The Critical Pulse no. 4

THE CRITICAL PULSE

January 2022 ISSUE NO. 4 THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC COST OF FUR FARMING DECONSTRUCTION DECOLONIZING OF FASHION FASHION PERFORMATIVITY SUSTAINABILITY AS A DECOY FOR CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

www.thecriticalpulse.com thecriticalpulse Artwork by: Sandra Jäger

BURNING CLOTHES - DO I HAVE TO SET MYSELF ON FIRE TO MAKE YOU AWARE?

Photo by Kat Sark

Yayoi Kusama Exhibit, Beerlin

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ritical Puls e The C

EDITORS’ LETTER Welcome to the fourth issue!

This issue has different focal points including circularity, deconstruction of materials and practices, zero-waste designing and up-cyling, sustainability and ethics. But a common thread that runs through many of the articles is the need to deconstruct certain beliefs, preconceptions, and practices in order to foster social change, decoloniality, and a more ethical industry.

The articles and reviews in this issue also address gender identity and performativity, media representations, issues of diversity and inclusivity,w as well as the failure on the part of educators, the industry, and the media to connect sustainability, decoloniality, and cultural appropriation. Here too, deconstruction can be used as a useful tool to rethink common misconceptions and outdated ways of thinking, designing, dressing, and consuming.

This issue was also inspired by our growing collaborations with designers and educators from Design School Kolding, the Royal Academy of Copenhagen, and other collaborations with Canada and the UK. The Critical Pulse will continue to look at themes concerning the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We will continue to address sustainability and social justice, as well as ethics, inclusivity, diversity, intersectional feminism, and decoloniality because we want to see a transformation in the fashion systems and fashion education.

We welcome contributions, such as reviews of books, films, current events, and other relevant topics. Through studying the discourse of design, fashion, and economics, we want to empower and amplify marginalised voices of creatives and young professionals. We only publish well-researched, and well-analysed information. We hope that our different views give you an analytical and critical perspective of the fashion industry, and spark a desire to push views, traditions, and conditions forward.

We hope you enjoy this issue and that you join us in disrupting the current fashion practices.

Sincerely, the editorial team of The Critical Pulse Ryan Chantree, Jacob Krebs, Mia Petersen, Sandra Rosenkranz Jäger, Emilie Thomsen, Sarah Trahan, and Bjørn Utoft Sørensen Contributions by Helene Kristiansen, Katherine Soucie, Sofie Laursen, Sofia Fiorentino, Maéva Amélie Djaba, and Julie Bujakewitz Mentored and Inspired by Dr Kat Sark

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Content

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Copenhagen Fur Photo by Emilie Thomsen

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THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC COST OF FUR FARMIN

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DECONSTRUCTION AND DECOLON OF FASHION

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LOUISIANA ART EXHIBITION: ART MULTI-MEDIA CRITIQUE OF RACI

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FASHION PERFORMATIVITY

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HAUTE COUTURE BURKA - IS IT CULTURAL APPROPRIATION?

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SUSTAINABILITY AS A DECOY FOR CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

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THUR JAFA’S IAL INJUSTICE

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REVIEW OF NETFLIX’S SEX EDUCATION

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BURNING CLOTHES - DO I HAVE TO SET MYSELF ON FIRE TO MAKE YOU AWARE?

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INTERVIEW WITH SOFIA CATALINA FIORENTINO SARRATE

FASHION OR

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The environmental and economic cost of fur farming By: Helene Kristiansen The fur industry has long been a topic of controversy. On one hand, animal welfare organizations, like PETA, have raised awareness of the miserable living conditions breeding animals endure. On the other hand, fur industry associations advocate that fur is a natural product that eventually will return to nature over time. In this article, I will present Denmark as one of the largest producers of mink skins, and how Covid-19 has affected the industry. Furthermore, I will present how there has been a shift in consumer values, and the environmental effects of fur farming.

Animals were originally hunted or trapped for food, and their pelts were rendered to provide protective clothing. As civilization developed, furs became less a necessity and more a luxury. The finer and more exotic furs were a symbol of wealth and status in the ancient societies of China, Greece, and Rome. Over the century’s furs remained a prized and commercially important commodity, and the trapping and trading of furs became a major business enterprise among early North American settlers. Today the fur industry is a profitable international market among major producers such as the United States, Canada, and the Scandinavian countries.

Denmark is the world’s largest producer of mink skins. Danish mink skins are the most expensive on the market because Danish farmers produce a higher quality of fur, which is in high demand by consumers. Kopenhagen fur, which is the largest fur auction house in the world, sells 19 million Danish mink skins and around 7 million mink skins from other countries annually. Mink skins account for about one-third of Danish exports to China and are the third-largest Danish agricultural export items of animal origin, representing an annual export value of approximately EUR1.1 billion. Statistics show that in 2019, there were almost 800 mink farms in Denmark, and that the value of the production was just over 2.5 billion DKK. This was created based on 2.5 million adult minks, each giving 5-6 puppies who were being turned into skins.

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Historically there have been fluctuations in the business cycle for the mink industry. In 2012, the value of production reached almost 10 billion DKK, but in recent years it has gone down to a production value of 2.5 billion. This is due to an imbalance between supply and demand that comes from fur houses in China.

The Danish mink scandal

During a press conference on November 4th, 2020, the Danish Prime Minister announced that all the Danish minks on fur farms should be killed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) as the virus had mutated among the minks and had spread to humans.

The Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, justified the decision with the fact that the mutated virus had been shown to react slowly to antibodies, and this would jeopardize future vaccines. The mutation of coronavirus (COVID-19) had been found on five different mink farms and had since been detected in 214 people among 5102 samples that had been collected between June and October in 2020. Out of the 214, these mink variants have been found in 200 people in North Jutland. Following the government’s decision, the Armed Forces, the Danish Emergency Management Agency, and the Home Guard were deployed to help euthanize 17 million minks, both those who were infected with the virus and those who were healthy. A lot of mink breeders during this time were losing their life’s work, some of which had been passed down by generations, therefore the Danish government promised to aid and compensate the affected mink breeders. While killing the country’s minks was done to secure the wellbeing of Danish society against Covid-19, it has had many serious repercussions, not only for the Danish mink breeding industry but also for the Danish economy.

Following the government’s decision, the Armed Forces, the Danish Emergency Management Agency, and the Home Guard were deployed to help euthanize 17 million minks, both those who were infected with the virus and those who were healthy.

Mink Fur

Photo by Marjan Blan, Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3FKYSsI

Henning Otte Hansen, who is a senior adviser and researcher at the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen, argues that it will cost the Danish economy almost 10 billion DKK to kill all of the country’s minks. This includes lost investments, lost earnings, and lost employment. By killing all of the minks, it has closed an entire industry. The former Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries, Mogens Jensen (S), stated in late October 2020 in a parliamentary response that the killing of all the country’s mink will cost the state between 2.3 and 2.8 billion DKK in compensation to the mink breeders. In addition to this, all mink farms must be cleaned and disinfected, which will cost an additional 2.4 billion DKK. Thus, the state’s bill for euthanizing all the mink will run up to about five billion DKK.

declared an early shutdown of the industry in 2020.

The French government also declared a ban on fur farming in September 2020, with a 5-year phase-out period. Along with multiple other countries banning fur farming, some luxury brands and retailers have also renounced fur in their collections and stores. These include Prada, Philip Lim, Farfetch, and Macy’s who in 2019 joined other companies such as Chanel, Burberry, and Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, in removing real animal fur from production and sales floors. Despite the changing opinion on fur in the fashion industry, industry associations in 2019 did not believe that fur bans or changes in public opinion would affect fur sales.

Following coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreaks on Dutch mink fur farms, the government declared an early shutdown of the industry in 2020.

Some countries and fashion houses Aesthetically, fur has not fallen out of fashion, so ban fur farming The first countries to ban fur farming were the United Kingdom in 2000, and Austria in 2005. In December 2012, the Netherlands, which once was the EU’s second-largest mink producer, passed a ban on fur farming that would phase out mink fur production entirely by 2024. Following coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreaks on Dutch mink fur farms, the government

brands are providing consumers with alternatives to animal products with options like faux fur and vegan leather. But as the faux fur industry grew, the fur industry was actively promoting their products as a naturally sustainable choice, in hopes of making the consumer believe that alternative furs were not the responsible option. The fur industry ar-

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gues that fur is biodegradable and that the absence velopment of high algal concentrations. A report of harsh chemicals in its processing is a testament from Nova Scotia Environment by Michael Brylinsky to its sustainability. of Acadia University, identified mink farms as the likely culprits, as almost all the farms were near headThe battle between faux fur and real waters and tests showed that at least 10 lakes and 75 kilometers of the Tusket River had been affected fur The battle between the two organizations, the one by the pollution, making it hazardous to swim in who advocates for fur and those who are advising the water. In 1991, the US Environmental Protecticonsumers to wear fake fur instead, took a turn in on Agency (EPA) fined six fur processing plants $2.2 the early 2000s when the fur industry turned the million for the pollution they caused, citing them pollution argument on its head and attempted to for hazardous waste violations, and stating that the smear faux fur as the unethical choice. In 2004, Te- solvents used in fur operations may cause respiratoresa Platt, the executive director of America’s Fur ry problems and are listed as possible carcinogens.

Commission, revealed “...that one gallon of oil was needed to make three faux fur jackets.” Faux fur is The health risks of fur farming usually made from nylon and polyester, which ta- According to the CEO of the International Fur Trakes hundreds of years to biodegrade and produce de Federation (IFTF), former Liberal Democrat MP pollutants on an industrial scale. Yet, a study con- Mark Oaten, “...fur is a natural product because it ducted by the University of Michigan in 1979, found comes from an animal and it is something which that despite the environmental cost of faux fur, it can last for many decades,” as he describes how fur still takes 20 times more energy to produce a far- often is passed down by generations. But because fur comes from animals, it has the cycle of decay med-fur coat. built into it. Fur straight off a dead animal will rot, so manufacturers will fight the decay through the apEnvironmental cost of fur farming According to PETA, 85% of the fur industry’s skins plication of chemicals designed to prevent rotting. come from animals on fur factory farms. These The main processing chemicals used are formaldefarms can house thousands of animals, and as with hyde, which is linked to leukemia, and chromium, other factory farms, they are designed to maximize which is linked to cancer. According to the World profits. Each mink skinned by fur farmers produces Bank, this hazardous process has led to fur dressing about 40 pounds of feces in its lifetime. That adds being ranked as one of the world’s five worst induup to millions of pounds of feces produced annually stries for toxic metal pollution.

by US mink farms alone.

The main processing chemicals used are formalEach mink skinned by fur farmers produces about dehyde, which is linked to leukemia, and chromium, which is linked to cancer.

40 pounds of feces in its lifetime.

When a Washington state mink farm was charged with polluting a nearby creek, the fecal coliform levels measured in the water were as much as 240 times more than the legal limit. Similarly, in Nova Scotia lakes and rivers have been polluted by excess nutrients and phosphorus. In 2014, there were 150 mink farms in Nova Scotia and the industry generated $140 million in 2013, with most of the pelts going to Russia, China, and South Korea. At the time there were few regulations as mink farms expanded in Nova Scotia, and manure, extra feed, and carcasses were thrown into the wetlands, while run-off from farms leaked into the Carleton, Meteghan, and Sissiboo River watersheds. Water quality surveys carried out between 2008 and 2012 showed lakes within the watersheds to be seriously degraded by high nutrient over-enrichment resulting in the de-

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Although there has yet to be a legal definition attached to the word “natural”, especially pertaining to labeling and marketing by the food, cosmetics and apparel industries, there is a consensus among government agencies that “natural” products are those that have had minimal processing and that no chemicals or substances were added to the final product. The term “natural” is therefore inaccurate when used to describe the origins of most of the world’s fur. The International Fur Trade Federation states that “wild fur represents about 15% of the world’s trade in fur,” leaving the majority 85% of the world’s fur to come from animals raised unnaturally on fur farms.

What can we do as consumers?

The closing of the Danish mink industry leads to many questions moving forward. Does it even

make sense to revive a dead industry, or would it be best to ban fur farming like it has been done in the Netherlands? And how will the closing of the fur farming industry affect the Danish economy? For now, there are not any answers for what is to become of the Danish fur industry, but the attention that the killings of the minks got, has made people more aware of the horrid living conditions fur farming animals live in.

it is natural because it comes from animals.

Mink Fur

Photo by Vita Leonis, Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3mPWdGJ

It has become increasingly clear that industrial fur production is an intensely polluting, energy-consuming, and unnatural process. Thus, fur farming cannot be described as environmentally friendly or as a natural product. The use of toxic chemicals used to process fur garments puts human health and our environment at risk, for a product that is not necessary. Ultimately, there needs to be more transparenThe fashion industry is one of the largest in the cy so that the consumer knows the harmful ways world, and consumers need to know where their that the fur industry affects our water, air, and ecoclothes originate from and how they are produced. systems, and this should be enough information for The fur industry keeps quiet about the fact that it the consumer to decide whether to buy fur or not. uses formaldehyde and chromium to prevent the furs from decomposing and focuses on the fact that

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Deconstruction and Decolonizing of Fashion By: Katherine Soucie Fashion is a form of cultural production based on a system of collaborative processes. It is a language that communicates and embodies the ability to express identity through its transformative qualities, and provides the shape to our daily social experience. From this framework, which is deeply embedded within a social tradition, I view this space as an opportunity to shift this narrative and expand my role as a designer into an area where I operate as the observer, researcher, explorer, and interpreter of fashion through a textile deconstructivist practice.

body. I have been able to generate new applications and an association with hosiery by showcasing the valuable role that waste textiles has to offer as a creative material resource and tool for research.

It is from this positioning that I seek to alter the perception and value structure of the materials, tools, and technologies I explore in my research and practice by orchestrating a series of experimental zero-waste deconstructivist methods with the waste hosiery (pantyhose) I work with using a set of constructed situations. I purposely administer a series of disruptions to the order and modes of communication we often associate with women’s hosiery along with its history and traditional use by shifting it off the legs of women into other territories so that this material can be experienced on and off the

The field of textiles is complex. The evolution of the industry and its history is one that reflects our human history - socially, politically, economically, culturally, etc. Each piece of textile, whether it is handmade or mass manufactured, represents an identity, which is a powerful communication tool that contributes to the performance and identity of garments, accessories, or 3D form it will eventually take.

The modes of production used to transform this waste resource include the use of craft applications with obsolete sewing/textile machinery in collaboration with digital technology to produce zero-waste textiles. This hybrid system of applications resulted in the development of an industrial method of upcycling that then supported the creation of an alternate design system and business model. The imI believe that in order to decolonize fashion, we plementation of deconstructivist methods through must begin by shifting the collaborative processes a zero-waste philosophy using waste materials has and methods used in the making of textiles. The col- spearheaded a series of individual and collective laborative nature between materials, resources, and collaborative processes, impacting my understantechnologies requires a complete decolonisation ding of the importance of material identity in the from its past. making of fashion.

Since 2002, I have been exploring the use of pre-consumer waste hosiery (castoffs from the manufacturing process) in my research and practice. I developed this concept of working with pre-consumer waste while I was a textile student, motivated by this waste resource because I was looking to create a new sustainable approach by reimagining the role of craft in the manufacturing and making of textiles in the 21st century. With the encouragement of my professors and grant funding, my concept became a reality, and I established my zero-waste textile and design studio Sans Soucie in Vancouver in 2003.

My initial research explored the use of signature hosiery textiles as clothing and accessories. As my

Sans Soucie hosiery transformation process, hand printed waste hosiery using low impact and metal free pigments, 2009.

Photo by Ian Sheh

to our clothing, we begin to experience and share that story.

If a designer chooses to awaken the identity of the cloth through the process of garment making by harvesting from existing materials such as pre- and post consumer waste using hybrid methods that include methods of deconstruction, they are recontextualizing this material’s structure and partaking in the initiation of the decolonisation process. The role of the designer today has transformed itself from its traditional role of being a cultural producer to one that becomes that of a shepherd or guide, instigating a series of transformative processes that honours the history of the cloth, its authenticity, and identity.

Sans Soucie hosiery transformation process - dyed waste hosiery using metal free, low impact dyes and a zero waste dye process, 2009.

Photo by Ian Sheh

material research expanded along with my partnerships with hosiery mills in Canada and the US, I found that my deconstructivist methods and my modes of production could be translated into other areas of use and experience outside of fashion and the body. Through international design residencies and collaborations outside of the field of fashion I could reflect upon the literal undoing of waste materials along with the tools and processes associated with their making. My deconstructivist approach to making textiles liberated my understanding of the form and function of how a garment operates and communicates. I reflected upon how fashion is a time capsule, and that the relationship between the textile and the garment serves as the text from which it has the capacity to transform its identity, presence, and form over time.

When there is an awareness by the wearer or fashion user of their collaborative role and contribution to the transformative qualities of the identity of the cloth, the end result is an embodied relationship or connection with that garment. When we are able to establish a bond and connection to our clothing, we begin to experience and share that story.

When there is an awareness by the wearer or fashion user of their collaborative role and contribution to the transformative qualities of the identity of the cloth, the end result is an embodied relationship or connection with that garment. When we are able to establish a bond and connection

Deconstructivism in fashion and design has had a massive influence on fashion from the late 1980s to present day, including the work of designers like Martin Margiela, Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Victor and Rolf, and many others.

Jacques Derrida claimed that deconstruction theory should not be linked to a negative critique of society, but rather serve as an introduction into the way we view the working of social codes.

Jacques Derrida claimed that deconstruction theory should not be linked to a negative critique of society, but rather serve as an introduction into the way we view the working of social codes.

In revealing the instability of meaning in words and phrases, the breakdown of the conventions and normal boundaries begins to establish itself. Deconstruction can be described as a kind of interpretation of texts with an aim to reveal hidden meanings, in order to provide old texts with the opportunity to be reviewed as new, through a set of new meanings and interpretations. For example, a deconstructivist fashion practitioner’s aesthetic can be identified through an examination of formal elements found in how they reimagined their textiles along with their treatment of details in the garments construction.

The most identifiable elements of deconstruction in fashion are that the seams, hems, linings, etc. are situated on the outside of the garment, rather than on the inside. This reversal removes any sense of convention associated with the traditional practices of making textiles and fashion. The Surrealists also played with this concept of revealing the inside/

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outside; however, stylistic forms as well as systems of value and desire exhibited by the Surrealists serve in contrast to the deconstructivist forms produced by practitioners in art and design over the last 30 years.

When I began my material research into working with waste hosiery, I was based in Vancouver, away from the centres of fashion in Europe, Japan, and NYC, where fashion deconstruction was still reviewed as “anti-fashion.” But I wasn’t interested in being “anti-fashion.” I chose to work with waste textiles early on in my design training in the 1990s, and was told by my professors that it was an impossible direction, and that there was no market for it. But visiting massive landfills and gravesites of this material in southern Ontario, Canada and Michigan, US, motivated my belief that it was possible, and that I had a responsibility as to what I put out into the world.

I understood that if I was going to be a designer, I needed to know more about textiles and how they were made. When I began to further my studies of textiles, I chose to focus on pre-consumer waste textiles as my supply chain and material resource.

In doing so, I had to undertake research and devel-

opment, without pre-existing business models or other designers to compare to. There were some independent designers upcycling post-consumer waste on a small scale, but I wasn’t just upcycling old clothes into new clothing. I immersed myself into new textile research.

The initial prototypes reflected a combination of surface design techniques that assisted in stabilising the hosiery structure, which prevented it from running and pilling. The dyeing and printing methods used were completely zero-waste. Water was used and reused, no dye entered the environment.

The printing ink that passed through the fine hosiery cloth was captured and reused onto other cloth that was later transformed into other design materials and objects. The making of the new cloth into yardage during the textile transformation process showcased not only the vibrant colour and print I combined together, but it featured a series of fine lines into the facade of the fabric, structurally making it functional and easy to care for. The seaming that was implemented was deliberate and is part of the signature detailing of the textile. I chose to use the seaming detail produced from a decommissioned hosiery finishing machine on the outside of the cloth rather than hide on the inside because I wanted to showcase the processes used to transform this material resource. I wanted it to tell the story of its transformation and how we can reimagine the role and use of industrial tools from one use in the production process into another.

When I first established my deconstructivist material practice, I wasn’t aware of Derrida and deconstruction theory. I was purely motivated by a desire to create fashion, to create a cultural textile out of waste, where I was able to honour its history along with the resources, materials, tools, and people involved in the making of it. I believe we must learn to evolve and unravel existing forms and systems that aren’t working.

Sans Soucie Arlechino + Pierrot Collection, 2015, London Fashion Week.

Photo by Shimon Karmel

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This includes how we approach teaching fashion education today. We need to look at deconstruction as a living critique and acknowledge it as a sustainable research method and not just as an “anti-fashion” movement or aesthetic. Deconstruction has the ability to uncover certain truths that often get missed, hidden, or forgotten. If there is one thing that I have learned throughout the evolution of my research is that we as designers have the ability to produce social change and that deconstruction leads to decolonization.

Sans Soucie Arlechino + Pierrot Collection, 2015, London Fashion Week.

Photo by Shimon Karmel

Bio:

Katherine Soucie is a Canadian/UK award winning designer and educator who specialises in zero-waste textile research and has dedicated the past 20 years of her practice transforming textile industry waste into new textiles, clothing and sculptural forms. She studied Fashion Design in London and Toronto, before furthering her studies in Textiles and Visual Art in Vancouver. Her experimental zero-waste studio studio and label Sans Soucie was instrumental in developing a signature line of textiles and clothing out of pre-consumer waste hosiery using an industrial method of upcycling. Her work has been exhibited and sold internationally. She is currently a lecturer at the London College of Contemporary Arts.

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Louisiana Art Exhibition: Arthur Jafa’s Multi-Media Critique of Racial Injustice By: Maéva Amélie Djaba

Arthur Jafa (b.1960) is an Afro-American multi-media artist, who grew up in Mississippi, which he calls the “ground zero for African Americans” because of the state’s complex history when it comes to black people, slavery, and racial injustice. Jafa is known as one of the most important artists in the US, working in the worlds of film, music, photography, and visual arts. Jafa is also known for working with black artists, with projects such as Solange’s music videos “Don’t Touch My Hair” and “Cranes in the Sky,” as well as Jay Z’s “444” album, which can be seen as important blueprints in the black music industry.

Jafa’s work was exhibited at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, 35km north of Copenhagen) from April until October 2021, in an exhibition, entitled “Magnumb,” a combination of the words Magnum and Numb, which represents a social criticism of the reality of being black in America. The exhibition is one of the biggest presentations of Jafa’s art to date, and includes different installations of pop art, photography, film, and sculptures.

Seeing this exhibition in a Scandinavian country like Denmark is very educational not only about the problematic, violent, and systematic racist history that continues in America (and the rest of the world) but also because it is a visual presentation of white supremacy.

“Love is the message; the message is death” from 2016 – is a piece that really struck me in the exhibition. The film has become a world sensation, portraying many moments of today and the past, the background music is Kanye West’s Gospel/Rap song: “Ultralight Beam” from the album Life of Pablo. The film shows complicated feelings between the understanding of history, the glorification and power of black culture and black pop culture in contrast to the violence and brutality that ordinary and poor black people experience in America today. The video shows the highs and lows of black culture, the good and the bad, through video clips of ordinary and famous black people. It’s an expression of differences, cultural understanding, but also a hopeful message to those interacting with this piece. Jafa makes art for people to consider, and not just to be uplifting. He hopes that his art can help people not buy into the American myth of greatness and racial gaslighting1.

SCAN TO WATCH: Arthur Jafa: LOVE IS THE MESSAGE, THE MESSAGE IS DEATH

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Photos by Maéva Djaba

Magnumb by Arthur Jafa Louisana Museum of Modern Art

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Fashion Performativity By: Mia Petersen Why is it still considered questionable when men dress in feminine-coded clothing? The theory of performativity helps understand our own perception of clothing belonging to a gender. In this article, I analyze two cases to show how performativity relates to gender and to fashion, and why we should break away from putting things and people into (gendered) boxes. Mark Bryan and Myles Sexton show us a different way to approach fashion. Both men, one gay, the other straight, use skirts and high heels (typically coded as feminine) as their daily attire, breaking away from gendered stereotypes and empowering others through their social media channels.

Gender Ideology and Hegemony

Today’s fashion industry is still dominated by the belief that there are only two genders. We see it with the use of pink and blue colour codes at gender reveal parties, in baby and kids’ stores, as well as in most retail stores, designer boutiques, and department stores. But what we believe to be girly or boyish is an idea that is socially and commercially constructed in that we believe that clothing and colour belong to a specific gender, and that the two genders are supposed to act in a certain way. Yet, you can be feminine without having a female gender or sex, or be masculine without identifying as a man or having masculine body parts - or be somewhere on that binary spectrum without identifying with any gender. We naturalize cultural myths as biological facts because it suits material consumption practices, political ideologies, colonial exploitation, or gender-based discrimination and exclusion.

We naturalize cultural myths as biological facts because it suits material consumption practices, political ideologies, colonial exploitation, or gender-based discrimination and exclusion3.

We think about the body through the heterosexual lens and understand that to be the normative identification of who we are.

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Gender Performativity

Judith Butler argues that we are not our gender - we do (or perform) our genders. Performativity investigates the way we do our gender and how gender exists because of our cultural and social understanding of it. Biological sex has nothing to do with gender identities and in fact, because gender is socially constructed, there may not be such a thing as gender at all. Performativity also questions the categorizing and the psychological meaning of fashion.

Feminine and masculine are tied to expressions and codes of being male or female, which are culturally imposed understandings of gender and sex. These codes prescribe that if you identify as female, you must be feminine. But our identity is not shaped by our sex or gender, but rather a moisaic of expressions across the binary spectrum that manifest how we see ourselves. But social constructions and codes of clothing, fashion, and gender norms are presented to us in terms of what is seen as “correct”, which can have the isolating effect of making us feel wrong in our own body, clothing, culture, and communities.

Yet, if gender is performative, then we act, dress, or talk in a certain way that is expected of us to conform and perform as feminine or masculine because of social codes and expectations and not because it reflects our true selves. Gender identity is an act you do or perform, made up of social forces throughout history. So, if the gender norms of our society are imaginary, why can the way we dress not reflect our own imagination, creativity, and self-expression and why do we have to keep fitting in? Butler also argues that gender is not a noun but a verb. Our language plays a big role in the understanding of how we describe and see gender. Because we see it as a noun we think it exists on its own. Gender becomes something through practices of gendering that involve the body in a psychic and material way, often through fashion choices, repetitions and variations of performativity.

Mark Bryan 17

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Artwork by Mia Petersen

Myles 18 ofSexton 42

Artwork by Mia Petersen

Myles performs his gender identity by reclaiming Fashion is the most direct way in which we define, traditionally feminine-coded clothing and fashion express, and perform our identity. Fashion is used that have in fact not always been associated with to express ideas, norms, culture, values, beliefs, po- femininity. litics and so on, because “clothing is a basic element of the particular situated system of activity”. We use Fashioning Identities clothing as a representation of ourselves. The repeti- There are many other inspiring examples of people tion of the way we use clothing gives an impression breaking with the gender binaries and fashioning of how we identify ourselves. Fashion is the structu- their diverse identities in creative and inspiring ways re of the use of clothing that is affected by culture (Alok Vaid-Menon, Harry Styles, Måneskin, Kid Cudi, and society. Clothing is therefore where the inside and Lil Nas X just to name a few), but how can we all meets the outside. Since “identity is what allows us make a change in the way we see gender, and cloto recognize a thing as the same thing despite the thing as belonging to a particular gender? We need passage of time”, I argue that the same goes for per- to see these uses of clothing, by Mark Bryan and Myles Sexton, as a call to re-educate ourselves about formativity. gender, sex, clothing, fashion, and performativity of self expression. We need to be more open-minded Mark Bryan Mark Bryan is in his 60s, a working engineer living about what fashion and clothing can be - that a skirt in Germany but born and raised in the US. He usual- and high heels can be empowering for men, just as ly wears the typical business attire of shirts and ties powersuits can be empowering for women, and with various skirts with high heels everyday and just as gender-fluid or non-gendered clothing can documents his outfits on his Instagram account. be empowering for non-binary people. We need to He stated that he wears high heeled shoes because remember that clothing does not belong to a genit makes him feel more masculine. He sees himself der and that gender does not belong to a sex. We as taller with a better posture when wearing high need to deconstruct the idea of sex and gender beheeled shoes. Mark Bryan does his gender in both longing together, and of clothing as gender-coded. masculine and feminine ways. He uses feminine clo- We have seen the changes of gender roles and of thing and shoes to appear more masculine. I argue clothing functions across the binaries throughout that Mark Bryan illustrates how his gender identity history and geography, but many people still strugis performative through his clothing, which allows gle to accept social change. But Gen Z has taken the him to play with the binary between what is consi- idea of performativity to heart, understanding that dered masculine and feminine, and shows that clo- gender and fashion do not define them and can thing does not belong to a gender because gender rather be used as creative tools of self-expression. is fluent. Moreover, playing with gender binaries al- Responding to Harry Styles posing in a dress on lows us to feel more empowered in our expressions the cover of the US Vogue, Alok Vaid-Menon argued that it is good to see this gender-bending, but we of identities. also need to understand that there is so much more in between the gender binaries of male- and femaMyles Sexton Myles Sexton identifies as a man, and also uses clo- le-coded fashion. The representation of trans- and thing that is typically coded as feminine to express gender-fluid people is still not as widely accepted his identity. In an interview, he explained how he or mainstream as the men who choose to wear “fewants to reclaim masculinity; how he looks at the minine” clothes for self-empowerment. But as more history of fashion and wants the idea of high heels and more people demand change and deconstrucand makeup to be considered masculine as it has tion of gender and gender-coded clothing, more been before. He does not want to do his gender people will understand that gender is constructed identity in the normative and prescriptive way that and performed and choose their outfits according society expects. Myles understands that there are to their own choice, rather than social expectations. many genders and ways of dressing and that the mixing of gendered clothing and fashion is ever changing because of culture, society, and history.

Identity through Fashion

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Haute Couture Burka Is It Fashion or Cultural Appropriation?

By: Julie Bujakewitz After more than a year of Covid lockdowns, the annual Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art returned on September 13, 2021, with the theme “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” - a tribute to and a reflection on American fashion. Kim Kardashian found a new way to make headlines by wearing a black Balenciaga head-to-toe bodysuit, with a thigh-length t-shirt-dress with flared sleeves worn over it, covering every part of her body, including her face. Only her long black sleek ponytail could be seen in the back.

Questions about revealing and concealing women’s bodies are as old as fashion itself, and opinions vary drastically depending on time, place, context, function, cultural codes, and many other factors.

Questions about cultural appropriation, cultural insensitivity, or cultural disrespect are even more prevalent in the fashion world today, as we collectively learn to distinguish between the impacts of colonial legacies and capitalist exploitation of various non-Western cultures in a globalized society oversaturated by images.

The response to Kim Kardashian’s choice of outfit on social media has been surprising because of the amount of support she has received from her followers and fans who celebrated her outfit - traditionally worn as modesty wear by Muslim women, and often used as a decoy in conversations about immigration, assimilation, and feminism, but never really considered “high fashion.” So we have to ask, why is a head-totoe garment worn by women of colour and Muslim women often considered a “threat” (either to national security or to women’s rights) but when worn by a celebrity like Kardashian (who is known for “breaking the internet” with her nude photos) it is regarded as red-carpet fashion?

To this day, many countries continue to ban burkas, niqab, and hijabs, and not even a month before the Met Gala, the US troops pulled out of Afghanistan, which they first invaded, and now left to the Taliban. Aghani women have been campaigning all over the world against the burka laws, but many Muslim women wear it as a sign of empowerment and expression of their identities, yet we still continue to question their choices and their right to express their identities through their choice of clothing with various restrictions or prejudices.

The response to Kim Kardashian’s choice of dress is thought-provoking and perhaps hypocritical because we are so eager to support white women’s choices when it comes to their use of fashion for self-expression. But what many of the Kardashian fans fail to grasp is that it is a privilege granted by her celebrity, class, race, and cultural capital that allow her to wear what is denied - or at the very least seen as questionable - for other non-white, non-privileged women. Even in the countries where it is legal to wear full-cover garments, many women live in fear of being harassed, discriminated, or being labelled as “oppressed” or “under-educated” for their dress choices. But if a Reality-TV star can make a controversial garment fashionable, is it hypocritical to grant her even more privileges denied to other women? Is she culturally appropriating other women’s cultural or religious choices and reducing them down to a fashion statement? Or is she deliberately drawing attention to these culturally insensitive ways of using women and fashion to further cultural colonialism and discriminations? It is a complex terrain to navigate, but still important to consider, because it is still a facet of the white supremacy (Layla F. Saad, 2020:114).

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Artwork by Sandra Jäger

Met Galla Illustration

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Sustainability as a Decoy for Cultural Appropriation By: Sofie Laursen In this article, I examine how the concept of sustainability is being used by the fashion industry as a decoy for cultural appropriation. I investigate how fashion brands use recycled materials, especially African-American quilts, to justify appropriation in the name of sustainability and how these quilts are a controversial example of a culture, whose visual identity is being exploited. As the fashion industry is beginning to think about more sustainable practices, some brands use sustainability as a buzzword to mask their use of cultural appropriation. I will investigate quilting practices and develop a framework of the visual exploitation of African-American quilt culture.

insensitivity. One needs to understand the origin of cultural appropriation to determine whether a culture is being exploited or not. Susan Scafidi defines cultural appropriation as “taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artefacts from someone else’s culture without permission. This is especially problematic when the source of the community is a minority group that suffers a history of oppression” (Scafidi 2005). In the fashion industry it is striking that brands use cultural appropriation to promote themselves and profit from the exploitation of minority cultures. Susan Scafidi defines cultural appropriation as “taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artefacts from someone else’s culture without permission. This is especially problemIt has been argued that every system has its blind atic when the source of the community is a minority spot. The current fashion industry emits 1.2 trilli- group that suffers a history of oppression” (Scafidi on greenhouse gases annually (Foundation 2017). 2005) Considering this, the world is beginning to think about circular means of production, where the con- Peter Shand’s article, “Scenes from the Colonial Culcept of waste does not exist. “Circular” refers to a tural Appropriation, Intellectual Property Rights, concept from Michael Braungart and William McDo- and Fashion” (2002) investigates the industry’s apnough in Cradle to Cradle (Braungart & McDonough propriation of cultural heritage. Shand argues that 2009 [2002]), which implies that not everything has “the initial phase of modern cultural heritage apto be produced from something new, but instead propriation was underscored by the Enlightenment designers should think about using other resour- and Empire, during which all the world was made ces like recycled materials to make new products. over to fit the intellectual, economic, and cultural Deadstock fabrics, vintage rugs, and quilts are just requirements of first Europe, then the United States” a few examples of this concept. This shows a radi- (Shand 2002:52). According to Shand, these “exotic” cal improvement in the incorporation of recycled cultures were displayed by the white, privileged comaterials into clothing design and production, and lonialist, thereby making them available for approaccording to Ellen MacArthur, “brands are in a good priation. position to market new models as an attractive and fashionable option” (Foundation 2017:33). On the Tangible and Intangible Expressions other hand, one needs to look more critically at the- of Culture se new, sustainable business models and ask where In 2003, the World Intellectual Property Organizatithe materials come from and who made them. The on (WIPO) published a book on intellectual properfashion industry does not ask this question. Instead, ty, genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and it uses sustainability as a buzzword to point out it’s traditional cultural expressions. In this book, WIPO contributions to this discourse. argues that expressions of traditional culture can be both tangible and intangible; an example being Similarly, the industry does not hold its producers African American quilts depicting Bible stories in accountable for cultural appropriation or cultural applique designs. The underlying traditional cultu-

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re or folkloric knowledge from which the expression is derived is generally intangible. A quilt may depict an old myth or symbol and is part of the underlying intangible “folklore,” as is the knowledge and skill used to produce the quilt, while the quilt itself is a tangible expression of that folklore (World Intellectual Property Organization 2003).

Furthermore, intellectual property is defined as creations of the mind, including, “inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, names, and images used in commerce” (World Intellectual Property Organization 2021). I argue that the fashion industry uses the concept of sustainability to co-opt these cultural objects and profits from the reproduction of these intangible expressions. In light of this, it is significant to assess why it can sometimes be problematic to upcycle old materials.

African-American Quilt Culture

According to Elsa Barkley Brown, who published a study of the history of African-American women, a group’s cultural aesthetic is not that different from their political and economic aesthetic. When looking at material cultures like quilt-making, we can illustrate a way of ordering the world (Brown 1989:925-926). Quilts have a full heritage and are made by women who contributed to settling America and whose families’ histories are sewn into that specific object, which has been passed on to generation after generation. In light of this, it is important to assess the exploitation of vintage African-American quilts, and consider whether it is okay that these quilts are seen on white people.

Modens mønsterbrydere (DR)

The Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) produced a 4-part series entitled Modens Mønsterbrydere (Fashion Industry Pioneers), featuring Danish designers and design students who insist on making room for sustainability, diversity, and slow processes while cultivating craftsmanship and tradition (DR 2020). I focus on two episodes highlighting Danish fashion designers Line Sander and Bettina Bakdal.

The production team of this series brought in lector Maria MacKinney-Valentin from the Royal Danish Academy, whose primary research fields are gender, identity, history, and theory. Bringing in an academic like MacKinney-Valentin was supposed to contribute to the credibility of the show’s themes, but MacKinney-Valentin merely generalizes about the history of quilts in the US - that these quilts are

loaded with traditions and rituals, and are an important part of the history of African-American quilt culture. But instead of pointing out the cultural insensitivities in this upcycling project, she focused more on how women have always used recycled materials back then, and how they turned these materials into beautiful textile art. But she forgets to ask critical questions about these new business models. What happens when you make profits off African-American quilts? Why is it acceptable to take cultural objects and appropriate them in the West without acknowledging the history of slavery and violence that is part of that colonial history? Why is colonial history excluded from fashion history and fashion education at design schools? Why do designers and educators continue to disconnect colonial history from sustainability and ethics in fashion?

Line Sander is a Danish fashion designer, educated at Design School Kolding in 2012. In this series, Line Sander presented her take on “this year’s Christmas stocking”, which is made of an African-American quilt rug from 1871. The pattern of this rug is highly characteristic of the traditional African-American pattern called “Grandmother’s Basket.” The pattern on this rug is characterised by small baskets with names written above. The names tell us that this particular quilt is a community quilt, made by hand. On the back of the rug is feedsack fabric, typically used as quilt backing at that time. Sander’s “Christmas stocking” is an example of appropriating the visual identity of formerly enslaved people. It is problematic when wealthy, white people have a cut-up African-American quilt hanging in their living room with no understanding of its significance. Even though Sander points out the origins of the quilt during the series, she still chooses to sew Christmas stockings from it. She puts her own spin on it by sewing small patches on the original rug, making it something more “exotic.” Quilt culture is a sacred practice, and the rug is a symbol of a violent African-American history. Objects such as these are used as a way to visually express African-American stories and should not be used as appropriated products to be resold for profits.

The Danish fashion designer Bettina Bakdal, who is featured in another episode of the series repurposes existing materials like vintage scarves, and puts her own spin on the pieces that she makes. With this approach, Bakdal appreciates the craftsmanship and aesthetic of every single scarf, but in contrast to Sander, the origin of the scarves is not from

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a marginalized culture. They are upcycled materials made by big fashion houses like Hermès, Yves Saint Laurent, and Dior. This example illustrates that there is a difference in whose material culture and objects can be incorporated, up-cycled, re-used, repurposed,and then sold for profits again.

ty Organization, 2003). WIPO argues that cultural heritage does not belong to the public domain and should be recognised as intellectual property.

Copyright laws try to make provisions for the protection of cultural heritage works and works inspired by traditional cultural expressions. WIPO argues that the preservation of cultural heritage is important, as well as recognition of the moral rights of the Bode Bode is a New York-based fashion brand of luxu- original author (World Intellectual Property Orgary menswear that expresses a sentimentality for nizations 2015:2-3). An initiative like the Maasai IP the past through the study of personal narratives Initiative Trust Ltd (MIPI), which ensures the Maasai and historical techniques (Bode 2021). In 2019 Peoples’ cultural brand, demonstrates a way of enEmily Adams, the designer behind Bode, presen- suring the recognition of cultural heritage. ted her menswear collection featuring vintage, African-American quilts. Notable pieces were a A report published in 1995 by Erica-Irene Deas preone-of-a-kind workwear jacket made from a “Log sents the study of the protection of the intellectual Cabin” quilt from the early twentieth century and a property of Indigenous people. According to this one-of-a-kind workwear jacket made from a “Crazy report, “heritage” is all that belongs to the distinct Quilt.” This collection of work-wear jackets is a prime identity of a group, which is theirs to share if they example of how fashion brands appropriate the vi- wish. But it has been argued that Indigenous groups sual identity of marginalized people. These pieces do not view their heritage in terms of property. are sold for $1,668, but this economic profit is by no Thus, it can be argued that heritage is a grouping means benefitting African-American quilting cul- of relationships rather than economic rights. So, ture. Once again, up-cycling and sustainability are the protection of heritage as intellectual property being used to legitimize a brand’s appropriating ac- using copyright laws is inherently unsuitable (Daes 1997). Yet this interpretation also ignores the colotions. nial exploitation of non-Western cultures. In light of Unfortunately, brands like Bode are not the only this, designers and brands should not put a price on examples of how fashion appropriates marginali- cultural practices by making a profit from a culture’s zed cultures. Within the discourse of sustainabili- sacred objects. This begs the question; how can the ty, exploitation continues to occur. Why does this fashion industry do better? persist? To answer this question, it is important to understand a development in the history of fashion Conclusion theory before the late twentieth century. In 1904, The fashion industry uses the concept of sustainabisociologist Georg Simmel argued that “classless lity as a justification for appropriating cultural herisocieties and tribes do not have fashion” (Simmel tage of marginalized communities by making a pro1998). This assumption is Eurocentric and perpetua- fit from their unclaimed or unregulated labour and tes colonial exploitation; these tribes are considered creativity, which reinforces colonial exploitation. to be outside of the fashion system, which implies Since brands often mislead consumers, the power that fashion only exists in capitalist, Western socie- of change lies outside of this system. As consumers, ties. This presumption still persists today, which is we need to start asking more critical questions of important to keep in mind when investigating how the fashion industry and hold everyone (the design brands understand the concept of intellectual pro- schools, designers, brands, media) accountable for perty. their actions. Sustainability is important and we need to rethink the way that the fashion system operates. But we also need to understand that susCopyright Legislation According to the World Intellectual Property Orga- tainability and decoloniality, or respect for cultural nizations, this is not the first time that the cultural heritage are interconnected and need to be part identity of hand-made textile is used to benefit of fashion education, industry and consumer pracmajor corporations. Indigenous peoples and tra- tices. ditional communities have expressed the need to protect their designs embodied in hand-woven or hand-made textiles (World Intellectual Proper-

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Illustration 25 of

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Artwork by Sofie Laursen

Review of Netflix’s Sex Education By: Sandra Jäger The third season of the original British Netflix series Sex Education was released on September 17, 2021 - and what a strong season! The series covers a wide range of topics, mostly concerned with being a teenager, identity at this stage of life, and, as the title explains, understanding and acceptance of one’s body and sexual relations with others. The show follows a group of high-school students at Moordale, where the lead cast is diverse in gender pronouns, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and more. Over the course of the series, many issues arise within and between the characters, and in relations to their family members or teachers. Two of the students open a “sex clinic” on campus, giving out advice to their fellow sexually struggling students. But the show digs way deeper into issues like anxiety, the wide spectrum of identity, depression, sexual assault, gender equality, body positivity, education, fashion, and so on. This show stands out because of these very important issues that teenagers, young adults, and everyone comes across.

Their diverse cast makes it one of the most inclusive shows in mainstream culture right now, portraying BIPOC or LGBTQ+ characters not just as a token to be inclusive, but really giving them space for their own storylines and character development - like the popular British-African jock Jackson who battles anxiety, or the gay character Eric of Nigerian descent going back to his family in Nigeria, encountering a totally different culture while trying to stay true to his queer identity1. His trip also gave us the pleasure of seeing the traditional attire of a Nigerian wedding.

The style and costumes of the show are not typically British, but a fresh mix of American symbolism, pop-cultural references, a throwback vibe, and contemporary styles.2 This makes the show more relatable at every stage of life. Fashion becomes especially important in the third season, as it marks one of the major changes made by the new headmaster who introduced school uniforms, encroaching on the students’ sense of selves, self-expression, and representations of gender identities through clothing, make-up, hair styles, and accessories. Most of the characters struggle deeply with this limitation on their freedom of expression through fashion. We see the struggle of a newly introduced non-binary character, Cal (played by the Sudanese-American actor Dua Salehwho), who is forced to wear the “correct” uniform confined by gender norms that no longer apply. Issues of identity carry through this season, as the students’ gained self-acceptance is challenged by the new headmaster or other adults, in order to make them conform to stereotypical, traditional norms of society, as they near graduation and career prospects. The third season ultimately allows the students to cope with, and ultimately overcome the restrictions imposed on them by figures of authority, and it’s empowering to watch them succeed.

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Sex27 Education of 42

Artwork by Sofie Laursen

Burning Clothes - Do I have to Set Myself on Fire to make you Aware?

By: Milan Flíček, with editing support by Barbora Sura

Introduction

Have you ever asked yourself what happens with the unsold clothes or with the clothes you recycle?

The ugly truth of our otherwise glamorous fashion industry is that there is a massive overproduction of clothes and that is why tons of clothes are burnt.

I will walk you through various cases of companies that have been burning or have burnt clothes in the past, with a primary focus on the group BESTSELLER. After an email communication with this group’s representative, it is clear that the brands under the BESTSELLER umbrella do not aim to make a real change or at least act transparently. I conclude that the current situation asks for activism. I will suggest some solutions on how to stop this practice and ways to move towards a more sustainable solution.

In half a year, in a year it will be too late” (Palach 1969). On the morning of January 16, 1969, Jan Palach set himself on fire in the main square in Prague.

Palach’s death did not immediately change the regime in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was forbidden to speak about his activism. Only after 20 years when the regime switched from socialist to democratic in 1989, his act was celebrated and acknowledged by the authorities as something we shall never allow to happen again. After reflecting on this type of activism, and connecting it to the fashion industry and the practice of burning unsold clothing, I began to ask what it would take to reform the current, unsustainable and unethical fashion system.

Activism

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Photo by Kat Sark

In 1968 in socialist Czechoslovakia, the events and protests of the Prague Spring aiming for political liberalization from Soviet control were having a bigger and bigger impact. However, in August 1968, the armies of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries invaded Czechoslovakia to suppress the reformative demonstrations. Jan Palach, who until then was taking part in public demonstrations, began to understand that the spirit of the Czech and Slovak nations was slowly beginning to be taken over by the occupiers. A great activist work needed to be done to boost the trampled national self-confidence. He stated, ”there are certain times in history when something needs to be done. Now is the time.

Fast Fashion Exhibition in Berlin

Activism is perceived as a great way to inform people about critical issues in any industry. I took inspiration from Jan Palach, a twenty-year-old student in 1960’s Czechoslovakia. With his activist act of self-immolation he motivated crowds of people to demonstrate, who later managed to make the necessary political changes. This example works as a great parallel between the current problem of burning clothes and our understanding that activism is a way to open people’s eyes and encourage them to act.

Overproduction and Burning Clothes

The reason behind fashion brands burning tons of clothing is their overproduction. Based on BBC data from the period between 2018 and 2020 (Abigail Beall), approximately 677 tons of new clothes have been thrown away every year. That equates to about 2.7 million t-shirts per year. Globally, an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste is created each year. This amount is equivalent to a single

garbage truck full of clothes ending up on landfill sites every second. Fashion brands do not want to tarnish their name, they want to keep themselves on top of the ”food chain” as high-end brands. To keep this ”luxurious brand” status, brands burn excess goods instead of selling the goods for half price or donating them.

is Vuitton, have been accused of destroying unsold watches and handbags so they cannot be bought at reduced prices. Nike has faced allegations of deliberately damaging unwanted stock. On the other hand, other major brands across the fashion industry are starting to pay attention to the demand for more sustainable practices.

Based on BBC data from the period between 2018 and 2020 (Abigail Beall), approximately 677 tons of new clothes have been thrown away every year.

That equates to about 2.7 million t-shirts per year.

Globally, an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste is created each year.

Burberry, Britain’s largest luxury label, revealed that it burned clothing and cosmetics worth 28.6 million pounds

Burberry case

The practice of burning stock is widespread across the retail industry. It is often used as a safeguard to prevent unwanted items being sold at a significant discount. Burberry, Britain’s largest luxury label, revealed that it burned clothing and cosmetics worth 28.6 million pounds. At that time, Burberry said that it destroyed only items that carried its trademark and that the burning of cosmetics was a one-off action related to a license with the beauty company Coty. A Burberry’s spokesman claimed that the goods were burnt “in a responsible manner.” Kirsten Brodde (2018), who heads the “Detox My Fashion” campaign at the environmental charity Greenpeace, said that Burberry “shows no respect for its products, the hard work behind them, and natural resources that were used to make them.” In 2018, Burberry said it would cease burning stock immediately as a reaction to this great revelation.

Other luxury labels, including Richemont and Lou-

Fast Fashion Exhibition in Berlin Photo by Kat Sark

BESTSELLER case

To have an overview of the local fashion landscape, I asked the fashion brand ONLY what their current attitude is to overproduction and approach to the burning of garments. ONLY belongs to one of Denmark’s largest groups of fashion brands BESTSELLER that have previously burned many tons of clothing (Hendriksz 2018). Below is the response I received from their representative: “Dear Milan, ONLY is part of the BESTSELLER group and my answer is therefore applicable for all BESTSELLER brands. At BESTSELLER, we always strive to optimise our buying process to have the right products, at the right time and at the right price in the stores. We have no financial or environmental interest in excess products or destroying undamaged items. Should one of our stores have some excess products, the majority can be sold at reduced prices. In the unlikely event that we have some styles which for some reason cannot be sold in the stores at all – e.g. in the light of a crisis such as COVID-19 – we are looking into several solutions. Perhaps the products can be stored and sold next year instead.

Maybe it can be resold in other markets than initially planned for. We have actually recently launched an online outlet in some markets. If we in the end do not think it is possible to sell the products at all, we can donate them; for example, we have ongoing collaborations with Red Cross in numerous markets. Furthermore, we have a cooperation with I:CO (a take-back system that collects used clothing and shoes and gives them a new life through reuse or recycling) and more innovative recycling collabs to come. In general, circular innovation is on top of our agenda. BESTSELLER has an ambition to increase the use of more sustainable materials, including recycled clothing, year-on-year until all our products are circular by design. It’s a crucial part of our sustainability strategy ‘Fashion FWD’.

Circularity in materials has great benefits, from reducing waste to restoring and regenerating ecosystems

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that produce natural fibres, also through digitalising our design approach, we can minimise waste from the very start of the creative process.

Best regards, MORTEN NORLYK BESTSELLER COMMUNICATION / SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNICATION MANAGER Friday, 20 November 2020 “ This was a very general answer and I therefore asked again if it means that at this present moment in 2020 BESTSELLER no longer burns any clothes?

Or are they trying to achieve this goal? Their response was: “Dear Milan, We do not burn clothes that are fit for use. We have no economic or environmental interest in destroying products that we don’t find fault with. In BESTSELLER, we dispose of damaged products (mostly due to water and mould damages occurring during transportation) that cannot be sold or reused in any other way due to consumer safety considerations. Damaged products are disposed of in the most economically and environmentally suitable way: down-cycling by converting damaged products to energy through combustion.

Seeking to wash the mould out of damaged products would require additional resources (water, chemicals, transportation, handling) and even then, traces of mould might still remain. The number of damaged products being converted into energy constitutes approximately 0.1 per mille of the total number of products being shipped to our central warehouse. It is the equivalent of a supermarket discarding one in 10,000 tomatoes that has gone bad.”

Possible Solutions

As a result of my research, I suggest three directions which can improve this situation: introduction of quotas, using deadstock materials, and activism.

To reduce overproduction, it is necessary that governments set limits or quotas on how the fashion companies produce clothes and in what quantities. Furthermore, to avoid overexploitation of natural resources, the fashion companies have to use their deadstock materials. ”Using existing or recycled, rather than virgin materials offers an opportunity to drastically reduce non-renewable resource inputs and the negative impacts of the industry, like CO2 emissions, water, and chemical use” (Prajapati 2018). Lastly, to fast-forward the implementation of quotas or usage of deadstock by fashion brands, activism is the tool to do it. Whether it is protesting in front of parliaments, calling out brands on their unsustainable practices, or supporting organizations which have this on their agenda, we have the power and means to change these practices .

Through continuous efforts, we can achieve change. The steps we are taking now will have a great impact in the future. I, therefore, made a statement by creating an activist fashion collection as my MA graduation project at the Royal Academy of Copenhagen (profiled in Issue 3 of The Critical Pulse). The collection is an activist act, provoking companies that still burn or have burned clothes in the past, and raising awareness about this problem. I will continue with my activism until quotas on clothing production are introduced and the burning of clothes is stopped entirely. Do I also have to self-immolate to make you aware?

MORTEN NORLYK BESTSELLER COMMUNICATION / SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNICATION MANAGER 26 November 2020 As the article focused on BESTSELLER by Frederiksen et al. (2020:1) states, one can still use clothes that have been water damaged. Additionally, it is also very suspicious that companies like BESTSELLER have so much water damage. Another solution to prevent clothes from burning could be recycling.

However, based on the text by Gonzales (2020:2), it has to be emphasised that more than half of the clothes that are sent to recycling are also burnt. It is therefore necessary to stop companies from creating the excess material from the outset.

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Fast Fashion Exhibition in Berlin Photo by Kat Sark

Photo by Kat Sark

Fast Fashion Exhibition in Berlin

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Interview with Sofia Catalina Fiorentino Sarrate By: Sandra Jäger Sofia Fiorentino recently graduated from the MA program at the Design School Kolding. Her final collection, entitled ANTHROPOWASTE, was exhibited at Museum Kolding in September 2020, alongside the other graduates of the design school. Sofia’s sustainable collection was made in collaboration with the Danish brand Henrik Vibskov, resulting in an offer to work for the brand. Along with the photo essay, in which she describes her collection, we had the pleasure to meet up with her to talk about fashion and sustainability, her creative process, her experience working with an established brand, and her thoughts on re-using materials and new practices of creating fashion items.

Sandra Jäger (SJ): How did you come up with the idea for your collection?

Sofia Fiorentino (SF): I have worked in the garment design- and manufacturing industry for a few years before starting my master. My last period of working in the industry was more specifically in the vintage industry, where I was a manager at a factory in Vancouver, and saw the bags of scraps we had to throw out on a daily basis. These fabric scraps were going straight to the landfill. There was no sorting and no recycling. That to me seemed absurd, as I could see the value in this so-called “waste.” We were just lacking the systems to be able to re-loop it. I wanted to explore this through my research.

SJ: What was your process?

SF: The first phase was a lot of background research, ultimately visiting sorting sites for used textiles in Denmark and learning about their sorting systems and about the textiles. I then proceeded to experiment with the used garments and different techniques to turn what’s no longer wanted or has no market value into a raw material, a sort of “yarn.” I did this by laser-cutting a pattern that can be easily woven together by hand, composing a “new” material from old.

SJ: What were the values and reasons for doing this project?

SF: Circularity has been at the forefront of my research for this project. I believe that if we design the right systems and techniques, we could minimize textile waste. Of course, textile waste should not exist to begin with, but in these times of transitioning to designing out waste, I want to encourage people to view waste as an opportunity rather than just a by-product. I aim to help people make this shift through workshops and by showcasing it is possible through the garments I designed and made in-house.

SJ: Do you think other designers should have a similar process as the one you developed for Vibskov?

SF: I hope so! But I am excited to see other designers experimenting with waste-led processes and also aiming at designing waste out. It is a great moment to be talking about this, but we have to make sure that it is not just a moment or a trend - it needs to be a mindset shift.

SJ: At which scale do you think this is possible? Only for small brands or bigger fast-fashion retailers?

SF: It is, of course, much more complicated to scale these types of projects up, so it has to start at a small, local level. I think that if enough small labels or designers embrace these kinds of up-cycling/recycling/ waste-led designs, then corporations will be turning their heads around. If we look at the modern history of fashion, it was disruptive designers such as for example Martin Margiela who brought the conversations forward that aimed at questioning and deconstructing the systems in place. This is what bigger retailers are getting their hands on now, and if we play our cards right, we could really change things.

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ANTROPOWASTE Photo by Sofia Fiorentino

SJ: Do you think it could be upscaled?

SF: With the appropriate systems in place, absolutely!

SJ: How was it for you as a designer to collaborate with a brand?

SF: It was fantastic, a dream, really. I have looked up to the Vibskov brand since before starting my masters, so it was quite intimidating at first to be able to work directly with them. They are a truly lovely team and were open to the ideas I brought to the table from day one. I think most brands have a thing or two to learn from Henrik’s teamwork. Of course, the most obvious restrictions were related to the pandemic, as I started my collaboration right before the lockdowns and had to continue throughout. I used the time in quarantine for experimenting with different types of looms and weaving techniques, so I could create my garments with Henrik’s sampling by-product when I finally made it back to Copenhagen. I have to say that the opportunities largely outweighed the limitations.

SJ: How do you think consumers will respond to this collection of re-used fabrics?

SF: I think nowadays people are excited about it more than ever. The level of awareness in things like our impact on the environment, our individual footprint, consumer habits and so on, has grown in the last couple of years. When I tell customers that the pieces they are wearing are made from manufacturing by-product and that they are up-cycled using materials that would otherwise go to an incinerator, and techniques that come from ancient craft history, they appreciate the pieces on a much deeper level. But the goal is not to have to say this to the wearer - the goal is that they simply love the pieces. I design pieces that are seasonless and speak a language of self-expression that I hope inspires potential consumers.

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ANTROPOWASTE 34 of 42 Photo by Sofia Fiorentino

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ANTROPOWASTE 38 of 42 Photo by Sofia Fiorentino

ANTROPOWASTE 39 Photos by Sofia Fiorentino

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2021 fra Mette F. på pressemøde: Alle mink skal aflives: https://www.berlingske.dk/nyheder/mette-f-pa-pressemode-alle-mink-skal-aflive | 6 - Statens Serum Institut. (5. november 2020). Retrieved 15. june 2021 fra Mutationer i minkvirus: https:// www.ssi.dk/aktuelt/nyheder/2020/mutationer-i-minkvirus | 7 - Berlingske. (4. November 2020). Retrieved 15. june 2021 fra Mette F. på pressemøde: Alle mink skal aflives: https://www.berlingske.dk/nyheder/mette-f-pa-pressemode-alle-mink-skal-aflives | 8 - Laugesen, M. (5. november 2020). Berlingske. Retrieved 15. june 2021 fra Aflivning af mink giver milliardstor mavepuster til dansk økonomi: »Det efterlader et alvorligt hul: https://www.berlingske.dk/oekonomi/aflivning-af-mink-giver-milliardstor-mavepuster-til-dansk-oekonomi-det | 9 - Fur Farming Bans. (u.d.). Retrieved 11. June 2021 from Fur Free Alliance: https://www.furfreealliance.com/fur-bans/ | 10 - Biondi, A. (18. december 2019). The fur industry is fighting back. Hentet 11.

June 2021 from Vogue Business: https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/materials-fur-industry-faux-vegan-prada-chanel-yoox-net-a-porter-burberry | 11 - Hoskins, T. (29. October 2013). The Guardian. Retrieved fra Is the fur trade sustainable?: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-blog/is-fur-trade-sustainable | 12 - PETA. (16. June 2021). Hentet fra Wool, Fur, and Leather: Hazardous to the Environment: https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/animals-used-clothing-factsheets/wool-fur-leather-hazardous-environment/ | 13 - Lavoie, J. (15. August 2014). The Narwhal. Retrieved 16. June 2021 from Mink Farm Pollution Key Culprit in Rendering Nova Scotia Lakes Unswimmable: Report: https://thenarwhal.ca/mink-farm-pollution-key-culprit-rendering-nova-scotia-lakes-unswimmable-report/ | 14 - (Michigan State University study, 2003; cited in The Humane Society, 2009, s. 2). The Humane Society. (29. January 2009). Retrieved 16. June 2021 from TOXIC FUR: The Impacts of Fur Production on the Environment and the Risk to Human Health: https:// www.humanesociety.org/sites/default/files/docs/2009-toxic-fur-production-impact.pdf | 15 - Hoskins, T. (29. October 2013).

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FASHION PERFORMATIVITY 1 - Váša, M. (2021, Marts 23). The higher the heels, the closer to God. Retrieved June 16, 2021, from Vogue Czechoslovakia: https://www.vogue.cz/clanek/vogue-cs-in-english/martin-vasa/the-higher-the-heels-the-closer-to-god | 2 - 2: Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge. | 3 - Vaid-Menon, A. (2020, September 25). Why

gender reveals are transhobic. Retrieved from Alokvmenon: https://www.alokvmenon.com/blog/2020/9/25/why-gender-reveals-are-transphobic | 4 - Butler, J. (1993). Bodies That Matter: On the discursive limits of ”sex”. London: Routledge. | 5&6 - Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge. | 7 - Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge. & Wissinger, E. (2016). Judith Butler; Fashion and Performativity. In A. Rocamora, & A. Smelik, Thinking through Fashion; A guide to key theorists (pp. 285-299). I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. | 8 - Wissinger, E. (2016). Judith Butler; Fashion and Performativity. In A. Rocamora, & A. Smelik, Thinking through Fashion; A guide to key theorists (pp. 285-299). I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. | 9&10 - Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge. | 11&12 - Wissinger, E. (2016). Judith Butler; Fashion and Performativity. In A. Rocamora, & A. Smelik, Thinking through Fashion; A guide to key theorists (pp. 285-299). I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd | 13,14&15 - González, A. M., & Bovone, L. (2012).

Identities through fashion: A multidisciplinary approach. Berg. | 16 - Wissinger, E. (2016). Judith Butler; Fashion and Performativity. In A. Rocamora, & A. Smelik, Thinking through Fashion; A guide to key theorists (pp. 285-299). I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. | 17 González, A. M., & Bovone, L. (2012). Identities through fashion: A multidisciplinary approach. Berg. | 18&19 - Katz, E. R. (2021, March 2). Can You Walk a Mile in Mark Bryan’s Louboutins? Retrieved June 8, 2021, from Interview Magazine: https://www. interviewmagazine.com/fashion/can-you-walk-a-mile-in-mark-bryans-louboutins. | 20&21 - ORTTU. (2020, June 16). Myles Sexton: My version of masculinity. Retrieved from ORTTU: Blog : https://orttu.com/blogs/video-blog/myles-sexton-my-version-of-masculinity | 22 - Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge. | 23 - VaidMenon, A. (2020, November 13). #DEGENDERFASHION: Harry Styles on the cover of vogue. Retrieved June 15, 2021, from alokvmenon: https://www.alokvmenon.com/blog/2020/11/13/degenderfashion-harry-styles-on-the-cover-of-vogue?fbclid=IwAR0gMdvqAUwE0cmM2czS2NAriCpvgVulezjUZ7RGlTg-B2oF0U_ZnU5sSNU | 24 - Smith, K. (2020, June 24). How fashion is tapping into the gender-neutral trend. Retrieved June 11, 2021, from Inside Retail: https://insideretail.asia/2020/06/24/howfashion-is-tapping-into-the-gender-neutral-trend/ | 25 - Vaid-Menon, A. (2020, November 13). #DEGENDERFASHION: Harry Styles on the cover of vogue. Retrieved June 15, 2021, from alokvmenon: https://www.alokvmenon.com/blog/2020/11/13/degenderfashion-harry-styles-on-the-cover-of-vogue?fbclid=IwAR0gMdvqAUwE0cmM2czS2NAriCpvgVulezjUZ7RGlTg-B2oF0U_ ZnU5sSNU |

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(M. Ouma, Red.) | 14 - Daes, E.-I. (1997). Protection of the Heritage of Indigenous People. United Nations . New York: United Nations. | LOUISIANA ART EXHIBITION: ARTHUR JAFA’S MULTI-MEDIA CRITIQUE OF RACIAL INJUSTICE 1 - Louisana.dk. (2021). Arthur jaffa. Retrieved 21. Nov 2021 from Louisana: https://bit.ly/3DImFbY | REVIEW OF NETFLIX’S SEX EDUCATION 1 - Saad, L. F. (2020). You and Tokenism. In L. F. Saad, Me and White Supremacy (pp. 141-146). London: Quercus Editions Ltd. | 2 - Pometsey, O. (2020, January 17). Sex Education’s creators: ’It’s more like a comic book world than an American one’. Retrieved November 1, 2021, from GQ-Magazine: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/where-issex-education-set |

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