Category: Electives

I found the talk, Anti-Fashion : A Manifesto for the Next Decade, by Li Edelkoort super interesting and eye opening. First of all, I loved her outfit. One of the first points she mentioned was that “fashion industry is old fashioned”.  She mentioned how student studying fashion design think the only way to become successful in the industry is to become a catwalk designer, and she pointed out teachers should point out the importance of designing everyday clothes. This makes a lot of sense to me as people will wear the every day clothes so it should be more important to design those than something for a show. She also pointed out that no one, the designers, consumers or students know a lot about textile and she suggest textile research should be also emphasized in academia. Some of the large fashion brands already recognized this and are opening research departments. This is also really important for finding sustainable materials. She mentioned some cheap brands that sell their clothes cheaper than a sandwich and which, in her opinion, should be regulated in Europe by introducing a minimum price.  One other thing I also found really interesting in her talk is that she said more should be invested in men’s fashion as today’s men are more interested in fashion and their lifestyle has changed a lot in the past century. One other thing she pointed out was the trend for “non fashion” which is the idea that many people nowadays don’t have to dress up for work , or don’t have time. These two could be interesting target groups for the final project. 

In the article, Slow Fashion: An Invitation for Systems Change, the author, Kate Fletcher talks about the idea of “slow fashion”. In the past decades, just like fast food, fast fashion appeared. Clothing is produced in mass quantities and sold for very cheap price around the world. They are often produced in developed countries and sold in the west for a few euros or dollars, just like Li Edelkoort said, “cheaper than a sandwich”. Many started to realize that this is not sustainable in the long term because fast fashion effects many people and the environment. Clothes are thrown away very quick because they lost their value. When McDonalds opened in Rome, a bunch of Italians started a movement, called the “Slow Food Movement” that means not only the rejection of eating cheap and unhealthy food but also the rejection of large-scale, mass-production business models. Similarly, in fashion the term, “slow fashion” understood as products that are “less fast”. I often read in magazines how a woman should always have a little black dress that can be worn any time for many years because it is classic and does not really go out of style. ( And probably no one will notice if you wear it twice). However, “slow fashion” is not only that.  Slow fashion products are produced and sold with a different business model. The author mentions that economic and social practices have to be part of the fashion debate. “The challenge for us all is to model and influence the overall regulating fashion system to promote balance accompanied by richness across economic, social, and ecological systems as a whole”

Response to “Slow Fashion: An Invitation for Systems Change” by Kate Fletcher

Fletcher brings up a fundamental issue with the economics of mass production that I unequivocally agree with: the greed for business growth impacts our treatment of the environment, workers, and quality.  In order to affect change, both consumers and producers have a responsibility to question the current status quo and adjust their behavior, goals, and mindsets. To embrace sustainability, fashion businesses should look to the farmers’ markets and artisanal ice cream shops of the world for how to embrace slowness, localness, quality, and even diversity.  Farmers markets sell different goods depending on the season, and almost always run out of the “good stuff” in the first hour — the type of goods may very well also vary from week to week. And, we know that consumers do not mind paying the premium for the organic, local quality. By reconsidering mass production and choosing slow fashion, fashion businesses can change the wasteful cycle that they are currently stuck in.

Additionally, fashion companies should utilize technology to more accurately predict demand to avoid unnecessary excess in production. Perhaps they could even re-think the entire shopping experience. What if – instead of instantly buying a garment that almost fits – a consumer walks into the store, browses the garments, then gets their measurements taken, and finally requests a custom-made piece that is produced locally and delivered within the month. This, of course, requires consumers to truly embrace slow fashion and change their expectation of taking the piece home right away, but if we can collectively change the nature of demand, then businesses will have to follow suit.

Response to  “Anti-Fashion: A Manifesto for the Next Decade” by Li Edelkoort

Edelkoort discusses various areas of the fashion industry that we need to re-think, from advertising, retailing, branding, to the interactivity of the shopping experience and claims that “we need to be more interactive in the way we display things” [Edelkoort], which I fully agree with.  The biggest challenge with changing the display boils down to how humans interact with brands offline. Where do they go? How do they expect to interact with a piece of clothing before and after they buy it? If we are to change the display and shopping experience, then we will have to change the mentality of instant gratification and the cost expectations that the consumer has.  Perhaps the piece is not cheaper than a sandwich, or perhaps you buy the piece today and receive it in 3-4 weeks.  Brands like Zara and H&M will eventually be challenged by smaller, local boutiques who can offer more unique and sustainable options. However, in order to compete with the larger brands, industry leaders will have to agree on a regulated price point, as Edelkoort points out.

Edelkoort really struck me when she said “sometimes when you buy a t-shirt you kill somebody … it’s better to buy fur”, which emphasizes the problematic state of current manufacturing. This also reminded me of a story my mother (who used to trade textiles based out of Hong Kong) once told me about factories and coloring: “one time, a factory got a turquoise blue wrong by the slightest shade, and they had to reproduce 1000s of t-shirts”. On top of that, the color of the shirts that were wasted, was particularly harmful to the environment.  So, by moving away from mass production, into smaller, local businesses, perhaps we can avoid these logistical nightmares and make better quality pieces that not only look good but also feel good physically and mentally.

I also particularly enjoyed Edelkoort’s comment on the new man and how fashion needs to give more attention to creating pieces that embrace the more sensitive, elegant, and less macho man.  In many ways, the fashion industry has lagged behind, with fin-tech, health-tech, and even ed-tech gaining traction to improve and innovate, where is the fashion-tech?

Response to Li Edelkoort, Li. Anti-Fashion: A Manifesto for the Next Decade：

In the video Anti-Fashion: A Manifesto for the Next Decade, Li Edelkoort claims that “Fashion is old-fashioned” and makes her Anti-Fashion declaration. After watching the video, I think the core of Anti-fashion can be called as creative fashion, not following the trend. Edelkoort summarizes the reasons why the fashion system was broken. They can be roughly classified into six categories. There is one I specifically want to talk about – the designer is reusing the ideas from the past.

Some designers make clothes for making clothes, and they are only looking for cool and unique visual effects (to please the group of people who don’t want to understand the cultural ties behind fashion which has a large amount), but they don’t care about changing and developing their design according to the changes around them. Even if there is a change, it is only a change in the sales and display mode of the clothing. “With this lack of conceptual innovation, the world is losing the idea of ​​fashion,” Edelkoort says. Things happen around us, I always see fashion design brands in the name of “tribute” or “retro” continue to use the former designers’ designs. This is the most “in sheep’s clothing” style “fashion” – change the face but not the heart. But what makes me speechless is that these products are still hot sought after by large amounts of consumers. On the surface, what we see is that the brand still probably earns a bucket of money through these ways. However, there’s always an end for “retro”, leftovers cannot be fresh again no matter how you cook it. Then, what is the way out for fashion?

Nowadays, fashion almost equals as business, especially in the social environment where consumerism is paramount. To my opinion, I think the most important thing for the designers is to find out their own design style and stick to it. Don’t get lost in the flow of trends. If they want the consumers to pay attention to the culture value behind the products, they have to give them value first.

Response to Kate Fletcher “Slow Fashion: An Invitation for Systems Change” ：

After watching the speech by Li Edelkoort, reading Kate Fletcher’s article helps me gain a better understanding of why we should talk about sustainability with fashion. When Fletcher talked about fast fashion, she mentions that it is a kind of behavior that the companies respond quickly to “fashion” and then pushes the products to consumers. The ultimate goal of that is to increase sales profits. Slow fashion is a more rational and lasting fashion, emphasizing the eternal and individual style, and it is hard to copy. Its connection with business is as direct and profound as fast fashion.

I think that we can’t say fast fashion has no style. As far as I know, some e-commerce companies in the Chinese market not only have fast-paced production, but also maintain a good level of design, it can still make consumers “slow down” to some extent. But it is undeniable that most of the fast consumption has an important feature – cheap. Cheap helps to reduce the cost of people’s impulse consumption, blind waste. While impulsive consumption is an innate habit that many people can’t get rid of, cheap stuffs just make them enter a Buy-throw-buy loop.

I think that neither fast fashion nor slow fashion can be entirely praised or denied. They each have their own principles and reasons to exist. For example, H&M and Stutterheim are both from Sweden, the former is a representative of fast fashion, selling cheap clothes in their own created high-end fashion atmosphere to satisfy consumers’ pursuit of “latest” psychological needs. Although the raincoat made by Stutterheim is expensive, it is said to be a raincoat that can be worn for a lifetime. It is also one of the representatives of persistent fashion. To sum up, I think the relationship between fast fashion and slow fashion is like the relationship between people’s desires and needs. Neither of them should be gotten rid of. Instead we need to find a balance between them.