SUSTAINABLE FASHION: WHY NOW?
J. Hethorn and C. Ulasewicz
(Fairchild Books, 2008)
Fashion and sustainability together, is an issue that has been around for many years but has only become important within the last 15 years. This book investigates the relationship between fashion and sustainability and the importance the two have on the apparel industry. The authors Hethorn and Ulasewicz include a combination of interesting essays within the book that present a range of reflective perspectives. The book is constructed of three main parts: “Connecting With People On Sustainable Practices”, “Production and Economic Processes In The Global Economy”, and “The Environment, The Planet and Materials Used In Fashion Making”.
The first part presents arguments ranging from the history of the industry to the use of technology to support sustainable practices. Also it talks about strategies being used to inform the next generation of designers on how to include sustainability as part of their everyday thinking. Also the efforts in educating and listing to the consumer, and the ways they can have an impact. I think this is important to my research as I need to fully understand the consumer’s role and how they can in actual fact, help or destroy the eco-fashion world.
The second part addresses the theories and approaches that are starting to change the way we produce fashion and maintain this industry as a sustainable part of the economy. This is also good for my research as this part talks about different fibres and textiles, sourcing strategies and re-cycling which are all important to a sustainable way of producing eco-fashion. In this part of the book, the authors challenge the reader to begin thinking about what creative solutions there are to the issues surrounding sustainability and the global economic health. – Which is also another interesting area to investigate further for my research, because it will offer me arguments on the best possible ways to maintain a healthy economy and green environment and finding the right balance within them.
The final part focuses on what the textile/fashion industry is doing at present to adapt to the environmental issues that has caused global concern. There is an interesting discussion on what possibilities there is out there for the industry to change their use of materials to vintage and second hand garments.
The authors have designed this book to be of importance to anyone with connections to the fashion industry: designers, product developers, marketers, retailers, teachers, students and consumers who also have the desire to help the economy by adapting to green living. I think the authors’ aim in the book is to get the reader thinking about change and the importance it will have in the future. Sustainability is not like fashion trends where it will be tossed out next season, it is a growing trend that will become more and more involved in everyday life.
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Monday, 29 November 2010
Re- Fashion Re- Purpose, desinging with sustainable style (Analysis of Article)
Re – Fashion, Re: Purpose: Designing With Sustainable Style
Personal Author – Hubbell, Leesa
Journal Name – Surface Design Journal, v 34 no 3, (spring 2010) p. 16 – 21
Publication Year – 2010
ISSN – 0197-4483
www.surfacedesign.org
This article is to make awareness of how present designers are adapting to environmental issues by using re-cycled materials.
The author introduces Kathleen Tesnakis, a woman who invented ‘e-ko logic clothing’. E-ko logic clothing is made from 100 per cent re-cycled cashmere sweaters. Since Tesnakis started the clothing line, seven tons of post-consumer knits have passed through her hands resulting in more than 30,000 individually designed pieces. Her core collection consists of felted cashmere hats, topless mittens, re-assembled sweaters, skirts and dresses and it also includes a line of re-cycled cotton knits.
The author also explains the process that Tesnakis goes through to produce her sustainable clothing line. A lot of consideration is taken in to account when using re-cycled materials. E-ko logic has received both a nomination for the rising star of 2001 Fashion Group International award and the ACC award of excellence in 2007.
The author includes a quote from Tesnakis which shows her intensions as a designer. Tesnakis also raises a question that is becoming more important to present designers and it should become a vital question to new designers in the future.
Tesnakis explains…”I consider myself a green textile artist and a recycling designer. I am also a green activist by what I do—but I like to open people's eyes in a gentle way. In Troy I recycle NYC textile waste that travels north 150 miles. With all the green washing that is going on, I feel it is important to find out about the real integrity of the products. You can call your work green or recycled—but where are you getting your materials from?"…..
The author also introduces Kate Goldwater, who finds her raw materials from thrift stores or rummage sales and turns them into ‘AuH20’. Goldwater is known for her creative ‘cut and sew knits’. By hacking up re-joining vintage T-shirts into new compositions, she creates a new form of life. Goldwater is also known for her use of collaborating fashion with politics, by screen printing keywords or images of the causes she cares about on to her garments.
Gary Harvey, former creative director of Levi Strauss (Europe), presented incredible gowns made from vintage denim, nylon baseball jackets, trench coats and Hawaiian shirts as well as military fatigues and plastic laundry bags at the Esthetical Exhibition at London Fashion Week 2007.
A quote from Harvey; …..“I believe we can contribute to a fashion revolution”…..
The author is identifying key events that have taken place within the last few years that are now making a difference within the fashion and textile world. Hubble is trying to make people aware of the changes designers have to make in order to help green living, now and in the future. She is raising the awareness of sustainable designing and how it is becoming the next big thing. I believe the key question that the author hopes to evoke in the readers mind is,
…..“Where has the materials come from that made the clothes you are wearing?”
I imagine that the author‘s intention from raising this question is to make the reader more aware of green living and how important it is becoming in saving the planet in the future.
Personal Author – Hubbell, Leesa
Journal Name – Surface Design Journal, v 34 no 3, (spring 2010) p. 16 – 21
Publication Year – 2010
ISSN – 0197-4483
www.surfacedesign.org
This article is to make awareness of how present designers are adapting to environmental issues by using re-cycled materials.
The author introduces Kathleen Tesnakis, a woman who invented ‘e-ko logic clothing’. E-ko logic clothing is made from 100 per cent re-cycled cashmere sweaters. Since Tesnakis started the clothing line, seven tons of post-consumer knits have passed through her hands resulting in more than 30,000 individually designed pieces. Her core collection consists of felted cashmere hats, topless mittens, re-assembled sweaters, skirts and dresses and it also includes a line of re-cycled cotton knits.
The author also explains the process that Tesnakis goes through to produce her sustainable clothing line. A lot of consideration is taken in to account when using re-cycled materials. E-ko logic has received both a nomination for the rising star of 2001 Fashion Group International award and the ACC award of excellence in 2007.
The author includes a quote from Tesnakis which shows her intensions as a designer. Tesnakis also raises a question that is becoming more important to present designers and it should become a vital question to new designers in the future.
Tesnakis explains…”I consider myself a green textile artist and a recycling designer. I am also a green activist by what I do—but I like to open people's eyes in a gentle way. In Troy I recycle NYC textile waste that travels north 150 miles. With all the green washing that is going on, I feel it is important to find out about the real integrity of the products. You can call your work green or recycled—but where are you getting your materials from?"…..
The author also introduces Kate Goldwater, who finds her raw materials from thrift stores or rummage sales and turns them into ‘AuH20’. Goldwater is known for her creative ‘cut and sew knits’. By hacking up re-joining vintage T-shirts into new compositions, she creates a new form of life. Goldwater is also known for her use of collaborating fashion with politics, by screen printing keywords or images of the causes she cares about on to her garments.
Gary Harvey, former creative director of Levi Strauss (Europe), presented incredible gowns made from vintage denim, nylon baseball jackets, trench coats and Hawaiian shirts as well as military fatigues and plastic laundry bags at the Esthetical Exhibition at London Fashion Week 2007.
A quote from Harvey; …..“I believe we can contribute to a fashion revolution”…..
The author is identifying key events that have taken place within the last few years that are now making a difference within the fashion and textile world. Hubble is trying to make people aware of the changes designers have to make in order to help green living, now and in the future. She is raising the awareness of sustainable designing and how it is becoming the next big thing. I believe the key question that the author hopes to evoke in the readers mind is,
…..“Where has the materials come from that made the clothes you are wearing?”
I imagine that the author‘s intention from raising this question is to make the reader more aware of green living and how important it is becoming in saving the planet in the future.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Assignment 3, mind map and group disscusion
At the moment this topic i have chosen is not set in stone. I am not totally 100% sure this topic will be suitable as i will need to research it further to find out if i can get enough imformation on it.
I think the child slavery aspect of it will be quite interesting to follow up on, but i am slightly worried that i might not get a chance to get promary research i.e interviews etc. I will need to think of other ways to do this if i continue with this topic.
I have photographs of our group meeting up, but i have to wait and get them off of a memeber in the group who took the photos. They will be posted up as soon as possible.
At the group meeting we had a disscussion about the possible topics each of us could take further. Some of the group members had a very clear picture on what they are going to do their dissertation on next year. Others, like myself were a bit dazed! to say the least! I was finding it rather difficult to think of a topic then and there and start brainstorming on it. I want to have a bit more time to consider what areas definetley engage my interest so that i am fully focused when it comes to the research and writing on it. At the moment, i have a picked a topic but i am going to do a bit more soul searching before i make a definate decision. The topic i have chosen is of interest to me but i need to make sure it will produce the right information and the right amount of imformation.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Wiki Submission
SOCIAL NETWORKING & DESIGN
Sarah Mowbray
Textiles
Summary Definition
Social Networking is the 21st Century way of connecting with people. Even though we connect with people everyday, such as in the work-place or at School/College and University, on-line is now the most popular way of socialising. There is thousands of people on-line everyday looking to meet and engage with new people from all around the world. Social Networking enables users to create there own profile, which can lead to new and familiar people finding you. Once you have created your profile you can then find friends and share hobbies, interests, photos, videos, links to favourite websites, games and much more. These sites are also used by people who want to make themselves known to important and influential people within their chosen career path. This may not have been possible without the help of social networking. At present, my research shows that the most popular site used is Facebook.
“Facebook has grown to become one of the most visited websites in the world, with over 400 million users to date.” (Prescott, L., 2009)
Image taken from;
http://www.7thfloor.it/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/social-network.jpg
History
Social Networking made its first appearance through BBS, AOL and CompuServe. The Bulletin Board System (BBS), was an online meeting place that allowed users to communicate through a centralised system, enabling them to download files and post messages on to the bulletin board. BBS continued to grow throughout the 1980’s and the 1990’s at which point the internet was becoming more powerful. Even though the internet and social networking was about to change enormously, some services such as Tom Jennings’ FidoNet, linked many BBSes together into worldwide computer networks which managed to survive the internet revolution (Nickson, C., 2009) The BBS may have disappeared from today’s social networking, but it is not lost and it will never be forgotten.
In the 1970’s, a service called CompuServe evolved from being a business orientated communication solution, to a public phenomenon in the late 1980’s. CompuServe allowed its users to access news and events and also share files with other members. Instead of just being able to send messages, CompuServe had something new and exciting; Discussion Forums. These discussion forums allowed people to chat with random other people, about absolutely anything!
“Those forums proved tremendously popular and paved the way for the modern iterations we know today.” (Nickson, C., 2009)
However, the massive growth in social networking today is most likely because of the very well known AOL (America Online). (Nickson, C., 2009) AOL took a huge leap into the social network community. Users were able to search for friends and also create member communities. From the influence of AOL, many other sites started to appear. In 1997, ClassMates.com and SixDegrees.com were launched. SixDegrees.com. is the first site to allow its users to create profiles, invite friends, start group communities and surf other people’s profiles. From here, the world of social networking became a globalisation. In 2002 onwards Friendster, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flixster, Bebo and Goodreads (to name a few), emerged and thousands of people started to join. In 2004 however, was the launch of Facebook.
Facebook was founded in February 2004 by a Harvard Psychology student. Marc Zuckerburg created Facebook as a way for other Harvard Students to meet new people and to keep up with the news and events around campus. As Facebook became more popular around the University, it soon became accessible to other Universities such as Columbia, Yale and Stanford.
“According to an internal survey completed in September 2005 more than 85% of students of the enlisted universities had a Facebook account and at least 50% of them were accessing the website daily.” (Montefusco, A., 2010)
Facebook allows its user to create in-depth profiles with features to add hundreds of photos and videos. Users can also list their interests, hobbies, family members, current location and schools/colleges and/or Universities attended. Members can use the features to find friends, surf their friends profiles, leave comments, and use the chat box to have one on one conversations. Facebook has become a phenomenon over the past few years with millions of people using it everyday.
“By 2009, our parents joined, our long lost cousins joined, and we had to debate how to handle at least one friend request from someone who was mean to us in high school.” (Prescott, L. 2010)
Social Networking & Design
As a fellow user of social networking and a growing Textile Designer, I have found many advantages of using these social networking sites. People can use the sites to post their work on their profile and write up explanations, thought processes etc. for the world to see. This is an excellent way of making yourself known in the design world. Not only is there Facebook that is used worldwide, but also, especially for designers, is other things like Blogger, WordPress and Twitter. These sites are especially designed to post work on to and enable you to connect with existing designers and artists.
Other area that can be looked at within social networking & design, are the actual design aspects of these sites and how they represent good design and bad design.
An example of good design; If you are surfing the web, looking up sites or trying to find a specific designer, once you have found what you are looking for, you can directly post the link on to your social network profile. This saves time writing down exactly where you found the designer or website and it also gives other people a chance to see the link on your profile and experience it themselves. It may even be a video from youtube.com of how to do a specific technique or how to learn a specific skill. This shows how connections can be made between possible clients or employers.
“The idea is that when you're reading or watching something that you think is cool, you don't have to copy and paste the URL back into Facebook in order to share the link with your friends. Instead, with one click you get to check out a preview, choose how you want to share it, and then distribute it. You can share content with anyone, even people who aren't on Facebook yet.” (Hughes, C., 2006)
An example of bad design; unfortunately, not everyone uses these sites for the reasons they were designed for. Facebook especially, cannot stop someone abusing the site if they have used false personal details. This is an example of how these social networking sites can be dangerous, especially to the younger generation. People can form private illegal groups to share illegal data.
“A convicted sex offender who set up a host of Facebook accounts to share up to 100,000 indecent images has been jailed for four years” (Williams, D., 2010)
“Investigators from the UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre found Ian Green had established three private Facebook groups to share the illegal content.” (Williams, D., 2010)
Overall, social networking, when used responsibly, can be an exciting way to connect with the world and open up opportunities that would not otherwise be possible.
Bibliography
Internet
Hughes, C. 2006. Facebook Share, available at;
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=2215537130
Montefusco, A. 2010. The History of Facebook, available at;
http://www.suite101.com/content/history-of-facebook-9217306
Nickson, C. 2009. The History of Social Networking, available at;
http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/the-history-of-social-networking
Prescott, L. 2009. (Principal, Research-Write) Social Networking By The Numbers, available at;
http://www.research-write.com/2010/social-networking-by-the-numbers.html
Williams, D. 2010. Facebook User Jailed For Child Porn Network, available at;
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Facebook-User-Jailed-For-Child-Porn-Network-Convicted-Sex-Offender-Ian-Green-Shared-100000-Images/Article/201008415707474?lid=ARTICLE_15707474_FacebookUserJailedForChildPornNetwork:ConvictedSexOffenderIanGreenShared100,000Images&lpos=searchresults
http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/
Books
Magid, L. 2007. Collier, A. 2007. (publication unknown) MySpace, a parent’s guide – Safe online networking for young kids.
Sarah Mowbray
Textiles
Summary Definition
Social Networking is the 21st Century way of connecting with people. Even though we connect with people everyday, such as in the work-place or at School/College and University, on-line is now the most popular way of socialising. There is thousands of people on-line everyday looking to meet and engage with new people from all around the world. Social Networking enables users to create there own profile, which can lead to new and familiar people finding you. Once you have created your profile you can then find friends and share hobbies, interests, photos, videos, links to favourite websites, games and much more. These sites are also used by people who want to make themselves known to important and influential people within their chosen career path. This may not have been possible without the help of social networking. At present, my research shows that the most popular site used is Facebook.
“Facebook has grown to become one of the most visited websites in the world, with over 400 million users to date.” (Prescott, L., 2009)
http://www.7thfloor.it/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/social-network.jpg
History
Social Networking made its first appearance through BBS, AOL and CompuServe. The Bulletin Board System (BBS), was an online meeting place that allowed users to communicate through a centralised system, enabling them to download files and post messages on to the bulletin board. BBS continued to grow throughout the 1980’s and the 1990’s at which point the internet was becoming more powerful. Even though the internet and social networking was about to change enormously, some services such as Tom Jennings’ FidoNet, linked many BBSes together into worldwide computer networks which managed to survive the internet revolution (Nickson, C., 2009) The BBS may have disappeared from today’s social networking, but it is not lost and it will never be forgotten.
In the 1970’s, a service called CompuServe evolved from being a business orientated communication solution, to a public phenomenon in the late 1980’s. CompuServe allowed its users to access news and events and also share files with other members. Instead of just being able to send messages, CompuServe had something new and exciting; Discussion Forums. These discussion forums allowed people to chat with random other people, about absolutely anything!
“Those forums proved tremendously popular and paved the way for the modern iterations we know today.” (Nickson, C., 2009)
However, the massive growth in social networking today is most likely because of the very well known AOL (America Online). (Nickson, C., 2009) AOL took a huge leap into the social network community. Users were able to search for friends and also create member communities. From the influence of AOL, many other sites started to appear. In 1997, ClassMates.com and SixDegrees.com were launched. SixDegrees.com. is the first site to allow its users to create profiles, invite friends, start group communities and surf other people’s profiles. From here, the world of social networking became a globalisation. In 2002 onwards Friendster, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flixster, Bebo and Goodreads (to name a few), emerged and thousands of people started to join. In 2004 however, was the launch of Facebook.
Facebook was founded in February 2004 by a Harvard Psychology student. Marc Zuckerburg created Facebook as a way for other Harvard Students to meet new people and to keep up with the news and events around campus. As Facebook became more popular around the University, it soon became accessible to other Universities such as Columbia, Yale and Stanford.
“According to an internal survey completed in September 2005 more than 85% of students of the enlisted universities had a Facebook account and at least 50% of them were accessing the website daily.” (Montefusco, A., 2010)
Facebook allows its user to create in-depth profiles with features to add hundreds of photos and videos. Users can also list their interests, hobbies, family members, current location and schools/colleges and/or Universities attended. Members can use the features to find friends, surf their friends profiles, leave comments, and use the chat box to have one on one conversations. Facebook has become a phenomenon over the past few years with millions of people using it everyday.
“By 2009, our parents joined, our long lost cousins joined, and we had to debate how to handle at least one friend request from someone who was mean to us in high school.” (Prescott, L. 2010)
Social Networking & Design
As a fellow user of social networking and a growing Textile Designer, I have found many advantages of using these social networking sites. People can use the sites to post their work on their profile and write up explanations, thought processes etc. for the world to see. This is an excellent way of making yourself known in the design world. Not only is there Facebook that is used worldwide, but also, especially for designers, is other things like Blogger, WordPress and Twitter. These sites are especially designed to post work on to and enable you to connect with existing designers and artists.
Other area that can be looked at within social networking & design, are the actual design aspects of these sites and how they represent good design and bad design.
An example of good design; If you are surfing the web, looking up sites or trying to find a specific designer, once you have found what you are looking for, you can directly post the link on to your social network profile. This saves time writing down exactly where you found the designer or website and it also gives other people a chance to see the link on your profile and experience it themselves. It may even be a video from youtube.com of how to do a specific technique or how to learn a specific skill. This shows how connections can be made between possible clients or employers.
“The idea is that when you're reading or watching something that you think is cool, you don't have to copy and paste the URL back into Facebook in order to share the link with your friends. Instead, with one click you get to check out a preview, choose how you want to share it, and then distribute it. You can share content with anyone, even people who aren't on Facebook yet.” (Hughes, C., 2006)
An example of bad design; unfortunately, not everyone uses these sites for the reasons they were designed for. Facebook especially, cannot stop someone abusing the site if they have used false personal details. This is an example of how these social networking sites can be dangerous, especially to the younger generation. People can form private illegal groups to share illegal data.
“A convicted sex offender who set up a host of Facebook accounts to share up to 100,000 indecent images has been jailed for four years” (Williams, D., 2010)
“Investigators from the UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre found Ian Green had established three private Facebook groups to share the illegal content.” (Williams, D., 2010)
Overall, social networking, when used responsibly, can be an exciting way to connect with the world and open up opportunities that would not otherwise be possible.
Bibliography
Internet
Hughes, C. 2006. Facebook Share, available at;
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=2215537130
Montefusco, A. 2010. The History of Facebook, available at;
http://www.suite101.com/content/history-of-facebook-9217306
Nickson, C. 2009. The History of Social Networking, available at;
http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/the-history-of-social-networking
Prescott, L. 2009. (Principal, Research-Write) Social Networking By The Numbers, available at;
http://www.research-write.com/2010/social-networking-by-the-numbers.html
Williams, D. 2010. Facebook User Jailed For Child Porn Network, available at;
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Facebook-User-Jailed-For-Child-Porn-Network-Convicted-Sex-Offender-Ian-Green-Shared-100000-Images/Article/201008415707474?lid=ARTICLE_15707474_FacebookUserJailedForChildPornNetwork:ConvictedSexOffenderIanGreenShared100,000Images&lpos=searchresults
http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/
Books
Magid, L. 2007. Collier, A. 2007. (publication unknown) MySpace, a parent’s guide – Safe online networking for young kids.
Design Studies - Group Meetings
For assignment 1, we were asked to meet up in group we had been assigned to, and discuss what topics we are each going to write about. Myself and Jackie went up to the graphics department to wait on the others. As we waited we discussed between the two of us, possible ideas. I was leaning towards either, Celebrity & Design, Gender & Design or Social Networking & Design. When the others appeared, we had an in-depth discussion about what was best suited for each person. Everyone already had some idea of what they wanted to research and write about. I then decided on Social Networking & Design. No-one else wanted to do that which was fine, because they said they had done something like it last year with Jonathon Baldwin. The other topics chosen in my group are:
Ethical Labour & Design
Social Sustainability & Design
Environmental Sustainability & Design
Fair Trade & Design
Education & Design
So, after the meeting, i started doing a mind map on social networking…..
Ethical Labour & Design
Social Sustainability & Design
Environmental Sustainability & Design
Fair Trade & Design
Education & Design
So, after the meeting, i started doing a mind map on social networking…..
im back :)
Hi, i have decided to return to blogger, wordpress was a nightmare!!! I am now in 3rd year so i am about to post up some work for some design studies asignments.
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