Category Archives: Greenwashing

WATCH // Media Theorised: Reading against the grain

What role does advertising play in journalism? Who funds and controls media coverage? Why is representation so important? How are stereotypes produced and reproduced through the media? Does the medium that we use consume information matter?

And, what does any of this have to do with responsible fashion?

The Listening Post has produced a series of short animated films introducing five media theorists: Roland Barthes, Noam Chomsky, Stuart Hall, Marshall McLuhan, and Edward Said. Media Theorised is a project that calls for a critical engagement with the media, and is a nice resource to share with friends, colleagues and students.

Many of the entanglements highlighted by these theorists are brought to the surface through the project itself, with respect to how it is shared and consumed, and all of these tensions would make great topics for further discussion: for example, the fact that I am sharing this content with you through a blog post on an English-language website; that the Media Theorized project was itself developed by a media network (Al Jazeera), and that each video has little Google advertisements that pop-up, and sometimes play before the video starts—a reminder of the role of advertising in media (briefly mentioned in the Noam Chomsky piece); or the fact that you may have found this post through social media, and may be reading this content on a tablet, phone or laptop.

A couple of years ago I briefly shared some thoughts on how one of these tensions plays out in media stories related to labour rights for IANS: sponsored content surrounding responsible fashion, where the lines between corporate interests, corporate social responsibility, and critical journalism (or even bad journalism, for that matter) become blurred. Although I was picking on The Guardian at that time, the takeaway was that a critical lens is needed when reading any and all media coverage related to these issues (including coverage produced on this site).

I hope you’ll find these resources relevant and interesting. I’ve embedded a couple of the animations below. Each film comes with an essay and a downloadable poster – who doesn’t love a good poster?

Interactive lesson plans educate learners on responsible fashion

The Creative Commons is embedded into our responsible education ethos; we have researched and aggregated content to create educational resources because we believe that accessibility leads to accountability. Of course knowledge is power, but without access to knowledge we will not move forward.

In 2009 we brought you “[Lesson 1] Sifting through the ‘Ecofashion’ Lexicon” and our “Fibre Analysis”. In 2010 we worked further to bringing you lessons on the social, cultural, economic and environmental interdisciplinary challenges facing the value system that is the global apparel supply chain.

Social Alterations 2010 //

[Lesson 4] Corporate Social Responsibility

[Lesson 3] Global Governance and the Corporation

[Lesson 2] Connect // Key Players

[Fashion High] Understanding the Impact of your Clothing (pre-16 learners)

Social Alterations 2009 //

[Lesson 1] Sifting through the ‘Ecofashion’ Lexicon

Fibre Analysis

Check out this how to on navigating our site:

Social Alterations 2010 // Program Guide from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

‘Taking Liberties’ // Garment workers in Gurgaon earn poverty wages, facing violence and threats

“Workers’ children in the area are not admitted in the Government schools in Delhi as they cannot provide the documents the Delhi Government Schools ask for.” (Worker X, Case Study: Taking Liberties)

Labour Behind the Label and War on Want are reporting gross violations of workers rights in two Delhi factories producing garments for M&S, Debenhams, Next Monsoon and Arcadia.

Taking Liberties, cites exploitative labour practices such as unregistered living in slum housing, precarious labour through non-contractual temporary employment, threats and violence against workers through hired security in anti-union workplace environment, poverty wages (workers paid less than ½ a living wage), and forced overtime.

The report is asking M&S, Debenhams, Next Monsoon and Arcadia to:

Take action! Click here to download the report have your say! Speak out against worker violations and speak up for workers rights!

Summer Rayne Oakes presents ‘Eco-Trends: The Art & Science of Sourcing Sustainably’ // ECO Fashion Week Vancouver

ECO Fashion Week Vancouver, September 30^th, 2010 // Day three: Summer Rayne Oakes

Summer Rayne Oakes – Eco-Trends: The Art & Science of Sourcing Sustainably
Summer Rayne Oakes, Image via Jute & Jackfruit	BIO// Summer Rayne Oakes is a model-activist, author of bestselling style guide Style, Naturally and a young entrepreneur focused on environmental sustainability in business. She has developed more environmentally-preferable collections with a variety of brands, including Payless ShoeSource’s zoe&zac line and Portico Home & Spa. Her unique positioning as both a brand ambassador and environmental strategist keeps her busy on and off camera, advising and consulting on various aspects of design, production and practice. She is now launching a new company called Source4Style, which is an online marketplace that allows designers to purchase more sustainable materials from around the world. Vanity Fair has named Oakes a “Global Citizen,” Outside called her one of the “Top Environmental Activists,” and CNBC called her one of the “Top 10 Green Entrepreneurs of 2010.” Summer Rayne is a graduate of Cornell University with degrees in Environmental Science and Entomology and is a Udall environmental scholar.
NOTES //
– Background – grew up in NE Pennsylvania country. Brought home insects, etc…. A lot of people in cities never have these experiences!- At University studied sewage sludge; toxic organic contaminants from laundry chemicals, food, body products. – SRO wanted to reach more people than possible through entomology so headed for fashion. – She headed a beauty shoot with a model and bees in order to highlight the plight of bees – 3 billion dead in the last four years. – Style, naturally – book by SRO. Talking about sustainability good but to get through to fashion, needs a whole infrastructure to support i.e. fabrics available, etc. – Case Study – Payless Shoes – Zoe & Zac $30 and less sustainable shoes. Using water based glues, organic cotton, recycled rubber and cardboard. Recycled packaging, sales of reusable bags with $1 per bag to planting trees in Brazilian forest; $1 per tree – Shipping by rail not air – Portico home – Products get ‘in’ i.e. pillow offers 20% more sleep, plus bonus environmentally friendly. Film campaigns make organic & natural etc. – Source4Style – ‘we source, you design’. Designers spend up to 85% of time sourcing. Market research on annual budget and yards purchased – B2B (business to business). Based online because not all designers make it to tradeshows. Images include close-ups etc. 30 suppliers, 1000+ materials. More coming. – Big brands are signed up ! Adidas, levis, sears, lululemon, MEC, Barneys NY etc – What is sustainable? Organic, recycled, biopolymer, process from farm to factory environmentally friendly, fair trade, fair labor, handmade, traditional,. – Sustainability is a moving target. Continued Improvement is required, full disclosure and transparency required. Ask the right questions to find out what’s really going on with factories etc. – Designers see source4style.com – Suppliers see source4style.com/suppliers – info@source4style.com – 347.338.110
Q&A //
Do you work with existing suppliers only or are you looking to expand? – Both. We’ve got the known ones and are open to developing newer ones. Consumer demand dictates this a lot. How does a eco friendly shoe for $30 not impact labour costs? – Payless shoes is 50 years old. They have standards. Zoe & Zac has to be tame in terms of design in order to be able to sell and make money and keep design costs down. As a consumer, I was sceptical of Zoe & Zac being sustainable and ethical because it’s so cheap and sold at payless. – I wanted to work with companies who’re already trying to become environmentally responsible. Big companies who aren’t like that but are at least making an effort are worth helping. What do you see in the future? – More brands will be doing this. Eventually brands won’t say ‘green’ or ‘eco’, it’ll just be part of it. Do you have contact with fashion schools? – Once the website is up and running, this will be a good project. My book Style, naturally is used as a teaching aid and several universities have signed up. Students are the future and so this is very important.

Carly Stojsic presents ‘Eco as Movement, Not Trend’ // ECO Fashion Week Vancouver

ECO Fashion Week Vancouver, September 28^th, 2010 // Day one: Carly Stojsic, WGSN.

Carly Stojsic – Eco as Movement, Not Trend
Photo Credit: Kris Krüg, www.staticphotography, via Flickr.com	BIO // Carly Stojsic is Canada’s Market Editor for Worth Global Style Network and is a freelance trend forecaster for an array of clients. She joined WGSN, the world’s leading online service for global trend analysis, as a Market Editor in December 2007. Her extensive background in sourcing, trend forecasting and as a color specialist greatly augments WGSN’s customized consultancy services in creative intelligence. Click here to read more
NOTES //
WGSN predicts fashion internationally… based on their knowledge, Carly tells us about eco movements. Consumers are moving towards a eco friendly lifestyle – home grown food, sustainable power sources. WGSN think tank sees society having less of an identity now. Detroit is considering turning unused city lots into farmland. The majority of designers target 10% of richest consumers. Revolution is required to reach other 90%. Designers as activists. Zero waste designs cut from fabric using all of it; no waste. Recycled denim can be used as insulation in buildings. 2007 London – dissolvable dress showcased so no landfill destination. Denim dye process traditionally uses toxic chemicals, movement towards natural dyes, less harmful chemicals. Natural indigo and fruit dyes used for other fabrics. Many companies creating their own ‘green star’ system to monitor internal greening. True sustainability may be more about recycling synthetics, not using newly produced organic natural fibres. These wear better, wash easier. Bamboo fibres used in Japan. Decomposes harmlessly. Paper fibres used also for lace, knits, unique pressed fabrics. China will ban plastic bags handed out in stores June 2011. Mattel is producing eco accessories for Barbie. ! Recycling used by artists, interior design, home fittings. Swaparama clothing swap parties popular. Repair also encouraged. Bicycling communities popping up internationally. Underground communities hold repair workshops, portable sound systems for bike parties. George from California kayaks to work after years of traffic jams. WGSN asks, ‘Where does he put his coffee?!’

Fashion High// Educating Youth on Responsible Fashion Consumption

In our activity “Talking Back” students were asked to ‘talk back’ to fashion magazines, by cutting out images and placing them on a poster board either under the category “OK!” or “NO THANKS.” Students at Balmoral said “NO THANKS!” to this fashion theme.

I recently had the pleasure of stepping in as a guest speaker at Balmoral Jr. Secondary School, in North Vancouver (BC, Canada), to talk responsible fashion consumption with a fantastic group of Grade 10’s (thanks Ms. Thomson!).

Why? We got to talking recently at SA about how many of the resources we’re aggregating for fashion designers/students/educators are easily translated into resources for youth (pre-16). In fact, thanks to groups like Fashioning an Ethical Industry and TRAID (to name just a couple), so many resources on responsible fashion dedicated to students within this age bracket already exist.

Because we want to make sure teachers know where to go to access these great educational tools, we’ve pooled some of our favourites together to present to you what we think is an amazing workshop for Pre-16 students: [Fashion High] Understanding the Impact of your Clothing: An Introduction.

We want to share the experience with you here and give you all the tools you need to run your own workshop. We’ll be uploading a package for the 1 hour workshop I ran at Balmoral, as well as an extended 2 hour version of the same workshop. Like all of our content, these lessons are completely interdisciplinary.

I’ll be stepping back into the classroom at Balmoral soon, so to make sure that this workshop goes as smoothly as possible on your end, I will record some video footage to give you a sneak peak at how it all works together when put into action.

My experience at Balmoral, here in Canada, was a complete success; Not only was I inspired by these students, encouraged at how comfortable they were discussing Human Rights and the environment within the fashion context, I believe that the workshop had a real impact on the students, providing them with tangible solutions to some very big problems.

Stay tuned for more on this.

Here are some images of the workshop:

Community News

Eco-conscious artist transforms trashed PCBs into stunning sculptures via Ecofriend

A roundup of some of the stories, headlines, and updates you may be interested in from in and around the community of socially responsible fashion design.

Become a Fan on Facebook for other news, links and regular updates.

Core77

Design and the public good

CSR Asia

Not for Sale: Exporting products from forced labour camps in China

CSR and poverty alleviation

CSR Europe

‘Degradable’ plastic not so environmentally fantastic, study reveals

Shoppers go green ‘to impress neighbours not to save planet’, study finds

UN report reveals financial cost of environmental damage

Corporate Responsibility comes of age

Ecouterre

Kate Moss Dons Recycled Mosquito Net Dress For Malaria Awareness

BREAKING NEWS: Acid, Formaldehyde Found in Designer Clothing Brands

The Detectair is a “Smart” Vest That Sniffs Out Air Pollutants

Why Are There So Few Options in Men’s Eco-Fashion?

Karl Lagerfeld Ships 265 Ton Artic Iceberg to Paris for Fashion Show

Ecotextiles News

Help on organic and fairtrade supply chains

Gap Inc pushes denim recycling

Eco-Textile Labelling Guide 2010 – now published

AAFA updates restricted substances

GOTS launches new database

Liu Institute for Global Issues

Launch of the Global Health Network

Planet Green

There’s Going To Be a Little Less Cancer in Your Shampoo

Certified Organic Textile Companies Increase 40% Last Year: More than 50 countries now making organic cloth

The Centre for Sustainable Fashion

Call for Designers: Fashion Footprints – Sustainable Approaches

Rapid Prototype Shoes

Tesco Launches Recycled Clothing Collection

The Global Compact

Principles for Responsible Management Education Initiative Adopts Governance Framework

Top Organizations Unite to Support Global Oath Initiative

859 Companies Delisted for Failure to Communicate on Progress

Organic Exchange/MADE-BY: ‘The Case for Sustainable Fashion’

“MADE-BY and Organic Exchange is delighted to invite you to a unique 2-day intensive seminar on sustainable fashion (clothing and textile) in Stockholm! This seminar is the perfect opportunity to assist textile and apparel professionals working in brands and retailers to come up to speed on changes and opportunities in the supply chain.

Speakers and several important topics covered include:

• Environmentally Friendly Fabrics – Understand the Definition, Sourcing and Production Issues,
• A Discussion on Recycled Materials – Polyester and Nylon,
• Responsible Processing – The Good The Bad & The Ugly of Dyeing and Finishing Industry,
• Product Integrity – Certification, Labeling, Transparency and Traceability,
• Social Compliance – Understand the Different Systems and Learn The Actual Work Done,
• Setting Sustainability Strategy – Learn from the Perspective of Leading Brands, Their Pitfalls, Triumphs and Lessons Learned,
• Communication Strategy – How Sustainability and Branding Strengthen Each Other?
• Fashion and Consumer Trends Towards Sustainability in Europe.

Participants will be encouraged to be critical, ask questions and share experiences during discussions. It would be an excellent place to actively share knowledge and information and to network at every possible level.” (MADE-BY)

Click here to download the latest version of the agenda.

Here are some testimonials from past events:

“Most valuable aspect was meeting with other people facing the same issues and discussing how we can work through to a solution together”

– Marks & Spencer, United Kingdom

“After the seminar, striking argument towards our top management on sustainable fashion production has been developed!”

– INTERSPORT International, Switzerland

“A real thorough approach to looking at all aspects of building and implementing a sustainable strategy, fantastically useful and incredibly interesting”

– Ted Baker, United Kingdom

“The most valuable aspect were the case studies of brands committed to sustainable fashion, good networking opportunities and the open atmosphere during interactive discussion”

– PUMA, Germany

Title: Organic Exchange/MADE-BY: ‘The Case for Sustainable Fasion’
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2010-05-26
End Date: 2010-05-27

Social Alterations// Slides

Nadira and I both promised to make the slides from our presentations at the FEI conference available online, and here they are, along with a slideshow of some of the images we captured from the event. I’ve reposted the videos of the presentations for convenience.

Thanks to everyone who offered feedback, we were so grateful for your considerations. Please, keep let’s keep the conversation going!

Be sure to contact us with any questions!

Social Alterations: An Education Lab for Socially Responsible Fashion Design

View more presentations from socialalterations.

Social Alterations @ FEI from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

CSR Trends in China’s Apparel Supply Chain

View more presentations from socialalterations.

CSR Trends in China’s Apparel Supply Chain from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

Find more photos like this on Social Alterations

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 EJF, and for their thoughts on why designers should care.

FEI Conference 006 from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) was also there, asking participants “what organic cotton means…..to me”. Pictured above is Nadira Lamrad (right) with her answer.