Here's a thread for discussions on sustainable fashion.
Let me start off with the following intro from Wikipedia:
Sustainable fashion, also called eco fashion, is a part of the growing design philosophy and trend of sustainability, the goal of which is to create a system which can be supported indefinitely in terms of environmentalism and social responsibility. Sustainable fashion is part of the larger trend of sustainable design where a product is created and produced with consideration to the environmental and social impact it may have throughout its total life span, including its "carbon footprint".
There are many issues that could be discussed here, from the question of what exactly falls under sustainable fashion design, which designers follow the idea, which fabrics are environmentally friendly, which economical and ethical concerns might be of interest here, etc.
I'd like to start the discussion with a question I've been wondering about, and haven't got a clue about the answer: the aesthetics usually related with this type of fashion design. Even though, according to this Wikipedia article "Designers say that they are trying to incorporate these sustainable practices into modern clothing, rather than producing "hippy clothes." " - I am not sure how spread this attitude actually is. From what I've seen around (but maybe I haven't looked at the right places?), most of the eco-friendly designs usually come with some some back-to-the-nature aesthetics, which I can't stomach anymore :) Three types of products where I think this is especially obvious is underwear, bags and shoes. Don't know what the case is elsewhere, but in EU, at least from my own experience, it's incredibly difficult to find underwear (socks, pants, night shirts, etc.) that's both made of eco-friendly fabrics and clearly sweatshop-free, and that at the same doesn't have this "natural vibe" to it (flowers, bows, and similar shit :p). As for the shoes, I am not sure what exactly the situation is with leather that is processed in environmentally friendlier ways, but I think it's mostly a similar problem like with vegetarian-friendly shoes: the designs are mostly everything but interesting :) The same goes for the bags.
Now, the question is, why is this so? Is the majority of those interested in buying this type of products really into this kind of design/aesthetics? Or is there maybe a confusion about who the potential customer base actually is, and what they are looking for? Maybe the reason that eco-friendly products aren't that attractive is that they usually don't have an interesting design to them?
This is just one of the questions, so if you reply to this thread, and you're rather interested in other issues, feel free to ignore it, and start off with something else :)
Let me start off with the following intro from Wikipedia:
Sustainable fashion, also called eco fashion, is a part of the growing design philosophy and trend of sustainability, the goal of which is to create a system which can be supported indefinitely in terms of environmentalism and social responsibility. Sustainable fashion is part of the larger trend of sustainable design where a product is created and produced with consideration to the environmental and social impact it may have throughout its total life span, including its "carbon footprint".
There are many issues that could be discussed here, from the question of what exactly falls under sustainable fashion design, which designers follow the idea, which fabrics are environmentally friendly, which economical and ethical concerns might be of interest here, etc.
I'd like to start the discussion with a question I've been wondering about, and haven't got a clue about the answer: the aesthetics usually related with this type of fashion design. Even though, according to this Wikipedia article "Designers say that they are trying to incorporate these sustainable practices into modern clothing, rather than producing "hippy clothes." " - I am not sure how spread this attitude actually is. From what I've seen around (but maybe I haven't looked at the right places?), most of the eco-friendly designs usually come with some some back-to-the-nature aesthetics, which I can't stomach anymore :) Three types of products where I think this is especially obvious is underwear, bags and shoes. Don't know what the case is elsewhere, but in EU, at least from my own experience, it's incredibly difficult to find underwear (socks, pants, night shirts, etc.) that's both made of eco-friendly fabrics and clearly sweatshop-free, and that at the same doesn't have this "natural vibe" to it (flowers, bows, and similar shit :p). As for the shoes, I am not sure what exactly the situation is with leather that is processed in environmentally friendlier ways, but I think it's mostly a similar problem like with vegetarian-friendly shoes: the designs are mostly everything but interesting :) The same goes for the bags.
Now, the question is, why is this so? Is the majority of those interested in buying this type of products really into this kind of design/aesthetics? Or is there maybe a confusion about who the potential customer base actually is, and what they are looking for? Maybe the reason that eco-friendly products aren't that attractive is that they usually don't have an interesting design to them?
This is just one of the questions, so if you reply to this thread, and you're rather interested in other issues, feel free to ignore it, and start off with something else :)
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