“ I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR.”
The Fashion Industry is the second largest polluter in the world, just after the oil industry. And the environmental damage is increasing as the industry grows.
However, there are solutions and alternatives to mitigate these problems. The first step lies in building awareness and willingness to change.
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AUTHOR’S STATEMENT what’s happening now How we can change ECO-FRIENDLY brands SUstainable Artists My goal
WHY I CARE
Working within the fashion in-
dustry has given me the opportunity to design for consumers while work-
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ing with content that I am passionate about. Fashion inspires me, allows me to express my own sense of individuality, and enables me to feel confident in my own skin. I love that I work in an industry that promotes being your true authentic self, and always feeling your best. I am certain I want a future career within this industry; however, I am faced with how harmful its practices are for our earth firsthand. The fashion industry is one of the largest contributors to humanity’s carbon emissions, ocean
pollution, and water consumption. I am conflicted by my love for working with in this industry and knowing how damaging it is for our environment.
Sustainability is one of the most
discussed topics in today’s media. Our forests are burning, sea levels are rising, and the air increasingly grows more polluted every day. As society
duce and live at a faster pace, we have to find alternative ways of making before our earth is permanently damaged. Our planet is dying right at this very moment. As humans, we are responsible for protecting the future of our planet’s health.
I personally want to make a
difference in the way that I work this semester. As a young designer, I dedicated to finding alternative ways of making that are more sustainable. I want to decrease my personal foot
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progresses and we continue to pro-
print that I leave on our plan-
et. After being in art school for four years, I realize how wasteful the creative practice can be. Creativity requires trial and error, so there will always be excess waste. I want challenge myself to create through practices that are not detrimental to the environment’s future.
While sustainability is a topic
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that is often called to my attention, college students are not as concerned with this issue. Majority of student’s value convenience of materials rather than its ecological footprint. In addition, college students also make up a large percentage of consumers within today’s market. Young people are determined to keep up with rapidly changing trends that influence constant disposal and unnecessary consumption. It is now the norm to discard an outfit just a few times after wearing it in public.
We live in a digital age where social media has encouraged younger generations to feel as though they need to be constantly buying new clothing.
While being immersed within a
College community, I saw this as an opportunity to promote and educate eco-friendly ways of living. My body of work showcases the merging of my love for fashion and sustainability
around me.
The truth is OUR EARTH IS FUCKING DYING AND THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH INCENTIVE TO DO SOMETHING.
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to help interest and educate those
WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?
Some parts of modern life are,
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at this point, widely known to cause environmental harm — flying overseas, using disposable plastic items, and even driving to and from work, for example. But when it comes to our clothes, the impacts are less obvious.
As consumers worldwide buy
more clothes, the growing market for cheap items and new styles is taking a toll on the environment. On average, people bought 60% more garments in 2014 than they did in 2000. Fashion production makes up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, dries up
water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams.
What’s more, 85% of all tex-
tiles go to the dump each year. And washing some types of clothes sends thousands of bits of plastic into the
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ocean each wash.
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Clothing production has roughly doubled since 2000. While people bought 60% more garments in 2014 than in 2000, they only kept the clothes for half as long. In Europe, fashion companies went from an average offering of two collections per year in 2000 to five in 2011.
A lot of this clothing ends up in the dump. The equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is burned or dumped in a landfill every second. In total, up to 85% of textiles go into landfills each year. That’s enough to fill the Sydney harbor annually. Washing clothes, meanwhile, releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year — the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles. Overall, microplastics are estimated to compose up to 31% of plastic pollution in the ocean. The fashion industry is also the second-largest consumer of water worldwide. It takes about 700 gallons of water to produce one cotton shirt.
It’s just the facts.
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Some brands offer even more. Zara puts out 24 collections per year, while H&M offers between 12 and 16.
The fashion industry is responsible for
10 PERCENT
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of humanity’s carbon emissions. That’s more emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping
combined.
13 Binh thanh district, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
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Textile waste is an unintend-
ed consequence of fast fashion, as more people buy more clothes and don’t keep them as long as they used to. The international expansion of fast fashion retailers exacerbates the problem on a global scale. Wardrobes in developed nations are saturated, so in order to sell more products, retailers must tempt shoppers
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with constant newness and convince them the items they already have are no longer fashionable. We live in a digital age where social media has encouraged younger generations to feel as though they need to be constantly buying new clothing.
Increasing disposable income
levels over recent generations means there is less need to “make do and mend”, as it’s often cheaper and more convenient to buy new than have an item repaired. Busy lifestyles make many people more time-
poor than previous generations, and with the loss of sewing and mending skills over time, there is less impetus to repair our garments. The rise of supermarket fashion that can be purchased alongside the weekly shop and the regular occurrence of seasonal sales make clothing seem “disposable” in a way it didn’t used to be.
There is interest in moving to-
tile production which reuses materials wherever possible, yet current recycling rates for textiles are very low. Despite a long-established national network of charity shops and increasing numbers of in-store recycling points in UK high-street stores, three-quarters of Britons throw away unwanted clothing, rather than donating or recycling it.
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wards a more circular model of tex-
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how we can change 1.
BUY LESS
Even the greenest garment uses resources for production and transport to your home, creating some environmental impact.
A root of the problem lies in
our excessive consumerism: we buy 10 while our grandmothers bought 2. We tend to think that buying new clothes will make us happy. Maybe we should reconsider some foundations of our lifestyle.
2.
BUY FROM SUSTAINABLE BRANDS
More and more fashion brands take into account the environmental and social impact of their production.
We will not lie to you: the offer
is still limited and it is easier and cheaper to go to the closest shopping center to refill your wardrobe. But the more we demand sustainable clothing, the more will be available-
to find 15 years ago. Today, it is available in most supermarkets.
Pricewise, yes, you will pay more
for sustainable clothing than in a fast fashion shop (H&M, Zara, Primark...), but we know what lies behind those very low prices...
Nonetheless, sustainable
brands will not necessarily cost more than brand-name clothing, for which we sometimes pay high prices for the image, but rarely for the quality or the sustainability.
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just like organic food was difficult
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3.
BUY BETTER QUALITY
Because clothes have become so cheap, we no longer care as much about quality. We just buy new garments when the ones we have lose their shape or appeal.
Additionally, we have all had
the experience of buying expensive clothing or pair of shoes and facing the disappointment when two month
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later, they already look old or have holes in them.
If we stop buying poor quality,
it will push brands to improve the quality of their garments. It will also allow us to keep our clothes longer, which is good for our wallets and for the environment.
4.
THINK TWICE BEFORE THROWING OUT
YOUR CLOTHES
Don’t throw your clothes in the
normal bins! Most of them consist of synthetic, non-biodegradable fiber
and will just pile up in the landfill. Try to repair them. Sometimes with a bit of imagination, you can repair or even redesign a torn garment. Donate your clothes to your friends, family, neighbors, or to charity. Some clothes shops take back used clothes from their own brand or even from other brands. Put them in the textile recycling bin. Textiles can be recy-
5.
BUY SECOND HAND, SWAP, & RENT
CLOTHING
Instead of buying new clothing,
have a look at alternative options. It’s not a new concept! You can find second hand shops everywhere in the world. Many websites and apps also offer all kinds of second hand options ranging from the cheapest to brand-name clothes.
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cled to make new clothing.
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KILLER SUSTAINABLE BRANDS
While Forever 21 files for
bankruptcy and other fast fashion brands suffer, “sustainability” is increasingly becoming the buzz word in the clothing industry today. “Sustainable fashion” web searches have increased by 66%. Unfortunately, the industry still has a long way to go. Here are Five companies attempting to move the needle in the fashion industry by making it more sustainable.
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Pangaia
Each signature Pangaia T-shirt
is made from a lightweight seaweed fiber that is combined with organic cotton to produce a less water-in-
The clothes are treated with
peppermint oil, which has natural antibacterial and anti fungal properties. This allows customers to go up to 10 times longer between a clothes wash, which the brand estimates will save 3,000 liters of water in each garment’s lifetime.
Pangaia is also set to launch
items made with new material called Flowerdown – a more sustainable and cruelty-free alternative to goose and duck feather insulation.
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tensive fabric.
Mud Jeans
A pair of Mud Jeans is composed
of between 23 and 40 per cent recycled denim. The brand aims to launch its first 100 per cent recycled cotton pair of jeans in 2020, to prove that denim can be a part of the circular economy.
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Mud Jeans collects old pairs of
jeans and sends them to the Recovetrex recycling plant in Spain, where they are broken down, turned into new yarn, which is turned into fabric at a mill in Valencia.
The brand is currently carbon
neutral, via a combination of offsetting schemes and supplier selection. The recycling factory powers itself with a more energy efficient cogeneration engine, and the fabric mill gets half of its power from local solar panels.
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Ocean by Leticia Credidio
Italian-Japanese-Brazilian de-
signer Leticia Credidio is launching a range of sleepwear made out of seaweed. The pyjamas and robes are made from SeaCell, a material from Smart Fiber that embeds crushed up
from trees.
SeaCell is carbon neutral and
biodegradable, and its manufacturers claim that the antioxidants and amino acids present in the seaweed react with the wearer’s skin’s natural moisture to promote skin regeneration.
All of the ranges by Leticia Cre-
didio, including the Ocean collection, are plastic-free and come in packaging made from discarded fabric collected by a recycling centER.
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seaweed into cellulose fibers made
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A.BCH by Courtney Holm
Australian fashion designer
Courtney Holm has created her label A.BCH to be as sustainable as possible from every angle. Every piece they make is 99 per cent compostable. Once the tag, which is made of recycled polyester, is removed the clothes can be cut up and buried or put on a compost heap.
A recycling program allows
customers to return their used clothes to be re-sold, re-made into a new piece, or have their raw materials recovered via cellulose recycling.
All the materials are organic
or recycled and sourced from local suppliers. Any dyes used are non-toxic, wool and silk items are cruelty-free, and only pre-used pieces are used for leather items. Online orders are also delivered via a carbon-neutral courier.
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sustainable artists
Contemporary art speaks to
issues surrounding global climate change and its consequences. Art and environmental activism collaborated since the 1960’s, and in our increasingly visual culture, images are more powerful than ever. With important messages and compelling images, these 6 Saatchi Art artists use their art to fight against injustice, and help us re-imagine responses to global climate change and environmental conservation.
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Simon McCheung is a self-taught
photographer and a graphic designer based in London. Simon seeks to bring a sense of escapism in his photographs depicting dream-like concepts. Simon participated in the Motion Photography Prize competition, a collaboration project between Google+ and Saatchi Gallery in London. His work has also appeared in publications, such as Vogue Italia and My Modern Metropolis
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Mike Weber is a Los Angeles-based
artist who expertly combines mixed media with his nature photographs taken
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in the wilderness of America’s National Parks. Through a careful layering of colors, textures and patterns Mike draws attention to the animals living in our National Parks. He has exhibited at a number of international galleries and his artwork has appeared on the cover of Architectural Digest with collectors John Legend and Chrissy Tiegen, and has been featured in publications such as American Art Collector, US Weekly, New York Post, New York Times, Washington Post and the National Endowment for the Arts Magazine.
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Evan Paul English is an interdis-
ciplinary artist currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. Evan examines the metaphorical qualities of found objects as stand-ins for the human body. He recently had a solo exhibition at NAPOLEON Gallery in Philadelphia, exhibited work at The Boiler | Pierogi in Brooklyn and presented his MFA thesis exhibition at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Recently, he was an artist-in-residence at Surel’s Place in Boise, Idaho and at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson.
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Gavin Zeigler is a contempo-
rary abstract painter and sculptor who re-contextualizes materials and objects — coins, keys, obsolete
— in his highly textured mixed media paintings. Gavin received his degree in Art History from Fordham University in New York City. His works can be found in public and private collections throughout the US and Europe, as well as museum collections like the Cumberland Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee and the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, New York. Gavin’s works have also appeared in television shows, including Nashville, Royal Pains and One Live to Live.
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stock certificates, old bank checks
MY semester GOAL
This thesis explores alternative
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ways of making through extensive research, social media engagement, digital experiments, environmental projections, and self-printed apparel. My work examines finding creative solutions to making when our practices are jeopardizing our future. Closely living and studying alongside so many young individuals has given me the opportunity to curate a community where others can learn about finding sustainable processes for expressing individuality and creating. Through this work, I have created
a brand that promotes eco-friendly practices and educates through digital interaction.
I asked my fellow classmates to
give me the clothing items that they had recently considered discarding. I then redesigned the clothing item so the owner would want to wear the item again. Through this work, I am giving secondhand clothing a
for the redesigned item is inspired both by the owner’s personality and relationship with me, and also the physical item itself. I intended for the items to come together as a collection, but still showcase their own uniqueness within the group.
In addition to making this ap-
parel collection I wanted to focus on documenting my whole creative process this semester. After completing a piece, I styled, art directed, and photographed the object to create
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whole new meaning. The inspiration
content for displaying my work. This content serves as a tool to further story tell through digital content. Each clothing item is intended to tell a story about sustainability while showcasing a personal narrative that highlights its owner.
Before investigating sustain-
ability, my shopping habits contributed to 581 pounds if carbon a year,
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which is not nearly as bad as most consumers my age. This needs to change. My overall thesis exhibition is intended to educate, promote, and excite my college community about sustainability through fashion. water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams.
What’s more, 85% of all tex-
tiles go to the dump each year. And washing some types of clothes sends thousands of bits of plastic into the ocean each wash.
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