Tag Archives: Responsibility

Compostmodern 09

 

If you’re interested in sustainable design, check out the Compostmodern 09 conference. The event will be available as a webcast, so you only have to worry about the long commute to your office, living room, kitchen table, or bed to get there.

 

Feb 21st is the big day/40$ webcast registration

 

This years scheduled speakers:

Eames Demetrios/Eames Office

Saul Griffith/Makani Power

Allan Chochinov/Core 77

Nathan Shedroff/MBA Chair, California College of the Arts (CCA)

Michel Gelobter, John Bielenberg and Pam Dorr/Project M and HERO Housing Resource, Alabama

Emily Pilloton/Project H Design

Dawn Danby/Sustainable Design Program Manager, Autodesk

 

Emcee: Joel Makower/GreenBiz

 

What does this have to do with sustainable fashion?

 

Compostmodern is a design conference dedicated to creating a platform for discussion on sustainable design practices. The interdisciplinary nature of the conference has created a network of information sharing that is relevant to discussions in sustainable fashion/textile design practices, as design is interdisciplinary. Last year, Mark Galabraith, discussed the nature of the sustainable filters used to create outdoor clothing company Nau Clothing, Inc. In his presentation, Galabraith discusses the clothing company as wanting to participate in the industry not as a brand, but rather as a cultural movement.

Some of the design questions he mentions as particularly central to the development of Nau Clothing, Inc. are issues surrounding durability, ease of repair, multi-use, raw material (biodegradability and treatment of animals) and impacts within manufacturing processes. He also speaks of the challenges associated with harmonizing urban sensibility with outdoor performance in a way that questions the ‘aesthetic point for sustainability’.

 

What I found particularly interesting is the company’s warehouse approach (coupled with a showroom boutique) used to hold merchandise. Although customers are able to take their product home immediately, a 10% is available to customers who are willing to have their garment sent to them. The company also boasts a recycle program (end of life strategy) where old products can be reused to be transformed into new ones (polyester used as a post-consumer material)

 

The key to Nau Clothing, Inc. is flexible design. 

 

Check out Galabraith, and other speakers from last year’s conference here.

Check out more from Nau Clothing, Inc., like this men’s riding jacket, here.

 

Nau Clothing, Inc. Men's Riding Jacket

Nau Clothing, Inc. Men's Riding Jacket

new book investigates the ‘do good’ potential of design

David B. Berman wants design professionals to take his pledge, and commit to use 10% of their design efforts to ‘do good’. In his new book, Do Good Design: How Designers can Change the World Berman links design as the cause of environmental and social concerns today:

How did design help choose a president?
Why are people buying houses they can’t afford?
Why do U.S. car makers now struggle to compete?
Why do we really have an environmental crisis?

If you are interested in investigating the social responsibility of design, this book should prove interesting.  Read more on the book and the Berman’s design pledge here. 

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8aqhhyGSnU]

Berman speaking in Hong Kong, 2006.

Source: davidberman.com and dexigner.com

ZARA and the right to freedom of association

 

A recent campaign from UNITE HERE Canada claims that the right to freedom of association is at stake for employees at ZARA, in Montréal, Quebec. According to a recent press release, “ZARA has engaged in conduct which may have violated the Québec Labour Code. This has included demoting two employees who led a union drive at ZARA’s downtown Montreal store, firing four employees who supported the union at ZARA’s Rockland Mall store, and holding anti-union meetings at three Montreal stores, in one case telling employees that joining a union is ‘treason’ against the company.”

 

Click here to view the press release.

feeling fashionably overweight?

The “Household Textile Environmental Impact Calculator” wants your closet to think about going on a diet.

The calculator asseses you based on annual water usage, energy usage, use of non-renewable resources, and pollution. Unfortunately the calculator doesn’t account for non conventional fabrics, such as hemp. What is impressive however, is the fact that the calculator takes you through the lifecycle of your garments: purchasing, care, and disposal.

The year is almost up, so Dec. marks a perfect time to start calculating and re-calculating to think about consumption practices for the year ahead. It doesn’t take long to calculate your annual textile environmental impact, and you may be surprised at how easy it is. I don’t know about the accuracy of it all, but one thing is for sure: the exercise promotes the process of  reflecting on the lifecycle of your waredrobe.

So how did you rank?



 

Source: In the Loop and Ecotextile News

Message from the Asian Human Rights Commission on the 60th Anniversary of UDHR

Many textile and apparel companies boast a commitment to operating within the legal frameworks of the countries in which they manufacture. It would seem only reasonable to expect as much (Congratulations! You didn’t break the law!). Considering the standard of human rights within such countries, should this fact be celebrated?

December 10th marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this video, Basil Fernando, CEO of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), highlights the issue of “non-rule of law”. According to Fernando, the last 60 years of Human Rights has only worked to establish the conversation of rights. He hopes the next 60 years will see the realization and achievement of Human Rights. On this 60th anniversary, I hope that consumers will consider the standard of the law within the countries their garments are produced, and support companies that promote international labour standards rather than those that hide behind frameworks of corrupt legal systems.

The AHRC has released their annual report on the state of human rights in 11 countries (Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand). You can download country reports here

The AHRC also works to document the countless human rights violations taking place in Asia. To receive notification of the AHRC Urgent Requests, just subscribe to their mailing list. Once you receive an urgent request, it only takes a few seconds to follow the link and send the letter of complaint they have already written for you to the appropriate individuals. You can subscribe here.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkWWWulqanQ]

Green: Sustainability, Significance, and Style Conference

This past week/end  in New York (Dec. 4-6th) ,  the Green: Sustainability, Significance and Style Conference  ran at The Graduate Center, The City University of New York. The conference hoped to highlight everything from dirty gold to Burmese rubies, sustainable fibres and the future of green fashion. I wish I could have made it, and I hope it was a success. Will keep you posted..