Category: Sustainable Fashion

Name : Mehr Un Nisa Javed
Professor: Nimrah Syed
Date:22nd Feb’2019

Partners: Samanta and Jennifer.

URL of the Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/198ETLYYKEmfw-gvRuK8xV6XIXN7aCQVDHhfMdpfm9XQ/edit?usp=sharing

Objective: select different textile materials and present their properties, usage, trends and contributions in the industry along with documentation submission
The first thing which we did as the starting point for this research was that we first looked into our closets and checked what kind of fabrics do we have, which type are in excess, which we purchase in low amounts and which sort of fabrics we do not have at all. Then, For this presentation as we worked in a group of 3 where we spilt the work i.e. Samanta worked upon the synthetic fibers and their properties and usages and I worked upon the natural fibers i.e. wool, silk, cotton etc and their properties and usages. Finally, Jennifer picked the area of trends and diff. textile materials contribution in the fashion industry.

The most important natural fabrics which I chose were cotton (which is breathable and inexpensive), Linen (one of the oldest fabrics), wool(an excellent insulator of heat), silk(expensive but…) etc. I really enjoyed working on this assignment as I got to know about many new different fabrics which I was unaware of but they had great advantages. However, at the same time it made me really conscious about my usage of different fabric and how harmful they could be for the planet. For instance, when I recalled my recent purchase which was a fabric Viscose then I realized that how bad it could have been for our Mother Earth because the production solvent for Viscose is carbon disulphide which is highly toxic and its unsafe release of solvents in water can typically have hazardous impacts. This made me realize that we must make informative decision of investing in different fabrics instead of just picking up any random one by following the trend.

Overall, I really liked the overall coordination we had in a group and the way we all split the work to make it more efficient and share ideas which would have qn everlasting impact and would lead to more conscious decisions.

Here are some screenshot from the presentation to elaborate what it was basically about:

The first thing we did was that we looked at our wardrobes to see our consumption:

Next, we ran through the different types of fabrics available in the market:

This shows that the most dominating one is polyester since its cheap and readily available due to its mass production 

Then, we ran through the natural fibers which are expensive yet not very damaging for our planet

An example for it could be silk which is extremely expensive and can’t be used for a long period of time yet its consumption can still lead towards sustainability. 

Later, we noticed the environmental impacts of various textiles. They have disastrous affects in all parts of the world because the recycling of the clothing is less than 1% which gives producers a chance to produce in bulks to satisfy the demands of the consumers. 

Finally, for the last part we worked upon the innovations in the textile industry. There have been quite a lot of advancements due to the wide use of technology around the world. Now, there are many sustainable practices being done around the globe so that our planet can be save. A few of the new textile innovations are Wood Fibre Yarn Technology, using infrared heat etc. 

Note: Haven’t submitted late just did not know about the photos feature so updated my documentation (and it is posted on Friday because on the syllabus it did not say anywhere that it was due on the day of presentation so I was not aware of it or possibly because I missed the first class because I got enrolled late in the class). 

The readings follow class discussions very closely, providing context and elaboration on the subjects. Sasha and I are currently developing ideas for our future projects, and have been thinking about following the manufacturing process by ordering tailoring as part of our research.  The “Garment Design” emphasised how this stage heavily contributes to weather an article of clothing is considered sustainable. (*Planning to bring this up to Sasha for a discussion, I am curious what she retained from this stage in the reading as we prepare our plans*) I would also like to note that Group 2’s presentation on textiles was very effective as I was able to understand Payne’s references and more importantly why she was using the particular references in the context of ecology. In the quotation “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” the figures are absolutely startling and I would love to see a notice as such on the front of a T-shirt (similarly how nutritional information/ ingredients have to be provided legally) and then to do an observation of costumer reaction. Hypothetically if I were to entertain this short-term ethnographic research pitch, I would do separate samples of 1) the notice being on the clothing as the customers approach it; and 2) providing this information to people at check-out. I would like to see how or if this would change people’s approach to shopping in Fast Fashion stores. At leat for me, I believe this would encourage to really consider if this is a “need”, a “want”, or “autopilot/ store influenced” decision making. Glad I have a change to take this course and learn, so I too can be much more conscious about the larger picture when shopping. Another interesting point I would like to mention is the choice of the investigation location. I think I great input can be gained by looking at a country like Australia, as it is very self-sufficient and is a smaller sample that looking at the content of North America (for example). From this patterns and considerations can be drawn and applied to larger scope operations. 

Tim Ingold, who is an anthropologist suggested that Ethnography is a way of conducting research “to describe the lives of people other than ourselves, with an accuracy and sensitivity honed by detailed observation and prolonged first‐hand experience” (2008a:69). I really liked this quote and understood it quite well as I have been taking many social science classes which are related to observation i.e. participant or non-participant observation. I quite agree that when we are observed by someone else lens then we can be more sufficiently and realistically seen instead of viewing ourselves on our own. Therefore, ethnography holds great importance as it has great amount of fieldwork involved.

I also really liked where they supported short term Ethnography over long term ethnography. They have also cleared in the minds of the readers that there is no point to consider the short term ethnography as inferior because many people think that it is usually conducted due to time constraints and deadlines etc.

Here, I would like to add that one of our classmate shared his story of being a part of the short ethnography study in Shanghai and he found it too fruitful and made useful conclusions by conducting a participant and non-participant research.

Finally, I feel like the article was a bit hard to focus on and I lost my interest in the middle because it lacked a lot of proofs to support their saying and mainly some interesting examples.