I’m sure when
Shakespeare wrote the famous phrase from Hamlet “To be or not to be, this is
the question”, he wasn’t referring to being sustainable, yet this is the
question that corporations must ask themselves.One of the most important things I learned this weeks are
the obstacles that the apparel industry face today.I almost want to say it is going to be impossible to get
this industry to change but I learned that there are companies that are
successful in this endeavor.They
are implementing sustainable practices that are helping our environment and
making a profit.As a
merchandising student and consumer, I can take this information and do two
things with it.One, look for
companies that are using these practices and work for them, buy from them and
spread the word to others about the good things that these companies are
doing.Two, I can sit back and
continue to live like I have been for the past 19 years of my life and do
nothing.So, it’s not just the
corporations that must ask themselves this question.I must also. To be or not to be, this is the question?I choose to be! I know that I have only
touched the surface of the things I can learn about sustainability.Next, I want to understand more about
how I can help a company implement these standards into their operations and
make a difference.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Are You Ready to Take
the Challenge?
How you ever been to a cornfield maze? You have to maneuver through and
successfully come out the other end but along the way there are many walls that
you cannot go through. You may
feel like you will never find your way out. When you compare
the two pictures above, which view would you rather have before you enter the
maze? The first picture. It does not give you much to work with
or the second picture. It helps
you to see the whole view. You can
look at the obstacles and figure your way around the barriers. Ann Thorpe’s book The Design
Atlas for Sustainability explains
that there are many barriers that designers face in pursuing sustainable design
today but she gives you some strategies to address these issues. In other words, how to find you way out
of the maze.
This is exactly what I have been trying to do since I
started my journey to learn more about sustainability. My family has two businesses and I have
been trying to think about ways I can apply what I’ve learned to them. One major factor that keeps standing
out to me is the bottom line.
How will it affect the profits because I know that will be the first
question that my dad will ask me when I propose he change his business
philosophy. Thorpe states that the
private sector market is governed by the “bottom-line” of profits. Designers
have had an big part in influencing this expansion. Once mass production was available, designers were changing
their product more often in hopes of increasing their sales. Consumers no
longer just buy what they need but they buy what they desire. This has created a society that
operates on debt. Instead of
saving the money and buying what we need, we extend ourselves to buy what we
want. My dad calls this instant
gratification. Here is where the
problem lies. The economy must
expand or we will not have the means to pay back our debt. This is the driving force for production
design in the private sector (private individuals and companies). A private company measures its success
on how many products it has sold.
To be successful they must sale more. An example of this is a clothing designer will have new
styles for their line all four seasons.
As a whole, this group does not allow human value to interfere with the
economic bottom line. The
challenge is getting the private sector to put a value on the environment. There
are still obstacles that exist in this group even if a company makes the
decision to become sustainable. It
is unlikely that they will share their knowledge with their competitors because
they would not want to give the competition an edge. I was able to find an example of a company that has put a
value on the environment and the needs of others. It is called FEED.
Co-Founded by Lauren Bush, daughter-in-law of Ralph Lauren. FEEDs mission is to create good
products that help FEED the world.
They sale FEED bags, bears, t-shirts, and other accessories. They have a set donation built into the
cost of each product. Since FEED
was founded in 2007, they have given over 6 million dollars and 60 million
meals. Watch this short video that tells about their philanthropy efforts.
There are two more sectors we must look at when talking
about sustainability and the economy.
They are the public and non-profit sectors. Both of these groups have tried to put a dollar value on the
environment. The pubic sector
(government) has tried to accomplish this through regulations. The governmental agency that regulates
the carbon footprint of businesses on the environment is the Environmental
Protection Agency also known as the EPA.
Some obstacles that sustainability faces in this sector is not enough
inspectors to make sure that companies are following these guidelines. Also, not every nation has regulations
and many companies will do business in these countries for a lower cost. Non-profit organizations (neither
businesses nor government), the third sector has grown dramatically over the
past 50 years. This alone is a
sign that the other two sectors, private and public, are not doing their part
in addressing society’s concerns.
Designers in this group can work on sustainability issues that are doing
things for a good cause. They may concentrate on research and share the
information. As I stated earlier, a
corporation may not want to share its knowledge, where a non-profit wants to
distribute this information. Another advantage with this sector is the training
and education about sustainability issues. The Excel program offered by Ethical Fashion Forum, a non-profit organization, aims
to offer training and resources to support fashion businesses. It puts the
spotlight on the businesses that are pioneering in ethical practices alongside
great products- and encourage the best new creative minds to tackle sustainability
challenges. Another
nonprofit making a difference in our industry is Common Threadz. This program aims to help orphans and
vulnerable children in developing nations to reach their full potential. They
accomplish this through the sells of T-shirts, bracelets and shoes. This companies bottom line is profit
but designing for a cause. One of
the projects they fund is purchasing school uniforms. Children in Africa have been refused schooling for not being
able to purchase a uniform. Common Threadz is helping to combat this issue.
Culture is another critical feature in understanding
sustainability. Cultural
sustainability is to create and maintain general human well-being. Design tries to satisfy people
needs. With over 6 billion people
living on our planet, it is hard to figure out what is “well-being”. Although
we are distinctive, we all have needs.
Methods that satisfy our needs vary widely. Our society has evolved in
the last century to having their needs met externally rather than internally. Can design help people meet there needs
more successfully? Thorpe
tells us there are four themes when exploring well being. First theme is communication. In the past, we would have communicated
through letter writing, church functions or live performance. This type of communication required
some type of personal interaction.
Today we seem to have one-way communication through the media. This provides little interaction with
each other. Second, we like to
acquire more things than we have ever before. Our great grandparents bought
material possession out of need not desire. The third obstacle that sustainability faces today is
time. I want it NOW! It is all about me and not the
community.
I believe this video is a good illustration of how we are
today. Fourth, We like to live in
cities today compared to living in the country enjoying the peacefulness of our
surroundings. So, this is how I
picture us today. I see a TV
advertised on TV, that’s kind of funny in its self. I want it now, but I don’t just want one, which would
suffice my needs, I want one for every room in the house. I bring them home. Then my family, four of us, all sit in
separate rooms watching our favorite shows. No interaction with each other. I
sit in my house watching TV all day and do not go outside to enjoy any of the
beauty that God created for me.
Are my needs really being met?
I do have a TV for every room in my house, but is that really what I
want? Is that what makes me happy? I believe that’s what everyone is
telling me will make me happy, but yet I’m not. What can designers do to turns us back to satisfying our
needs internally? Are there ways
that designers can get the consumer to be part of the process? Open design is a
process in which the user gets involved with the designer. Getwear is a online website that allow
you to be the designer and create the jeans that you want.
If the consumer is involved in the process, maybe the
product will mean more to them and they will not want to discard it so
quickly. Another strategy that
Thorpe recommends for facing today’s obstacles is cooked verse raw. A perfect example of this is the Do It
Yourself phenomenal that is taking place today. You can walk into any Lowe’s or HomeDepot
and find many hands on projects.
Recently, I had the pleasure of doing one of these hands on projects
myself. I had a floor in our home
that needed to be sealed. I could
have called someone to do it for me, but I decided that I could do this
myself. It was not hard and every
time I look at that floor, I feel a bit of accomplishment that I did it. I believe this is what Thorpe is
referring to your needs being fulfilled internally.
This week, I was discussing this issue, sustainability, with
my dad and he made the comment that has taken us about 2000 years to get to
this state we are in. It will not
be fix quickly. I informed him
that it has not taken us this long.
That is has only been the past century that we really have taken a turn
for the worst. As we learned in
the beginning of The Atlas it was the Industrial Revolution’s mass
production that starting the process of using our resources faster than we
could replenish them. You can see
how Thorpe’s book outlines for us ways that we can combat some of the barriers
that designers face. Are you ready
to take on the challenge? I am.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Reflection
I’m continually
amazed at how mistaken I was about what sustainability is all about.Before my research, I would have said it’s
about buying something made from organic material.Now, if you would have asked what that meant,
I could not have explained it myself.The most important thing I learned this week is the Cradle 2 Cradle
approach.I had no idea that you could
create a product that would be good for the environment when you are finished
with it as the fabric that Roehner produced.What a great concept, being able to sell their scraps to local gardeners
as mulch. Then on the other side, Patagonia using recycled plastic bottles to
make their product. Keeping the closed
loop cycle and not ever having waste. I can make a more informed decision about
the clothing that I choose to purchase.I have already starting talking to my family members about what I am
learning and hopefully they will be informed consumers.I love both of these concepts and want to
know more companies that are using the Cradle 2 Cradle approach.I would like to know more about how to get
this message out to the general public. Knowledge is power.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
What Not to
Wear
Last week, I
bought a new flatiron for my hair. As I
checked out, I never thought about where it would end up once it had served its
purpose. Ann Thorpe author of The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability
uses an illustration of a toaster in the middle of a field to remind the reader
where that toaster will spend most of its time here on earth.
Designers today
only think about the object itself. They must expand their thinking to include
the whole life cycle of products, and have a concept of the procedures
necessary to eliminate waste. If designers
would use the earth and its ecosystem as an example, then we could create
products that would become nutrients; products that give back instead of take
away, when they decompose. In other
words, Waste=Food. This is the concept
that McDonough & Braungart in Cradle
to Cradle want designers to follow. A
perfect example of this concept was the collaboration the two men had with
DesignTex and Rohner, a Swiss textile mill, to design a compostable
fabric. They determined which dyes could
be used that were not harmful to the environment, and used this knowledge to
produce a fabric. Not only did they
produce the material initially desired, but they also discovered several unexpected
side effects. The factory trimmings
that had once been considered hazardous waste were now clean and could be sold
as mulch to local gardeners. The needs for
regulations were eliminated, and the use of gloves and masks were no longer
needed by employees and the DesignTex and Rohner saw financial gains. The partnership had created a product that
eliminated waste. It had a nutrient that
was biodegradable and became food for the biological cycle.
What made this
product unique is that the fabric was developed to be sustainable from the
beginning, but what do we do with products that are filling up our landfills
today? Recycle, a word I’m sure you
have heard before but may not understand its true meaning. It is taking a product and repurposing it as
something of greater utilization and fundamental value in its second life. This process is also known as up
cycling. No, that doesn’t mean riding
your bicycle up a hill. One company, Patagonia,
has made tremendous advances in the process of up cycling. They ask customers
to bring their worn out garments to the store, and these garments are then
placed back into their supply chain. The
garments are shipped to Japan where they are then broken down to its molecular
structure, and reformed into new polyester to be made into another product. Once again, Waste=Food except this is known as
a technical nutrient, which stays in a closed loop cycle, so that it does not contaminate
the biological cycle.
My aunt, an environmental
geologist, and I were discussing last night at dinner what I have been
learning. I was sharing with her Patagonia’s process for recycling and she
asked a great question. What is the negative
impact to our environment from the fuel consumption and air emissions when they
send the material to Japan to be processed?
Wouldn’t it be better if they could have that process done closer to
their headquarters in California? I have
just found a company, SustainU, that is working hard to do all the above. They are using
100 percent sustainable fabrics, creating jobs here at home and by doing so they have
reduced the fuel and emissions created by the shipping process. From
start to finish, their products take less than a 200-mile radius of
transport to create yarn, knit the fabric, and cut and sew the clothes. Watch their video on how they are
creating jobs here in America.
The AAFA, American Apparel & Footwear Association, is making it
easier for companies to know what chemicals are considered harmful to the
environment. It released a list of all
chemical and other substances that are restricted by a government regulation or
law. It is the Restricted
Substance List (RSL). Hanes Brand Inc. helped to lead the way in the development
of the RSL, which is updated every six months.
Companies must have a transparent supply chain to allow them to
successfully trace the supply of fibers, such as organic cotton, back to the
farm where they were grown. An example
of a company doing this is NAU pronounced “now”. They independently test all their products
against the RSL of chemicals. While many
chemicals are inexpensive many of them are toxic to the environment. Chemicals such as arylamines, which has been
linked to bladder cancer, are found on the list.
Other chemicals that made the list are:
solvents, pesticides and asbestos. These substances range from ozone
depletion, overexposure can cause death and is linked to certain forms of
cancer. Nike is another company forging
ahead in this endeavor to produce a more sustainable product. You can find the RSL on their website that
suppliers must follow.
GOTS
certification is another way a company can show the public their effort to be
sustainable. GOTS is an acronym for Global Organic Textile Standard. To earn this certification, the fabric must
contain a minimum of 70% organic fibers while prohibiting the use of toxic
finishing agents. Forum for the Future
talked about the difficulty in following the supply chain. This certificate helps ease the minds of the
designer and the consumer to know that the product has undergone inspection and
fits the criteria set by GOTS. You might
ask yourself, how do I trust this certification. Their inspectors are making sure that certain
chemicals are not being used in these fabrics such as heavy metals. Heavy metals in small amounts are essential
in the operation of our bodies but too much can be harmful to us. The purchase of GOTS products assures the
consumer that it is free of these harmful chemicals. Harmony Art is a company that has just received
its GOTS certification. The chart below
helps to ease the mind of their customer that there are no toxins in their
fabrics.
Organic Cotton Plus recently received it certification from GOTS and
proudly displays it on their website.
Due to the interest in their GOTS-certified fabrics, they will be
increasing their organic fabric offerings by 50% this year.
Who would have ever thought you would have to consider so much before
you purchased a product? We are a
society that trusts the people in charge. As patients, we trust the
doctors. As students, we trust our
professors. As Americans, we trust our Government. As consumers, we trust the designers. I would pose the question, should we? I’m not saying to not trust anyone but it is
up to us, the consumer, to make ourselves aware of what it being used in the
products we purchase. A smart consumer
is an informed consumer. As you look
into your closet today, instead of considering what to wear, you might want to
consider What Not to Wear!
Monday, June 11, 2012
Reflection
This week has
been very informative. I needed a book entitled
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About
Sustainability for Dummies because I knew little about sustainability. One of the most important things I have
learned during the course is that awareness of the effects of hazardous
materials is key to understanding how to go about stopping their use. Until now, I had not paid much attention to
how the products I buy effect the environment, or what others are doing around
me to combat the problem. This past
Sunday, I walked into my church and saw a box for Clothing Drive, and I believe
if it had been there two weeks ago I might not have even noticed it. My blinders have come off. I now plan on starting to make a conscious
effort to be informed and inform others of the problems that face the apparel
industry. I, along with others, can encourage
or even demand that designer products are sustainable. This is what Armstrong & LeHew referred
to as a paradigm shift. What was useful and relevant to me about this article
is two fold. First, as a consumer, I
want to be more conscientious about the garments that I purchase. There are several companies such as Puma, J
Crew, Patagonia, Nike and Levi that are doing their part to better our environment
and these are the types of stores that I would like to support. Second, as an apparel student, and one that
would like to pursue a career in buying, it informed me of the companies that I
would like to work for, or even ones that I might be able to change. As I continue my pursuit of knowledge on this
subject, I would like to learn more about how the corporate level can become
more sustainable.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Sustainapparel
Environmental conservation and sustainability in any industry
are some of the most important topics of my generation. For this reason, it is
my opinion that we be educated in these topics and be ready to face the
challenges they present. While important in all
industries, these issues are especially significant in fashion and design. Designers
throughout the apparel industry must decide for themselves whether or not to be
sustainable. There are two basic schools of thought. The first school of thought advocates the
“all or nothing ” approach, which The
Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability by Ann Thorpecalls the purist approach. Another is, “the quick fix” which Thorpe refers to
this as the impure approach. I
believe we can learn from both sides and begin to make progress towards a
better environment for future generations. For the Apparel Industry to improve the sustainability of
its products there must be compromise amongst the key players such as:
designers, manufacturers, government, distributors and consumers. Our industry currently is unsustainable
due to many years of bad practices, and I do not believe we will be able to
solve this problem quickly.
We learn in Shifting
the New Dominant Social Paradigm in the Apparel Industry: Acknowledging the Pink Elephant by
Armstrong and LeHew that the downward spiral toward unsustainability began
with the industrial revolution, and the resultant mass-production of
products. Products became much
more readily available, which led to a general decrease in pricing and
ultimately causing consumer demand to dramatically increase. This elevated demand created a higher
need for the supplies used in the manufacturing of consumer products, which led
to an overuse and reduced availability of our natural resources. A consumer culture was created as a
result of the advances in production, which led to consumers quickly disposing
of products because they wanted the newer, better model or version. We are now disposing of products at a
faster pace than we can replenish them.
This process then repeats and builds upon itself creating a continuous
cycle of destruction to the environment.
Something needs to be done but the question is How? Who? What?
According to Fashioning
Sustainability: Forum of the Future, there are many factors that make it
difficult for the fashion industry to change. This includes a cascade of
procedures and steps that must be performed in order to attempt to initiate any
sort of change in regards to sustainability. It is also extremely difficult
to monitor and ensure that sustainable practices are being maintained, but it
is vital that we in the fashion industry be willing to step up and be willing
to make necessary sacrifices in order to initiate change. The initial reforms
must begin with the design itself. The
Design Atlas says that today’s definition of a good design is any design
that sells. This does not take
into account any environmental or social issues. A sustainable
designer must consider how their design affects the environment from start to
finish with questions such as:
What materials they will use and how will the consumer care for
them? Will the farmer use harmful
pesticides that could harm himself or his workers? How is the product dyed? Will the production line have ‘sweatshops’ where the
workforce is underpaid, work excessive hours in dangerous conditions or employ
children? This just scratches the
surface of the things one should consider to create a sustainable product. Fashioning
Sustainability explains howthe
supply chain is difficult to follow and that transparency of operations is key
to uncovering the hazardous practices that can occur. For example, PUMA is a
company that has launched a long-term sustainable program and they have just
introduced new packaging for their shoes.
Check out this video to see how this one decision is positively
affecting our environment.
Another important
factor that needs to be considered is consumerism. As stated earlier, the consumer has been taught the more you
have the better you are. With this
kind of thinking, it is difficult to apply the concept of sustainability. According to Armstrong and LeHew, a
paradigm shift has to happen in the apparel industry for significant change to
happen. Changing consumer habits
will not be easy. I am the consumer
that needs to shift my behavior and I know how I love to buy new clothes, but I do believe it is not an impossible task. Designer Katharine
Hamnett used this t-shirt design to bring attention to the plight of cotton
farmers in the hopes of inspiring the public to change its buying habits.
http://www.ejfoundation.org/page676.html
Here is another
example of how a major company is trying to encourage change in consumer
behavior. The Disney channel has
decided not to advertise any junk food on its commercials during their morning
cartoons. I believe that pressure
from consumer groups to fight childhood obesity has had an influence on this
decision. I know this doesn’t
affect our industry but we can learn from their lead. What if Macy’s, a large retailer, decided to only advertise
with companies that used organic cotton, what would the result be?
The apparel
industry has had many years to establish the hazardous conditions that we see
today and there may not be a quick fix to this extensive problem, but there
does seem to shift in the way the fashion industry does business and changes
are beginning to be made. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The industry must now move toward the
deeper problems. We must now become conscious of the underlying issues that are
not visible from the surface including our habits, practices and behaviors as
consumers and pursue further changes to better obtain a more sustainable
industry. This is an achievable
goal. No one would have believed
50 years ago that smoking in restaurants or the work place would be taboo, but
they are due to a paradigm shift. The old adage of knowledge is power is
extremely applicable in this situation. It is crucial for this topic to get out
to the general public. We not only as members of the apparel industry but also
as consumers have a responsibility to better understand the importance of
sustainability. As we become more knowledgeable about the issues at hand, we
will ultimately become better equipped to resolve the challenges with which we
are faced.
Here are websites that
show you companies that are already trying make a difference:
