Sustainability and traceability have become of increasing importance in the world of fashion. When students understand how fashion production impacts the environment and people around the world, they start to realise that they can make a difference. Through exposure and education students will be able to make informed decisions about the clothing they buy and wear; and as a result will encourage their friends and family to become more ethical consumers.
Sustainability is a term that can be defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.
Traceability can be defined as the ability to follow the process of a fabric from its raw material or fibre, through to its production, consumer consumption and disposal.
Click here to look at three fashion labels practicing sustainable fashion. Each of these labels are making a conscious effort to commit to a more sustainable fashion industry, and are similar in their endeavour to use organic and sustainable textiles. All three of these labels practice using repurposed textiles that would normally end up in landfill, and I feel that each of these labels have a distinct consumer market. Homie is a Melbourne label that originated from four friends wanting to improve the lives of young homeless people. Particularly of interest to me is the Homie Reborn side of the label that upcycles clothing to resell as original one-off pieces. I love that Nudie Jeans have a repair station in their stores, and that they will repair any jeans item that has been purchased from them 'free of charge' no matter where you live in the world. I'm also impressed that your old Nudie jeans can be exchanged for a 20% discount, and that they will either be mended and resold in Nudie stores as second-hand jeans or repurposed. Lastly, Lois Hazel offers 100% transparency and practices complete slow fashion. She designs and produces garments that are completely wearable, and has an ethos of being 'completely honest and transparent'. She's a trusted voice with regard to sustainable and ethical practices within the fashion industry.
The approaches that each of these companies make can be incorporated into the textile classroom, whether it be upcycling old tshirts by joining the left side of one tshirt to the right side of another, to create a hip look that teenagers would like; repairing and repurposing old jeans or simply making a garment/item from organic or deadstock fabric.
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