Local Wisdom: Post-Growth Fashion

In order to bring about change, sustainability values and experiences have to be real to people. Yet we know very little about people’s everyday encounters of fashion and sus- tainability. In this paper I explore the interconnections between real, live experiences of sustainability in fashion and what they suggest about the shape and structure of the industry that creates the fashion and clothes that we wear. The experiences, recorded as part of the on-going Local Wisdom project, convey some of the ‘craft’ of using gar- ments of the British public. The project’s aim is to recognize and honour culturally em- bedded sustainability activities in fashion that exist at the level of the user and give them a platform to flourish and inspire. It involves gathering images and stories from the general public about the way clothes are used with the hope of developing fresh understanding about more resourceful and satisfying use of garments. Together, im- ages and tales of resourcefulness, thrift, emotional connection and social defiance ex- press ways in which to improve quality of fashion experience within the physical limits of the clothes we already have. They offer a human scale, intimate and tentative glimpse of a new prosperity in fashion that exists outside the predominant economic and business model of growth that is so closely associated with fashion today

Shared talent: an exploration of the potential of the 'Shared Talent' collaborative and hands on educational experience for enhanced learning around sustainability in fashion practice

Shared Talent is a fashion for sustainability framework, developed by Dilys Williams to facilitate a means for fashion designers to exchange expertise with other protagonists across the supply chain, transcending traditional divisions, be they linguistic, geographic, or discipline based. In 2009, Shared Talent India brought together a diverse group of like-minded designers to share their ideas about fashion, challenge their motivations as designers, and question how they create collections. Equipped with research carried out through Shared Talent 1 and 2, and geographically specific research in a number of locations across India, their collaborative concepts were realised with beautiful results. Through partnership between Defra’s led Sustainable Clothing Roadmap and the Indian Government under the UK:India Sustainable Development Dialogue, Shared Talent India explored and shared knowledge on sustainable design practice with established and emerging designers, makers and NGOs. Participants included twelve designers, based both in the UK and India, suppliers and communities of Indian textile producers, buyers and undergraduates from London College of Fashion, Pearl Academy of Fashion Delhi, and Amsterdam Fashion Institute. The research outcomes aim to innovate towards improved ecological, ethical and cultural criteria in selecting and creating collections, and a means to connect designers and buyers to more sustainable textiles in India. Outputs are available as an open-source online resource to help fashion designers, researchers, students, entrepreneurs and businesses to establish strategies for sourcing sustainability from India; the resource is a culmination of the collaboration and includes contribution by key project team members, project managed by Alex McIntosh and led by Dilys Williams

Fashion Education In Sustainability In Practice

This paper sets out the experiences of and critical reflections on devising and delivering a Masters level fashion education course in sustainability at London College of Fashion, UK. The course, first established in 2008, has been created from a collaborative, participatory, ecological paradigm and draws on an approach to fashion education that is oriented towards process, action and creative participation in all aspects of the transition to sustainability: social, environmental, economic. This stands in contrast to conventional educational models that concentrate on product or outcome and the preparation of students for economic life. The paper describes the Masters course’s broad disciplinary approach and its theoretical framework, drawn from design for sustainability. Through reference to student work, the paper goes on to set out some of the opportunities and challenges that working in this way has presented, including among others; bridging of epistemological differences at an institutional level; new roles for designers working within a framework of sustainability; and emerging ways to visualize the process and practice of sustainability

demi: linking design with sustainability

This paper describes an educational framework offering one possible approach to linking sustainability and design. This framework, developed as part of the demi project, provides links to information new to designers thereby challenging the design status quo. For example, it incorporates the integration of different communities within designing - often from outside traditional boundaries - and an appreciation of environmental and social impacts as designs are conceived, produced, used and then discarded. The paper discusses the demi framework, its content and its educational potential. Further, it explores the possible transferability of the framework to other disciplines, promoting practical and widespread action in education for sustainability

Volume 3.0: Centre for Sustainable Fashion: tactics for change

Documenting the debates raised at the Fashioning the Future Summit, a milestone event run by the CSF in October 2008, and strategising to propose new possibilities for the fashion sector which minimise the negative social, environmental and cultural effects of our practices and maximise connection, innovation and positivity. The keynote speeches from Michael McDonough, Anthony Kleanthous and Sungjoo Kim are also available to view

Exploring demand reduction through design, durability and 'usership' of fashion clothes

Global planetary boundaries confer limits to production and consumption of material goods. They also confer an obligation to experiment, as individuals and collectively as society, with less materially intensive, but no less exuberant, ways of living. This paper takes up this mantle and explores materials demand reduction through a focus on design, fashion garments and the universal, everyday activity of wearing clothes. It takes as its starting point the design of longer-lasting products, a widely favoured strategy for increasing materials efficiency and reducing materials demand in many sectors, including fashion. Drawing on scholarship in the field of design for sustainability and ethnographic research conducted in 16 locations in nine countries about already-existing practices of intensive use and maintenance of clothing, this paper critiques the effectiveness of durability strategies to reduce the amount of materials used. It argues for an update in the familiar preference within sustainability debates for the ‘techno-fix’ to explore instead resourceful use of materials as emerging from human actions and relationships with material goods. It suggests that, while facilitated by design, technology and engineering, opportunities to reduce materials demand begin in individual and collective practices, which, in turn, have dynamic implications for use of materials. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Material demand reduction’

The role of soil biota during invasion of Impatiens glandulifera Royle and restoration at invaded sites.

This thesis focuses on the exotic plant Impatiens glandulifera, which has invaded many habitats in the UK, including north-east England. Soil biota are frequently implicated in influencing plant invasions and here this is investigated by examining the soil-mediated impacts of I. glandulifera on native plant species. Select native plants, along with I. glandulifera, were grown in field-collected soil that had been invaded and not invaded by I. glandulifera. Sterilised versus unsterilised soil was used to test if any differences detected were mediated by soil microbes. Results showed that the growth of the native plant species was not necessarily negatively affected by growing in soils invaded by I. glandulifera. Evidence was also found that I. glandulifera may alter mycorrhizal colonisation of a native plant species in invaded soils. A consistent effect of soil origin was also found, which demonstrates the complexity and context-dependency of plant invasions. Findings from plant-soil interaction studies were then applied to the context of native plant restoration at invaded sites; a management approach often side-lined in invasive plant species control. The utility of two soil treatments were tested for I. glandulifera control, firstly addition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which is a significant contributor to plant biodiversity in natural systems; secondly, additions of activated carbon (AC), which is often used to negate the negative soil-mediated impacts of invasive plant species, through adsorption of allelochemicals. No effect of AMF on plant cover was detected and results suggested that AC may actually increase cover of I. glandulifera and thus may not be a suitable restoration tool

Close to Home / Made in the UK

The first meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, convened by Baroness Lola Young. The meeting explored the contribution that forward thinking UK fashion and textile businesses make to local economies, communities and the environment. Baroness Lola Young, Dr Frances Corner OBE (Head of the London College of Fashion) and Martin Buttle (Supply Chain Manager at MADE-BY) started the meeting with opening remarks and introductions. Dr Kate Fletcher (Reader at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion) expanded on the Close to Home/Made in the UK theme. Five shirt presentations followed from UK manufacturers/brands involved in fashion, textiles and footwear: Christopher Raeburn, Dashing Tweeds, Tender Denim, Ardalanish Isle of Mull Weavers and John Smedley. Ruth Potts (New Economics Foundation) then talked about sustaining local economies and economic well-being. A discussion followed with questions and commentary from the audience, who represented a wide cross section of the industry including high street retailers, press, fashion designers and international organisations. Through the sharing of experiences, personal journeys, discoveries, traditions, technologies and crafts, many of the joys, pains, challenges and opportunities for UK fashion manufacturing where explored. A momentum to keep building. A feeling of positivity and urgency. A debate to be continued. Actions for now and the future we create. There was also a Local Wisdom project underway, to record and celebrate the clothes we wear and the ways in which we wear them. Participants shared the story of their clothing and had their portraits taken wearing it in the Westminster Great Hall