Social Alterations

Update// Noko is a No Show!!

nadiralamrad — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:51:31 +0000

If you read our website regularly, you may have seen a post in December about Noko Jeans, a company manufacturing jeans in North Korea (DPRK). At the end of that post I wrote:

“To tell you the truth, I don’t really know what to think about this so, I emailed Noko jeans earlier today asking about their Code of Conduct and also asking them for an interview.

If you have any questions that you would like me to ask, please let me know. Stay tuned for an update to this fascinating story!!”

I thought it only fair to give you an update on this story. Mary Hanlon and I worked on a set of questions (see below) that would cover both design and responsibility. We wanted to ask questions that have not been asked before that would clearly match the focus of our website. The design questions are very much focused on the influence of the design process and design choices. The other questions were focused on the challenges and the impact of manufacturing in the DPRK and the way that the internal realities of the country influenced the manufacturing process and CSR. We also asked questions that explored the relationship between brands, trade and ‘pariah states.’

I got in touch with Noko Jeans in December. In particular, I had an email exchange with Jacob Åström and sent him 20 questions about their interesting project. He promised to send us responses to these questions in a week. We waited, the responses didn’t come so I sent them a reminder. After that I received another promise that they will respond at the beginning of 2010. So we waited and again, no response. I have emailed Noko jeans repeatedly over the past 2 months requesting a response to the following questions:

Why did you choose jeans? It has been discussed in the media (BBC, Washington Post) that NoKo Jeans are available in black, and not blue, because blue jeans too closely signal ‘American’ culture. Why is colour more significant than the material (denim) itself?
What design knowledge was disseminated and how? What other information was shared?
What were some of the challenges you encountered in the process of disseminating your design?
What was the level of government involvement in this project?
Could you take us through the Code of Conduct (CoC) step by step, from “Legal rights” (section 1) to “Inspections, questions, and demands for Pants Provided” (section 7), and explain some of the challenges you encountered along the way. For example, the CoC relies heavily on ‘national laws.’ How were such laws clearly outlined to both you and your workers?
The CoC refers to North Korean laws, understandably, we don’t know much about these legal obligations, could you outline the labour laws and environmental laws your manufacturers are expected to meet?
Did you develop the CoC yourself? If so, did you seek consultation from any group or organization for help? If not, how did you decide on the content?
One of the signatories on the CoC signed with multicoloured pen. The other’s signature has been doctored for public viewing. Any thoughts as to why?
What are the differences between manufacturing in China and manufacturing in North Korea?
Was corruption ever an issue during this project? How did you handle those situations?
Knowing what you know today, is there anything in the CoC you would change or alter if you were to continue production in North Korea? Is there anything you would have done differently?
You were being monitored while you were monitoring production, how did that affect you, your work and the workers?
Considering the reality of living in North Korea, did the workers understand the difference between your monitoring (protection) and government monitoring (watching)?
What are the major challenges you faced during this process and what made this experience worth the time, energy and effort that you put in?
How do you respond to claims that producing in North Korea is irresponsible?
Will you continue to produce in North Korea? Why?
Do you think that larger brands should source from so-called ‘pariah states’ like North Korea in order to trigger positive changes in the countries?
How do you think this “trade-plomacy” can trigger change?
What are some of the key lessons coming out of this experience that you would like to share with this community?
Any final comments?

We invite Noko jeans to respond to our questions. There is no time limit on this interview. We would love to learn more about your point of view.

As for our readers, we would also love to hear more from you!! You can let us know what you think in the comments below, on the SA forum or on our facebook fan page.

Made in…where!?!

Friday, December 4, 2009

By nadiralamrad

Yesterday, just before going to bed, I was reading the BBC news website and came across an odd article announcing the release of premium jeans in Sweden. Normally, something like this wouldn’t be big news but, the title of the article begins with the words “North Korean designer jeans…” !?!

The jeans, named Noko Jeans, are being released today in Sweden and will cost 1,500 Swedish kronor ($220; £132). The whole adventure started with an email sent to North Korea in 2007 asking about the possibility of shifting some of their production from Southern China. According to the BBC article:

“North Korea’s biggest garment company turned the idea down, but eventually they struck a deal with the state’s largest mining group, Trade 4, which runs a textile operation on its site.”

Interesting…

The email that started it all!

So the email started a relationship that resulted in an official diplomatic invitation to North Korea.

What spurred this?

“The reason we chose North Korea was, and is, because we had had an interest in the country for quite some time. North Korea is one of the few blank spots on the map, both figuratively and literally—Noko Jeans was a way to gain access to an otherwise isolated country. A way to learn more about it. There’s little to none infrastructure for producing JEANS since it’s a product they’ve never done before, but they DO have up-to-date factories in the Pyongyang-vicinity (where our factory is!).”

Maybe denim production is lacking in the Hermit Kingdom because the dress code forbids them. In fact, Noko jeans are only available in black because blue denim is too ‘American.’

Naturally, after I recovered from the shock of this information, I wondered, how can they justify it? We may not know much about North Korea but we have heard a few things here and there.

I did a quick search and found that a few others have asked the same question. On their facebook page, Noko Jeans responded to a query about the money trail (where does it go?):

“Noko Jeans

You are completely right, North Korea is a country where many atrocities happen, almost on a daily basis. I, and we, do, however, believe that it is better to do something, than nothing at all.

As you’ve written, and we firmly believe, projects like this is a way to influence. Even though we work in a very “micro” context, we believe we bring something to to the table. Outer influences are only a good thing. Be it through detailed CSR/code of conducts agreement, or the fact that we’re physically present throughout ALL our production, our collaborators are – kindly, of course – forced to work in a different way than when, for example, Chinese or South Korean companies produce clothes there.

We worked more than 2,5 years (still without any salary for any of us) to realize this project so I really hope that you understand that this is much more than us going to North Korea for ten days and setting up a jeans factory….. We stayed at the factory for the whole time during the production to make sure that our code of conduct was followed to the point. I don’t know any other example of any other garment producer in the world who show that kind of dedication in making sure that the CSR-policy is more than a piece of paper….…

The price of the jeans is to cover our expenses, but since the interest for the jeans seems to be huge at the moment we might have some money left beginning of next year. And some of that money will of course be given back to the country and/or the factory somehow. We’re working on how to do this in a proper way, for example in reinvesting in the machinery of the factory — or in person give something back to the people who made the pants.

We WILL find a way to give something back in the right way, but at this point ANY input/suggestions is very much welcome…

Sorry for wall of text :—)

Love ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ , Noko Jeans”

They also have this video on their Vimeo account showing their factory.

This is Our Factory from Noko Jeans on Vimeo.

To tell you the truth, I don’t really know what to think about this so, I emailed Noko jeans earlier today asking about their Code of Conduct and also asking them for an interview.

If you have any questions that you would like me to ask, please let me know. Stay tuned for an update to this fascinating story!!

Fashioning an Ethical Industry Bulletin

maryhanlon — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:45:24 +0000

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

Go Green Week, 2010 // The University of the Arts

maryhanlon — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:25:23 +0000

Timo Rissanen offers a great post with his notes on ‘The Sustainability Equation: Ethics and Aesthetics in Contemporary Fashion’ and on the ‘Ethics and Aesthetics = Sustainable Fashion’ exhibit at Pratt on his personal blog “Timo Rissanen: Fashion Creation Without Fabric Waste Creation.”

Not to be confused with the Pratt exhibit, that runs until the 20^th of February, the graduate students of the MA in Fashion and the Environment over at the London College of Fashion will host “[a]n informal evening called Ethics+Aesthetics = Sustainable Fashion, [...] on Friday 12th February at the HUB” for Go Green Week 2010, along with other awareness campaigns such as a fashion swapshop and workshops.

Here is message from the MA Fashion and the Environment students via the Centre for Sustainable Fashion with all of the details:

“Fashion is saving the world this week at the University of the Arts! The first UAL Go Green Week of 2010 at The University of the Arts is fast approaching, held the week of the 8th until the 12th February, and the students from the LCF course MA Fashion and the Environment, who are advocates of an ethical and sustainable fashion industry; based at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, are raising awareness throughout the University of the exciting and innovative developments of sustainable design within the fashion and textile industries.

We have a couple of, what promise to be, exciting and informative events organised for Go Green week, in order to increase public consciousness of environmental issues that are becoming increasingly prominent of late in the industry. Over the course of the week, the Fashion and the Environment students are out to spread the word about what you and I can do to make our wardrobes greener, so to speak! Green is the new black, darling!

A Fashion Swapshop is organised for Thursday the 11th Feb, at the HUB, at the Davies Street between 6pm and 9pm. We are invited to search our wardrobes for garments we never wear, bring them along, and swap them for ones we will wear and love. The Swapshop is not the only focus of the evening, as it will also include speakers from textile recycling company TRAID who aim to protect the environment by diverting clothes from landfill, clothing customising workshops, and, for one night only in London, a vintage clothing stall all the way from Italy–Mercatino Michela.

An informal evening called Ethics+Aesthetics = Sustainable Fashion, will be held on Friday 12th February at the HUB, at the Davies Street between 7pm and 9pm (the bar will be open) introducing and exploring the diverse and innovative areas of sustainability within the Fashion and Textile Industry. This event will be personally hosted by MA Fashion and the Environment students from LCF in collaboration with the Centre for Sustainable Fashion. Open to all students from around the university , we are invited to come along to learn more and find out why this is such a vitally important area of contemporary design, ask questions and even get advice regarding sustainable design for our own projects. This evening promises a scintillating line up of from ethical clothing companies such as: People Tree, Ethical Fashion Forum and, Environmental Justice Foundation (also selling their t-shirts) who will be discussing the work they do to play an important role in a changing industry. The evening will also include a short film made by the MA Fashion and the Environment students, showcasing the variety of work and unique individual talents all working towards securing a more sustainable fashion future.”

More info at SU Arts University Student Union.

Source: CSF

FIBERcast 4: Fair Trade in the Global Apparel Industry

maryhanlon — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:40:24 +0000

Social Alterations has been following the FIBERcasts out of the University of Delaware, and we are very excited about the upcoming live event tomorrow. Make sure to pre-register! There will be opportunity to email in questions, live. Here are the details:

“The next FIBERcast will take place this Thursday, February 4, at 11 a.m. (EST) and will examine Fair Trade in the Global Apparel Industry. Join host Dr. Marsha Dickson of the University of Delaware and board member of the Fair Labor Association in examining fair trade practices and possibilities in the global apparel industry.”

“The FIBERcast guests will explore these and other important topics:

Our Podcast section has links to past FIBERcasts. Check them out, and be sure to tune in with us tomorrow!

For a brief summary of the first half of the last FIBERcast, click here. We’ll post some notes on this 4th installment, so stay tuned.

Gallatin Eco-Fashion Week

maryhanlon — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:11:13 +0000

“Save the dates for a dynamic line-up of informative lectures and panels, roundtable discussions, educational workshops, presentations, art installations, and fashion shows that will uncover the trends emerging throughout the world of eco-fashion. The majority of ideas featured at Gallatin Eco-Fashion Week 2010 will highlight the unique, original research of Gallatin community members.

Gallatin Eco-Fashion Week not only recognizes environmentally and socially responsible fashion, but also critically examines what the terms “eco” and “green” really mean within the fashion world. The event is organized by a diverse committee comprised of students, alumni, faculty, and administrators.” (NYU, Gallatin Eco-Fashion Week)

Here is the Schedule:

Monday, January 25

Opening Night
“Eco Chic: Art Representation & Green Living” panel discussion
5:30 – 8 p.m.

Tuesday, January 26

Gallatin Galleries Exhibit
Eco-inspired works by the Gallatin community
9 a.m.–7 p.m.

“Shades of Green”
Eco Talks
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

“Shades of Green” lunchtime roundtable discussions
12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m.

Fashion Workshop
“Working with Sustainable Materials”
2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Please RSVP

Wednesday, January 27

Fashion Workshop
“Fashion Sketching for the Aspiring Designer”
12 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Please RSVP

Workshop
“Up-cycling for Accessories”
3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Please RSVP

“Haute Eco-uture” Fashion Show
Featuring designs by Gallatin students and alumni
6:30 p.m.

All events will be held at the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study / 1 Washington Place, New York, NY, 10003 (valid ID required toenter building).

For more information: contact Jessica Lee.

Title: Gallatin Eco-Fashion Week
Location: New York
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2010-01-25
End Date: 2010-01-27

Source: NYU and Ecouterre

Green Carpet Challenge

maryhanlon — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:59:41 +0000

“We can’t celebrate good intentions, we have to celebrate beauty” (Dilys Williams, London College of Fashion)

We’ve really been enjoying watching Mr. Darcy actor Colin Firth’s wife Livia Firth challenge herself to take on ethical fashion this award season. Livia is no stranger to ethical style, however, considering she’s the owner of ethical shop Eco Age in London.

She’s been blogging about the Green Carpet Challenge over at Vogue UK, so that we can follow along with her on this incredible journey. Along the way, she’s been interviewing ethical fashion gurus like London College of Fashion Dilys Williams and ethical designer Christopher Raeburn.

Be sure to follow her as she takes on this challenge!

Create10// Call for Papers, Research + Student Design Competition

maryhanlon — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:53:21 +0000

“The CREATE conference is all about creating innovative interactions, whether digital consumer products, interactive services or interaction paradigms.The event is an opportunity to share and discuss the design opportunities and dilemmas that are currently being addressed by practitioners and researchers from the commercial, public and academic sectors.

As well as presentation of academic research and student work, the event will provide real learning opportunities through hands-on workshops, case studies and demonstrations. We also welcome theoretical and research perspectives on the process of design innovation and approaches to creativity in HCI; how human factors can be integrated within a creative design process, methods that encourage creativity in interaction design, and the challenges of working in multi-disciplinary teams.” (Create 10)

Title: Create10
Location: Edinburgh Napier University, UK
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2010-06-30
End Date: 2010-07-02

Student Design Competition

“This competition is aimed at students from a wide range of disciplines, for example: interaction design, product design, industrial design, communications design, architecture, fashion, multimedia, HCI, and related fields. Students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, can enter for up to a year after completing their studies.” (Create 10)

Design Brief:

“The conference theme of ‘transitions’ is the inspiration for this competition brief. We want to receive entries that scope, explore, define and prototype interactions that make transitions visible. These could be transitions that investigate the relationship between the analogue and digital realms, or systems that make visible transitions across time, place or information spaces.

For this competition you are asked to design an interactive artefact, interface, installation or experience. If selected, you will be invited to display your working design, or a tangible prototype, in a high profile public exhibition space, so you must consider how it may be displayed.”

Initial submissions

Submissions can be made individually or as group work (max 4 participants).

Should consist of:

1. An extended abstract (500 – 1,000 words) describing your design and any design principles or theories that have informed your approach to this project. You should include discussion of your research process, paying particular attention to your intended user group, whether this is a specific user or a wider group. If you are submitting as a group you should include a brief description of the roles of each member of the group.

2. Appropriate images of your work, (max 3 sheets of A4) clearly illustrating the design’s interactivity, and also your inspirations and/or research process. You may also include digital files on disk to support the hard copies, these should be cross-platform.

3. An explanation (1 page A4) of how the work would be displayed in a public exhibition.

4. A completed application form, this will be available to download soon from the conference website.

All individual items should be clearly marked with your name(s), institution, course, name of your academic supervisor or tutor, and year of study.

Final format

If your work is selected for display at the Create10 exhibition you will be expected to provide:

1. An A0 poster describing the development process from concept to finished project.

Plus at least one of the following:

2. A video of the project, showing it working in context.

3. A finished working (hi-fidelity prototype) that can actually be exhibited as working at the exhibition.

Conference attendance

If your work is selected for exhibition, you will be expected to register, at the student rate, to attend the Create10 conference at the end of June. In the case of group submission, at least one student per submission must register.

Important dates

Initial submission deadline: March 31st 2010

Successful exhibitors will be notified by the end of April 2010

Call for full papers, workshops, short presentations, demonstrations and exhibits:

THEME : : Transitions

Analogue <> Digital

Academic <>Practice

Place <> Time

Real <> Virtual

Create10 is seeking original, unpublished work under the following categories :

- High quality academic papers for peer review (max 6 pages)

- Practical workshops

- Short papers and/or case studies from practitioners within the field

- Short presentations and/or posters from students

- demonstrations and/or videos of installation-based exhibits or creative work in progress

IMPORTANT DATES

Submissions of :

1 page abstracts for papers : 15th March 2010

2 page proposals for all other submissions : 15th March 2010

Notification of acceptance : Early April 2010

Full paper submission : End of April 2010

For further information please contact Ingi Helgason : i.helgason@napier.ac.uk

Source: Puff and Flock and Create10

Predictions for the Future of Apparel Sourcing

maryhanlon — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:54:13 +0000

To close off 2009, Clothesource released “The World of Apparel Sourcing: 2010-2012”. The report forecasts sourcing trends in over 60 countries. Here is a small summary of what the report covers:

“The World of Apparel Sourcing 2010-2012 looks at the trends that influenced apparel sourcing between 2007 and 2009 and reviews which of them are likely to change between 2010 and 2012. It then makes detailed forecasts for the net effect on apparel exports from over 60 countries in 2010, 2011 and 2012.” (Clothesource) Click here to download the Management Summary, and to purchase the report.

Recently, on their blog, Clothesource Comments, Michael Flanagan outlined “The Twelve (Probable) Laws of Apparel Sourcing from 2010 to 2012” (in twelve separate posts).

Here is just the beginning of each (probable) law of apparel sourcing, to wet your appetite and encourage you to read-up on them.

1. There are no new sourcing hotspots:

“Now as long as we’ve been commenting on garment sourcing, people have been asking us what new hotspots are emerging. For years now, we’ve been saying there aren’t any. But there’s always a “what about…?” rejoinder. So – what about [click here to read more]”

2. For most emerging-market factories, it’s China (and Vietnam a bit), not the recession:

“Total clothing imports by rich countries fell 4.2% in the third quarter of the year. But from countries outside China, imports fell 9.8%. If China, Macao and Hong Kong together had kept their share of world trade in Q3 2009 at the 42.6% they held in 2008, their clothing exports would have fallen by just 4.2% [click here to read more]”

3. Global instability is bankrupting factories – recession or no recession:

“The real impact of the recession so far, though, has been on financially weak factories.

Each twist in constantly changing energy and raw material costs, and interest and exchange rates, weakens a new group of suppliers. An epidemic of delayed and dishonoured payments in the winter of 2008/9, together with reduced and cancelled orders, tipped many businesses over. Such fluctuations will still devastate undercapitalised businesses even if sales start growing [click here to read more]”

4. What recession didn’t kill, recovery won’t cure:

“Throughout the world since mid 2008, garment factories have been reportedly closing, and workers losing their jobs, at unprecedented rates. Naturally this has been blamed on the recession [click here to read more].”

5. China just did what it had to for garment exporters to survive. It’ll probably keep doing that:

“Through the recession, China changed its laws, offered hundreds of billions in credit for exporting businesses and changed its tax rebate system – all to keep its exporting companies alive. Its government showed unmatched determination to keep its garment exporters in business. Probably, we’ll see similar determination in the future [click here to read more].”

6. Sharper Asian operations have also undermined European and Central American competitiveness:

“The biggest sufferers from China’s growth at the end of this decade have been Europe’s and America’s neighbours [click here to read more].”

7. Prices seem to be forever falling:

“Pricing is the central issue in sourcing. And it’s often misunderstood.

Wholesale clothing prices have been coming down since Western manufacturers started moving their sourcing offshore [click here to read more].”

8. “Ethical” sourcing has to be properly understood:

“Everyone wants ethically-produced clothes. But few customers are prepared to pay for them [click here to read more].”

9. An economist’s “recovery” doesn’t mean demand increases:

“Though economists keep telling us there’s a recovery going on, few retailers would agree. And, if they’re honest, few emerging-market garment makers would either [click here to read more].”

10. Protectionist barriers are falling, and few are likely to be re-erected:

“The world trade in garments is largely about rich countries importing from poorer ones. And – quite contrary to widely believed myths – those rich countries have been dropping their barriers against apparel imports consistently for the past five years. How likely is that trend to reverse? [click here to read more]”

11. Entire countries’ apparel industries are currently under threat:

“Clothing manufacturing in surprisingly many countries is threatened by proposed changes in duty-free arrangements, or by political instability. And China’s growing strength is putting growing pressure on the viability of many others’.

A large group of countries remain competitive because they enjoy preferential duty concession in rich countries that their rivals don’t. But this competitive advantage is under heat from four directions [click here to read more]”

12. In the post-post-quota world, China’s currently got the edge:

“During 2009, garment sourcing moved from the post-quota world to the post-post-quota world. And many countries that seemed to do well when quotas first came off might be far less able to survive in tomorrow’s post-post-quota world [click here to read more]”

Of particular interest to SA, is (probable) law 8. According to Clothesource, consumer apathy toward ethical concerns within the supply chain can encourage corporations to turn a blind eye to human rights violations. While understanding that consumers have a role to play isn’t breaking news, Clothesource confirms two commercial reasons corporations should get behind ethics: happy workers and the cost of public scandals. Of course, the issues are more complicated than they seem…

Be sure to follow Clothesource to make sense of it all.

Vanished Bodies and Eternal Presence, Monumenta 2010

maryhanlon — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:45:09 +0000

If you find yourself in Paris sometime before February 21^st, make sure to check out Monumenta 2010: Christian Boltanski’s Personnes at the Grand Palais.

In Personnes, Boltanski asserts that relics have become “vestiges of anonymous people, traces of strangers, with which it seems to be a question of communicating.” He cites Rolland Barthes, in the context of photography to support this question: ““A photo is literally an emanation from the referent. From a real body which was there, proceed radiations which ultimately touch me, who am here; the duration of the transmission is insignificant; the photograph of the missing being will touch me like the delayed rays of a star.” What “happens” therefore escapes any rational reduction: it is a matter of structuring the vanished body and eternal presence around a certain idea of the exhibition, a way of making manifest which opens the door to emotion.”

I stumbled upon this exhibit via Style Bubble. Here is what fashion blogger Susie Bubble had to say: “I’m simultaneously bemused and slightly saddened though that the next time I’m in the Grand Palais in March, all of this will be gone and in its place will be whatever runway setup Chanel decides upon for their A/W 10-11 show…”

Allan Chochinov at Core77 is often quoted for this statement: “Designers think they are in the artifact business, but they’re not; they’re in the consequence business.” (You can read more on responsible design in Chochinov’s Manifesto, found in the SA Reading section.) Although for me, obviously subjective in the SA context, Personnes reminds me of both artifact and consequence. It has me asking “What is the relationship between artifact and consequence in Boltanski’s work?” Seen through the lens of social, cultural and environmental responsibility, the exhibit is perhaps even more striking—more appalling (again, subjectively speaking). So I’m interested readers, what are your thoughts?

Image Source: Flickr via Style Bubble

SHIFT

maryhanlon — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:00:29 +0000

“As part of SHIFT from 29 January – 1 February the Centre for Sustainable Fashion will present:

The first ever graduate showcase from London College of Fashion’s MA Fashion & the Environment
The work on display will explore a range of opportunities and design challenges where ingenuity and resourcefulness are inspired through living within nature’s limits, putting human wellbeing at the heart of creativity and questioning the current status quo.
On Monday 1 February we are inviting industry representatives, press and prospective students to hear presentations from the students on their work. Contact us if you would like to attend.
More on MA Fashion & the Environment

Highlights from Fashioning the Future 2009 – The international student awards for sustainability in fashion
Fashioning the Future brings together a global community of creative thinkers and doers, designers, innovators and entrepreneurs with many different skills, locations and perspectives on the many facets of fashion. The winners of the 2009 awards will be profiled alongside information on how to apply for the 2010 awards.
More on Fashioning the Future

Local Wisdom by Kate Fletcher
Local Wisdom seeks to recognise and honour sustainability activities in fashion that exist at the level of the user. This project captures and celebrates personal stories relating to garments, giving fashion a platform to flourish and inspire. Reader in Sustainable Fashion Kate Fletcher will be leading a live session on 30 January from 12.00 – 17.00 where members of the public are invited to share the story of their clothes with the project team and be photographed wearing them.
More on Local Wisdom” (CSF)

Title: SHIFT
Location: London
Link out: Click here

Friday 29 January 17.00 – 22.30
Saturday 30 January 12.00 – 22.30
Sunday 31 January 12.00 – 22.30
Monday 1 February 12.00 – 17.00

Start Date: 2010-01-29
End Date: 2010-02-01