On 25th February 2020, I attended the opening of an exhibition held in the University of technology Sydney, entitled 'Fit for purpose'. A fitting title for a fashion exhibition that subverts the norms and introduces new modes of producing fashion in the context of a global environmental crisis.
For the fashion industry recycling is old hat. The 70s revival in the 90s, the 90’s revival in the 2010s etc. And yet the fashion industry has been labelled THE SECOND MOST POLLUTING INDUSTRY IN THE WORLD.
This dramatic statement adds to the dramatic nature of fashion itself. Bold, in your face, the Zeitgeist if you will. If climate change is the talking point then fashion will be at the forefront. Playing the field as both the perpetrator and the solution.
While the data behind the statement is impossible to feasibly prove. The fact remains fast fashions impact on the environment is horrific. Semantics aside the industry is an environmental disaster. The planet is suffocating under increasingly huge mountains of rubbish, much of which is comprised of yesterday’s clothing. Let’s all get real here: this stuff doesn’t ever go away, not in our lifetimes anyway. Being unconsciously fashionable is an act of anti-environmental aggression.
Glorified excess, rabid indulgence and mass consumption, the fashion industry acts as the poster child for waste culture. It is without question that there are major issues surrounding sustainability and clothes. That fashion brands bear enormous responsibility for carbon emissions, chemical runoff and landfill gluts all over the world.
The substantial claim to the title: ‘The Second Most Polluting’ also tends to obscure the urgency for action. Once we are able to actually quantify fashions impact on our planet, then we much more effectively come up with ways to alleviate it. Clearly the way the fashion industry is run needs to change. An industry that exploits cheap labour in developing countries, steals ideas from indigenous cultures and where top fashion labels burn kilos of brand new unsold items to 'protect' their brand. Leads us to ask the question: Can an industry that is tainted with such a wasteful and pollutive past pave the way for other industries to follow a much more regenerative route?
No doubt fashion is something that inspires, evokes emotions, allows everyone a window into a fantasy land of drama and glamour. If the fashion industry were also to become more morally and environmentally aware the impact could be phenomenal.
Fit for purpose opens up a dialogue that focuses on alternatives for the whole industry. Showcasing the work of six designers that subscribe to the message that the fashion industry at its core must be intrinsically sustainable. They deconstruct the current processes involved in the creation and consumption of fashion, breaking down present systems and offering solutions to reduce the fashion industry's carbon footprint.
CONGREGATIONdesign is an anonymous London based collective made up of various artists, designers,photographers and stylists who oppose the idea of an single 'icon' taking sole responsibility for the creative vision.Instead working both collaboratively and anonymously to create works that highlight the craftsmanship and collective vision of EVERY INDIVIDUAL involved in the process of creation.
Helen Kirkum is a footwear designer that cultivates a process of ‘Hacking and remastering’ to create amalgamations of recognisable brands that fully embrace a sustainable approach to production.
Kirkum’s Frankenstein's monster shoes are assembled from mass-produced footwear sourced from recycling centres in London.
Her highly collectable pieces re-construct a worn aesthetic;
encouraging an appreciation of the old in a culture that worships the new.
Eliza Van Joolen utilises items of donated clothing as a printing medium. Printing their image onto other pieces of clothing.
“Each item is therefore both carrier and receiver, they serve as a stamp and are stamped. Each piece is simultaneously an original and copy.”
The clothing is itself a tool for production as well as being a product.
This method forces the wearer to acknowledge the means of production of the clothes they wear; to see them as material beyond a label or status symbol. This transparency of production is refreshing in an industry where outcome overshadows process.
Bethany Williams’ collection 'Adelaide house' proposes unisex designs made from waste collected from the Liverpool echo (a British newspaper), that is then handwoven into new fabric by women in Italy's San Patrigano drug rehabilitation community. The collection also includes recycled denim and organic jerseys produced by female inmates at Surry's Downview prison.
Her approach to design focuses on an innate desire to connect disadvantaged people, through clothing, to each other and their environment.
https://www.documentjournal.com/2019/06/bethany-williams-patron-saint-of-socially-conscious-fashion/
Matthew Needham exploits the potency of deconstruction and recycling to inform his ethical design process. In his central st martins BA graduate collection;
‘Man and his man-made future’
A future is envisioned that is more Mad Max than Star wars.
In which everything is reused, your empty cereal box becomes your handbag. As Needham puts it:
“Man as collector is an imperative trait for our future race. By using waste as a viable resource for design and with the combination of intelligence and invention, this collection presents a blueprint for sustainable design and a significant model of our future...”
“What if we open up the fashion system and explore it as a non-fixed entity, a system where people can playfully join in, where everyone is invited to create fashion together?”
- Anouk Beckers on JOIN Collective Clothes.
JOIN the collective clothes is a collective practice initiated by Anouk Beckers. Beckers has developed a user-friendly open-source modular system for producing garments. Allowing anyone to become makers in their own right, thus challenging the fixed system of fast fashion. The system is reset and the consumer no longer relies on brand identity for self-worth but rather an increased sense of self-identity. As the boundaries between collector, designer, and maker are blurred.This collection forms the initial concept of her label Anouk Beckers, which critiques the hierarchies of fashion design, and pushes a philosophy of co-creation.
@join_collective_clothes @anouksbeckers www.joincollectiveclothes.com hello@joincollectiveclothes.com
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