SUSTAINABLE FASHION IN TREND

IFFTI, LCF London, 2009

"This paper aims to explore the tensions and possibilities between innovation and sustainable fashion through an analysis of the design process employed by the creative fashion designer. Through a number of case studies I will highlight sustainable strategies that could promote the opportunity for creative outcomes within a sustainable framework. In addition, the paper seeks to question the fashion design process directly and aims to suggest that the act of designing has shifted. Innovation in high fashion has typically been attributed to the phenomenon of ‘the genius’, the creative fashion designer whose artistry is an expression of innovation and vision (Breward, 2003: 50). It is here that this role of fashion designer becomes one of creative director, where leadership and direction is imparted across the varied stages of design and production. From this position the actions of the designer could provide positive intervention that enriches the process of creative authorship in conjunction with sustainable objectives. If we seek to direct the fashion industry towards a position of responsibility, the designer’s role needs to be redefined in order to encompass innovative sustainable solutions for fashion. Whilst other design practitioners regularly consider the life cycle of a product, within the fashion discipline the process of design often disregards, for example, patterns of consumption, user participation, and end-of-life strategies. Rather than see sustainability as a constraint for design this paper suggests that sustainability can provide the designer with a new methodology for innovation. Breward, C. (2003), Fashion (London: Oxford University Press) "

2011

The fashion industry has been aware of social responsibility and sustainable practices for some time recently. It is still a challenge for this industry to successfully incorporate and interweave these issues in the current concept of commodity culture. Though fashion today impacts most, if not all, aspects of consumerist culture, the primary impact is on the lifestyle industry particularly clothing. sustainable practices in the fashion sector, this role of designers has to go beyond. This would mean the designer incorporating a sustainable framework in the Design and Product Development Process. Much of the Design education today deals with issues of sustainable strategies and practices as add-ons to the basic design and product development process course work. This paper aims at identifying possible areas in the Design process where the issues of sustainable strategies and practices can be interwoven into the process itself. Information and data will be gathered from design institutes, design educators and design businesses in India to identify points in the Design and Product development process that are conducive to enhancement leading to innovation for sustainability. It is proposed to use this research as a base to further determine the barriers, constraints, facilitators and enablers to incorporating sustainable strategies in the Design Process course work and develop a teaching model that is more inclusive of these issues.

Fibres and Textiles in Eastern Europe

The fashion Industry is one of the major polluting industries globally, and it has become a hot topic of debate. Thousands of people participate in climate change marches and attend seminars worldwide, but sadly most of them usually wear fast fashion products due to the lack of awareness. This pilot research investigates how well freshly graduated fashion designers know sustainable textiles and fashion as fashion designers are the ones who lead the fashion industry. We used a qualitative research method, and focus group discussion was applied for data collection. Twenty-four freshly graduated fashion designers from China, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan participated in this research. The focus group discussions were conducted in Shanghai, China. Topics were divided into three categories:(a) fast fashion, recycling & upcycling, (b) zero-waste fashion, and (c) eco-friendly fibres. Findings disclosed that the participants were well-aware of techniques like fashion illustration, pattern...

Cumulus Conference, 2012

"The fashion design industry is one of today’s most unsustainable global businesses contributing to the depletion of fossil energy, deforestation driven by land and water use, severe pollution caused by chemical dyeing, and the non-ethical treatment of factory workers, among others. These negative impacts result in what may be viewed as a problematique: a meta-system of problems, pertaining to the economy, the environment, and society. In this paper I propose to address education in fashion design as one of the aspects that supports the current paradigm and therefore is part of the problematique. I will present a sample of contemporary trends in sustainable fashion design education that could lead to a future necessary paradigm shift. In addition, based on my research, I will present as an example of a sustainable fashion design syllabus created as a university course addressing issues and ideas presented in the paper. As a conclusion, I propose that fashion designers must learn to toil with holistic processes incorporating environmental responsible design, which does not negatively affect the environment, people and society. Education in sustainable fashion design must be consolidated as a curriculum, and not only as a trendy course. I suggest that Latin American universities could be at the forefront of this paradigm shift as it has the resources both human and natural to contribute to the radical and collective changes that must be done to help solve some of the world´s direst problems. Fashion designers educated through a creative sustainability curriculum will see themselves as agents of change that can be part of the solution and stop being part of the problem."

2014

Based on my experience in designing a new sustainable fashion curriculum, this paper will address two questions: How can we change pedagogical content and delivery methods to attend the contemporary problems of austerity and climate change? And how can design education bring local communities together to work on projects that improve their own standard of living and benefit the environment? Fashion education in Colombia has recently transitioned from technical to professional programs. I designed the new curriculum for a professional program that will open in 2014 at Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogotá. Based on previous research and work in sustainable design education, and inspired by new courses in sustainable fashion elsewhere, I designed 30 courses with sustainability as the linking objective throughout the curriculum. The curriculum seeks for students to innovate and look for design opportunities within the community at large with a focus on local economic and social problems. Fashion design students often feel disenfranchised with greater issues of the society and would like to contribute but are not sure how to do it. This new program looks at how fashion design can confront the critical issues of the larger society and come up with solutions. For example, the program seeks for students to work together with people from the community who participate in the design process so both learn skills with the universities technical training program. By fostering an open, creative and energetic environment the students and community will benefit from a platform of collaboration, active participation, improved design, production and manufacturing processes. This in itself is a bold change from a silos mentality. I suggest Latin American universities have possibility of being at the forefront of a sustainable shift in education. Our current era of austerity and climate change can take advantage as a way of forming future-oriented designers that have their priority a concern with the environment, the society and the economy. Fashion designers educated through a sustainability curriculum will see themselves as agents of change that can be part of the solution. The local community´s involvement is intended to create jobs to make an ecologically sustainable design process viable.

2013

Introduction In December 2009 over five hundred fashion professionals rallied for a Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, organised by NICE (Nordic Initiative, Clean and Ethical) and timed to coincide with the UN Climate Change Conference. The interest from the industry in socio-environmental issues that this evidences is a clear indicator of how far fashion has come in integrating sustainable thought and action. We have had ten years of CSR; Walmart and H&M are leading in pushing the supply of organic cotton; London, as well as New York, Paris and Stockholm have hosted events or weeks dedicated to ethically and environmentally friendlier fashion; and just in the last couple of years there has been a real tipping point, as companies are understanding that engaging with sustainability is not only a necessity but also an opportunity.

International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 2019

The purpose of this research was to identify perceptions and attitudes toward sustainable fashion from personnel involved in fashion design and to uncover the challenges in implementing sustainable design practices. Data were gathered through qualitative open-ended questions in five interviews, and 50 fashion designers were selected as research subjects for a survey. The major findings of the research show that there are internal (personal and organisational) and external challenges to incorporating sustainability into the fashion design process. Internal challenges consist of the lack of consensus and knowledge regarding sustainable design, lack of design-led approaches implementing sustainability in fashion and perceived trade-offs with other design criteria, such as aesthetic styles, costs, and fashion trends. External challenges include the complexity of sustainability issues, perceived insufficient consumer demand, attitudes and behaviour gaps in consumer purchasing decisions on sustainable collection ranges and insufficient incentives or values for businesses to implement sustainable design strategies.

Clothing Cultures

I used to think sustainable fashion was a marketing tool for business […] Now I think it is really something some brands are pursuing to help the people, the environment and the world'. 'I used to think brands mainly greenwash and use ethics to appeal to consumers. Now I think it can be a valued and authentic part of a brand'. (Radclyffe-Thomas, Varley & Roncha, 2018).

In this study, we present a theoretical model, which draws together the elements of sustainability and fashion design. The data have been gathered from various sources, mainly academic literature, and a qualitative analysis has been carried out by following the principles of the grounded theory method: the data is analyzed by identifying and categorizing relevant concepts by using a constant comparative method, i.e. examining the internal consistency of each category. The aim of the model is to serve fashion designers, who wish to take sustainability into consideration. The analysis and the model answer the question of which principles and practices should be considered in sustainable fashion design. However, under further development, an integrated model helps to simultaneously see a number of facts and viewpoints that affect fashion production. The core category of the model is " considered take and return ". It is based on design philosophies that are linked to other categories: material sourcing; fabric treatment; production methods; saving resources; societal implications; information transparency; and attachment and appreciation.

2012

This paper sets out the experiences of and critical reflections on devising and delivering a Masters level fashion education course in sustainability at London College of Fashion, UK. The course, first established in 2008, has been created from a collaborative, participatory, ecological paradigm and draws on an approach to fashion education that is oriented towards process, action and creative participation in all aspects of the transition to sustainability: social, environmental, economic. This stands in contrast to conventional educational models that concentrate on product or outcome and the preparation of students for economic life. The paper describes the Masters course's broad disciplinary approach and its theoretical framework, drawn from design for sustainability. Through reference to student work, the paper goes on to set out some of the opportunities and challenges that working in this way has presented, including among others; bridging of epistemological differences at an institutional level; new roles for designers working within a framework of sustainability; and emerging ways to visualize the process and practice of sustainability.