I found this week’s reading extremely eye opening. The author states, whenever we think about sustainability in fashion or in general we tend to only think of “zero impact”. However, she points out whatever we produce WILL have an impact. This makes sense and she points out that this impact actually can be positive. For example she mentions the cradle-to-cradle approach, which means that “everything is food” so that everything can be upcycled unlimited times.
week3 reading response
This weeks reading talks about how design thinking framework can be applied in fashion design. The main point of the author is that a designer should not consider people as groups but pay more attention to the individuals in order to create more sustainable clothing. The author defines sustainability in terms of well-being. She mentions there are two important factors of sustainability in fashion : aesthetic and function. Clothes cannot just look good but they also have to be functional. She claims a designer should study what people do with their clothes and whether clothes are doing what they are intended to do such as providing protection, safety or allowing the user to move freely. The author also criticized standard size and the idea of target groups. She claims, target groups create idealized body types and this will work against sustainability and against the well-being of many. Clothes that are designed with a human-centered approach will last longer because they fit and the user is happy to wear them.
Week 2/ 2 response to readings
In her text, the author, Alice Payne, talks about the life-cycle of fashion garments in the Australian market. Even though this study was done in Australia, I believe, the findings in general can apply to the whole fashion industry. The first step of the life-cycle of clothes is FIBER. In Australia, the most used fibers are cotton, polyester and regenerated fibers. Cotton is a natural fiber, however it requires a lot of water to grow the plant to in large quantities it is harmful for the environment. Companies have to start at the level of fibers, they need to choose ones that are not environmentally harmful however those are often more expensive. The next phase is TEXTILE PRODUCTION. Spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing phases of textile production often involve poor labor practices and toxic waste is reduced to the environment. Companies have to think about designing clothes in the phase of DESIGN that are made from textiles that are colored and made in a way that is not harmful. Thus, whatever kind of textiles are available and can be made in a sustainable, natural way could influence trends. According to the reading, “waterless dyeing techniques are important innovations, but are currently prohibitive in the mass market due to cost and volume.” Decision are made in the level of design that will impact the whole cycle. Manufacturing is the next phase of the garment’s life-cycle. Often said to exploit the lives of workers. The next phase is distribution which is an important phase, as this is where the product?company will interact with the consumer. According to the reading, ” in design for sustainability, retail is an opportunity to engage with consumers in new ways, whether through co-design or through implementing product service systems (PSS).”
The phase that has the biggest environmental impact. It was shocking to read how harmful my t-shirts are for the environment. “purchasing a 250g cotton T-shirt implies purchasing 1,700g of fossil fuel, depositing 450g of waste to landfill and emitting 4kg of CO2 into the atmosphere.” These numbers are very shocking to me.
The last step is disposal. In order to create sustainable fashion, designers have to keep in mind what happens with the clothes we do not want to wear anymore. Can they be recycled or repurposed?
Week 2/ 1 Reading Response
Short-term ethnography
In the text, the author mentions that “short-term ethnography” often understood as spending less time on a an ethnographic research as opposed to “long-term ethnography”. However, later it is mentioned that even though less time is spent in the “ethnographic place”, the researcher can have long- term interaction with the place with the help of technology. One can do further observation with audiovisual recordings. Long-term ethnography usually means “long hanging around” and waiting for something to happen. In case of short -term research it is important to emphasize with the people studied, try to do some of the tasks they do and use some of the products they do. Interviews can be important as well. The author argues against long-term ethnography, saying that in that case dialog usually only takes place at the end of the research while in case of short-term ethnography it usually takes place quicker and more focused.
Week 1. / 2 response to Woodward
My main take away from this reading is that, as the author mentions, “sustainability is not an aim , but an outcome”. In order to understand sustainability in fashion and design fashion products for people, one needs to observe what people do with fashion, what happens to the products post-purchase. This means that fashion cannot be defined externally but often comes from social practices and every day activities. Woodward introduces the term, “Accidentally sustainable” in case of jeans. From ethnographic research it turns out people own jeans for longer time than other clothes thus it’s a more durable piece of clothing. This could be because denim is more durable than other materials or because people tend to wash their jeans less than other clothes but most likely because jeans is “a medium to be ordinary.”The author mentions, it is found that there are some pieces of clothing that are “slow-burners” such as denim skirt or skinny jeans, something people wear over longer period of times and it does not go out of fashion. Fashion emerges from wider cultural values and every day activities and there is a relationship between wearer and clothes. People have a desire not to replace things and often recombine things they already own with new ones. So I believe, when designing sustainable fashion, one has to think about what pieces of clothing do people already own and love? What are ways of recombining these? What are ways of developing long term relationships with clothes? Sustainability does not only come from the production side but from the consumers too.