Category Archives: Labour

new teaching resources just in time for the fall semester

If you are thinking about incorporating responsible design into your curricula this upcoming fall semester here are a few resources to get you started.

Nathan Shedroff, author of the book, Design is the Problem: has recently published free curricula under Creative Commons license.

This is a series of free syllabi and teaching materials to help instructors teach students key topics for the future. These courses are studio courses, meant to teach students by making and doing, instead of merely reading and regurgitating. These syllabi are ready-to-use but can easily be customized for different situations. They are primarily created for design and business programs at the graduate and undergraduate level but can be adopted for teaching to most any audience at most any level. (Shedroff, Thoughts)

Design is the Problem: A course in sustainable design 1.0

Experience Studio: Exploring the full dimensions of experience design 1.0

Market Insight Studio: Research for more meaningful offerings 1.0

The curriculum contains syllabi and presentations and even comes complete with evaluation criteria for the Final Project Presentation (coming soon). Each studio course is easily downloadable, as Shedroff has, not surprisingly, made access to the information extremely user-friendly. Shedroff has truly delivered a fantastic resource in these studio courses.

Another must have for fashion design educators is Teaching Sustainable Fashion: An Educators Handbook, so make sure to add these articles to your course syllabus. We have highlighted the importance of this resource before, but with the new fall semester approaching, it is definitely worth another look. Chapters are broken up into different categories: Design, Business, Marketing, Interactive Activities, Cross-Curricular, and Pedagogy and Institutional Approaches.

You can download the entire handbook or each chapter separately on the Fashioning an Ethical Industry website, here.

Here is a look at the article titles and authors in the chapter on design:

On teaching empathy, Sue Thomas

Slow fashion, Kate Fletcher

Designing slow fashion, Kate Fletcher

The elephant in the room: Contextualising the ethical within fashion excellence, Mo Tomaney

Collaborating with fair trade producers: Design and trends, Tony Hicks

Customized denim project with further education students studying BTEC National Diploma Art & Design (Fashion & Clothing), Maria Skoyles

Clothing care calculator: An interactive tool to evaluate environmental impact, Katie Dombek-Keith and Suzanne Loker

Style showdown , Sara B. Marcketti

Introducing the cotton supply chain and sustainability, Südwind Agentur

Ideas for design briefs, Fashioning an Ethical Industry and Abbie Price

Design Revolution

Last, but not least, we posted earlier re: Emily Pilloton’s new book, Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People, and are happy report that it is now available for purchase. Here is what Valerie Casey, Global Practice Head, IDEO; founder, The Designers Accord, had to say about Pilloton, and the book:

“Pilloton is a force of nature and Design Revolution is the perfect
storm of inspiration, optimism, and ingenuity. This book should be
on every designer’s shelf — no, in his or her hands.”

Just in time for the fall semester!

Source: Core77, Nathan Shedroff, FEI, and Project H

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

ILO launches book on “Forced labor: Coercion and exploitation in the private economy”

The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition was August 23rd. To mark the occasion, the ILO (International Labour Organization) has launched a new book on forced labour, titled “Forced labor: Coercion and exploitation in the private economy.”

You can download the book’s Executive Summary in English, Spanish or French, here.

More than 200 years after a slave rebellion in the Caribbean sparked a movement that eventually led to the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, an estimated 12 million people around the world still work under coercion in forced labour, slavery and slavery-like practices. The ILO Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour is marking the annual International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on August 23 with the release of a new, comprehensive series of case studies and policy recommendations on forced labour and modern slavery in the world today.

The book titled Forced labour: Coercion and exploitation in the private economy¹ is based on more than six years of research and features case studies from Latin America, South Asia, Africa and Europe. It expands on the conclusions of the ILO Global Report on forced labour, entitled “The Cost of Coercion” published in May 2009, offering in-depth knowledge about deceptive recruitment systems, debt bondage and other forms of coercion, as well as fresh perspectives on law, policy and statistics.

¹ISBN 978-92-2-122681-9, a co-publication by the ILO and Lynne Rienner.

Source: ILO

FIBERcast 3: Environmental Sustainability in the Apparel Industry

fiberlogo

The 3^rd installment of FIBERcast went live on July 31, 2009. This episodes theme? Environmental Sustainability in the Apparel Industry. Thought I might offer some notes that stood out from the 1st half of the broadcast.

Moderator: Marsha Dickson, Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies, University of Delaware

Guest Speakers: Will Phillips, Manager, Environmental Strategy, Under Armour Inc., Rick Horwitch, Vice President, Solutions Business Development and Marketing, for Bureau Veritas – Consumer Products Services, Dr. Suzanne Loker, Professor, Cornell University, Huantian Cao, Associate Professor, University of Delaware

The talk started off with Professor Huantian Cao breaking down the UDSAI Policy Guide (which mainly focuses on the environment).

Dr. Suzanne Loker defined sustainability broadly as “economic development, the environment, the impacts of people in their consumption choices, and technological advancement.” This signifies “improving, building upon and overall achieving responsible practices that are mentioned over the long term. Sustainability is at the foundation of social and environmental responsibility, yet it may not be achievable. Rather, we should strive for improvement” (Loker).

Loker cites a quote taken from Yvon Chouinard, the Founder and Chairman of Patagonia, as stated in the Preface of the book Sustainable Fashion: Why Now?

“To be sustainable means that you would take-out of a system the same amount of energy as put in, with no pollution or waste. A sustainable process is one you can do forever without exhausting resources or fouling the environment […] There has never yet been, nor is there now a sustainable business or sustainable fashion on this planet, and no one should ever pretend in setting out for a place that you’ve actually gotten there.”

Sustainability is a continuous goal, one that can never be achieved. Rather, it is something to strive towards. In this way, it needs to be larger than individual businesses.

Huantian Cao covered 3 equally important pillars of sustainability:

Economic
Environmental
Social

Speaking in detail on what companies can do today to get started on their environmental sustainability in terms of scope of business activities, both Loker and Rick Horwitch, Vice President, Solutions Business Development and Marketing, for Bureau Veritas – Consumer Products Services stressed their belief that every member of the supply chain has a contributing role in decreasing the environmental impact through input and matching production to consumption.

To get started immediately, Horwitch suggests companies tackle the issues through design, production, supply chain, and corporate perspective:

Design perspective

AFA: Restrictive Substance List (RSL) (all globally encompassing it covers the apparel and textile and footwear industry) get rid of the bad substances in your products.
Packaging: reduce ratios. Look for biodegradable content, energy efficient.

Production

Look at energy efficiency. Horwitch recommends companies check out The Footprint Chronicles over on the Patagonia site.

Supply chain

Look at transportation
Look at social compliance. Social compliance is critical. Ethical sourcing is critical to a sustainable supply chain.

Corporate perspective

Be a good citizen.
Communicate that the issues are important to you.
Do large scale changes, but do not ignore the small changes, such as changing the light bulbs.

What is the business case to engage in this shift?

Horwitch maintains that while the front end may be more expensive, “sustainability is about the triple bottom line and a for profit solution. Sustainable process is an efficient process.”

Triple bottom line? Remember those three pillars Huantian Cao mentioned:

Economic
Environmental
Social

For more information, you can listen in on this FIBERcast, as well as previous broadcasts, here.

Resources to walk away with:

University of Delaware’s Sustainable Apparel Initiative

Sustainable Fashion: Why Now?

Restricted Substance List (RSL)

Patagonia: The Footprint Chronicles

FIBERcast

Source: FIBERcast

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.

FEI Staff Training and Student Workshops

Ethics have a high profile in the fashion industry today. Are you equipped, as a tutor or student, with the knowledge and skills to engage with these issues?

Fashioning an Ethical Industry (FEI) runs staff training and student workshops at schools, colleges and universities on themes related to working conditions in garment manufacture. Through our training events we encourage staff and students to critically examine different perspectives on workers’ rights and initiatives to improve conditions.
FEI training combines our extensive knowledge with a participatory educational approach, building on participants’ existing knowledge and experience and using a range of activities and different media such as films, role-play and presentations.

More info: Fashioning an Ethical Industry

Source: FEI

Ethical Fashion Show Paris: Education For Sustainable Fashion

Title: Ethical Fashion Show Paris: Education For Sustainable Fashion
Location: Paris, France
Link out: Click here
Description: Fashioning an Ethical Industry will be hosting a round table on Education for Sustainable Fashion at the Ethical Fashion Show in Paris from 1pm to 3:30pm on Sunday October 4th 2009. The event will take place at Tapis Rouge: 67, rue du fg St Martin 75010 Paris.

Speakers and themes are to be confirmed. The event is aimed at fashion tutors and students but everyone is welcome. Tickets will be available from the Ethical Fashion Show website nearer the time.

Source: FEI
Date: 2009-10-04

New NLC Report on Human Rights violations in Jordan

NLC

A new report out of the National Labor Committee today cites multiple human rights violations at the Muse Textile Ltd. garment factory in Al Hassan Industrial City, Irbid, Jordan.

Human Trafficking
Primitive Dorm Conditions
Substandard Food
Forced Overtime and Seven-Day Work Weeks
A Failure to Communicate

Check out the full report, as well as the Ministry of Labor Report from July 19^th. These workers still have 11 months left on their contract. The NLC is calling for the factory to be brought up to international standards and Jordanian law of compliance immediately.

Source: NLC

Oxfam Hong Kong launches new CSR report for the Garment Industry

Oxfam CSR Guidebook

Oxfam Hong Kong has just launched a new guidebook for the garment industry titled Good Fashion: A Guide to Being an Ethical Clothing Company.

Although they encourage the use of the guidebook for educational use, as well as for research, advocacy and campaign purposes, be sure to notify them if you are going to use the guidebook so that they may assess its impact.

“As an active promoter of corporate social responsibility (CSR), Oxfam Hong Kong launches the first corporate social responsibility guidebook: Good Fashion: A Guide to Being an Ethical Clothing Company today. Good Fashion targets to support the garment sector in Hong Kong to further develop and implement CSR policy. In producing Good Fashion, Oxfam aims to raise awareness within the business sector on the importance of CSR and to encourage them to put CSR principles into practice.

The 71-page Good Fashion, which is divided into four sections, is a comprehensive guidebook containing practical tips for implementing CSR throughout the production process, such as merchandising and manufacturing. Good Fashion also includes CSR insights from various stakeholders, including workers, community organisations, union representatives, and other groups. Online resources and a simple checklist are also included for companies’ reference.”

You can download the full report in English (PDF) here.

Also, be sure to check out Oxfam Hong Kong’s previous reports. In 2004 they published Turning the Garment Industry Inside Out – Purchasing Practices and Workers’ Lives. They have also published two transparency reports: Transparency Report – How Hong Kong Garment Companies Can Improve Public Reporting of their Labour Standards (2006) and Transparency Report II: Have Hong Kong Garment Companies Improved Their Reporting on Labour Standards (2009).

Source: CSR Asia

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