Upon the realization of the many problems that the world faces today, (social, ecological, local, global, economic, etc.) many people from an array of disciplines and backgrounds are realizing the necessity for drastic sustainable change. Quite simply, there are a multitude of things wrong with our system of operating and we must act to change, as it is imperative to our global health and well-being in every sense.
Many words come to mind when thinking of the necessary sustainable transitions we must face: re-conceptualize, re-frame, re-design, re-localize, re-skill, and re-imagine, just to name a few. This idea of “re” has “re-vamped” many social movements and practices that aim towards living more sustainably. One such concept with this impact is refashioning.
In particular, I refer to refashioning used garments and textiles for the purpose of re-creating clothes for the individual wearer while simultaneously counteracting textile waste and retail consumerism. The reason for studying refashioning stems from the underlying issues within the entire fashion industry at large. The fashion industry contributes directly in a myriad of ways to the problems we find throughout our world today.
The good news is that many involved within the fashion industry are beginning to take ecological sustainability into account every step of the way of creating a garment. The drawback that caught my attention is the lack of representation of sustainable fashion measures within academia, especially in America. There is much more research regarding the sustainability of fashion going on in the UK and Europe. However in Europe, there
are many more accounts of measures of sustainability taken from within the fashion industry and not as much focus on consumer agency or individual practice.
Thus, I have studied the place, practice, and communities associated with the refashioning of used, or secondhand clothing and textiles between October 2014 and April 2015 on a local level in North Carolina as well as on an international level thanks to DIY communities made visible through the internet. Prevailing themes have been weaved into my research—those of sustainability, DIY, bricolage, and building communities of practice. All of these themes have intertwined this relatively small practice of refashioning with bigger ideas and lessons we can learn about the sustainable transitions we all must face to reimagine our future and not fall victim to the ‘Business as Usual’ (see Macy and Johnstone, 4-5) approach (and its effects) that currently dominates our mode of being in the world.Bachelor of Art
