Finally, sustainability in fashion is being noticed. The fast fashion of the last decades has given us cheap clothes of often doubtful quality, which is fast bought and fast disposed. The cheap clothes is often produced in low wage countries and shipped half across the world just to end up in landfill in Europe and be shipped back to the developing world as second hand clothing. The production of clothing is putting a heavy burden on our planet from the enormous use of water in the production of cotton to the pollution with dyes.
However, fashion does not have to be unsustainable. After all it is an industry sector that has been highly sustainable before the industrial revolution. While many high street brands have done little to change their practices in recent years, small independent design businesses have been pioneering sustainable fashion. It can be a huge challenge for these designers to provide sustainable clothing while running a sustainable business, but help is at hand.
The OU is part of the AHRC funded ‘Rethinking Fashion Design Entrepreneurship: Fostering Sustainable Practices’ project, which will investigate creative practice in design-led fashion micro and small enterprises (MSEs) as a driver for sustainable prosperity in the expanded sense of contributing to environmental, social, cultural and economic prosperity. Prof Claudia Eckert and Dr Philippa Crommentuijn-Marsh are looking the design processes and the networks the designers form.
If you are running a small fashion business and would like the to part of project, please let us know. We have launched a short survey that explores the creative practice and day to day experiences of designers/entrepreneurs. We are looking for designers who are running or have founded their own fashion business in the UK. Completing the survey should take no more than 15-20 minutes of your time.
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