Author: arh522

Link to Medium post:

https://medium.com/@alessandrahallman/the-shanghai-co-op-9f8de8b9f29d

Link to Google Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15o7RpBKrj2PaDUNF00ToFUsDLlEgnTI6c4t-Ln1yqk0

Link to Zine:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1z9dgsbHR8x3gBRxBUzbtzLLKfHKC0tMK

Idea evolution: Eva and I’s project idea evolution started around the third week of this semester. She and I have taken IMA classes before this course, and we decided that we needed to present a final project different to what we knew was expected in IMA classes (i.e. website, app idea, video, etc.). Also, Eva and I began talking about how hard it is here in Shanghai to find an internship in our desired fields (fashion and graphic design), and how the only jobs available to us require lots of prior experience.  we realized we could take advantage of this opportunity and create this prior experience by presenting our skills/interests through our final. We identified our research question and method, and immediately began scheduling and sending email communication to Nimrah.   

Research Problem: Uninformed consumer

Research Question: What are fashionable alternatives to participating in fast fashion?

Research Goal: Through presenting these ideas (in an aesthetically pleasing way), we want to emphasize that worth needs to be re-injected into clothing, i.e. fast fashion=disposable clothing, any of our options outlined in the zine=clothing has worth and shouldn’t be disposed. Small steps > no steps taken at all.

Asset development: We have done all 6 outfit photo shoots, and we are scheduled to have all visual assets edited/shot/done by end-of-day March 22. I am planning on finishing all text-based assets by March 20. I am also in conversation with a printing company to see whether or not printing is possible, but the prices for printing with eco-friendly ink and recycled paper is too far out of my price range, even for just 10 copies. 

Much like Scatturo’s piece, Annie Gullingsrud and Lewis Perkins are focused on re-wiring designers’ and retailers’ intent behind their designs. They include several solutions for how clothing can be designed to be sustainable, and that clothing’s purpose should be to benefit and enrich the human experience, not burden it with the omen of future disaster. Their focus is on “Cradle to Cradle” design, or the idea that pulling the resource out in order to make something should also benefit where the resource was pulled from. For example, by using products that are easily recyclable, the designer is indirectly benefitting where the textile came from since they won’t need to remove so much in the future. This idea, while it seems simple to many, is actually quite revolutionary in the fashion industry. Fashion pieces throughout history are either made to be worn often or meant for leaving a lasting impression on those around you, or art you can wear. None of these are related to what happens before the piece is made, and that is why we find ourselves in the critical situation we’re in. By focusing on enriching all destinations of a fashion piece——from sourcing to creation to closet to disposal——we’re able to solve the fast fashion problem without resorting to giving up personal style or slowing everything down. 

I always knew Eileen Fisher as my mom’s favorite brand, nothing more. Little did I know that it is one of the worlds most dedicated brands towards the sustainable fashion movement. I first found out about their impact when researching for Eva and I’s final, and this reading really opened my eyes further on what they’re working towards sustainability-wise. The company has so many interesting sustainability initiatives, both in-house and outreaching. They’ve shown consistent effort towards sustainable fashion advancements, even when faced with the failure of their initiatives not performing as well as they’d hoped. Most other brands would’ve reveled publicly in the fact that they’d tried to be sustainable, it didnt work out, so they were just going to go back to fast fashion business as usual. Much like Patagonia, Eileen Fisher seems to be more focused on the sustainable fashion movement than profit, and they’re trying to influence their consumers to feel the same way. They regularly partner with organizations dedicated to keeping brands honest about their sustainable fashion initiatives and producing clean products. It’s refreshing to see this approach from more brands other than just Patagonia, and if I liked the clothing they produced, I would buy more Eileen Fisher pieces. Since I don’t, I’ll just keep encouraging my mom to buy more from them than other brands.

Eva and I’s Zine focused on the relationship between consumer and seller at both the Whole Notions Market and the Shanghai South Bund Soft Spinning Materials Market. We wanted to look deeper into the superficial, day to day interactions between both groups, and to further understand the similarities and motivations behind these interactions. I appreciated the ethnographic research method we did, but I wished I had more of a Chinese language ability in order to investigate more of our interest with such little time. I took care of the written part of the zine (all except the “What Is Concious Shopping?” tab), copied and pasted below. Eva was in charge of taking the photos and the zine’s visual aspects, both tasks she did perfectly! I could not be happier with how it looks, and I cannot wait until our final project!

“Consumers:

The aspirational image of the 21st century human is the millennial entrepreneur. The most successful of which here in China are owners of Taobao shops. The app has a stronghold on the buying practices of consumers across the country, and those wishing to make it big are smart to capitalize on the ever-increasing speed of China’s fast fashion. Whether making their own designs or copying others, these owners need a place to buy cheap materials in large quantities in order to keep up with their stiff competitors. For that, they come to establishments like the Wholesale Notions Market (Shanghai Tan Shang Xia) and the South Bund Soft Spinning Materials Market. These materials are cheap and in high quantities; both typical qualities of unsustainable objects. The shop owners could choose to be more sustainable if the options were presented to them, but a walk around both markets shows cheap materials ready to fly off the shelves and nothing else.

Producers: 

It is hard to explain the feeling while walking through these markets. The whole atmosphere screams “quick, cheap, easy!” And if that vibe isn’t enough, the stall owners will literally scream it while you walk past. Besides the labyrinth-like set up of both marketplaces, everything is optimized for the quickest and most efficient consumer-seller relationship, regardless of language ability. As you make your way through these markets and pay attention to the activity within the stalls, you can see packages upon packages of materials coming in and whole products coming out. Although both markets are bustling with activity, there is an air of desperation while walking through these locations. The issue facing both the materials market and the tailor market is the encroachment of larger fast fashion brands on the Chinese online marketplace. Just as the Taobao shop owners depend on the cheap materials from both markets, the stall owners need the patronage of the shop owners, and both sides of this consumer-seller relationship have everything to lose if larger, mostly foreign fast fashion brands keep expanding at their current exponential rate. For this reason, it is difficult for these vendors to care about—much less to become aware of—sustainable alternatives to the items they sell. This change will come with the conscious shopper.

Conscious shopping:

Regardless if you live in a capitalist or a socialist-with-Chinese-characteristics economic system, the world around you works on a supply and demand system. If the demand for an item is high, then the economic system around that item adjusts to meet it. Products become cheaper and more efficient when there is a market for them, and this can lead to huge changes for the sustainable fashion movement. The consumer has the control; they are not the victim nor the villain in the fast fashion narrative. If made aware of options and alternatives to big fast fashion brands they’ve come to rely on, the consumer can lead the charge towards a more sustainable fashion future. An influx in demand for sustainable, quality materials will allow stall owners to supply their Taobao shop-owner customers with these at a competitive price. Opting for tailor-made pieces over ill-fitting fast fashion products will enlighten the consumer to remember the worth clothing has, and how important intent is behind design. “Quality over quality” is the mantra of the conscious consumer, and if implemented in the buying habits of enough Chinese consumers, both the Taobao shop owners and the market stall owners here in Shanghai will follow suit.”