Out with the OLD and in with the NEW

I was getting into my car after making a trip to Hobby Lobby earlier this week and noticed an individual that was wearing what looked like a combination of flip-flops/sandals.  As I looked closer, the shoes that were exposing almost their entire foot were a pair of worn out, burlap toms that had seen a better day.   
Over-consumption in today’s society is an issue that has been addressed. In the reading design activism beautiful strangeness for a sustainable world, activism, involvement, and better engagement is targeting over-consumers. The mass flow of consumption is causing a problem with global issues. So, how do designers go about making a change? In raising awareness for this changing behavior, Fuad Luke mentioned that sustainability is not just about learning how to live well, but it also focuses on consuming “much less.”

There are two consumer groups’ over-consumers and under-consumers. Over-consumers need to reduce their overall consumption. A way they can do this is by incorporating eco-efficient ways of living into their shopping behaviors. Under-consumers are said to struggle when meeting physical requirements of day to day life; however, this group also needs to be educated with the concept of consumption. Improving the overall quality of life is a similarity that each groups’ have.

My concept will target over-consumers. Fuad Luke states, “the need for change is clear, it is often a question of how to change.” The paragraph titled Communication by event, story or scenario it is said that communicating can greatly enhance the response with your targeted customer or viewer. Communicating how a sustainability process impacts one’s life by providing examples of how an item actually benefits someone gives the customer an incentive to invest in your idea.

This concept revolves around design activism which enhances what exists already. Socially active design creates a sustainable way of living. This concept would greatly eliminate the amount of shoes being thrown away, preventing waste in landfills. Customers will be aware of the importance of reusing products already owned. The customization and reusing process designers can allow the consumers to be involved in sustainability. “Creating and giving new visions a form” is what designing is all about.

Taking our old shoes that are worn out, shipping them to a warehouse manufacturer of the brand, and from there the shoes will be transformed and reproduced into the latest form and style. This process allows one to get a new style, creating a “new generation of products,” like McDonough and Braungart mentioned when referring to biological and technological materials. The Fuad Luke reading talked about various ways of making and producing products to satisfy the needs of the customer. There are four categories for producing and making products including:  100% self-design, manufactured, 100% self-made, and professional design. DIY lets individuals self-design products and create “oneof-a-kind” items.  This had been a popular concept in todays’ society. By going online individuals would be able to choose from a selection of styles that their old shoe could be transformed into. Each brand would have different options dependent upon corporate regulations. The manufacturer of each brand will choose specific styles, while allowing the customer to pick the one to their liking. Color customization would be another DIY factor allowed to the consumer.

The most important thing I’ve learned from the course would be becoming aware of the truthfulness in what exactly goes on with the impact of pollution in our environment due to manufacturing products. I plan to do my part, as a consumer and future designer, to incorporate important factors like the “UPcycling” process and eliminating toxins with dying textiles. I would like to research more about specific manufacturers in the United States that produce garments for designers. I would like to learn their way of producing materials, etc.

Biodegrading into New Life

Apparel industry is known for being one of the main contributors to filling up landfills due to textile materials. The products life ends at the landfill.

The Cradle to Cradle metabolism cycle revolves around giving all products a second life. The term waste equals food creates an UPcycling system for products, creating value in its second, third, fourth life, and so on. The idea of the biological metabolism cycle is to be able to “toss” material items on the ground in useful locations to safely biodegrade after the end use-creating a new life.

The C2CAD reading provides several guidelines for sustainable ways of producing, manufacturing and designing for apparel designers and manufacturers. The goal is to help reduce resource consumption in the fashion industry; as well as, selecting chemicals that evolve around not only environment safety but human safety and well -being.  The “cradle to cradle” process is designed to create new usable life after its first. These “biological nutrients” can easily enter back into our environment without causing water or soil depositing toxins. For this type of biological nutrients to be successful the “disposal without negative environmental impact is necessary.”

The reading by Bradley Quinn emphasized that chemical processing to a finished product is highly discouraged. He also mentioned that designers have the option choose whether they prefer to work with recycled fabrics or organic fabrics including hemp and raw silks. With the biodegradable process, biomimicry was also brought up. The study of biomimicry focuses on animals and plant life and the various ways they can be adapted to human life.

My concept is involved around the biological cycle. The idea is to create an A-line shirt that has an overlay of fabric that would be removable for biodegrading. These removable outer layers would be placed onto the skirts waistband by zipper or Velcro and would be offered in various colors and patterns. The removable layers would be made of natural materials that would biodegrade after a period of time. In order to biodegrade the use of 100% forms of textiles would have to be used, so the removable layer would be made of 100% cotton. Using natural materials, the biodegradable process would be environmentally safe for gardens, plant life, etc. My design concept focuses on the versatility of design. An individual can purchase ONE great fashionable skirt and can customize it by purchasing many different removable layers to rotate out looks overtime.

The Retail World- Reusable Packaging

As consumers we throw things away continually. The Cradle to Cradle reading mentioned that today most durables are tossed and that throwing away products has become a daily routine. From a retail prospective I am creating a concept that focuses on packaging waste reduction. We need to implement the usage of cardboard boxes, freight carts, and paper and plastic wrappers used to ship merchandise to retail stores. When unloading boxes upon boxes of fright in the retail world, you are left with trashcans full of plastic wrappers that were used once- for the purpose of shipping the garment to the store, then throwing it away. The reading, Cradle to Cradle, the concept of how to eliminate waste was mentioned and in order to approach this method in an effective way we must go about designing things from the beginning and determine that their lifespan will end with the outcome of not becoming waste. The video Rhoener Textiles stated that our goal is to ultimately end the concept of waste. The video and reading both mentioned two lifecycles: Biological and Technical. The Cradle to Cradle metabolism that would apply to my concept would be technical metabolism. In this cycle, the wrapping materials would constantly circulate as valuable aspects to the environment as well as the industry. The service of the product is what is being provided with the Technical cycle. By shipping items packaged tightly, enabling them to be delivered to their sore destination without harm is why packaging and wrapping individual items separately is important. Giving the shipping essentials a chance to be reusable is what needs to happen. The freight carts always get delivered back, so why can’t the shipping materials have the same opportunity? After unloading freight, cutting down boxes, and removing plastic from garments, each store should not throw away these items; rather they should automatically be taken back as well for the next shipment. This will ultimately give these materials an opportunity to grow and be used multiple times, eliminating the concept of waste.

Designing a Meaningful Work

In the reading Sustainable Fashion and Textiles by Kate Fletcher, in our society today we are known for having “high volume production and consumption which means we buy and discard more than ever.” Biomimicry is a term that uses the basis of replicating nature into design concepts and various approaches in the textile and apparel fields. Who doesn’t love looking at a sunset, gazing at the stars at night, and even admiring a distinctive plant.  Individuals are inspired daily by nature and all of our surroundings. Creating patterns with inspiration as nature and allowing landscape’s beauty to be the vocal point to designers and their techniques would be something to consider.

Kate Fletcher mentions that one of the core concepts as consumers when we shop for products is related to seeking the functionality that is offered to us, rather than seeking the product itself. Since this shift in our focus is automatic with our shopping behaviors, this should be a huge factor to consider as a designer. Fletcher further discusses that in the case of apparel garments the use of laundering is the most environmentally damaging phase of the lifecycle process. With consumption being at the level it is, this indicates that laundering is happening more and more frequently. Focusing on meeting needs of the consumer can lead to less environmental impacts.

Incorporating local products and light are two innovations that are bio-inspired in the reading, Sustainable Fashion and Textile. Research shows that people like meaningful work. From a designer’s point of view instead of thinking, “what will sell” think what can be produced that will provide customers with a meaningful product that connects them to where they are from or where they live now. Producing items from a local standpoint incorporates creativity, and then allows a place in the market for products and services to be made that respond to problems in our everyday lives. Combining ideas is a key principle in gaining inspiration and discovering what can be made to respond to issues in a positive way. By joining ties, with well-known designers and local expertise, both individuals gain new perspectives on elements of design. Fletcher states, “Local wisdom rarely influences business agendas, yet it has the potential to generate solutions that solve the problems of millions of people.” This concept would create distinct, unique products.

When it comes to light – the more resources and energy used the more waste we release and the more wealth in our society grows. However, Kate Fletcher provides us with good news as to how this concerning subject manner is changing with a different viewpoint. The Genuine Progress Indicator is an approach that measures our well-being rather than how much money we can make with the increased production of goods. One way this is being implemented now is by Suzanne Lee, director of the BioCouture research project. Lee discusses in her video, Grow your own clothes, that she has developed an organic process of growing her own fabric. She produces color change without using dye; by using ion oxidation, and creates patterns by staining fruit and vegetable shapes onto the fabric. The reading, Textile Futures by Bradley Quinn mentions that texture can be an alternative to the use of pigments – allowing designers to create fabrics full of color without chemical processing. Creating colorful garments that do not fade over time is a sustainable thought for the future as well. Textiles Futures creates a great point that when exposed to a strong UV light, there is no danger of fading for pigment-free fabrics.

To make products more efficiently over time would include producing nature-imitated items, a Biomimicry example, that we can keep over time and SHARE with one another. Changing our viewpoint from selling products to selling the use of products has sustainability potential according to Fletcher. Having store locations that provide a service of sharing and exchanging items, instead of adding them to the waste fields by throwing them away is another concept that would benefit our market.

Ideas for the Future

Individuals were unaware of how “wasting” materials on an everyday basis puts a heavy impact on our environment. This happened because people were not well educated on the fact that how we live and what we do with products after we use them affects our environment tremendously. In the article, Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature it discussed that the first warning signs about environmental pollutants and health effects were not talked about until the 1960s and 70s. It has been recommended to us that we take some advice from nature and wildlife and the process of how it works by natural instinct. Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature gives a great example of this – snakes do not use their poisonous toxins in bulk, but create small segments of it and use only when needed. Industrial Ecologists are said to be referring this form of using chemicals as needed which in the end eliminates the issue shortages or over usage.  

The reading, Industrial Ecology represents the fact that each individual uses products in complete different ways; which is one reason waste has become such an environmental issue in our society today. “In the United States alone, we generate 12 billion tons of solid waste a year – that’s twenty times the total ash released by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens!” Concerning statements like this one have made people and companies concerned about the sustainability of our future. Creating products that have multiple capabilities would be a design concept that would utilize materials and in the end save energy usage on manufacturing sites in the production of each item. This concept can relate to other areas outside of the fashion industry as well. People in today’s society strive on the idea of multitasking. Multitasking in our society has been demonstrated time and time again. By people texting while driving, doodling when listening to lectures, singing while showering,  and watching TV while searching the web, etc. are all ways that represent getting things accomplished in one setting. Some of these are dangerous - like texting and driving, but people continue to do it because they can get things done in a quick manner without wasting time. Creating apparel items, for example, that can be worn in different ways are out there in the market; however, they are mostly just produced in women’s wear in dresses or tops that are multifunctional. Branching out and creating menswear, accessories, and even shoes that can serve more than one purpose can decrease the amount of products being put to waste.  Keeping the idea of using nature as inspiration, with the snake illustration above would be an import strategy in the production process. We as consumers stated in Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature “takes advantage of the plenty and then move on.” Having “take-back laws” is also an important aspect in company’s mission statements that would indicate that THEY, as a company, recycle their products. This idea is supported by the article, Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature, by making items with longer longevity and revamping them is a key to giving products a long lifetime in the marketplace.

Envisioning the Future

The focus of my vision would be to enhance the knowledge of society as a whole to improve the environment we live in. Without a well-sustained environment, things would begin to go downhill and then what would we do? While watching the video, Fixing the Future, the following statement really caught my attention: “Do people exist to serve the economy or does the economy exist to serve the people?” I think this question stuck out to me because as a young adult and examining the behaviors of others in today’s society it seems as though we have a sense of being only concerned about one thing, ourselves. A fine example of how a crisis with our environment greatly affects the human population and even wildlife is that of oil supply. This topic attracted my attention because of where I am from, Cushing, Ok where we are known as “The Pipeline Crossroads of the World.” I’ve grown up surrounded by tank farms, oil drilling, and relatives owing mineral rights to land; which is about to be drilled upon to look for oil as we speak. What happens when oil supply runs out is an alarming question that was asked in the video 2050 – The World. Visioneering: an essential framework in sustainability science, talked about how a vision never changes-it only refines, improves, and advances to determine our destiny. I believe that this is an encouraging way to look about our future as it will be here before we know it.  The video, 2050 – The World, reinforces this thought by saying that our future is upcoming and much closer than we think it is.

In order to believe that something great can come about people across the globe being aware of a sustainable future would be that of faith. We have to believe in what we have yet to see, but we know and trust that as time goes by technological advancements will be made and progress will take action. We as society would need to have an optimistic mindset about our future. Thinking Ahead: The Value of Future Consciousness is an article that talked about having a creative mindset when coming up with techniques, technologies, and imagining possibilities to put our vision into action.  Individuals and researchers would have to believe the old saying, “where there’s a will there’s a way.” When entering college four years ago, as a freshman, we were told time and time again that the jobs created when we graduate aren’t even in existence. So, we must keep this mindset of understanding the importance of believing in what we do not see… yet.

Some habitual beliefs that can present barriers to this vision are that of overconsumption. Like in every situation, as technology improves there are pros and cons to be addressed. In the article, Limiting Consumption, as years go by consumption has increased greatly.  A way to help the environment would be to “reduce the burden of overconsumption.” With the oil crisis, this might indicate individuals not traveling excessively for self-fulfilling purposes. Oil is a natural source that we need for the basis of travel. I believe that this topic would greatly engage others because it is something we can all relate to. When we turn 16 we want a car; when we travel we go by train, fly, or drive. Researchers are looking for ways to go about recreating the reaction of nuclear fusion that can enable our knowledge to never have to drill for oil again, 2050 – The World.  

Behind the Scenes of Product Labeling

As an average customer, were you aware that labels describing benefits and promises about a product are not always factual? This is not always the case, however at times some companies identify promises to their product as a strategic way to benefit the company itself. In the reading, Eco-promising: communicating the environmental credentials of your products and services, it was mentioned several times that customers are interested in the benefits they can receive from buying a product. Knowing that they are doing well for the environment, by purchasing a particular item that says “I’ve been recycled,” is known to entice customers shopping behaviors. Customers want honesty and this simple element is a key factor in brand loyalty. Greenwashing is a concept put on a label to identify and advertise a product. Greenwashing is an environmental title that is unsupported by truthful facts, which is why it has become an issue in the PR component of the business.  Advertising and PR have been known to take advantage of this by listing false details about products in order to increase sales. The job of advertising and PR is to make products sellable by drawing in customers with items that satisfy their needs. In the reading, The Greenwash Guide, some indicators of greenwashing to be aware include that of:

·         Fluffy language

·         Over the top unrealistic images

·         Unnecessary data that does not relate to the product

Here are two examples of product claims: 

WORST Product Claim: Nike Shoe Advertisement 
The main indicator of this advertisement add, as being the worst product claim, is the over the top unrealistic location of the shoe, this was made known to me by the reading, The Greenwash Guide. There were two paragraphs underneath the image describing unnecessary information about the shoe itself. Too much information distracts the shopper and they end up ignoring the product. The method to produce this shoe was a textile dying process.



BEST Product Claim: Green Winter Boots 

This advertisement has a recognized “green” name. Having a recognized image or name is an indicator of a truthful advertisement according to The Greenwash Guide. The description of these green winter boots was simplistic. The details indicated that these “comfy snow boots are easy on the eye as they are on the planet.” The fabrication description included: quilted nylon shaft, soft faux-fur trim, and an outsole made of “partially” recycled rubber. In the reading, Eco Promising, research shows that providing too much information about an item causes customers to ignore that product and move onto the next. We don’t want to confuse the customer and this ad is a good example of a product claim.





With the standardizing of environmental claims, at first might this might dilute transparency in some ways; however, the drive to communicate factual environmental information with manufacturers and businesses is significantly improving in our society. Over time, this process will improve. Businesses are said to be increasing the amount of resources and environmental tools to incorporate products that will enable them to have eco-friendly product information on labels. According to Eco Promising, this drive towards “organic sourcing” has reduced the amount of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers used to produce garments. In the future, there will be more communication about environmental factors. Ultimately, consumer safety is being served in standardization. Without customers spending habits, PR and advertisers would not have the jobs they do today. Environmental messages and eco-printing is said to increase sales and gain competitive advantage. The key is to be honest and label products accordingly.