Another interesting article taken from The Independent today, discussed some frustrations in dealing with products that not only fall apart, but are designed to fall apart.
Thought it might be time for another poll.
Author: Knowledge Stitch
Fast fashion to blame for female consumer complaints in the UK
Consumer complaints in the UK surrounding poorly made clothing increased by 22% in 2008, according to this article by The Independent. The article cites a report by Consumer Direct released today. It claims that the biggest consumer complaint amongst females came from ‘defective goods’, at 34%.
According to the article, “[i]n the past five years, with the rise of “value” retailers, the price of clothing has fallen by as much as 25 per cent, while shoppers have bought almost 40 per cent more garments. This suggests fast fashion may be behind the increase in problem items.”
The article also cites statistics from another report, released by Global Cool, stating that female shoppers spent £11 billion on clothes that were never worn last year.
Fast fashion has created systems that cycle through clothing at a speed impossible for consumers to keep up with, and impossible to produce proper value items.
What an incredible waste.
green textiles not popular among shoppers
A recent report by The Boston Consulting Group, “Capturing the Green Advantage for Consumer Companies,” surveyed the green consumer purchasing habits of 9,000 shoppers across nine countries.
One section of the report showed that consumers vary their green purchases by product category (see Exhibit 6 in the report). While 14% have bought green before, but are not buying it now and 28% are buying green sometimes, 50% have never bought green. Only 8% of survey participants buy green systematically. As a result, ‘Textiles and clothing’ was listed as the third lowest category.
The report also states the need for companies to keep potential consumers informed with green credentials. These days, what’s in a credential anyway? The report showed that almost survey participants “reported being confused when shopping for green products and uncertain about exactly what being green means, what benefits it provides, and how to tell if a product is green” (18).
The full report is available in PDF here and is worth a read if you are interested in green/ing consumer habits.
Compostmodern 09
If you’re interested in sustainable design, check out the Compostmodern 09 conference. The event will be available as a webcast, so you only have to worry about the long commute to your office, living room, kitchen table, or bed to get there.
Feb 21st is the big day/40$ webcast registration
This years scheduled speakers:
Eames Demetrios/Eames Office
Saul Griffith/Makani Power
Allan Chochinov/Core 77
Nathan Shedroff/MBA Chair, California College of the Arts (CCA)
Michel Gelobter, John Bielenberg and Pam Dorr/Project M and HERO Housing Resource, Alabama
Emily Pilloton/Project H Design
Dawn Danby/Sustainable Design Program Manager, Autodesk
Emcee: Joel Makower/GreenBiz
What does this have to do with sustainable fashion?
Compostmodern is a design conference dedicated to creating a platform for discussion on sustainable design practices. The interdisciplinary nature of the conference has created a network of information sharing that is relevant to discussions in sustainable fashion/textile design practices, as design is interdisciplinary. Last year, Mark Galabraith, discussed the nature of the sustainable filters used to create outdoor clothing company Nau Clothing, Inc. In his presentation, Galabraith discusses the clothing company as wanting to participate in the industry not as a brand, but rather as a cultural movement.
Some of the design questions he mentions as particularly central to the development of Nau Clothing, Inc. are issues surrounding durability, ease of repair, multi-use, raw material (biodegradability and treatment of animals) and impacts within manufacturing processes. He also speaks of the challenges associated with harmonizing urban sensibility with outdoor performance in a way that questions the ‘aesthetic point for sustainability’.
What I found particularly interesting is the company’s warehouse approach (coupled with a showroom boutique) used to hold merchandise. Although customers are able to take their product home immediately, a 10% is available to customers who are willing to have their garment sent to them. The company also boasts a recycle program (end of life strategy) where old products can be reused to be transformed into new ones (polyester used as a post-consumer material)
The key to Nau Clothing, Inc. is flexible design.
Check out Galabraith, and other speakers from last year’s conference here.
Check out more from Nau Clothing, Inc., like this men’s riding jacket, here.
Objectified
Check out the trailer to Objectified: A DocumentaryFilm by Gary Hustwit…
“Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.
Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?”
Source: Objectified, “About the film”
new book investigates the ‘do good’ potential of design
David B. Berman wants design professionals to take his pledge, and commit to use 10% of their design efforts to ‘do good’. In his new book, Do Good Design: How Designers can Change the World Berman links design as the cause of environmental and social concerns today:
How did design help choose a president?
Why are people buying houses they can’t afford?
Why do U.S. car makers now struggle to compete?
Why do we really have an environmental crisis?
If you are interested in investigating the social responsibility of design, this book should prove interesting. Read more on the book and the Berman’s design pledge here.
Berman speaking in Hong Kong, 2006.
Source: davidberman.com and dexigner.com
ZARA and the right to freedom of association
A recent campaign from UNITE HERE Canada claims that the right to freedom of association is at stake for employees at ZARA, in Montréal, Quebec. According to a recent press release, “ZARA has engaged in conduct which may have violated the Québec Labour Code. This has included demoting two employees who led a union drive at ZARA’s downtown Montreal store, firing four employees who supported the union at ZARA’s Rockland Mall store, and holding anti-union meetings at three Montreal stores, in one case telling employees that joining a union is ‘treason’ against the company.”
Click here to view the press release.
feeling fashionably overweight?
The “Household Textile Environmental Impact Calculator” wants your closet to think about going on a diet.
The calculator asseses you based on annual water usage, energy usage, use of non-renewable resources, and pollution. Unfortunately the calculator doesn’t account for non conventional fabrics, such as hemp. What is impressive however, is the fact that the calculator takes you through the lifecycle of your garments: purchasing, care, and disposal.
The year is almost up, so Dec. marks a perfect time to start calculating and re-calculating to think about consumption practices for the year ahead. It doesn’t take long to calculate your annual textile environmental impact, and you may be surprised at how easy it is. I don’t know about the accuracy of it all, but one thing is for sure: the exercise promotes the process of reflecting on the lifecycle of your waredrobe.
So how did you rank?
Source: In the Loop and Ecotextile News
Message from the Asian Human Rights Commission on the 60th Anniversary of UDHR
Many textile and apparel companies boast a commitment to operating within the legal frameworks of the countries in which they manufacture. It would seem only reasonable to expect as much (Congratulations! You didn’t break the law!). Considering the standard of human rights within such countries, should this fact be celebrated?
December 10th marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this video, Basil Fernando, CEO of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), highlights the issue of “non-rule of law”. According to Fernando, the last 60 years of Human Rights has only worked to establish the conversation of rights. He hopes the next 60 years will see the realization and achievement of Human Rights. On this 60th anniversary, I hope that consumers will consider the standard of the law within the countries their garments are produced, and support companies that promote international labour standards rather than those that hide behind frameworks of corrupt legal systems.
The AHRC has released their annual report on the state of human rights in 11 countries (Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand). You can download country reports here
The AHRC also works to document the countless human rights violations taking place in Asia. To receive notification of the AHRC Urgent Requests, just subscribe to their mailing list. Once you receive an urgent request, it only takes a few seconds to follow the link and send the letter of complaint they have already written for you to the appropriate individuals. You can subscribe here.
re: manufacturing TOMS
Unsatisfied with the available information on manufacturing on TOMS site, I send the company some questions via email on Dec. 4th. Sean Scott, Chief Shoe Maker, responded today with some answers. Attached to the email was the company’s Code of Conduct. This information is not available online. If you are interested in reading the Code of Conduct, I suggest you send a request to sean@TOMSshoes.com, or send me a message and I will forward it over to you.
MH: How does TOMS define fair labor standards?
SS: Fair labor standards are defined largely by the local government but mostly by TOMS collective conscience. We easily exceed worldwide legal standards. “Fair labor standards” covers a broad spectrum of issues. Please refer to attached TOMS Code of Conduct required of all our manufacturers.
MH: How does TOMS define fair labor wages?
SS: Please refer to attached TOMS Code of Conduct required of all our manufacturers.
MH: How often are your factories monitored? Your site simply states ‘routinely.’
SS: TOMS employees are in our China and Argentina factories virtually every day. So we can be sure there are no egregious human, social, safety, or environmental violations. That said, we are not experts in these fields. Therefore we contract factory audits by well-established, independent firms 1 or 2 times per year to enlighten us of any important issues.
MH: What are “TOMS strict standards”?
SS: Again, Please refer to attached TOMS Code of Conduct required of all our manufacturers.
MH: Who is the third party monitor used by TOMS responsible for factory audits?
SS: Intertek (ITS) http://www.intertek-labtest.com
MH: Congratulations on the success your company has had with your “one for one” campaign. My concern here is with transparency with respect to manufacturing.
SS: Good questions all. The above and attached info is available to anyone: Grad student, street musician, competitor, whomever…
Take care,
Sean
The obvious question now is why this information is not available on the company site?
Dr Mary F Hanlon 