Category Archives: Environment

Update: Fashioning the Future

Fashioning the Future

Fashioning the Future brings together a global community of creative thinkers and doers, designers, innovators and entrepreneurs ready to offer the fashion industry opportunities for the future.

Save the Date:
The winners of the 2009 awards will be announced at a reception at London’s City Hall, with thanks to the London Sustainable Development Commission.

(By invitation only)

Awards Reception
25 November, 7–9pm

Highlights of the 2009 awards will be exhibited, with thanks to the London Sustainable Development Commission.

Open to the public, free of charge:

19 – 30 November

Greater London Authority
City Hall, The Queen’s Walk
London SE1 2AA

Highlights of the 2009 awards will also be showcased at London College of Fashion.

Open to the public, free of charge:

16 November – 11 December

Fashion Space Gallery
London College of Fashion
20 John Princes Street
London W1G 0BJ

Fashioning the Future is an annual venture from the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion, and is supported by the London Sustainable Development Commission’s London Leaders programme.

Chasing Sustainability Conference

Upcoming Event

Chasing Sustainability Conference

Liu Institute for Global Issues
November 6, 2009, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

In today’s evolving economy, business leaders are faced with the challenge of what it means to be truly sustainable. Similarly, students are aware that in order for them to stay at the forefront of this transformation, it is critical that they understand responsible business practices. CUS Sustainability seeks to intertwine business education and sustainability through interactive activities, dynamic speakers, and enlightened discussion at our annual conference, Chasing Sustainability, taking place November 6th, 2009.

In this effort to educate and stimulate, the CUS Sustainability team invites business professionals, environmental leaders, and university faculty to share their expertise with respect to this broad subject. The Chasing Sustainability conference provides an intimate and discussion-oriented setting for engaged and globally-minded students to learn how business can remain competitive economically while simultaneously bettering their environmental and social interactions.

Come register at David Lam Library in the UBC Henry Angus Building.

To download the poster, please click here.

For more information, please visit: http://cussustainability.com/

Social Alterations featured on Fashioning an Ethical Industry

As followers of SA likely already know, this online lab was developed as a result of my research, ‘Social Alteration: Sustainable Design Solutions through Socially Responsible Design Education’ at Athabasca University. A few months in, SA has grown to include the work contributing writer and collaborator Nadira Lamrad, as well as contributing writer Katrine Karlsen, and has already created the SA Fibre Analysis as our first piece of free downloadable curricula.

I’m excited to report that Fashioning an Ethical Industry has added this work to the student project/dissertation section of their site! Thank you for your support!

Click here to check it out, as well as to learn more about these inspiring student initiatives:

22 magazine

Louise Boulter

University College for the Creative Arts (Epsom)

BA (hons) Fashion Promotion and Imaging

What is ethical wear?

Anita Costanzo

Universita IUAV di Venezia

Corso di laurea in Design della Moda

‘Six’

Danielle Fell

Nottingham Trent University

Fashion Marketing and Communications

Graduate

Can El Salvador develop and sustain homegrown design

Carolina Gomez

Chelsea College of Arts and Design

Textile Design

3rd Year

‘Make-Do-And-Mend’

Nathalie Gottschalk

Ma Ethical Fashion Graduate

Consumer Guidebook Nectar

Cathy Gray

University College of the Creative Arts

Work done in 3rd Year – now graduated

FILM CLIP and ‘Ethical Shopping Guide’

Kelly Levell

Arts Institute at Bournemouth

BA Fashion Studies Degree

Installation in response to exploitation of garment workers

Polly Pocock

North Devon School of Art

FdA Fine Art

‘Designing Happiness’

Anna Vening

Chelsea College of Art and Design

BA Textile Design

Ecouterre launch party @ Kaight

Will you be in New York at the end of October? If so, check out the launch of Ecouterre at KAIGHT.

Here are the event details:

Come sip organic cocktails, nosh on vegan cookies and snacks, browse through racks of sustainable fashion at KAIGHT (15 percent off everything for one night only), and chat about the future of eco-fashion with Ecouterre editors and other readers. If you’re interested in joining the fun, please rsvp@inhabitat.com, tout de suite! Here are the details:

WHAT: Ecouterre Official Launch Party!

WHERE: KAIGHT NYC, 83 Orchard between Broome and Grand, New York, NY 10002

WHEN: October 29, 2009 (Thursday) from 6-9 p.m.

WHO: Team Ecouterre and Inhabitat, including Jill Fehrenbacher, Jasmin Malik Chua, Abigail Doan, Yuka Yoneda, Rebecca Paul, Dan Mendes, and of course, KAIGHT founder and owner Kate McGregor!

HOW: Please RSVP to rsvp@inhabitat.com

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

Community News

Community News is a new feature at SA, where we round up some stories, headlines and updates from in and around the community of socially responsible fashion design.

BusinessWeek

Special Report: Design Thinking

World’s Best Design Schools

Core77

IIT’s 2009 Design Research Conference: It’s all about Synthesis

Reflections from a Better World by Design Conference

Organelle Design’s “Hangeliers”

Design Revolution: An Interview with Emily Pilloton (by Allan Chochinov)

Design Museum lectures (Videos) [it will take some time to download] Vivienne Westwood: Active Resistance to Propaganda

Book Review: Change by Design, by Tim Brown

CSR Asia

Oxfam calls on businesses to do more on climate change

CSR Europe

Body Shop teams up with ECPAT International to stop child sex trafficking

Future ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility published as Draft International Standard

Ecouterre

Portland Fashion Week Showcases Green, Sustainable Designers

Eco-Fashion Struts Its Stuff at Paris Fashion Week’s Ethical Fashion Show, Green Showroom

Ethical Style

E.S.’s 24^th Magazine Issue “Ethical Accessories” is up, check it out.

Michael Kors on Cleaning Out Your Closet

Stella McCartney Calls Other Designers ‘Heartless’

Fashion Takes Action

FTA’s 1^st e-course is available to both members and non-members-click here to sign up.

Hazardous Chemicals in Footwear

There has been a lot of attention given to the use of chemicals used in textile and apparel production in the past. We have heard of pesticides in cotton farming, dyeing and the finishing treatment of jeans. Many retailers have responded to the pressure from NGOs as well as consumers, and the use of organic cotton has grown exponentially since 2006.

There was only a matter of time before the footwear industry would have to take responsibility for the production of shoes. There are many components in a shoe which have been an excuse many footwear retailers have used to avoid the subject. However, large brands like NIKE and Timberland have showed that it is possible to exclude and replace certain chemicals to make safer products.

On September 14th 2009 the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation published the report ” Chemicals Up Close – plastic shoes from all over the world” where 27 plastic shoes purchased in 7 different countries were tested for hazardous chemicals such as phthalates, heavy metals and tin organic compounds. There was found traces of all in most of the tested shoes.

The damaging implications of these chemicals are large, both for people and the environment. Cancer, liver failure, skin allergies and burns have been identified among workers who are exposed to large amounts over time.

“The environmental toxins in the shoes can spread to people and to the environment as the shoes become worn. There is also a considerable risk of them affecting the people involved in the manufacture of the shoes, says Mikael Karlsson, President of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.”

For those that work in the footwear industry it is becoming increasingly important to identify these risks and take action in order to achieve a safer supply chain as well as a eco – safe product. If designers and buyers gain more knowledge about the properties of hazarouds chemicals, they can work together with the supplier to develop a eco -safe product.

You can find the report here.

The report refers to the new EU legislation on chemicals, REACH, where some of the tested chemicals are subject to be banned or restricted.

Source: Naturskyddsföreningen

Social Alterations: Fibre Analysis

We’re working on developing some ready-to-use curricula for fashion/textile/apparel instructors and designers.

First up, is the Social Alterations “Fibre Analysis: Possible Social and Environmental Impacts.” Data for this document was aggregated from resources you will find in the “Works Cited” section, on the last page of the PDF. This document is licensed and protected through the Creative Commons, which basically means that you can use it wherever/whenever you want, assuming you do so within the guidelines outlined in the Creative Commons licensing for which this document is registered (see below).

This is only the beginning folks; Social Alterations has mandated itself to deliver online curriculum to aid in the development of socially responsible fashion design education.

You can get involved by joining the Social Alterations Forum to share your experience in socially responsible fashion design education.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or requests please contact us.

Fibre Analysis by Mary Hanlon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Click here to download the resource: Fibre Analysis, Social Alterations

Watch//Read: Thinking Design w/ IDEO’s Tim Brown through Living Climate Change

Social Alterations is happy to report that Tim Brown’s new book, “Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and inspires innovation” is now available.

Tim Brown is CEO at IDEO, and is responsible for promoting the participatory design theory “design thinking.” Design thinking requires the designer participate in the process, to move “beyond the latest high street products” (Brown, TED: Sep, 09) He believes that designers need to focus “less on object, and more on design thinking as an approach” (Brown, TED: Sep, 09). In this way, the human centred component of design thinking asks designers to consider the design brief outside of pure aesthetics, image and fashion (Brown, TED: Sep, 09).

IDEO has also just launched a new site called Living Climate Change to expand the conversation on climate change through design thinking:

“One of the most important ideas about design thinking is that it creates new ideas that provide new choices for business and society. As we move toward December and the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen I worry that we have far too few ideas to talk about. It is all too easy to argue over what we will have to give up in the search for significant reductions in carbon and yet there is very little discussion about what we might create as we try to resolve the most significant challenge humanity has yet faced.” (Tim Brown, Design Thinking)

Our Invitation To You from IDEO on Vimeo.

For a list of other books related to socially responsible design, be sure to check out our Reading Section.

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.