Design Activism

The fashion industry is becoming more aware of environmental sustainability issues, however there are many who do not wish to sacrifice their creative designs to meet the requirements for sustainable design.  The luxury apparel industry and the conspicuous consumers who purchase extremely high quality apparel and textile products usually do not have sustainability as a priority for purchasing. In order to change this, we need to focus on making sustainable design a more luxurious industry. To use the idea of design activism, we must create an event that will be for high class, wealthy, high status individuals who care about the social aspect of buying products. In the article Design Activism, Alastair Fuad-Luke quotes Ann Thorpe defining activism as, "taking intentional action to instigate change on behalf of a neglected group." The neglected group would be the consumer as defined earlier in this post.

I would like to create an event that would happen as often as fashion week in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Milan, etc. It would be a several day long event that would include shows and parties featuring 'socially active design' as Fuad-Luke states, "where the focus of the design is is society and its transition and/or transformation to a more sustainable way of living, working, and producing." To be able to attend the event, one would have to bring old clothing items that could either be recycled (if it was made from natural materials and natural dyes) or repurposed. It would be important to have an extensive, impressive guest list to encourage those to come, and join the "trend" of sustainable design. The hope would be to bring knowledge to this group of consumers, and to showcase the importance and also popularity of the new wave of environmental sustainability.

The most important thing I learned in this class is the affect of textiles and the production of fibers on the environment, and that there are high quality alternatives. I plan on using this information in the future while designing clothes, and using environmentally sustainable materials. This is also what I would like to learn more about after this class. I would like to learn more about the extensive textile alternatives, and the new developments that are currently in process.

Creative Composting

It is hard for many people to imagine turning old clothes into new clothes because it is rarely ever seen, and it is definitely not easy. As a result of all of the different restrictions and strict rules on what can and can not be recycled, it is a turn off for those who have any interest in composting their clothes. As we have seen in the model from C2CAD, one important aspect of sustainable and compostable apparel is the type of dye that can be used. There are certain dyes that are natural and do not harm the environment when composted. This idea gave me a new idea to make it easy and fun to purchase materials that are not only made from natural fibers, but that are also only dyed in natural and environmentally safe dyes.

I would create a storefront that housed a "do it yourself" design house. Customers would be able to come in, choose from a variety of different basic clothing items (t-shirts, blouses, skirts, pants, etc.) made of natural cotton and undyed. They would then be able to choose what color they want the item to be, and it would be dyed for them on an individual basis. The garments would dry over night and they would be able to come and pick up their merchandise the next day. This way every person could have a customizable wardrobe, and when they are done they can bring back their item to be recycled or composted by the store, and receive a discount on their next item.

Cyclical Shopping

Living in a world that is full of waste can cause many problems. We are depleting both our natural and man-made resources because we are not careful about the things we use, and whether or not we really need them. If we are aware of the waste, and have convenient ways to recycle waste, we will have a much better way to efficiently use our resources. The metabolism that I plan on utilizing for my idea, is the technical cycle. This cycle uses technical resources over and over again to be recycled and redirected with a new purpose.

The idea that I have is to create a type of online store that offers repurposed clothing on an individual basis. To begin with, the customer would go onto the website, and order a shirt for example. The shirt would arrive to them in a sustainable, reusable package that they would save. When they are done with the shirt, and have worn it out they will put the shirt back into the package, and send it back to the company. Once the shirt arrives back into the factory, it will be cleaned, dyed, fixed and turned into a new product, then sent back directly to the customer in the same packaging. This will eliminate any type of waste associated with packaging, and also the waste of the t-shirt. If the customer no longer wants a product from the same materials, they will be credited a percentage back onto their account, and they will be able to order a new product.

Living and Loving Local

Many of the environmental issues in the apparel design industry deal with the transportation of goods. The amount of energy and pollution that come from the freight are making an awful impact on our environment. When considering a solution to this problem, it is obvious that clothing needs to travel much shorter distances to the consumer. In evaluating the concepts of Industrial Ecology, we look closely at two concepts: Run on information, and Shop Locally. Many people are interested in shopping locally, and doing their part in helping our environment, but they are completely ignorant to how they need to go about doing this. Kate Fletcher goes as far as to say that, "Localism is the antidote to unsustainabilty." However, if the consumers are not aware of how and where to get items that they usually find online or in large markets, they won't purchase locally. This brings me to the next concept of running on information. Though this concept deals with the knowledge of the manufacturers and designers being in sync with each other and helping each other produce more sustainable goods, we can also take it a step further and involve the consumer in the process of knowledge sharing. 

I work as a seamstress for a small, local design company in Perkins, OK. All of the labor is local, and the owner is running a very successful company that is shipping nationwide. Although she does some selling locally, most of her work is shipped out to other states because many people are unaware that she is there. My idea is to form a website that serves as a search engine for local production. You would be able to type in your location, a certain radius you would be willing to drive, and what type of product you are looking for. The businesses and designers would have a list of requirements they have to meet to prove that they are a local, sustainable business. Local businesses would also have a way to interact with each other to help in any way necessary. Bradley Quinn discusses the benefits of local businesses and artisans banding together and forming communities to promote sustainability. This way businesses would be more attracted to local and sustainable production and consumers would have access to a large amount of information, and they would no longer have any excuses to not shop locally! 

Future Consciousness

To be perfectly honest, before this class I had hardly thought about sustainability and its affect on the future. Though I try to do my small part in staying "environmentally-friendly," I had the mental mode that I was just one person, and what I did personally wouldn't have an actual affect on the environment. I felt like it wouldn't even matter if I did recycle or tried to live more sustainably because there are so many other people who ignore these issues entirely, that I couldn't possibly outweigh them. This is a definitely a pessimistic view of looking into the future of our environment, and the future of sustainability. As Tom Lombardo discusses in his article, Thinking Ahead: The Value of Future Consciousness, viewing the future pessimistically and without any hope for change and determination for a positive outcome, the pessimistic views will in turn come true, as a self-fulfilling prophecy. If I believe that I will have no positive impact on the earth, I will definitely have no positive impact on the earth. However, if I can change my way of thinking to a more optimistic view of figuring out a way that one person can have a positive impact, it is very possible that I can have a positive impact.

My vision of a sustainable future, is to have a more universal awareness of sustainability and the ways that individuals as well as companies can change their ways to lessen their negative impact on the earth. As an apparel design major, it is very important that all designers are aware of the different impacts textiles have, so that they can choose to use products and textiles that are better for the earth. Alan Durning warns of the perils of overconsumption in his article, Limiting Consumption. He discusses the huge impact and consumption of advertisements in today's society. Advertisements today try and popularize the idea of having whatever you want, when you want it. This is a huge problem for our resources. If we could take the advertisement industry from being a problem to a solution by using it to create a greater awareness of ways to consume less, and to have a less negative impact, it would greatly reduce the issue with advertising. Oki and Kim also support the argument about the ignorance of many people today when it comes to sustainability in their article, Visioneering: An essential framework in sustainability science. Many people don't have a vision for sustainability because they don't truly understand what it means and what affect they have as individuals on it.

The main mental mode that people need to think about for my vision is the idea that even one person can have a positive impact on sustainability. Although it will often require an extra effort on the part of the consumer, or even a sacrifice ( such as less consumption, more effort to recycle, inconvenient shopping experiences, etc.) it will be worth their time. The key to this is communication, and spreading the word of ways to live more sustainably that are not difficult to manage. This could be done by all mediums of advertising and incentive programs from different companies, and possibly even the government.

ECO-Promising

In today's market, the consumer awareness of a company's environmental impact have a huge affect on the company's reputation and success. It is only in the past 50 years that there has been a popular concern for the effect of products on the environment and as a result of this, companies must ensure their consumers that they are aware and promoting a healthy environment in order to stay competitive in the market. Many companies use their advertisements to persuade consumers that they are an "environmentally-friendly" company; however, it is not always clear how accurate the claims they make are.

There are however, many 3rd parties that certify the authenticity of their claims. Some examples of these organizations are EnergyStar, Green Seal, Marine Stewardship Council, and many more. There are also Web Sites that direct you to companies who are supposed to be environmentally aware.

I have included some examples of companies who promote their product as environmentally aware.

Clean Spirited is an example of a company that does a great job of advertising and providing information to their customers about the sustainability of their products. They provide detailed explanations of what exactly their company does to help the environment, and just exactly how the customers play a role in their endeavors. They also include a list of 3rd parties that have certified their products, so the customer can be sure that they are truly getting a product that is certified to be environmentally safe. 

Lav and Kush is an example of a company that does a poor job of showing the authenticity of their sustainability claims. On their website, they use a lot of fluffy language to talk about the fabric they use. They describe their clothing as "eco-luxurious" "eco-friendly" and "eco-conscious", however they have no certification that they are actual products created sustainability. 

A standardization of certification on products needs to be enforced. This would force companies to provide evidence of their actual environmental claims so that the consumer can be assured they are spending their money on products that are not harming the environment. Some companies would be hurt by this standardization, because it would take a way a good amount of their salability. However, it would also bring about a new competition in the market, and would challenge companies to seriously consider their environmental impact and work on real ways to improve their products while helping protect the earth. 

Cotton

Cotton is the most widely used natural fiber that is in production today. As a result of this, the production of cotton has a very high impact on the environment. There are ways to produce and manufacture cotton that have a less negative impact, but the ways that have a greater negative impact far outweigh the others.
According to The Sustainability of Cotton, "Cotton is produced in more than 100 countries, with 78% of all cotton produced in 6 countries." (Kooistra, Termorshuizen, pg.3) Clearly, the production of cotton is a huge factor in the global economy and the earth as a whole.

Cotton has very specific growth conditions. There are several different types of irrigation: flood-or-furrow, mobile, and drip. All of these types of irrigation uses large amounts of water. Cotton can also be compromised by insects. One affect that cotton production has on the environment is in the use of fertilizers and pesticides. These can serve as poisons to the different ecosystems. There is a way to manufacture cotton organically, but is not yet widely used. Cotton Inc., offers different methods they are in the process of perfecting to make organic cotton more readily available.

If manufacturers of cotton as a whole will spend more time in the research for ways to create organic cotton, it will take a huge negative impact off of the earth.