Designing Fashion’s Future: Present Practice and Tactics for Sustainable Change
Abstract
How do fashion designers design? How does design function within the industry? How can design practices open up sustainable pathways for fashion’s future? Designing Fashion’s Future responds to these questions to offer a fresh understanding of design practices within the sprawling, shifting fashion system.
Fashion design is typically viewed as the rarefied practice of elite professionals, or else as a single stage within the apparel value chain. Alice Payne shows how design needn’t be reduced to a set of decisions by a designer or design team, but can instead be examined as a process, object or agent that shapes fashion’s material and symbolic worlds.
Designing Fashion’s Future draws on more than 50 interviews with industry professionals based in Australia, Europe, Asia and the United Kingdom, with case studies and examples from North America and China. These diverse perspectives from multinational retailers and independent and experimental contexts ground the discussion in contemporary industry practices.
... While these align with the core sustainability principles that present needs are met "without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (WCED, 1987, p. 16), recent discussions have evolved extending beyond traditional fashion studies into a more interdisciplinary field. Scholars such as Payne (2021), Niessen (2020Niessen ( , 2022, and Sullivan (2022), for example, question sustainability definitions that fail to challenge the underlying capitalist structures that drive overconsumption and waste. Payne (2021) advocates for a comprehensive approach to fashion sustainability, requiring systemic change across the industry, addressing environmental, social, and economic impacts. ...
... Scholars such as Payne (2021), Niessen (2020Niessen ( , 2022, and Sullivan (2022), for example, question sustainability definitions that fail to challenge the underlying capitalist structures that drive overconsumption and waste. Payne (2021) advocates for a comprehensive approach to fashion sustainability, requiring systemic change across the industry, addressing environmental, social, and economic impacts. This emphasises that true sustainability must challenge and confront the capitalist-driven model of overconsumption and waste in fashion. ...
... Niessen (2022) suggests that the relationship between fashion and consumption conflicts with ethical/sustainability goals because fashion trends pressure consumers to continuously reinvent or reformulate identity through consumption. This process of planned obsolescence inherently fuels the sector's exploitation of the environment as well as workers and communities (Fletcher, 2020;Payne, 2021). Over the past two decades, the emergence of fast fashion has seen the fashion sector criticised for these issues of environmental sustainability, exploitation of cheap labour, and negligent health and safety practices (Počinková et al., 2023). ...
Purpose
This paper aims to understand how fashion-based social enterprises (FSEs) navigate the marketing communications of fashion products alongside those of their social mission. The authors use the theoretical lens of Consumer culture theory, Collin Campbell’s “Romantic ethic” and the work of Eva Illouz to explore how FSEs weave the emotional appeals of fashion consumption with those of contributing to a greater social cause. The melding of these theoretical approaches to consumer behaviour enables a thorough analysis of FSE marketing strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 founders, marketing directors and managers of FSEs. Open-ended questions were used, and key themes were established through inductive analysis.
Findings
The findings show that FSEs use a form of brand storytelling in their marketing communications; they view their social mission as a unique selling point; FSEs could further incorporate product quality/aesthetic value into brand storytelling; and they could sharpen brand storytelling by further engaging with the positive emotional responses they elicit from consumers.
Originality/value
This research has both theoretical and practical implications in that FSEs that focus on explicit altruistic messaging at the expense of aesthetic hedonism may limit their appeal to mainstream fashion consumers. Accordingly, a promising approach may be to effectively incorporate and link the positive emotional responses of both altruistic and aesthetic value. This approach could similarly apply to other areas of social enterprise retail marketing, particularly for those seeking to attract consumers beyond ethical shoppers.
... In recognition of the complexity of these issues, Zoe Nay and Dr Alice Payne at the Queensland University of Technology in the TextileR research group explore a range of interventions needed, which are relevant to SDG 12. Payne's work looks at ways to improve the existing fashion system ('taming' fashion) as much as how to propose alternative, out-of-system approaches ('rewilding') that challenge the dysfunctional underpinning of the current system (see Payne , 2021. This has led to the recognition that the interventions needed for sustainable fashion are whole-of-system, requiring practice change from fashion's brands and retailers as much as from wearers, fibre producers and policymakers. ...
... Aside from these 'taming' approaches, other work focuses on the fashion cultures of wearing and making that exist outside of industry control and offer alternative approaches to the ways we make and use garments. Examples include the Beaudesert Project, an examination through exhibition and video of one woman's wardrobe and wearing practices in rural Queensland (Payne 2021), as well as an examination of the poetics of waste textiles renewed through fashion practice . One speculative design project examines biotextiles grown from living bacteria, allowing independent makers to grow their own biodegradable material . ...
... Social and environmental issues affecting each stage of the garment life cycle(Payne 2021). Courtesy of Alice Payne. ...
Australian fashion is emblematic of Global North countries with high levels of consumption and waste, dominated by high street fast fashion brands. It also has some unique characteristics as it is located in the Asia-Pacific region – the central production hub of garments – and is a leading producer of quality natural fibres such as cotton and wool. Despite this, Australia has a hollowed-out manufacturing sector that can provide minimal value add to these fibres, and little reuse, remanufacturing or recycling infrastructure for post-consumption garment waste. Ambition for change in the Australian fashion sector is rapidly accelerating with product stewardship initiatives, a modern slavery act and textile waste being designated a priority by the Commonwealth government. Both the policy and industry landscape is evolving. This article reflects on the research landscape of Australian sustainable fashion. The authors of this article draw on multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to survey and consider the trajectory of fashion sustainability research in Australia over the past decade and to identify key strengths and gaps. This survey culminates in the development of a research agenda for the next decade to 2030.
... In exhibit systems, the emerging panorama of sustainability-oriented methods is evolving, coming from different research approaches; among them, futuring stands out, suggesting a strengthening of the link between theory and practice. Scholars from varied design fields, such as product, service, fashion, and speculative design, are inquiring as to how futuring uses a systematic process for thinking about and planning future scenarios (Dunne and Raby, 2013;Berardi, 2017) and pictures possible outcomes by interrogating, observing, sourcing and examining sustainable practices (Barucco et al., 2021;Payne, 2021). In exhibition design, futuring sits at the intersection of museum futures analysis Imhof, 2014, 2021) and sustainability-oriented tools. ...
... The definition of sustainable change as «actions and practices directed towards furthering justice for the human and non-human world alike» (Payne, 2021, p. 208) resides in this dimension, and the associated practices, understood as strategies or tactics, align with it. As a subdiscipline of its own, design strategy may be defined as a plan of action based on vision, defined objectives, and specific criteria for measuring its results (Payne, 2021). Conversely, tactics are decisions made by individuals with limited power who cannot fully foresee the outcomes of their actions. ...
This volume focuses on the dynamic systems of creativity and culture within the diverse fields of design, merging theoretical reflections, case studies, methodologies, technologies, tools, and original practices. The twelve essays adopt different viewpoints to consider the critical role of design in addressing sustainability and social inclusion in creative and cultural industries, positioning them as vital components of a broader design process that fosters local growth, revitalizes communities, and co-creates cultural, economic, and social values. In today's evolving global society, crises in productive cycles, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, have accelerated the need for change and influenced behaviors. Digital technologies have transformed the creative arts and media landscape, bridging the gap between designers and consumers and expanding possibilities in both real and virtual domains. Audience engagement is central to this reflection, aiming to increase interest in cultural heritage, promote innovative cultural experiences, and reach underrepresented groups, ensuring accessibility to a diverse audience. As a new era emerges with evolving forms of society, culture, economy, and politics, the book revisits concepts like 'sustainable culture,' 'inclusive sociality,' and 'participation' in cultural heritage as a common good. Proposing a long-term, holistic approach to the challenges of the Anthropocene Age, it highlights the importance of creative and cultural industries in local development and community engagement. It envisions new models of sociality and community concepts, seeing design, creativity, and culture as catalysts for continuous change and interaction. By adopting multidisciplinary approaches and innovative practices, the volume seeks to inspire new models for cultural engagement and community development, contributing to a more inclusive and sustainable future. It redefines issues like accessibility, multiculturalism, and inclusion, reshaping the social and political positioning of the current cultural system.
... Alice Payne (2021) notes that "fashion hacking" is a method within the larger fashion design strategy of "rewilding". According to Payne (2021), rewilding aims to "seize back fashion as cultural expression from its continual commodification by industry. Rewilding actions are those that make wild spaces for fashion practices to flourish beyond the dictates of the dominant fashion system" (p. ...
... However, a singular white European definition of fashion has become hegemonic and it associates fashion with capitalist production and consumption, as well as with clothing of the moment. This definition was developed during the European modernist period, and it prioritizes novelty, constant change, and speed (Payne 2021). We can therefore coin 'fashion industry time' that requires a fast pace for fashion design to support the demand of constant change. ...
This article explores how Disabled people’s fashion hacking practices re-make worlds by expanding fashion design processes, fostering relationships, and welcoming-in desire for Disability. We share research from the second phase of our project, Cripping Masculinity, where we developed fashion hacking workshops with D/disabled, D/deaf and Mad men and masculine non-binary people. In these workshops, participants worked in collaboration with fashion researchers and students to alter, embellish, and recreate their existing garments to support their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. We explore how our workshops heeded the principles of Disability Justice by centring flexibility of time, collective access, interdependence, and desire for intersectional Disabled embodiments. By exploring the relationships formed and clothing made in these workshops, we articulate a framework for crip fashion hacking that reclaims design from the values of the market-driven fashion industry and towards the principles of Disability Justice. This article is written as a dialogue between members of the research team, the conversational style highlights our relationship-making process and praxis. We invite educators, designers, and/or researchers to draw upon crip fashion hacking to re-make worlds by desiring with and for communities who are marginalized by dominant systems.
... It is also something the industry neglects engaging with and facing in the materiality of waste. Payne further argues that a widened understanding of design practice is needed for sustainable industry practices [19]. It is suggested that to reach a sustainable change in the fashion industry means a revaluation of the modes of knowing that have previously led to such "unsustainability" [19] (p. 6). ...
... Payne further argues that a widened understanding of design practice is needed for sustainable industry practices [19]. It is suggested that to reach a sustainable change in the fashion industry means a revaluation of the modes of knowing that have previously led to such "unsustainability" [19] (p. 6). This could be understood as revaluating how we have created and designed before with materials that have become waste. ...
This study seeks to advance upcycling methods in fashion practice with the specificity of design methods that centre on revaluation and resignification of waste materials. The development of three key approaches to upcycling were tested for future application as design briefs and pedagogies in practice and education. These were developed through the acquisition, sorting and selection of a large sample of secondhand, consumer waste materials across fashion and textiles sectors. Practice-based experiments and the use of different forms of photo documentation examined and explored distinct ways to creatively understand waste material properties, conditions and potential. Fashion and material studies frameworks of object biographies, wardrobe studies, waste, secondhand material economies and art practice approaches of reclaimed materials expanded and refined the approaches. “Material Inventories” is proposed as a creative and analytical method to identify, sort and annotate pre- and post-consumer waste materials. “Garment ontologies” delineates how traditionally “design” in fashion practice is separate from materials and production. These methods enable a deeper investigation into material qualities, conditions, and reuse potential for extended life cycles. This experimental study presents novel and relevant findings with a compelling material sample and practice-based methods adjacent to scholarship in this area that are predominately theoretical- or case study-based.
... Companies aiming to thrive in this dynamic environment must acknowledge and adapt to the dual imperatives of individuality and sustainability. This shift in the fashion industry, as highlighted by Payne (2021), necessitates a move from mass production to mass customization, focusing on personalized and environmentally responsible products. Payne emphasizes fashion design as a dynamic, key factor in the industry's evolution, exploring its role in promoting sustainable development and challenging the view of design as exclusive to elite professionals or as a mere step in the production process. ...
This study critically evaluates contemporary menswear, with a particular focus on the ‘snowman effect’ and mass individualism, to understand the complex dynamics between performativity, gender and socio-styles. It is inspired by the story of ‘Frosty the Snowman’, which illustrates how garments, initially mass-produced, are given life and identity through personalization. This transformation metaphorically represents the fashion industry’s complex relationship between individual expression and societal norms. The article addresses the issue of overconsumption, arguing that it leads to uniform fashion styles despite an abundance of clothing options, thereby increasing the demand for more authentic and personalized fashion. The core of this research examines ‘mass individualism’ within the global fashion industry, exploring its potential to offer sustainable choices while highlighting the challenges and opportunities it presents to major fashion brands. It argues for a shift away from traditional marketing, emphasizing the need for tailored services that meet consumers’ desires for authenticity and individuality. The article also examines the historical constraints on menswear, the evolution of socio-styles and the impact of ‘fit’ on the appropriateness of clothing. It also examines consumer habits and the growing trend towards customization in men’s fashion, particularly in terms of performative individuality and social norms. Finally, the study emphasizes the importance of recognizing the contemporary consumer’s desire for uniqueness and suggests mass customization as a vital strategy for revitalizing the menswear sector, reflecting the changing relationship between fashion, gender performance and socio-styles in contemporary society.
... Globalisation in the late 20th century saw the linear supply chain become more fragmented, volatile, and elongated as brands and retailers dominated. Production and consumers are now split across international borders aligned to the Global North and Global South (Payne, 2020). Scientific developments led to synthetic fibres and synthetic blends as alternatives to natural materials, production became faster and cheaper, with garments being ready-made to a standard size. ...
Garment machinery and manufacturing is but one part of a complex puzzle, as the textile industry grapples with the urgent need to transition to a circular system of production and a net-zero-emissions future. To understand the garment machinery's important part in this transition, a framework for regenerative garment production is outlined and contextualised relative to prior significant societal transitional moments. The framework draws on sustainable development and regenerative approaches to demonstrate how garment production must be considered within a holistic system driven by processes rather than products. Seamless knitting technology and nonwovens are discussed as examples of regenerative garment production to reveal how a systems approach to innovation offers the greatest opportunity to achieve lasting, sustainable innovation.
... It aims to provide a values-based and sustainability-focused alternative to current manufacturing industry trends by reflecting on the limitations of current scenarios [69]. A culturally sustainable perspective enables a more profound, long-lasting, and systemic transformation in line with people's attitudes, social norms, and worldviews [99,100]. This is why, drawing on Fry [101,102], we argue that a futuring approach to future thinking should consider the interlacement between technical and cultural aspects in a design-driven industry. ...
The proposed article addresses pressing sustainability challenges, advocating for a profound transformation of existing development models, particularly emphasizing sustainable production and lifestyles. Utilizing a research method grounded in a comprehensive international knowledge base, the study explores the evolution of design for sustainability (DfS) approaches. Its significant contribution lies in systematically investigating connections among diverse DfS approaches , providing an initial framework for situating practices within the fashion and furniture industries. The research outcomes obtained iteratively involve mapping design-driven sustainability practices in European fashion and furniture companies. This mapping reveals a transition from a product-centric to an organization-centered design perspective, calling for a holistic ecosystemic framework to revolutionize business operations. The article analyzes contemporary design-driven practices, proposing an interpretative model that identifies ongoing practices fostering incremental changes toward sustainability guided by design. Furthermore, the article outlines a three-stage design driven sustainability continuum, synthesizing potential future trajectories. Beyond contributing to the understanding of current practices, the research provides insights into future possibilities , highlighting the transformative role of design in reshaping consumeristic systems. Ultimately, the study offers valuable insights into the transformative power of design, paving the way for sustainable business practices in the fashion and furniture industries.
... While some sections of the fashion industry attempt to engage in sustainable and ethical practices (Niessen, 2020), the fast fashion model has come to represent the opposite (Payne, 2021). The emergence of fast fashion in the 1990s revolutionised garment production to make fashion quicker and cheaper than ever before (Roozen & Raedts, 2020). ...
... Although revenue is unstable, small fashion firm founders are passionate about their missions and increasingly regard purpose (such as sustainability) as the entrepreneurial driver (Heim 2019;Malem 2008;McRobbie 2004McRobbie , 2015. As the SMFE is positioned in the middle of the TCF supply chain network, any changes, disruptions, or enhancements may favorably affect the rest of the sector up-and downstream, thus facilitating overall sustainability goals (FashionRevolution 2021;Payne 2020;Fletcher, Grose, and Hawken 2012). This study chose SMFEs as the object of investigation because of their agility, alternate value systems, and reputation as change agents-hypothesizing that this group is most likely to accelerate the change needed for transparency. ...
The emergence of digital technology as a ‘cure-all’ for sustainable practice has captured the imagination of observers and entrepreneurs alike. Among these technologies, blockchain has been cited as the ideal tool to optimize supply chain transparency. However, despite the abundance of effusively disseminated information in the media, the lack of blockchain applications that are universally accessible, and their negligible uptake raises doubts as to its utility. In particular, small to medium enterprises (SMEs) have for several reasons been slow to adopt blockchain technologies. ‘Digital hesitancy’; lack of common data standards; complex and tedious data collection and transfer; immaturity of the technology; no effective universal platform; lack of resources; and reluctance to share data with perceived competitors are common obstacles. This study explores one of these barriers to adoption, that is, the reluctance to disclose supply chain information to potential competitors. Taking a qualitative approach, the study analyses the current perception of blockchain enabled supply chain transparency through interviews with small scale fashion firms and technology start-ups. Applying a lens of technology adoption theories, the study seeks to understand how supply chain transparency might be satisfactorily managed and even accelerated through technology uptake. A misunderstanding of the software’s capabilities is evident. Many firms seem unaware that the software can be applied to provide managed access to information—arguably providing an advantage over extant transparency measures such as public self disclosure or reliance on third party certifications. This study identifies that because of lack of ‘education’, firms are ill-informed and under-utilizing technologies that are potentially more advantageous than current analogue approaches—that could circumvent the information disclosure paradox.
... They can also be agents of change. As the independent fashion entrepreneur is positioned in the midst of the TCF supply chain network, any changes, disruptions or improvements achieved by the designer/brand may positively affect the remainder of the sector both up and downstream (FashionRevolution 2020; Fletcher and Grose 2012;Payne 2020). Unlike large scale conglomerates subject to the pecuniary interests of shareholders, SMFEs can draw on alternative value systems such as the triple bottom line (people, profit and planet) (Elkington 1998). ...
Fashion firms are increasingly digitalising their supply chains (Majeed and Rupasinghe in Int J Suppl Chain Manag 6:25–40, 2017]) in response to demands for more accurate and verifiable supply chain transparency (Gualandris et al. in J Oper Manag 38:1–13, 2015; Unece 2021). However, beyond pilot schemes, few fashion industry stakeholders have fully implemented digitalised systems into their operations. This has several reasons including, cost, software maturity and digital mindset (Heim and Hopper in Int J Fash Des Technol Educ (Special Issue), 2021). Adjustment to the digitalisation of the supply chain represents significant changes in organisational culture and systems management. According to Davis et al. (in Manag Sci 35:982–1003, 1989), a prevalent issue in the process of digital transformation is the opposition to end user systems. To improve the industry’s ability to forecast, explain, and boost user acceptance of digital applications, a deeper understanding of why and how digital transformation occurs is required. This study examines the organisational mindset necessary for adopting digitalised textile supply chain transparency—based on the user experience measures of intention, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived usefulness and other characteristics. Through a qualitative approach, including primary data gathered from interviews with industry stakeholders, this study aims to identify the challenges facing the industry that have arisen alongside the emergence of digital technologies and seeks an explanation for adoption hesitancy. It finds that the investment in training, operational upheaval, and the lack of ‘digital mindset’ are some of the challenges yet to be overcome by firms. Importantly, the true globalisation of supply chain transparency is set to have a feasible future if digital transformation of the supply can be achieved.KeywordsDigital hesitancyOrganisational mindsetDigitalised textile supply chain transparencyBlockchain adoption
... Mainstream approaches tend to work with 'life cycle thinking' to encompass impacts occurring throughout products' entire life cycles and to enact a shift from linear to circular economies (e.g., EMF 2017, 2020; Waste and Resources Action Programme 2022). More progressive approaches are also concerned with circularity, yet more critically and fundamentally question the economic imperatives and structures of global capitalism, what we are actually seeking to sustain and how this might provide flourishing for all (e.g., Fashion Revolution 2020a ;Fletcher 2014;Fletcher and Tham 2019;Payne 2021;von Busch 2021). Although these approaches differ in appealing to either greater technological or cultural change, they nonetheless demonstrate keen consensus that the fashion industry needs 'transformational, systemic change' (Fashion Revolution 2015: 26), which clearly requires a substantial departure from current practices for all involved. ...
With strong consensus around the need for holistic, systemic change to the dominant fashion paradigm across the Global North, this article aims to generate practical strategies for better engaging and supporting fashion consumers as one key stakeholder group. It critiques the prevailing discourse of ethical fashion consumption—narrowly focused on fast fashion consumption—as both unjust and considerably limiting the scope of broader consumer awareness and action. Wardrobe research facilitates rich empirical evidence of consumers’ ordinary clothing practices and can support more fair and helpful representations of fashion consumers and consumption. Proposing wardrobe research as a tool to create a more engaging and supportive discourse, the article considers how evidence from wardrobe research might enter circulation and extends to consider everyday wearers engaging in and sharing wardrobe research in ‘amateur’ forms. The article examines large public ‘garment storytelling’ projects as an example and proposes that such accessible and appealing wardrobe research–related tools could be further used and developed.
... Cotton growing represents the first stage in the value chain. Figure 1 (see Supplemental material online) shows GVC stages and key actors (Payne, 2021) from upstream (cotton growers) to downstream (retailers, consumers and textile recyclers). Australia is the fifth largest exporter of cotton in the world. ...
While the efforts by actors on the buyer-side of value chains – such as brands and retailers – to address upstream labour abuses are well documented, there is a lack of research into how actors on the production-side of value chains – such as raw material producers – can identify and address downstream labour risks. This research presents the findings of an action research project that focused on the Australian cotton industry. By applying a sense-making lens, we propose four properties that can be used to identify labour risk in global value chains, providing insights into the capacity of producers to address downstream labour abuses. We suggest that there is a possibility for a ‘book-end’ approach that combines upstream and downstream actions by buyers and producers in global value chains.
The application of mass customization in the fashion and apparel industry has a tremendous environmental and social cost. The operationalization of the concept seems complex, and it requires considerable agility in adapting the business model. An increasing number of companies are trying to come together to change the fashion economy and foster social and environmental responsibility, but at what cost? The activities of the fashion industry are known to lead to damaging impacts on biodiversity and the overall health of communities. The need for a transition to sustainable and responsible fashion (i.e., achieving environmental preservation and social justice, respectively) is critical to the future of a thriving industry (leading to economic sustainability). The discourse of consuming less and better opens the door for manufacturers to provide more personalized products that are better adapted to consumer choices. This article explores if mass customization manufacturing can really live up to its sustainability aspirations? An exploratory study was conducted to gather the perception of manufacturing business owners concerning the interplay between product personalization and adapting a responsible manufacturing approach. Findings from the survey suggest companies can benefit from incorporating product customization into a responsible approach, such as designing long-lasting products, reducing resource use and increasing traceability of sourcing/transparency. In addition, respondents agreed that absorbing some of the costs could help customer loyalty without significantly increasing retail prices. However, demand forecasting remains a challenge to integrating sustainable practices into a mass customization business model. Further research is needed to leverage product personalization to promote responsible consumption and integrate it into existing models.KeywordsPersonalizationResponsible consumptionSustainable valuesSustainable thinkingSustainable designSustainable process
The current global interest and urge to propose alternatives to the predominant super-polluting and non-ethical fashion system require major attention to the unconventional fashion production models. Sustainable start-ups are often analysed as both circular systems and devices to reactivate local crafts, pointing toward not only the environmentally-friendly practices but also underlying the need to take better care of people, both as workers and consumers. However, little to no research is dedicated to the assessment of the holistic approach to sustainability of these born-responsible fashion entities. The analysis adopts the Earth Logic Fashion Action Research Plan (2019) framework by Kate Fletcher and Mathilda Tham and critically examines 60 born-sustainable brands in the Italian context. Through the analysis, it will be presented and discussed that born-sustainable does not imply a holistic approach, nor does it guarantee attention to the often-wrongly-separated environmental, social and cultural aspects of the sustainable agency.
Caring for modern materials and technologies used in contemporary fashion can become an archival dilemma, especially for museums collecting the intentionally ephemeral. Degradation becomes a focus, which is often evaluated via scientific research, empirical investigation, and interventional (physical) conservation. Quickening material degradation can often heighten anxiety in conservation and curatorial practice because this can limit the potential use of the artefact. In addition to using traditional modern materials some fashion designers are following sustainable design strategies in textile manufacturing, ones that challenge the growth model. Biodegradable materials have characteristics favoured by some designers, who intend for their creations to remain stable in use and wear before organic disposal. 'Progressive fashion' such as this raises questions and the need for new interpretive practices within fashion conservation. This paper examines how modern material degradation can lead to new 'material relationships', thus enabling future uses and users and hence allowing different aesthetic views and 'fashion memories' to coexist. A 'postconservation' model is to extend the legacy and appreciation of fashion artefacts by moving from a representational conservation approach towards one that embraces documenting and preserving the performative, wearable, and renewable concepts. If a fashion item is designed to degrade, what are the archival implications in conserving, documenting processes and 'performance' of the applied characteristics of such artefacts? Methodological approaches using Material Engagement Theory and postphenomenology help to introduce temporal dynamic elements that postmodern materials often show during the transient process of degradation. Object studies of a wild rubber dress designed by Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler c.2013, 'ECCO'-Leather dress by Iris van Herpen, c.2010 and Rootbound #2 dress by Diana Scherer c.2017, highlight notions of preempting loss as a collection care approach, illustrating the potential benefits in archiving of the temporal aspects of contemporary fashion. Outcomes indicate creative practices of fashion designers using modern materials cannot be represented as being stable nor neutral.
For fashion-focused art-based social enterprises (ASEs), the notion of ‘pragmatic ambitions’ encapsulates their attempts to navigate the complexity of the global fashion market while prioritising social and ethical goals. This necessary pragmatism is explored in this chapter through the lens of our case study, The Social Studio (TSS): a social enterprise based in Australia that uses the vehicle of fashion to support educational and employment pathways for young creatives who have experienced migration and displacement. This chapter considers the tensions between commercial aspirations, as embedded in much ASE logic, and the realities of operating in ways that are counter to dominant business and cultural norms. Taking a deeper dive into the lived experience of students and staff at TSS, this chapter explores the ambivalent combination of ambition, hope and adaptability that characterises both the day-to-day running of the enterprise and the way that students engage with it in order to envisage their future. For the staff and emerging creatives involved at TSS, there are a number of recurring questions. For management, how does such an organisation constantly forge an enterprise that privileges social impact above all; how is success to be measured against conventional commercial and training benchmarks? For students—who have variously experienced significant trauma, institutional barriers, language barriers and financial stress—what is a realistic hope for a future career in textile design and manufacture; is it the dream of opening a fashion label, or the more realistic step of finding some level of paid work in an aligned industry?KeywordsThe social studioFashionArtSocial enterpriseCraftTextilesMaterial practiceEmploymentEducation and trainingMigrationRefugee experience
Creative material practice, in both differing and similar ways to technological and digital creative processes, has the ability to engage young people who face barriers to mainstream education but who may lack digital literacy skills. This chapter will thus look at art-based social enterprises that engage with textiles and fashion with the specific aim of addressing barriers to employment for young creatives affected by the impacts of migration and displacement. How are craft and textile forms leveraged for learning models that engage young people who have had disengaged prior experiences of education or lacked prior schooling due to the dislocating effects of the migration experience? In the specific context of migration and displacement, material practice draws on cultural traditions and existing creative skills. These skills and aesthetic forms can be deliberately re-oriented to new marketplaces through contemporary fashion, craft and textile design, which in turn support young people to position themselves as creative actors in contemporary global culture/s. This potential is evident in examples of fashion and craft-based social enterprise across both developing and developed economies, and aligns with UNESCO’s advocacy for creative practice that builds on and sustains cultural practice. Yet with the realities of limited funding and the precarious market for fashion retail globally, how ambitious can fashion and craft based ASEs be in imagining their development and growth in terms of the scope and impact of the training programs they offer?
The activity of designing fashion is intimately connected to the bodies of others. While the garments designers conceive enclose wearers’ bodies in direct physical contact, those garments also create opportunities for participation, social connection and inclusion as well as possibilities for amorous encounter, novelty and self-expression. Drawing on the outcomes of a research project investigating somatic experiences in fashion, this article examines the notion of embodied empathy in design practice. The article addresses the potential for fashion designing to be understood and enacted as an empathic practice; one that is grounded in a sensitivity to the embodied experiences of others. In doing so, it advances the notion of body style, a dynamic design lens for fashion that foregrounds movement and somatic experience, based in the unfolding interaction between fashion garments and bodies in co-creative acts of wearing. The article argues such an embodied orientation for fashion design provides an opportunity for designers to redirect their design practices beyond appearances to enable and support bodily comportments. This article raises the question of embodied empathy in the context of current discourses on ethical fashion and responds to the following questions: How might an increased sensitivity to the embodied experiences of wearers shift fashion design practice? And following that, what might be the outcomes of such a shift in orientation?
African countries are today the major importers of the lowest grade of second‐hand clothing (SHC). With the opening of global markets and the intense circulation of fast fashion in the Global North from the 1990s, the trade of SHC has exploded in the twenty‐first century. The fast fashion business model, which fuels the SHC trade, has led to reduced quality of clothes, limited clothing lifetime, and accelerated discard of clothing, which end up as donations or become waste. The complexity of the international geographies of the SHC trade creates opacity and secrecy, maintaining inequalities and imbalances between Global North (GN) and South (GS), which continue a relationship of colonial dependence. This paper presents a critical look at SHC exchange in Kantamanto, the biggest SHC market in West Africa, situated within the central business district of Accra, Ghana. The paper scrutinizes the export of unwanted donated clothing, popularly known as “Obroni w'awu” (white man is dead), to Kantamanto. We use direct observation along with an interpretive research design through the analysis of photos taken from Kantamanto, and scholarly and gray literature. The paper documents local practices of reuse, exposing a duality: on the one hand, clothing's symbolic value that is lost in the GN is reconstituted in the GS through exchange and labor‐creating local economies. On the other, the global trade of SHC has become synonymous with dumping, continuing a colonialist relationship between the GN and GS whereby the GN exports unwanted clothing to predominantly African countries’ landfills.
The Sri Lankan apparel industry is currently in transition from apparel assembly to manufacturing original designs as a value addition. Design teams work closely with Western brands, buyers and designers to offer advanced creative and technical design services. The purpose of this article is to investigate how Sri Lankan designers acquire personal, high-value fashion knowledge and design skills in this crucial time of industry transition. The study adopts a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews conducted with 28 fashion design and product development professionals in the industry. Based on an inductive thematic analysis, the study finds that Sri Lankan designers’ acquisition of high-value fashion knowledge and skills comes primarily through their self-directed learning. This study proposes the Designers’ Self-Directed Learning Cycle to illustrate how designers’ learning happens and is applied in their professional practice. The findings are significant in understanding the designers’ practice in the export-oriented apparel value chain.
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