A creation from 2012 by Laura Seigel.
Celebrating 10 years of the
White Cashmere Collection
When models walk down the runway to reveal the latest creations from the White Cashmere Collection, spectators often gasp at what are surely the world's most unique expressions of fashion – made with bathroom tissue and handcrafted by some of Canada's best and brightest designers.
Ten years after the White Cashmere Collection was introduced by Kruger Products L.P, the paper products company that makes Cashmere bathroom tissue, audiences remain in awe of what the collection has accomplished.
Launched as a way to showcase Canadian designers, by having them create garments with white cashmere fabric, the collection has evolved into something bigger, nobler, and more innovative. Today it is one of the country's biggest supporters of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF), raising funds and awareness of breast cancer through its Vote Couture for the Cure online initiative, which donates $1 each time Facebook followers vote for their favourite designer, up to a total of $10,000.
The collection also helps the CBCF by incorporating into its designs Kruger's limited-edition Pink Cashmere bathroom tissue. Each package sold generates 25 cents in donations for the Foundation.
In the 10 years since it was launched, the White Cashmere Collection has turned heads, amazed audiences and highlighted the very best of Canadian fashion – all in support of CBCF's vision of a future without breast cancer.
The White Cashmere Collection's 10th anniversary recalls some highlights and milestones of the past decade:
2004. The White Cashmere Collection is launched as part of Cashmere's transition from its previous brand name, Cottonelle. Featuring white cashmere fabric, recalling the luxuriously soft feel of Cashmere bathroom tissue, the collection makes its debut with eight Canadian fashion leaders.
2006. The collection switches from cashmere fabric to Cashmere bathroom tissue. More than 200 students from top design schools in Montreal are challenged to create original designs with sheets of tissue. Eight of them make the cut.
2007. Established designers join the White Cashmere Collection, creating the world's first bathroom tissue couture collection.
2008. Pink is in for the fifth anniversary. White Cashmere Collection 2008: A Touch of Pink marks the start of the collection's support of the CBCF. It's also the debut of Pink Cashmere, Canada's first coloured bathroom tissue in a decade.
2009. The collection celebrates the courage and strength of women affected by breast cancer and heralds the annual return of Pink Cashmere, which is sold throughout October.
2010. In a year of many firsts, the collection goes countrywide, with a coast-to-coast designer lineup. It features its first Cashmere bathroom tissue swimsuit, as well as the first official face of the collection, Canada's Next Top Model winner Meaghan Waller.
2011. Sudbury-born Brian Maristela of The House of Lizares becomes the first designer to create menswear with bathroom tissue for the White Cashmere Collection. The collection also introduces its first mature model.
2012. More firsts for the collection: footwear and children's wear, all crafted with Cashmere bathroom tissue.
2013. This year's show will be the biggest one to date – it is the collection's 10th anniversary, after all. More than 40 models will dazzle in designs by 20 top Canadian designers at a fashion show set for September 25 at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.