Category Archives: Fast Fashion

Green Carpet Challenge

“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!

Vanished Bodies and Eternal Presence, Monumenta 2010

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

“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

Clearing the Hurdles

Clearing the Hurdles challenges sportswear companies Nike, adidas, Pentland, Puma, Lotto, New Balance, Asics and Mizuno on the working conditions within their supply chain, and offers a snapshot of the state of play for these companies, identifying four key “hurdles” facing workers within the sportswear industry, and recommending solutions for how to overcome them:

You can view all company responses, here, as well as the Play Fair letter.

This image is a mere screen shot of the (very interactive) Response Chart and Response Key. Click on the image to be taken to the Chart of Responses.

The Play Fair campaign is made up of the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Worker’s Federation (ITGLWF), in partnership with Maquila Solidarity Network, and other organizations worldwide.

EcoChic Geneva

The United Nations has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity and the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures.

UN Secretary General Welcome Message for the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity from CBD on Vimeo.

EcoChic Geneva is an event that strives to redefine both sustainability and fashion in this context:

Title: EcoChic Geneva
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Link out: Click here

“As the 2009 International Year for Natural Fibres draws to a close and the focus begins to shift to 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, Green2greener is delighted to announce its collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on a series of activities that will highlight the importance of natural fibres and biodiversity in sustainable development strategies.

EcoChic Geneva will take place on January 20-21, 2010 at the Palais des Nations, the UN headquarters in Geneva. The event will commence with a 1.5 day seminar which will look at “Redefining Sustainability in the International Agenda” from the perspective of the fashion and cosmetics industries.

[EcoChic Fashions Documentary, Hong Kong 2008]

The seminar will be followed by a high-profile gala evening on Thursday 21 January. Highlights include the launch of a Sustainable Fashion Exhibition and dramatic EcoChic Fashion Show featuring sustainable and ethical ready-to-wear and couture looks by fashion designers from around the globe. The Exhibition will be subsequently opened to the public free of charge until February 4, 2010.

This series of activities will bring together senior representatives from the private sector with key decision-makers from government, civil society and other public sector organisations. For more information or to find out how you can get involved, please contact us at ecochic@green2greener.com.” (EcoChic Geneva)

Start Date: 2010-01-20
End Date: 2010-01-21

Ethical Fashion Symposium, Scotland

Title: Ethical Fashion Symposium, Scotland
Location: Scotland
Link out: Click here

Edinburgh College of Art, in collaboration with Fashioning an Ethical Industry and the Scottish Academy, are hosting a two day symposium for students and tutors on fashion related courses in Scotland on ethics in fashion.

Day 1
The fashion cycle: Interactive introduction to the symposium and to the social and environmental issues in the fashion industry
Liz Parker, Fashioning an Ethical Industry

Communicating sustainability
Helen Spoor from sustainability communications company Futerra.

Sustainable Design
Jessica Hemmings, Associate Director, Centre for Visual & Cultural Studies

Bringing responsiblity into fashion business
Speaker to be confirmed

Fashion Future: What can you do at university, as consumers and once in business?
Liz Parker, Fashioning an Ethical IndustrySpeakers include

Day 2 – putting ideas into practice
Students and tutors will work together in multi-disciplinary, multi-university teams on the brief: ‘Universities and colleges in Scotland are working together to promote ethics and sustainability in fashion. In teams, develop a product, idea or strategy for engaging students with fashion ethics and sustainability’.

Students will present their work in a format of their choice, for example, a poster, visualisation board, campaign idea, presentation or garment design.

The event will take place on Monday 18th January and Tuesday 19th January 2010 from 10.00am – 4.00 in Lecture Theatre E22 at Edinburgh College of Art.

18th and 19th January 2010: 10.00am – 4.00pm

For more information and to register please click here.
Start Date: 2010-01-18
End Date: 2010-01-19

Fast Forward: Fashioning an Ethical Industry International Conference

Title: Fast Forward: Fashioning an Ethical Industry International Conference
Location: London
Link out: Click here

“In a time when we are increasingly concerned with the impact of the fashion industry on people and the planet students need to be equipped to design the way we make and consume fashion differently.

This two day international conference will bring together educators, industry experts, academics and selected students to explore how fashion can be taught to inspire responsibility for the rights of workers making our clothes.” (FEI)

SPEAKERS confirmed include:
Otto Von Busch – Haute-Couture Heretic
Alex Mcintosh – Centre for Sustainable Fashion
Nieves Ruiz Ramos – Bibico
Sophie Koers – Fair Wear Foundation
Academics and students will present papers peer reviewed by a panel
chaired by Doug Miller Professor in Ethical
Fashion at Northumbria University

SPECIAL EXHIBITION
Local Wisdom by Kate Fletcher, Reader in Sustainable Fashion at London
College of Fashion

This event is by invitation only. Invites have now been sent out by
post. If you have received at invite please RSVP by 13th January. If you have not received an invitation but would like to join us at this event please register your interest online.
Start Date: 2010-03-02
End Date: 2010-03-03

Community News

“If a product is not considered, they call it an inconsiderate design” (Lorrie Vogel, on Nike designers creating their own vocabulary, Opportunity Green)

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. This week’s roundup has a ton of videos—there is a lot going on in our community!

Core77

Next: “user centered ecosystems designs”

New production method: Enslaved spiders produce huge tapestry

Ecouterre

Does Greenwashing Exist in the Fashion Industry?

Ecotextile News

Eco-Textile Labelling Guide 2010

Ethical Style

‘18 Degrees of Inspiration’: 6 Degrees of Cool

[Lesson 1] Sifting through the ‘Ecofashion Lexicon’

Lesson1 This lesson introduces the following concepts: consumer choice, designer choice, the ‘Ecofashion Lexicon,’ greenwashing, unintelligent design, and cradle to cradle design theory. For more information on these issues, please visit the ‘Works Cited’ page at the end of the lesson.

* If you are planning to use this lesson, please let us know so that we may keep track of our progress.

Introduction

Both consumers and designers alike have been left to fend for themselves when it comes to understanding the social issues and environmental concerns increasingly associated with the fashion industry. Signals of deception, such as greenwashing, as well as unintelligent designs that have created products with hidden ingredients, known as products plus, have seemingly hijacked the potential for any real choice to exist at all.

Click here to download this lesson: Lesson 1: Sifting through the ‘Ecofashion Lexicon’

Curb Your Consumption

MA Design Studies (MADS) student, Katie Hart has recently launched an initiative set to investigate the relationship between consumer behavior and over-consumption. Through the online lab, Curb Your Consumption, Hart shares her research and ideas, bringing together resources, news, events, and links on the subject.

Her final project explores patterns of consumption within the UK. Along the way, Hart hopes to “work with a diverse range of consumers to:

Educate and communicate the problems with over-consumption of fashion products in the UK
Understand what consumers need in order to actually change their behaviour (i.e. labelling, information pack, seminars etc)
Contribute to a grassroots movement of positive change in consumer behaviour” (Hart, About Me)

Here are some of the exciting things happening over on her site:

Hart has created a large visual artifact that illustrates “the problem with fashion overconsumption, and the global torment we are creating with this excessive spending” (Hart, About My Project). She will also be conducting a series of workshops. If you are interested in participating, be sure to contact her. Her book, titled Buy Now. Pay Later – today’s treasure is tomorrow’s trash, will soon be available on her site, and she is currently working on what she calls “bite-size learning materials” on the following topics:

Fibres and Fabrics – taking the microscope to our clothes
The hands that touch our fashion – a journey into the histories of our garments
Fast Fashion – the issues
Recycling/Reuse – what to do with your clothes when they are worn out

If you would like to learn more, be sure to follow Hart on her journey toward solutions for sustainable consumption and learn how you can ‘curb’ your consumption habits.

***Will you be in London the first week of December? Her work will be on display at the MA Design Studies Final Exhibition, Applied Imagination – Bringing Method to the Madness at T2 Truman Brewery – from 4th – 8th December 2009.

Here are some images of her work via the online lab:

For more images, visit Curb Your Consumption.

MADS is a graduate program offered through Central Saint Martins. For more information on the program, click here.

Social Alterations

An education lab for responsible fashion