Fashion Tries on Zero Waste Design

FRED R. CONRAD/NY TIMES 8.15.10

You must click the link in the title of this post and read the article now.
The fact that a discussion about Zero Waste Design has made it to the NY Times is mind blowing to me (in a good way).
I am beyond excited for Timo and as a member of the Loomstate team, very excited to be working on this collaboration. Stay tuned for updates.

Here's a clip.

YOU wear organic T-shirts. You hang your clothes to dry. You recycle your unloved suits and dresses.

But frankly, that’s just the tip of the green iceberg.

Today’s truly fashion-forward have a more radical ambition: zero waste.

That may sound more like an indie band than an environmental aspiration, but it’s a new focus of top fashion schools.

Zero-waste design strives to create clothing patterns that leave not so much as a scrap of fabric on the cutting room floor. This is not some wacky avant-garde exercise; it’s a way to eliminate millions of tons of garbage a year. Apparel industry professionals say that about 15 to 20 percent of the fabric used to produce clothing winds up in the nation’s landfills because it’s cheaper to dump the scraps than to recycle them.

By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

Published: August 13, 2010

Moth Love

Portland sustainable fashion designer Gretchen Jones of MothLove, won the first challenge on Project Runway's Season 8.

"I always want to be fashion first. I want you to purchase me because I'm an amazing brand that just happens to be green."

Manuals, Certifications, Standards

I cannot tell you how many times I've received or overheard requests from companies or customers looking for a step-by-step guide to Sustainability.

Unfortunately, though, "We" cannot give you a universal, detailed manual for Sustainability—and here are some reasons why:

1) Sustainability is more than an organic certification or a third party fair labor certification. It's a way of thinking. It's continuously asking, is this action, material, process etc. sustainable for everyone including mother earth?

2) "We" are still figuring it out. Give us a second. This revolution involves a lot of people, a lot of materials, a lot of products, a lot of grey areas. Problem solving and finding real solutions takes time. Time to test and time to refine.

3) Not everything can, needs to or will be certified organic. For example, alpaca. My friend Tamara owns a knitwear company Kusikuy.

KUSIKUY alpaca fleece is sourced from free range alpacas that graze in small herds on the natural native grasses of Bolivia's Andes Mountains. They are cared for humanely, allowed to roam freely up mountainsides and then gently led back to family farms where they are corralled and tended to for a short period of time before being left to wander free again. Alpacas are valuable because they produce fine quality fiber throughout their entire life. They are deeply honored in the Andean tradition.

Nothing Kusikuy produces is certified organic. But is Kusikuy's Alpaca any less sustainable than, say, organic cotton? Cotton production requires large amounts of water (often irrigated), lots of washing and drying and is often made into disposable tee shirts?

4) Sustianability is not one size fits all. What works for Wal-mart may not work for a small to medium American fashion designer.

Instead of a manual, you have to continuously be a detective/student and bust out your own moral compass.

For the record, I'm not saying that there aren't a good number of cool/reliable/helpful organizations already doing really great stuff to promote sustainability. Take Transfair, which sets standards for fair trade and labor, or Oeko-Tex, a leader in textile certification. Both are great partners and have great tools for companies striving to achieve social and environmental sustainability.

I am especially excited for Source4Style (in BETA) a,

(B2B) online marketplace that allows designers and retail sourcing specialists to search, compare and purchase more sustainable materials from a growing network of global suppliers.

Summer Rayne Oakes, a co-founder, is the first tell you they are not claiming to be the "moral authority", they are simply a vehicle to provide transparency along the supply chain so you can make your own educated decisions.

LOOK WHAT WE GOT!

The main goal of the Textile Arts Center is to provide support to fiber artists, and everyday people interested in working with fiber, by acting as a resource facility and creative meeting place.

RIP Carol Sedestrom Ross:

The below tid bit of an interview with Carol is taken from HAND/EYE magazine.
I love what she say about Push vs. Pull movements.
-It gives me hope that the demand for well-crafted garments will grow.
-Supports my complicated beliefs about green marketing.


Carol Sedestrom Ross: The Arts and Crafts Movement eventually died in the US, I think because the public was not particularly interested in handmade things. It was the first time in history that you could buy mass produced things and use them and throw them away and get more of them. I think that artists are always the first to respond to social change so it doesn't surprise me that Charles Rennie Macintosh and William Morris and other artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement were the ones saying:" Wait, wait, we can make these things, too". But nobody was paying any attention to them, we do now but not then. That was a "pushed movement" then, in marketing terms, the artists were trying to push their ideas onto other people. What is happening now is what is called a "pulled" movement because the public is very tired of mass produced things and prefers handmade so it is pulling the movement forward. There is now a huge appetite for craft in the US. I heard a lecture last Friday by John Naisbit who wrote Megatrends. He is most famous for his "high tech, high touch" concept, that is, the more technology we have in our lives the more things we need to touch to remind ourselves that we are human. It was the industrial revolution which started the craft movement and now it is the technological revolution 100 years later that is really pulling it forward.


Jo Litson: The more time people spend with their computers the more they need the other side.

1 of 200.

We are at a point in history with a unique opportunity to create new sustainable economic models, businesses, and lives. I imagine an explosion of economic solutions where the powerful force of entrepreneurship is mobilized for eco-preservation and social enrichment. As part of the fashion community, I hope for increased awareness that we do not work in isolation, we are part of a process and aesthetics is only one part. Good design includes creating a production model where everyone in the process is nourished, including the earth. Within this model, we might then deliver beautifully crafted garments, that potentially serve a lifetime.
-Caroline Priebe 11.15.09

Books:

1. Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher

2. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

3. Developing Power: How Women Transformed International Development editted by Arvonne Fraser and Irene Tinker

4. Cradle to Cradle by McDonough and Braungart

5. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz


Bio:

Caroline Skelton Priebe founded fashion label ULURU in Brooklyn, July 2004 based on "slow fashion" design principles. She also co-founded the 5 in 1 designer retail collaborative in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the hotbed progressive American design and craft. In addition to operating and designing ULURU, Caroline is a stylist, image consultant, sustainable design and business model expert and a certified Martha Beck life coach. She is currently writing a book titled, The Collection, an introduction to "slow fashion", an investigation into garment communication and how building one's own personal "collection" can accurately speak your truth.

Sustainable Exchange: Methods and Practices for Collaborative Partnerships

FRIDAY MAY 7TH - 9TH

TODA DESIGN STUDIO

250 WEST BROADWAY, 6TH FL

OPEN DAILY 12-6PM

SUTAINABLE EXCHANGE: METHODS AND PRACTICES FOR COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS

EXHIBITION CURATION BY: MEGAN HOWARD / IN COLLABORATION WITH RACHEL LITTENBERG WEISBERG

Sustainable Exchange: Methods and Practices for Collaborative Partnerships is an exhibition shedding light on the possibilities and versatility of sustainable consumption, production and business within our local and global community. Through the presentations of six local artists and designers, we hope to inspire and be inspired by our local community, bringing people closer and more connected with the things they own and more allied within the shared networks where they live and work. The artists will occupy TODA design studio for 4 days, creating an open platform for sharing, exchange, coexistence, alternative teaching and learning. Sustainable Exchange will showcase thought-provoking art and design and will be an experimental laboratory where communal ideals, practices and methods can be shared and exchanged to collectively grow the sustainable movement. Please join us for our workshops and open gallery hours, 12-6pm daily.

ARTISTS INCLUDE : SUSAN CIANCIOLO, RACHEL LITTENBERG WEISBERG, EKO-LAB, BLACK SHEEP AND PRODIGAL SONS, AKI GOTO AND ALEXANDRA PARKIN. INSTALLATIONS BY TODA, MEGAN HOWARD AND ELYSE LITTENBERG ARE ALSO FEATURED.

BEGINNERS FINGER CROCHET

FRIDAY, MAY 7TH 12-3PM, HOSTS: MELISSA KIRGAN AND XING-ZHEN CHUNG-HILYARD OF EKO-LAB

In crochets early days, it was considered a pastime of the upper class, whereby they could create delicate and detailed items to decorate their homes or their clothing. Now this portable practice is popular amongst all ages and skill levels. Join Eko-Lab for a gathering of creative crocheting for beginners. You will learn the basic crochet stitches and how you can put them together to make different patterns using solely your fingers as hooks. The workshop will be instructed by Eko-lab’s master crocheter Xing-Zhen Chung-Hilyard (XZ). Materials are generously provided by Thirteen Mile Lamb and Wool and Swans Island, but feel free to bring your own fingers.

NATURAL DYEING

FRIDAY, MAY 7TH 3-6PM, HOSTS: RACHEL LITTENBERG-WEISBERG AND ALEXANDRA PARKIN

In this workshop you will learn and experiment with natural dyes. Synthetic dyes are harmful for the environment replacing them with earth friendly natural dyes that are made from flowers, trees, fruits, vegetables, spices and teas can give a range of colors and are a beautiful alternative. Bring a garment or a piece of fabric that is a natural material (ie. silk or cotton) and we will show you how to dye using simple practices that can easily be replicated in your own kitchen. The dyes involved will be turmeric spice (yellow), smoked tea (grey), and madder root (red). Attend the Eko-Lab beginners crochet workshop and bring your new crochet piece in for dyeing!

FASHION ILLUSTRATION, PAINTING AND COLLAGE

SATURDAY MAY 8TH 1-3:30PM, HOSTS: SUSAN CIANCIOLO AND MEGAN HOWARD

This experimental workshop will introduce participants to the art of fashion illustration and mixed medium collage. Experimental artists Susan Cianciolo will introduce the varied techniques of drawing from a live figure as well as encourage the use of paints, chalks, pencils, and inks to develop ones personal style. Immediately following the drawing workshop, both instructors will introduce the art of collage using their newly created fashion illustrations, papers, tapes, glues and other miscellaneous materials. Participants are encouraged to bring and work within their own sketchbooks. Materials will be provided but attendees are welcome to bring their own.

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS CONVERSATION

SATURDAY MAY 8TH 4:30PM-6PM, CAROLINE PRIEBE OF ULURU NYC

This seminar will focus on the possibilities of starting and operating a sustainable business within the art and design world. The methods and practices discussed in this open forum are versatile and can be applied to many fields and various industries.

COOKING WITH SEASONAL AND NATURAL FOODS

SUNDAY MAY 9TH, 12-6PM, HOSTS: ANNE APPARU AND FRIENDS

Using food obtained through CSA baskets and local farmers, Anne Apparu, an acclaimed sustainable foods chef, will prepare an extraordinary meal and offer cooking demonstrations using natural ingredients and lots of love. This all day event will celebrate slow and seasonal cooking. Please join us for open discussions, good food, and good people. All are welcome, bring something to share and watch it transform into a delectable dish.