“The IIT Institute of Design’s 9th Annual Design Research Conference (DRC) will be held at the Spertus Institute in downtown Chicago on May 10-12th 2010. It will feature exceptional international speakers and opportunities to spend time with our brilliant community of designers, planners, researchers, educators, students, managers and executives concerned with understanding people.” (drc)

This year’s conference includes a design research competition. The deadline to apply is April 2^nd, but hey…you still have 3 days! The winners will get to speak at the conference, and will be included in the program.

Click here to apply! Good Luck!

Check out this year’s speakers:

Tim Brown | IDEO

Martha Cotton | gravitytank

Erica Eden | Smart Design, Femme Den

Kim Erwin | IIT Institute of Design

Diane Fraley | D.S. Fraley Associates

Heather Fraser | Rotman Designworks

Usman Haque | Pachube

Cathy Huang | China Bridge International

Stokes Jones | Lodestar

Anjali Kelkar | Studio for Design Research

Diane Lee | Smart Design

Yvonne Lin | Smart Design, Femme Den

Gerald Lombardi | Hall & Partners

Doug Look | Autodesk

Bill Lucas | LUMA Institute, MAYA Design

Don Norman | Nielsen Norman Group

Sona Patadia | PDT

Ron Pierce | Stuart Karten Design

Heather Reavey | Continuum

Rick E. Robinson | Sideriver Ventures

Rob Tannen | Bresslergroup

Paula Wellings | Adaptive Path

Eric Wilmot | Wolff Olins

Lisa Yanz | PDT

Title: drc: Design Research Conference 2010// IIT Institute of Design
Location: Chicago
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2010-05-10
End Date: 2010-05-12

Dilys Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, has been included in the Selection Committee, and will be judging the Fashion category, along with other designers, architects, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, humanitarians, environmentalists and spiritual leaders.

Here is the mission of the awards:

Human imagination and ingenuity are the impetus of every good design. All across the world, people from every walk of life are generating good design ideas that offer groundbreaking solutions to the ecological and social challenges of the 21st century. The Earth Awards provides a platform for these visionary ideas, presenting a unique opportunity for individuals and organizations worldwide to expose their design innovations to a global audience. The Earth Awards is committed to the idea of popularizing the most viable of these innovations, and transforming them into market-ready solutions.

The submission period closes May 10^th. Good Luck!

Check out this video of last year’s finalists!

Source: CSF

Who’s your favourite responsible Canadian designer?

Fashion Takes Action (FTA) has officially launched Canada’s 1^st annual eco design award, Design Forward.

I had the pleasure of working on this project, and I am so excited that Social Alterations could support this important initiative in Canada,  and I will explain the extent of our participation in an upcoming post, so stay tuned!

Here are the nominees:

• Thieves
• Elladora  
• Elroy
• Paper People Clothing
• Laura Chenoweth
• Revolve Clothing Co.
• Nicole Bridger
• Salts Organic
• Preloved
• Lav & Kush
• deux fm
• Nixxi
• flora&fauna
• We3 (twigg&hottie)

All the information you need has been made available to you, the public, and you are invited to vote online for the designer you believe best represents ‘eco design’ in Canada. Once you have cast your vote, the decision will be left in the hands of the jury, who will select their winning choice from the top three finalists.

The criterion for voting is based on production, material, design, and special features. Take your time getting to know each designer: you only get one vote, so make it count!

Check out the prize, valued at approximately $50,000!

• A free membership in Fashion Takes Action
• A three-month national PR campaign, provided by Third Eye Media
• Feature in EcoSalon – the number one green fashion blog!
• Participation at Nolcha Fashion Week’s Ethical Fashion Preview in NYC in September 2010
• Travel and accommodations for two, provided by Air Miles Reward Program
• 75 meters of eco-friendly fabric, supplied by Telio (to make a sample collection to show in NYC)
• Look book photo shoot with full creative team including photographer, models, hair & makeup and stylist
• Look book graphic design by pencil design
• $1,000 towards Fair trade and Organic certification, provided by Ecocert.

The voting will close @ midnight on Friday, April 16^th.

To all the designers, we wish you luck!

Your Green Idea (M&S, 2010)

As a part of M&S’s ambitious Plan A scheme they are looking for the ultimate green idea. As consumers we are always on the look out for better shopping experiences and if it is beneficial to our planet it is even better.

On their Plan A website M&S says: “Working with our customers over the last couple of years, our Oxfam Clothes Exchange has recycled 4 million garments, our bag-charging scheme has saved 600 million bags and we’ve reused or recycled 350 million coat hangers. But that’s only the beginning.”

Now M&S is looking for your green ideas.

So get your thinking cap on. Next time you’re in M&S think about a way our customers can shop for the better. You could use our ideas as inspiration or come up with your own. Think green, but think big. And here’s a thought – if your brainwave is picked as the ultimate green idea it could be seen by 21 million people every week at over 700 M&S stores. And, what’s more, you could win £100,000 for your favourite organisation to spend on their green initiative. It could be for a school, local community project, a small business or charity… it’s up to you.
You’re the brains.

This is a great opportunity, regardless of  your background, to have a positive impact on the future of consumerism.

More details about the competition can be found here.

Source: M&S Plan A website.

Events:

25^th February 2010: Fairwear Fashion Show at Bristol Cathedral featuring the premiere of the Emma Watson collection for People Tree as well as many more fair trade fashion brands. Booking essential to avoid disappointment

8^th and 9^th May 2010: The Slow Textiles Conference at the Stroud International Textiles Festival in Gloucestershire. This two day event aims to be a comprehensive introduction to the subject and to stimulate discussion in and around the various and overarching themes central to Slow. Speakers include Becky Earley, Emma Neuberg, Clara Vuletich and Philippa Brock. For further information and to book tickets.

14^th May: Create Sustain Ability: The Art Design Media Subject Centre’s (ADM-HEA) 2010 Annual Forum will focus on the subject of Education for Sustainable Development. The Forum aims to support art design and media subjects to develop curricula and pedagogy that will help students develop the skills and knowledge to live and work sustainably. For information on submitting an abstract to the conference or registering to attend.

Resources:

Book: Clean Clothes: a global movement to end sweatshops. The worldwide anti-sweatshop Clean Clothes Campaign marked its twentieth year in 2009. To coincide with the anniversary a new book on the movement was launched, Clean Clothes, by Dutch writer and photographer Liesbeth Sluiter.

Opportunities:

Competition: No Chains t-shirt design competition - a collaborative project undertaken by the two worker cooperatives La Alameda in Argentina and Dignity Returns in Thailand, seeks artists, designers, and activists to assist in creating images for a global sweat-free brand of t-shirts to be launched in April 2010. Deadline for applications is the 25^th February 2010. For more information and to get involved.

Competition: Student Essay Competition – ADM-HEA invites students on UK-based art, design or media higher education courses to enter this year’s essay competition and answer the question; Learning to live sustainably – how can your subject area contribute? The overall winning submission will receive £250.

Internships: Himalayan Highlands Summer Exhibitions Ltd, currently the largest importer of Fair Trade products into Scotland, are looking for a Knitwear Design intern and a Fashion Designer/project manager to be based in Kathmandu Nepal. The deadline for application is the 10^th February.

Competition: 2010 Green Gown Awards – this year’s awards are now open for submissions. The Green Gown Awards, now in their 6th year, recognise exceptional initiatives being taken by universities and colleges across the UK to become more sustainable.

News:

Improving factory conditions in Bangladesh: This month BBC Radio 4’s Just Business reported on the story of Windy Group, a supplier in Dhaka, which illustrates the power that fashion retailers have to bring about real change for workers.

With the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games just around the corner, the Play Fair Alliance are calling on sportswear brands, such as Nike, adidas, and Puma, to eliminate sweatshop abuses in their global supply chains. Find out what your favourite sportswear brand is, or is not doing, to ensure workers’ rights are respected.

For more on “Clearing the Hurdles,” click here.

Source: FEI

Source: Puff and Flock and Create10

Looking for ways to get your students more involved with the ethical fashion movement?

Check out People & Planet’s Wear Fair fashion show competition:

“People and Planet are holding a national competition for student groups who put on a Fairtrade Cotton fashion show to launch the Wear Fair campaign at their school or college. The group who organise the best show will win a bundle of clothes by cutting edge ethical designer Annie Greenabelle. They will also have the opportunity to meet a Fairtrade producer so they can hear first hand about the positive impact of their campaigning in their school or college.

Each Fair Trade fashion show entered into the competition will be judged by how well it succeeds in three areas:

• How inspiring and creative the show is
• How well the show describes Fairtrade cotton
• How successfully the show is used to gain support for the Wear Fair campaign

For further information and to enter please see the People and Planet website.” (FEI)

Click here to get started and here to enter the competition! Good Luck!

**Deadline for Application is April 20th, 2010**

Miriam Rhida

I’ve got some exciting news to share with you! On November 25^th I won the “Systems for a Sustainable Future Award” in the Fashioning the Future international student competition. This competition is run through the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion. There were 5 winners in total, each representing five separate categories, with forty finalists over all. I’m excited to have had the opportunity to showcase and share my graduate research, and this website.

Emma Rigby

Zoe Fletcher won the Enterprise & Communication Initiative for a Future Fashion Industry Award (Highly Commended: Ruby Hoette and Julia Crew)

Varun Gambhir won the Role of Materials in a Sustainable Fashion Industry Award (Highly Commended: Karina Micheal)

Mary Hanlon won the Systems for a Sustainable Fashion Industry Award

Miriam Rhida won the Design for a Thriving Fashion Industry Award (Highly Commended: Eleanor Dorrien-Smith and On Ying Lai)

Emma Rigby won the Water – The Right for All Citizens of this Planet Award (Highly Commended: Anne Prahl).

International competitions such as the Fashioning the Future awards offer students the chance not only to showcase their work, but to benchmark themselves against other students in their field at the international level.

Please visit the Centre for Sustainable Fashion to check out the details of the competition, and the full list of finalists! For more images, check out this photo gallery from The Guardian.

On Ying

Also, if you are in London, be sure to stop by London’s City Hall and London College of Fashion to check out the highlights from the 2009 awards. Here are the details:

FASHIONING THE FUTURE AT CITY HALL, 19 November – 4 December 2009
Highlights of the 2009 awards to be showcased at London’s City Hall, with thanks to the London Sustainable Development Commission.
Open to the public, free of charge.
Greater London Authority, City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA

FASHIONING THE FUTURE AT FASHION SPACE GALLERY, 16 November – 11 December 2009
Highlights of the 2009 awards to be showcased at London College of Fashion.
Open to the public, free of charge.
London College of Fashion, 20 John Princes Street, London W1G 0BJ

 Congratulations everyone! And thank you for your support!

Images via The Guardian

Source: Centre for Sustainable Fashion

Image via Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion

“Fashioning the Future brings together a global community of creative thinkers and doers, designers, innovators and entrepreneurs ready to offer the fashion industry opportunities for the future.

Founded in 2008, Fashioning the Future has been developed to include a wider range of disciplines, now with seven separate awards, celebrating and promoting a generation of emerging talent for the fashion industry of the future.

The possibilities for our future lie in the ingenuity of our creative minds. The competition is the leading international platform for celebrating innovation in sustainable fashion design, development and communication and we hope students and recent graduates from across the global fashion industry are inspired and excited to contribute through their work.

The underlying issue of consumption, the theme for the 2008 awards, will continue to be a crucial issue to fashion and its sustainability. Aligned to this, the theme for 2009 is Water, and there is a specific cross-discipline award focusing on this.”

Closing date 7 October 2009 at 1600hrs GMT.

Source: Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion