Upcycle

Social Alterations: Forum

August 20, 2009
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Social Alterations: Forum

How can education foster sustainable change toward socially responsible fashion and apparel design and manufacturing practices? Social Alterations hopes to foster socially responsible fashion design education through aggregating relevant material that will inspire fashion/textile and apparel instructors, researchers, designers and design enthusiasts to get on board with thinking about consequence in the industry. Sign up to the Social Alterations Forum if you’re interested in sharing and contributing ideas on curriculum, research, projects, materials, design, etc. with this community.

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Watch: FTA’s ” Sustainable Fashion 101″

August 8, 2009
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Watch: FTA’s ” Sustainable Fashion 101″

Based out of Toronto, Canada, Fashion Takes Action is a member’s based organization dedicated to transforming the fashion industry.  FTA helps businesses, as well as designers, students, consumers and researchers, become more aware of their social and environmental impact, while learning the benefits of operating a more sustainable business. Up this week on the FTA site is video coverage of their recent event “Sustainable Fashion 101.” Presentations from FTA Founder, Kelly Drennan, Andrea Stairs, Head of Marketplace Development at eBay, Ellen Karp, President of Anerca, Elsa Poncet, ECOCERT Europe, and Lorraine Smith, an Independent Sustainability Consultant can be viewed...

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The University of Delaware’s Sustainable Apparel Initiative (UDSAI)

June 4, 2009
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University of Delaware’s Sustainable Apparel Initiative offers ten policies for apparel brands and retailers to implement into their business practices. Click here to learn more about the policies and the initiative. Although all ten policies are crucial considerations for sustainable practices, “Policy 5: Consider and implement end-of-life strategies (recycle, renew, or reuse) when choosing materials, designing, and producing apparel”  pays particular attention to design through suggested best practices in both material and design assembly considerations. In the context of socially responsible fashion design education, how can these policies be integrated into your fashion curriculum? Early next week, Social Alterations will...

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Greener By Design 2009 Conference

May 20, 2009
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Greener By Design 2009 Conference

The second annual Greener By Design 2009 “Greener Products for Leaner Times” conference was held yesterday and today in San Fransisco. William McDonough gave the keynote speech at the conference yesterday. This article, “Greener By Design: Nature’s Rights, Nutrients and Quality Design,” by Jonathan Bardelline sums it up. Check it out. For more on the conference, live blog posts, and twitter feeds (#gbd09) visit Greener Design    

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the science of design

February 25, 2009
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the science of design

  ‘Wonderland’ is an amazing example of a fashion designer and a scientist working together in search of sustainable fashion design solutions. The interdisciplinary nature of this project draws attention to the fact that a designer is not limited to work only in the confines of traditional fashion. Textile science can help designers think outside the strictly aesthetic context of their design, taking it to another level. The Helen Storey Foundation is dedicated to the promotion of creativity and innovation through collaboration. ‘Wonderland’ is a design project that explores the design potential of biodegradable materials. I suggest watching the...

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Compostmodern09 tweet along

February 23, 2009
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  Below is my tweet along for Compostmodern09, which took place on Sat. Feb 21st 09. This event was greatly inspiring, and I will be writing a post soon on the over all themes of the conference and where the convergence into sustainable fashion design comes into play. Stay tuned for that post (and some images as well).   ·  excited to be at #cm09 8:19 AM Feb 21st ·  #cm09 only 5000 days left. take it as fact. 9:55 AM Feb 21st ·  #cm09 Allan Chochinov ten rules applicable to fashion design. 10:23 AM Feb 21st ·  Michel...

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Here comes the ethical bride…

February 16, 2009
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Here comes the ethical bride…

  The current issue of Ethical Style has dedicated itself to brides to be: “Big day, big decisions — how to turn your white wedding green”   It offers simple suggestions toward some ethical options on your big day. The greatest thing about the guide however is the wide range of resources it provides; including the 3D’s: diamonds, dresses and destinations. A perfect illustration that an ethical choice doesn’t have to be   a) ugly or b) expensive (actually, in some circles the jury may still be out…)   You brides probably have enough on your mind, but you...

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feeling fashionably overweight?

December 17, 2008
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The “Household Textile Environmental Impact Calculator” wants your closet to think about going on a diet. The calculator asseses you based on annual water usage, energy usage, use of non-renewable resources, and pollution. Unfortunately the calculator doesn’t account for non conventional fabrics, such as hemp. What is impressive however, is the fact that the calculator takes you through the lifecycle of your garments: purchasing, care, and disposal. The year is almost up, so Dec. marks a perfect time to start calculating and re-calculating to think about consumption practices for the year ahead. It doesn’t take long to calculate your annual...

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