the way people consume fashion.
Lána is not the only project Edda has worked on. Undress Runways, Australia’s largest sustainable fashion runway show, was launched in 2011 and engages more than 50,000 people every year to celebrate forward-thinking fashion designers from around the world. In 2014, Edda also started The Naked Mag, an annual publication that advocates for diversity, respect, equality, sustainability and smart textiles in the fashion industry and empowers its readers to make informed and socially conscious decisions when making purchases. She is also the co-founder of the ethical fashion label VIHN with designer Judith Ortiz.
Edda was born in Iceland and at the age of five she sailed from Europe, through the Americas and the Pacific, all the way to Australia with her mother and step-father which is when her deep respect for the natural environment began. Today, at the age of 28, Edda’s passion for sustainability has landed her on the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List and given her the title of QLD Young Achiever of the Year 2017. In 2016, Edda was named UN Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals, awarded Foundation for Young Australians‘ (FYA) Young Changemaker of the Year 2015 and selected as a Young Social Pioneer by the FYA in 2013. Edda and her team work tirelessly to make sustainable and ethical fashion the default and hope that the future will see people having a healthier and more sustainable relationship with fashion.
