International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2023

This third issue of the International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles (SFT 2.1) presents a varied collection of academic research and scholarship, an industry interview, and an exhibition review which we feel gives some insight into the diverse and innovative design thinking already taking place within the global fashion arena. To combat catastrophic climate-related risks of global warming by zero-emissions would require urgent global changes in policy and investment across all sectors of society, and commitment to change from governments, industry and consumers. The trajectory of ever-increasing production and consumption is not sustainable in a world where resources are finite. A paradigm shift is needed to redefine what is meant by prosperity, which has long been classified as economic growth. A shift from economic growth and prosperity towards sustaining the planets ecosystems and improving well-being needs to happen – the two concepts cannot happen simultaneously.

The concept of sustainability is becoming increasingly important to Indian customers. Millennials are recognized to be the most active, intelligent and sensitive buyers and consumers. This article focuses on millennials, because India has the world’s largest millennial population. Millennials are known for their high spending power and desire for eco-friendly workplaces and products. Indian millennials are more concerned about their buying behaviours’ environmental effects than their social and economic effects. The transformation of consumer behaviour towards more environmentally responsible consumption is a challenge for many countries, including India. It is not enough to have socially responsible firms that make environmentally friendly goods or to create standards for regulatory compliance; one must also meet customers’ growing need for ecologically responsible fashion. As time passed, consumers have become more enlightened about the products they purchase and how they are made. Consumers now want to make socially responsible purchases that boost their wardrobes. Large global fashion companies are increasingly prioritizing an ethical and transparent fashion industry that honours clients and the local ecosystem. Slow designer brands develop sustainable and ethical clothing by providing safe work environments to labourers, partnering with handloom industries and talented artisans to create handmade goods, employing green products or recyclable materials and upcycling post-production and post-consumer waste. The growing movement towards fashion that is both environmentally and socially responsible can be seen clearly in India. New and established fashion companies are transforming daily to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly clothes by embracing new innovative approaches, new designer brands and new supply chain systems. This research’s main goal is to understand the shifts that sustainable fashion recommends, which are also necessary for ethical production and consumption. The goal is to uncover clients’ psychological buying habits and persuade them to shift their decision to buy sustainable clothes.

During the past ten years or more, sustainable fashion and slow lifestyle has received a growing amount of attention from design scholars, creative practitioners and fashion brands. In addition to new technologies of material development, the recent incorporation of repair-inspired designs into current fashion practice is also notable. Among the origins of global repair traditions, the Japanese patchwork boro receives a shared interest from a global creative network of fashion designers, textile collectors and artisans in their exploration of sustainable materials and reinvention of ancient craftsmanship. Born from humbleness, boro signifies a class of Japanese textiles that have been extensively mended and patched together by people who could not get or afford proper clothes. The recent resurrection of boro as a style and an eco-friendly fashion statement follows the trend for sustainable design, and also benefits from the recognition of Japanese aesthetics in western fashion and design industries. By investigating the boro-influenced patchwork menswear brand KUON from Japan, this case study acknowledges and exemplifies the historical and contemporary ideological alignment of sustainable fashion with Japanese repair culture, aesthetics and material interpretations. This research considers boro as an alternative solution to the current development of new material technologies, and the discussion of boro offers future possibilities to reimagine the meanings and representations of this traditional repair craft which may inspire creative practitioners to participate and contribute to sustainable fashion design.

Traditional fashion and textiles education is predominantly based on processes that inform a linear fashion industry which contributes to global, significant environmental and societal challenges. Thus, universities share governments’ accountability for sustaining a flawed system. As a response, this study proposes a planet-centred and community-focused fashion and textile curriculum, equipping students with competencies required for cultural change that enables a prosperous future for all. This curriculum proposal explores how an environment at Birmingham City University to observe nature (Growth Garden) and to explore materials (MAT_er.LAB) can be a place where artistic, scientific and technical perspectives thrive through collaborative and reflective practice. As a STEAM approach, it embeds art within the STEM agenda through a four-layered pedagogical structure that feeds into a curriculum framework mimicking the seasonal calendar to allow several entry points and lifelong learning. Designed to form an inclusive and equal learning system for ‘constructive disruption’, strategies aim to dismantle the existing knowledge-accruing focused learning structures that currently prevail. Seeking change beyond education, this proposal also questions dominating point-based application systems as irrelevant for cultural change. By embedding community-driven assessment forms, it shifts evaluation from grades to impact providing real change that serves nature and society.

End-of-life uniforms and workwear account for around 11,000 tonnes of textile waste in Australia and only 1 per cent is recycled, with the rest discarded in landfills. Australia’s large mining industry operations do not currently engage in responsible employee uniforms and workwear management contributing to the problem of waste. In 2021, the Commonwealth Government of Australia supported the development of a product stewardship scheme to recycle uniforms and workwear to be launched in 2022 and awarded A$1 million in funding to the Australian Fashion Council to implement a National Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme. These initiatives aim to improve the design, recovery, reuse and recycling of textiles, providing a roadmap to achieve clothing circularity in Australia by 2030 in line with the National Waste Policy Action Plan targets. The mining industry is the engine of the Australian economy, contributing to economic performance, employment, exports and tax revenues. With the country having some of the largest reserves of iron ore (#1 worldwide), gold (#2 worldwide), silver (#3 worldwide) and lithium (#2 worldwide), the importance of mining and the employment options it provides will continue to grow, particularly in transitioning to a net-zero economy. Urgent solutions are needed to address the issues surrounding uniform and workwear use to eliminate the substantial amounts of textile waste currently generated by the mining industry. This article presents a case study in Western Australia, where half of Australia’s mining operations are located, examining the potential for reducing the mining industry’s garment waste by applying the circular economy principles. The findings from the case study will assist in better understanding the current practices, key challenges and potential opportunities in upcycling and recycling mining workwear in Western Australia.

Facilitating the infrastructure for clothing reuse is a key strand of the circular economy. The UK-based charity TRAID has been working for over twenty years to address fashion’s negative impact by promoting the reuse of clothing through its network of innovative charity stores. Furthermore, TRAID funds global projects helping the transition to organic textiles and supporting the people who make our clothes. In this interview, Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas of the British School of Fashion invites TRAID CEO Maria Chenoweth to share insights into the past and future of the UK-charity retail sector and the impact of TRAID’s pioneering approach to sustainable fashion and textiles.

Review of: Material innovations on show at the 10th Future Fabrics Expo, Magazine London, London, 28–29 June 2022