Socially Responsible Design

READ// Kate Fletcher, Matilda Lee, and Sandy Black

March 12, 2010
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READ// Kate Fletcher, Matilda Lee, and Sandy Black

  The ‘Open Space’ at the FEI conference featured celebrated authors Kate Fletcher, Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys, Matilda Lee, Eco-Chic: The Savvy Shoppers Guide to Ethical Fashion, and Sandy Black, Eco-Chic: The Fashion Paradox. You can find these texts and others in our reading section.   FEI set the stage for the Open Space format as an opportunity for conference participants to network, strategise, learn, share, challenge, be inspired and stimulate one another in a supportive environment. Fletcher, Lee and Black each presented their own discussion question, and participants were also given the chance to create posed...

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WATCH// Nadira Lamrad on CSR in China’s Apparel Supply Chain

March 11, 2010
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WATCH// Nadira Lamrad on CSR in China’s Apparel Supply Chain

SA’s Nadira Lamrad presented her research, “CSR Trends in China’s Apparel Supply Chain,” at the FEI conference on March 2nd. The workshop, titled “New Approaches in Education and Industry,” was chaired by industry consultant Maggie Burns, and speaking alongside Nadira was Dr. Matilda Tham, professor of fashion at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm. Tham’s presentation was titled “Lucky People Forecast Approach: How can education support engagement with systemic sustainable fashion futures?” The workshop generated some interesting questions and concerns surrounding education in CSR, and we’re hoping we can keep the conversation going here, so be sure to leave...

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WATCH// Social Alterations @ FEI

March 4, 2010
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WATCH// Social Alterations @ FEI

Here are just two of the videos we took at the conference. We have more videos to come, so stay tuned for those. The first video is of my Pecha Kucha talk. I’ll be posting the slides and my notes a little later on. Please contact us if you have any questions on the works cited in the presentation. Social Alterations @ FEI from Social Alterations on Vimeo. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) held the table next to ours during the Market Place on day two of the conference. We asked them what exactly responsible fashion meant to the...

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Social Alterations @ FEI

March 2, 2010
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Social Alterations @ FEI

So here we are in London for the Fashioning an Ethical Industry Conference: Fast Forward. Today, Nadira and I will both be presenting at the conference, and with Katrine in attendance, this will mark the first time the SA team is all together in the same place at the same time!   We will be doing lots of blogging and twitter (ing?) from the event, and will have our presentations uploaded later tonight for you to check out, so be sure to tune in. Follow on twitter via @maryhanlon for that feed. Wish us luck!

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Fashion Futures

February 28, 2010
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Fashion Futures

Fashion Futures, a new report out of Forum for the Future in partnership with Levis Strauss & Co., has predicted 4 scenarios for the future of the fashion industry (see below). Here is an excerpt from the Executive Summary: “Fashion Futures is a call for a sustainable fashion industry. We want companies in all sectors to wake up to the immense challenges that are already shaping our world, to address the serious risks and seize the rich opportunities they present. It’s designed to help them take action which will safeguard their future, protect our environment and improve the lives...

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Tracing Trash

February 16, 2010
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Tracing Trash

Trash of Your Society (T.O.Y.S.), an art project of theSYNdicate, is on tour investigating the after-life-cycle of products, or artefacts (a.k.a. trash). Do you know what happens to your products once you’ve tossed them? Here is part of ‘The Concept’: The footsteps or traces that refuse leaves internationally, are the subject of the art project of theSYNdicate: how countries deal with refuse in different parts of the world; the global cycle of refuse; the dimensions of European refuse in Africa. Transport routes of primary products as well as of finished consumer goods cover long distances, in this globalised world,...

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Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design

February 14, 2010
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Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design

How might ‘social biomimicry’ influence design within the context of socially, culturally, environmentally, and economically responsible systems of fashion? While this conference may not directly focus on fashion at the stage of design conception, it does concentrate on other stages, such as manufacturing, communications, transportation, and green building. Indirectly, lessons learned at all stages of the lifecycle should influence the designer at the early phases of initial conception. “A pioneering collaboration among biologists, designers, engineers, and businesspeople, Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design is a conference organized by graduate students and supported by the Frontiers in Life Sciences...

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Bamboo// Continued Misconceptions

February 14, 2010
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Bamboo// Continued Misconceptions

With the current spotlight on ‘green’ fashion over at Vogue U.K. via Livia Firth and the Green Carpet Challenge, we were surprised to see bamboo as designer Linda Loudermilk’s fibre of choice for Colin Firth’s suit at the premier of Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” in Paris. Despite the comments out of Loudermilk’s office, we’re not quite convinced it was a responsible choice. Even if we were to believe that this bamboo was in fact not rayon, meaning that it was mechanically processed, not chemically processed, and that such mechanical processing was done without violating any human rights, we...

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Can Design Change Behaviour?

February 10, 2010
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Can Design Change Behaviour?

This question was answered recently by Banny Banerjee, Director of the Stanford Design Program and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering.  In short, his answer is YES! ““Our behavior is deeply influenced by the norms and frameworks that surround us and design can be used to create systems and experiences that work with an underlying understanding of human behavior and cause people to fall into entirely new patterns of behavior,” says Banerjee, an associate professor of mechanical engineering. Because behavior can be influenced—not just observed—it provides an important opportunity for tackling complex challenges such as sustainability.” “That opportunity is perhaps...

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Midway: Message from the Gyre

February 9, 2010
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Midway: Message from the Gyre

“We’ve lost our sense of outrage” (Chris Jordan, TEDtalk, June 23, 2008). How do we change? We change through behaviour, says photographer Chris Jordan. His book, Running the Numbers: An American Self Portrait, is available for direct purchase through his website, and also via Amazon, through the SA . This short film speaks for itself: Jordan presents his research and master imagery in TEDtalk: Picturing Excess: Source: chris jordan photographic arts

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