Category Archives: Cradle to Cradle

BSR Conference 2009

Title: BSR Conference 2009
Location: San Francisco, CA
Link out: Click here

The 2009 BSR Conference kicks off tonight in San Francisco with a Human Rights Networking Reception starting at 5:30pm. Of the many interesting panel sessions, including “Integrating Sustainability into Sourcing, Design, and Production of Products” with Amy Leonard and Erik Joule from Levi Strauss & Co’s, Hannah Jones will be discussing Nike’s Considered Design Ethos during the panel “Integrating Sustainability into Corporate Innovation” at 4:30 on Oct. 22^nd.

We’ve mentioned Nike’s Considered Design Ethos before (see Nike Talks Trash and Nike: Considered Design Ethos, Steve Nash and the “Sixty Million Dollar Man”).

Check out this article on Greenbiz to learn more about Nike’s Considered Design initiative.

Description:

“In a world that’s been ‘reset’ by a trio of global crises—the sharp worldwide recession, accelerating climate change, and a collapse of trust in business—the implication and opportunities for business are enormous.

“Now more than ever, innovative sustainability strategies are needed to deliver business value today, and position companies to successfully meet the greater challenges ahead. The BSR Conference is an essential opportunity to learn how to leverage your resources, implement changes, and succeed in a world where business as usual is no longer viable.

“Don’t miss your chance to be part of one of the largest and most influential communities of corporate responsibility leaders, at what Forbes.com ranks among the top 12 influential executive gatherings for 2009. A new, restructured format with more—and more varied—session time than ever before means that you will be able to customize your agenda with the topics, level, and length of sessions that are right for you. Any way you design it, the BSR Conference will deliver a practical and interactive learning experience, unrivaled access to industry experts, and the knowledge you need to lead in a ‘reset world.’” (BSR)

Start Date: 2009-10-20
End Date: 2009-10-23

Source: GreenBiz and BSR

An October to Remember// Upcoming Events

October will have you wishing you could be in more than one city at the same time.

If you find yourself in Paris, Chicago, Providence, Portland, Hong Kong, London or Seattle this October, be sure to check out these amazing events. Click on the event you are interested in on the Events Calendar and we should link you straight into the events homepage.

Also, if you are near London in Oct. Nov. or Dec., be sure to stay tuned into the London College of Fashion, for Clash! Creative Collisions in Fashion and Science.

Last but not least, if you have an upcoming event you think are readers would be interested in, be sure to drop us a line.

avoiding dirty cotton//resources

Retailers have a responsibility to understand the social and environmental impacts of the products they sell. Unfortunately, “the cotton supply chain is fragmented, complex and not very transparent.” (CREM, 7) Although CREM’s new handbook, “Sustainable cotton on the shelves,” was developed with mainstream retailers to in mind, it can also be used as a tool for apparel / textile/ fashion (etc.) designers to turn to for help on getting more educated on the fibre.

Designers have a responsibility to understand the true social and environmental consequences of their designs. “While efforts are being made to have full traceability of conventional cotton, at present such a system does not exist (to date only certified cotton is fully traceable).” (7) The use of conventional cotton is an irresponsible design choice. While fully sustainable cotton is not an option, this handbook will guide you through the in’s and out’s of initiatives, certification, third-parties, retailers and the better cotton initiative. The guide also breaks down industry definitions and categories.

*If you are a design educator, the guide contains excellent visual aids. For example, “How Clean is my Cotton?” (pg.5) could be useful when explaining the social, environmental, and economic impact of cotton production to your design students.

*If you are a designer, please be sure to also read this report by Urs Heierli “Where Farmer and Fashion Designer Meet: Globalization with a Human Face in an Organic Cotton Value Chain.”

*If you are a design enthusiast, please, spread the word.

About the report:

“Using the perspective of new-comers in the world of sustainable cotton, the handbook attempts to explain complex issues in an accessible manner, answering the key questions that textile retail managers, buyers or marketers may face: What type of sustainable cotton is the most suitable for my business? Can I source it from my own supply chain, at what conditions? Is there a consumer demand for sustainable cotton? What are my options if I am a small or medium sized retailer?

Through concrete questions and straightforward answers, the handbook provides an overview of issues and trends in the production and marketing of sustainable cotton. The handbook ”Sustainable cotton on the shelves” is the outcome of a project run in the Netherlands by the retailers HEMA and de Bijenkorf, the Dutch association for large textile retailers (VGT), the NGOs Oxfam Novib and WWF, and the consultancy CREM.

Pascale Guillou, senior consultant at CREM, says “We are extremely pleased that the result of this two-year research and consultation process with numerous stakeholders can be widely shared with mainstream retailers. We hope that this handbook will help textile retailers making strategic decisions and operational choices at a time when they experience the will or the need to better perform on a triple bottom line”

Click here to download the handbook.

Source: EcoTextile News and CREM

Social Alterations is now on Ning!

You can use this space to share and upload curricula ideas, lesson plans, visual aids, research and projects, or to just discuss the current happenings in the industry with respect to social issues and environmental concerns, as well as the latest trends in socially responsible design.

“See” you in the Forum! Oh…and don’t forget to pick up your Social Alterations Badge!

Visit Social Alterations

Nike: Considered Design Ethos, Steve Nash and the “Sixty Million Dollar Man”

Nike's Considered Design shoebox

Nike has adopted an interesting approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR). As previously mentioned, the company has seemingly managed to connect its sustainability platform to its innovation platform. Trash Talk is one example, the packaging the shoe comes in is another:

The shoe will also be packaged in a new Considered Design shoebox. Like Nike’s first recycled content box in 1995, this new box is still made from 100 percent recycled fiber, but now features a new design which reduces the fiber content by approximately 30 percent. (CSRwire)

"Considered is not Compromising. It's rethinking." (Nike)

According to the company, “Nike’s Considered ethos challenges designers to use environmentally-preferred materials, reduce waste, create sustainable manufacturing processes and use innovation to help reduce our overall environmental impact.”

You can learn more about Nike’s Considered Design Ethos by visiting their Considered Design Index.

In terms of lifecycle analysis, however, Nike has set some goals that I believe are worth considering:

footwear to be Considered by 2011
apparel to be Considered by 2015
equipment to be Considered by 2020

All this will be done through the company’s Considered Design Ethos:

less toxics
less waste
more environmentally-preferred materials
sustainable product innovation

Are you up for the challenge? I’m not convinced the marketing campaign (below) will help motivate you…but hey, why not.

Source: CSR Wire, Nike, Nike and more Nike

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.

Designing Out Landfill; some notes and stats.

Thanks to Jo Angell at Puff and Flock for writing up some notes of the Designing Out Landfill Conference that took place on June 15^th.

It seems some highlights of the morning presentations included some interesting statistics.

Sophie Thomas, co-founder of Greengaged

UK households produce over 25 million tonnes of waste every year.
UK currently has 106 sq miles of landfill
One pair of shoes takes 8,000 litres of water to make
1 computer requires 1.83 tons of raw materials to make

Kresse Wesling, founder of E&KO

Presented two case studies where 50% donated back to the material source.

bags from used fire hose pipes (West End belt worn my Cameron Diaz in June Vogue, p.95)
bags for Sainsbury’s from coffee sacks used to deliver the raw coffee

Nick Morley, Oakdene Hollins

1 gallon of oil to make 1 kilo of polyester
‘comingled collection’ bad for textile recycling through cross contamination
‘diversion’ schemes good: Morley gave a shout out to Vancouver’s own Mountain Equipment Co-Op for encouraging their customer to sell and trade their used MEC products with other customers online.

Casper Gray, Director of Wax, Sustainable design and research

Suggested possible causes for the death (end of life) of textiles:

Fashion
Boredom/change
Bad fit
Wear
Damage
Loss

Other Causes:

Off cuts and errors (during manufacturing)
fabric samples

According to Angell, Gray “implied that designers could have a stronger role in improving these aspects.”

Click here, for the full write up at Puff and Flock, a London based textile collective, that it’s a great resource for critical textile design thinking.

Source: Puff and Flock

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

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 be opening a members based discussion forum for fashion and apparel educators to ask questions and share ideas on how to best approach social and environmental concerns within the industry in their design classrooms. I hope you will join in on the conversation and share your ideas with this community.

Press Release: UD publishes sustainable apparel business guidelines

What does it mean for a clothing or footwear company to be environmentally sustainable? Browsing some brands’ Web sites, you might think a company can lessen its impact on the environment just by using organic cotton in some of its clothing. But it’s not that simple.

The University of Delaware’s Sustainable Apparel Initiative (UDSAI) is demystifying the process of becoming more environmentally sustainable for brands and retailers. Companies seeking this information are invited to read and utilize UDSAI’s recently produced policy guide, “Creating a More Environmentally Sustainable Apparel Business: Policies for Apparel Brands and Retailers.”

“Sustainability is the ‘buzz’ throughout all industries. The problem is there is no clear definition of what this means,” said Rick Horwitch of Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services. Bureau Veritas is an international firm that helps clients comply with standards and regulations relating to quality, health and safety, environment and social responsibility.

“I applaud the University of Delaware for taking on this daunting task of trying to put some structure and context around this very important issue. UDSAI will help bring clarity and direction,” Horwitch said.

University of Delaware faculty and students collaborated with industry professionals involved with environmental sustainability to research best practices.

“The apparel industry is predicated on change and planned obsolescence, which often results in overconsumption and waste throughout the value chain,” said Huantian Cao, UD associate professor of fashion and apparel studies and co-director of UDSAI. “UDSAI attempts to provide some simple guidelines that, when followed, will result in a more sustainable company.”

Source: UD News Releases

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

cradle to cradle

Just added William McDonough’s TED talk on ‘cradle to cradle’ design theory to the videos section. You will also find Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things in the suggested reading section of the site.

“I think we have a design problem.” (William McDonough’s, TED)