Week 4: Response to Annie Gullingsrud and Lewis Perkins – Ji Hwan Shin

In this reading, I learned about the design standards set by William DcDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart in creating garments that are both fashionable and sustainable. They based their ideas on the closed loop, circular economy that aims to work with materials that are safe and have strategies for take-back, disassembly, fiber separation, re-production. From the steps they laid out, I thought the aim to put CO2 emissions back into the earth and having clean water as byproduct of manufacturing very interesting. They compared CO2 emissions as “gold” that most factories spew out into the atmosphere. While putting this waste back into the ecosystem seems idealistic, they didn’t really give any examples of companies that succeeded in doing so. However, I liked the example of Designtex that accomplished the reuse of discarded fabrics in the manufacturing process by turning them into biodegradable cover tops in farming. I also felt the need to really pay attention to the social aspect of fashion, knowing the condition of workers in making the clothing I wear on a regular basis. Like the author stated, both technological and material diversity are needed to spur innovation. But innovation cannot exist without happy workers. Implementing better methods of production requires change institutionally and infrastructure-wise. Change occurs slowly, but is necessary in the current growth towards sustainable revolution.

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