Fast Fashion

Continuing on from my previous post ‘Topics’, I found our class reading ‘What do designers and researchers do? Thinking, doing and researching’, relatable when reflecting on the issues of Fast Fashion and the industry as a whole. 

My interest around the fashion and textiles industry peaked following a lecture I attended by Amber Buchart in 2017. I take pride in the fact that my wardrobe has been sourced second hand since about 2010; not because I couldn’t afford new clothes, but because I couldn’t afford the aspirational brands that my higher-earning colleagues were wearing (I was fresh out of uni in my first executive role) and so I turned to ebay to buy my work outfits.

The Buchart lecture turned a spotlight on the issues with charity shop donations and the new cycle that second hand textiles enter into once they are discarded by the original buyer. I had no idea about the process once you donate your clothes to a charity, no idea about textile bins and sorting facilities, and no idea about the volume of clothes that are being sent to third world countries; let alone the fact that few of those countries actually want or need the clothes that we are sending them on the illusion of being charitable. 

This is when I began to educate myself around the clothing industry and the concept of “Fast Fashion”. It feels (certainly at this point in my journey) impossible to pinpoint a particular part of the garment life cycle that will “fix” fast fashion, as Crouch and Pearce discuss “‘there are so many factors impacting on this single issue, that to try and resolve it in isolation is impossible.’” Crouch, C. & Pearce, J. (2012).

Therefore fast fashion, by definition, is a wicked problem.

“A wicked problem is a problem that is highly resistant to any kind of solution… Rittel and Webber suggested that there is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem because the problem and the solution are the same thing and every time a solution is proposed it changes the nature of the problem.” Crouch, C. & Pearce, J. (2012).

There are so many issues within the production, supply, purchase and post-purchase chain that for change to happen, every aspect within the industry needs to take responsibility for creating a completely new framework for fashion to exist within. For example, designers and brands moving away from producing S/S and A/W fashion lines, every year.

Whilst catwalks are setting the scene for the next seasons wardrobe must-haves, consumers are going to keep buying clothes. “It is about changing the fabric of the man-made world with the focus on why and how change should be initiated and with the associated problem-solving shared between the designer and the end user.” Crouch, C. & Pearce, J. (2012).

The concept that designers and end users need to align to bring about change, I believe that can be achieved by :

1. highlighting the problems that exist within the current industry and how unsustainable it is to keep going with fast fashion and throw away culture
2. shifting the mindset around consumerism and buying habits
3. encouraging brands and designers to utilise their talent and existing resources to inform, educate and lead by example

In regards to the last point, I believe that this is how designers can subvert the existing framework of the fashion and textiles industry by using clothing and homewares as a vehicle to raise awareness of a global issue.

Reference

What do designers and researchers do? Thinking, doing and researching – In Crouch, C. & Pearce, J. (2012). Doing Research in Design. Bloomsbury