I just wondered onto this site from David Muro II ‘s blog, and wanted to post the link here. It is a video of Emily Pilloton speaking on ‘social minded product design’ at the Metropolis Conference. Pilloton was one of the quest speakers presenting this past Saturday at Compostmodern09 on her work as founder of Project H. Check out the video; these are product design concepts that need to be discussed in fashion design courses. They are interdisciplinary and the cross-over to fashion students is a necessary step toward sustainable fashion design.
The first FIBERcast, featuring Dr. Marsha Dickson and Mr. Doug Cahn, took place today, February 23, 2008. The broadcast was hosted by Dr. Hye-Shin Kim, of the University of Delaware, and focused on “Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry”.
For those not following on Twitter, here are my live tweets of the event: searchable under #fibercast, #csr and #sr
·#csr is not an add-on, its a core issue, supplychain for an apparel company..pay your workers the legal limit, at least make up short fallabout 2 hours ago
·disctinction between compliant and non-compliant/the industry is aflling short. yes there is cost, but also have a business case (save$)#csrabout 2 hours ago
·limitations of factory monitoring asks “what?” not “why?” and quality of auditing can be lacking…provides only ‘snapshop’ #csr #fibercastabout 1 hour ago
·# fibercast #csr #recession: Cahn finds opportunity in downturn for better integration/restructuring interdepartmental thinking opportunityabout 1 hour ago
·#csr #fibercast Dickson: consumer difference perceptions from behaviour. no real ‘no sweat’ label, cannot ensure complianceabout 1 hour ago
·#csr #fibercast Dickson believes to look for honest companies working toward real change #nike #adidas (ex)about 1 hour ago
·# fibercast #csr Cahn: government can play a voluntary role, also use trade agreement..ensure internationally approved standards on importsabout 1 hour ago
New edition of fibre, this edition is focused on China.
Treehugger rounds up the eco fashion scene at New York Fashion Week, here.
An article from The MailOnline talks more about the horrible quality of fast fashion….hey, have you taken the poll from a few weeks back? Don’t tell me your clothes have never malfunctioned!
Greenloop offers a promotional sale up to 75% off (they really just mean an additional 25%).
Now it’s time to move on to much greener pastures: London Fashion Week.
The British Fashion Council (BFC) launches 6th season of estethica today, Feb 20th. Care to read the press release? The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is set to launch a Sustainable Clothing Action Plan off of London Fashion Week. This post from the guardian provided that spoiler alert. Furthermore, it turns out that actor Colin Firth owns an eco shop in London, Eco Age (it’s linked, but the site doesn’t seem to be working). It is launching 12 Degrees pop-up shop, collaboration between Lucy Siegle (the guardian), fashion designer Orsola de Castro (estethica) and Jocelyn Whipple. Exciting stuff.
David Berman asks his reader to understand the ways in which design can impact society, arguing that it has the potential to change the world. Berman successfully establishes and outlines the need for change, and inspires his readers, both designer and design aficionado, to open their minds to the possibilities of a new design industry. What might such an industry look like? For starters, it would hold itself accountable.
With supporting Forwards from Erik Spiekermann (of Spiekermann Partners and Honorary Professor, University of the Arts in Bremen), Min Wang (Dean of Central Academy of Fine Arts School of Design in China and design director of the Beijing Olympics) and Richard Grefé (Executive Director of AIGA), there is no question that Berman’s work is not to be taken lightly.
It is not a book about outlining his own accomplishments as a designer, or his own designs. Rather, it stays focused on qualifying the ways in which design has failed democracy, the environment, the feminist movement, and in fact design itself.
All hope is not lost, as Berman maintains an extremely positive attitude in outlining the ways that design can be used toward creating positive and lasting change. The message is simple: designers have a social responsibility.
I absolutely loved this book, and can’t wait to use it as a guide in my own research.
I wrote earlier on the upcoming Fashioning an Ethical Industry Conference: Putting ethics into practice. It is an event that I am really looking forward to, as this year’s theme is well aligned with my research question (thesis due March 31st, Yikes!). There are lots of events going on at this time through both FEI and the Ethical Fashion Forum (EFF). Please check out these other three events:
Fashion+
Fashion plus workshops and masterclasses
The Ethical Fashion Forum is running a seminar series called “Spotlight on Sourcing”, as part of their Fashion+ project, focused on how fashion can change lives. The series includes:
Ongoing from 20th January 2009
1. Evening seminars on the 3rd Tuesday of every month (excluding fashion weeks) featuring presentations by leading practitioners and experts, updates from suppliers, and structured networking.
2. Masterclasses for smaller groups, going into more depth on each of the issues raised by seminars. Run by experts and practitioners. Masterclasses allow you to focus and work through sourcing challenges faced by your business.
This event information was taken directly from the FEI Events page, here.
Garment factory worker in Bangladesh, FEI, Credit Clean Clothes Campaign
9th March 2009
Open FEI workshops and staff training in Scotland
Staff Training 10.30am – 1.00pm and Student Workshop 2.00 – 4.00pm at Edinburgh College of Art.
Staff Training: This session is a unique opportunity for tutors and support staff at higher or further education instiutions to explore poor working conditions in the garment industry and learn how to integrate ethical issues into course curricula and student’s projects. This session will include presentations from Bangladeshi speakers about their work improving conditions for garment workers in Bangladesh and Liz Parker, FEI project coordinator and a co-editor of ‘Sustainable Fashion: A Handbook for Educators’, discussing different approaches to teaching ethical issues for a wide range of disciplines from design to fashion business and marketing.
Student Workshop: This session will give students the opportunity to hear about working conditions in the garment industry and explore how the lives of workers could be positively transformed by changing the way the fashion industry currently operates.
This event information was taken directly from this FEI Events page, here.
Ethical and Eco Fashion Show
3rd April 2009
Ethical and Eco Fashion Show
Come and see some of the best in ‘eco’ and ‘ethical’ design including Howies, Enamore, Myella, SI:SU and Gringo at the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea on the 3rd April 2009 from 6 to 9.30pm. Tickets cost £4.50 for adults and £3.00 for concessions and can be purchased from Swansea Environmental Centre, Pier Street, Swansea, SA1 1RY or call 01792480200. All proceeds from this event will go to Fashioning an Ethical Industry and Swansea Environmental Centre.
Source: Posters and information from CSF, FEI and FEI, EFF
Register for FIBERcast, taking place on Monday, Feb. 23, 2009 @ 1:30 pm Eastern. Registration is free, but if you miss it live it will be available for download afterwards:
“For our first FIBERcast, join Dr. Hye-Shin Kim of the University of Delaware in examining social responsibility’s role in transforming production and sourcing practices in the global apparel trade. Her guests include Marsha Dickson, University of Delaware professor and chairperson of the Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies, board member of the Fair Labor Association, and co-author of the new book Social Resonsibility in the Global Apparel Industry, and Doug Cahn, of the Cahn Group, LLC, who has been a corporate responsibility and public policy executive for the past 30 years, including vice president of human rights programs at Reebok International. Learn why social responsibility is still needed in the apparel industry and how industry practitioners can align social responsibility initiatives with core business, bottom-line goals.”
I will be attending and will post notes on this site.
I have really been enjoying following Terri Potratz, Kris Krug and Shallom Johnson via The Conveyor Belt share their experience at New York Fashion Week. They are down there representing Vancouver fashion well.
Potratz is also the mastermind behind Larry. and Kris Krug is the founder of Static Photography.
New York Fashion Week will run until the 20th of February. On the 21st, NOW takes over to showcase eco-friendly styles from conscious minded designers:
“NOW is a forum of the newest in progressive, conscious-minded, independent, locally produced fashion design. THE AUTUMN ’09 NOW showcase features a well appointed & intoxicating collective assortment of what is sensational in accessories, womenswear, menswear and eco lingerie. Spring/Summer09 immediate collections also on display.”
Good to know there will be some ethical representation.
Vivienne Westwood recently teamed up with Melissa to create a new shoe collection. “The Fashion Audit: 02/02/09” in The Independent claims that these shoes are made from recycled rubber. The shoe company offers limited information on the details of the environmental factors associated with the plastic. One thing for sure, the shoes, like all Melissa shoes, are made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride). Now, I am no expert on PVC, that’s for sure, but I seem to recall the material being associated with some pretty serious safety and environmental risks. What’s changed? Apparently, at least one PVC manufacturer (Grendene), has been producing sustainable PVC since 1996?
Vancouver based Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) takes a clear stand against the use of PVC in its products. According to MEC,
“Polyvinyl chloride, known as “PVC” or simply as “vinyl”, is a common compound used in thousands of products. But for us and the planet, it’s bad stuff. During manufacture it produces potent carcinogens and toxins including dioxins, chlorine residue, and heavy-metal pollutants. Over their lifespan, PVC products can off-gas and leak some of their dangerous additives. PVC is difficult to recycle; most of it ends up in landfills. When burned, it releases further dioxins and gases such as hydrogen chloride.”
“Plastic is the chosen medium to communicate technology and renewal”
“Because our products are created from mono-materials they can be easily disassembled and recycled. Solid, liquid and gas residues, left over from our production process, are recycled and dealt with in-house. Nothing leaves the factory without being treated, resulting in practically zero waste.”
The company sources its PVC from Grendene, whose site offers no real information on the material. You can read the company’s Code of Conduct here, and a statement on PVC here
I have sent in an email to the people at Melissa, Vivienne Westwood, and Grendene requesting more information on PVC and will hopefully hear back and write more on the subject at a later date.
You can find “The Fashion Audit: 02/02/09” by Harriet Walker here
You can read more on Melissa’s sustainable plastic dreams, and the designers working with the company here
Textile artist Courtney Gallant was just one of the many local Vancouver artists featured last night (Saturday Jan. 31, 2009) at an art show held at Box Studios. Courtney silk-screens images of owls (and robots too) on shirts, scarves, bags, sweatshirts, underwear, cards etc. Part of the proceeds collected from her owl shirts goes directly to O.W.L.(Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society)
Special thanks to Steve Williams, who also featured his work at the show, for organizing the event. Williams seconds as curator/events coordinator for Box Studios.
Dr Mary F Hanlon 