For Argentine designer Laura Novik

For Argentine designer Laura Novik, analyst of fashion trends and founder and Elsa Peretti Starfish necklace of Raiz Diseno, sustainability is not only synonymous with reuse and recycling.

"It is also sustainable for emerging communities to work on your product, and for your product to allow artisanal traditions to survive in the contemporary world. All of that is sustainability: cultural, social and environmental," said Novik, who has lived in Chile for six years.

Standouts in that context are designers Martin Churba and Alejandro Sarmiento (Argentina), Ronaldo Fraga (Brazil), Ana Livni and Fernando Escuder (Uruguay), and Juana Diaz (Chile), as well as independent shops that distribute "conscious design" and "slow fashion".

In 2008, Raiz Diseno organised an Elsa Peretti Starfish earrings eco-design fair in Santiago, which it repeated this year on Oct. 17-18, under the theme "Simple Life".

This year, Novik brought together designers who use natural fibres and who create jobs for craftspersons and indigenous peoples, such as Chileans Andrea Onetto, Maria Paz Valdivieso and Maria Ines Solimano, because the United Nations declared 2009 International Year of Natural Fibres.

There is also controversy with regard to supporting traditions. For example, some "purist" designers defend faithful conservation of indigenous practices, even when they are not considered sustainable. And trade with communities that provide labour is another issue of constant debate.

"If sustainability is a door so narrow that only a chosen few can enter, then we will never change anything," said Novik. "Design is a powerful tool that can transform consciousness."

"The idea is to open many doors from different points: from those who work with natural Tiffany Signature ring to those who work with recycling. But also from those who decide to drink Coca Cola while they also recycle," she said.