Group members: Jennifer and Mehr. Link to slides.
Before starting the slides, I did some research online, not really knowing where to start. Textiles — wow, what a broad topic. So, I begun by looking in my wardrobe to find out what fabrics are used in my clothes. What am I wearing on a daily basis? Before this presentation, I didn’t really care to think about what textiles or blends my clothes were made up of. I would only ever think about 1) what’s comfortable 2) what looks good and 3) what appears to have good quality. I noticed instantly that A LOT of my clothes have polyester. I also noticed that my more expensive clothes were more likely to be 100% this or that, such as cashmere sweaters or leather jackets.
I proceeded to ask my mother for some advice, as she currently works for a corporate wear fashion company. She mentioned that their designers had just gone to a conference to network and learn about new trends, and she directed me to this website. So now I had an idea of where to start. I didn’t have to do much digging until I found the perfect report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation called A New Textiles Economy, which I encourage everyone to read (or at least glance through). Not only does the report comprehensively discuss various textiles in detail, but it also suggests how we might change and improve the industry.
Here are a few interesting figures from the report:
(I am now inclined to stay away from polyester…)
(And generally, to buy less clothes… I should really only buy something if I truly need it…)
Additionally, I highly recommend checking out Figure 13 on page 76 of the report, which discusses utilizing different business models to match different personas such that they can access products that meet their fashion needs. Here is one example from the figure:
I hope the class enjoyed the presentation!