Last month's International Fashion Showcase saw more than 30 foreign embassies and cultural institutions present young design talent to a London audience comprising press, buyers and fashion aficionados.

The Manila Wear showcase from the Philippines was the only one that highlighted how six designers incorporate indigenous sustainable materials into their designs. In addition, each designer had either a partnership with an NGO where profits are put back into community development, or was collaborating with local artisans and textile suppliers.

While Manila is not generally known as an international fashion capital, it could become a leader in sustainable design processes, says Senen Mangalile, minister and consul general at the Philippine embassy in London. "Philippines has a lot to offer in terms of creative designs, but also a model for sustainable partnership between designers and the local communities who supply some of the materials [the designers] use." The designers possess the creative talent to make work for an international market but at the same time, they help local communities who perform the work.

With a rising middle class and a new generation of designers who are engaged with international fashion markets in a way their predecessors weren't, the elements are coming together for a dynamic hub of Manila designers who combine inspiration from the tropical landscape that surrounds them with western design aesthetics.

Accessories designer Ken Samudio, referenced the diverse marine life of the Philippines in his collars and headpieces combining indigenous materials, bamboo and abacá (banana fibre) with upcycled industrial materials like resin and plastic, and used local embroidery and beading techniques. Samudio's workshop provides a source of income for a group of single mothers in Manila who he has trained in the artisan needlework used in his designs.

Fellow accessories designer Adante Leyesa, or "social designer" as he prefers to be called, creates handbags and statement necklaces using bamboo, piña (pineapple fibre) and locally sourced precious stones. He works in partnership with the Antique Atelier, a sustainable tourism project set up to provide work for disabled members of a remote island community outside Manila.

"I am a strong advocate of the use of local materials," says Leyesa. "I am an educator and I provide capacity-building programmes in remote areas to teach people the skills to develop products for my brand."

Womenswear designer Tipay Caintic, is a native of Taclobad, where Typhoon Haiyan struck in November. Her knitwear collection drew on the theme of the environmental catastrophe that has, according the Philippine government, displaced nearly 4.1 million people.

Caintic has primarily used knitted pineapple fibre, spun into a silky yarn similar to rayon. Her showpiece is a full length knit evening gown named Downpour which is crocheted from banana silk and includes a voluminous skirts made out of piña, a material not that dissimilar to organza. The ensemble is topped with a Perspex hat resembling the corrugated tin roofs of the coastal shantytowns that were hardest hit.

This is where the harsh reality of the typhoon's legacy sets in. The Philippines is the largest producer of copra or coconut to the world market, a resource that was completely destroyed in the Eastern Visayas, where the typhoon landed. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, a million coconut farmers have been affected. While attempts to replant the crops are underway, it can take nearly eight years before the crops mature and are ready for market, presenting a problem for farmers in the short-term.

The government has put its weight behind the abacá industry and is currently seeking certification from the Rainforest Alliance to increase market value. The abacá crop could offer coconut farmers a choice beyond aid dependency. In automotive engineering, Mercedes Benz has used a mixture of polypropylene thermoplastic and abacá yarn in automobile body parts. In the fashion industry, an abacá and polyester mix is increasingly looked upon as an alternative to using cotton in denim production.

Here in the UK, The Future Fabrics Expo focuses on how fashion's environmental impact can be lowered through textile innovation. Charlotte Turner, project manager at The Sustainable Angle who organises the Expo, says: "For many decades, the abacá fibre has been considered a high quality soft fibre, though less suited to the needs of fashion and more commonly used to create speciality papers. However, there are designers using luxurious handwoven abacá fabrics in their collections."

Along with recent developments that blend pineapple fibre with polyester, it's clear a diverse range of bast and hard fibres do have a place in fashion.

Christine de León is founder and director of Very Nice Threads.

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