How fashion students will help shape the future of the industry
I’m really happy to see the Guardian held an online chat this week about what fashion students need to know about sustainability.
Speaking as an ex-fashion design student myself, this is such an important educational issue if the next generation of fashion designers, manufacturers and businesses are to shape a better and more sustainable future for the fashion industry.
Young designers need to consider much more than designers before them. We have entered a new era shaped by climate change and the actions we all take now.
Young designers need to be prepared for the impacts that climate change could have, such as resource scarcity, changing consumer behaviour and shifting economic conditions. More importantly, they need to be aware that they can play a direct part in reducing the negative environmental impacts of fashion.
Since I was 15, I’ve been taking vintage clothes and upcycling them into more modern and usable pieces. This is a passion of mine, and is partly why I started to study fashion in the first place (although I dropped fashion after a year, and went into a media/arts degree instead).
In that year, I think I remember having one class relating to sustainability. This was in 2009, and things could have changed a lot since then, as I’m fully aware that many Australian and International institutions teaching fashion degrees have made incorporating sustainability into their curriculums a priority.
However, I just want to point out how incredibly important sustainability education in regards to fashion design is!
In my class, I remember being one of the few in a group of 60 or so people who had any notion at all about sustainability issues when it comes to fashion. This is a general interest of mine, and also having environmentalist parents means sustainability has always been pretty ingrained in my life.
I realised however, that not everyone is the same as me, or has the same interests, or had such an upbringing.
In fact, many people may not be aware at all. That's why this specific topic of the Guardian online event is so pertinent. We can’t expect the fashion industry to simply change, though there are many forces at work to bring this about, and education absolutely needs to be at the forefront.
So here are the 5 things fashion students need to know about sustainability from the online event...
1. Learning how to tell the sustainability story behind an item or collection is key -
This is important as it engages the consumer in sustainability and inspires behaviour change by making them see the process of an item from conceptual design to pattern making, to crafting. This adds true value.
2. Major retailers need to collaborate with universities -
Retailers are often the link between designers and customers, so more opportunities for students to engage with retailers who have a stronger focus on sustainability would help build both sustainable and commercially viable businesses.
3. Fashion students need to take a systems-wide and multidisciplinary approach -
This means it’s important students are taught about labour and social issues in the wider supply chain to give a holistic view to the fashion system, and a designers place within this system, to hopefully contribute to changing it.
4. Sustainability is being included in curriculums but could be further integrated -
This is a major one, because although an increasing number of schools are incorporating sustainability into their courses from the ground up, it’s still an afterthought for many others. This needs to change, and more institutions taking on the issue will encourage others to do so. Also, pressure from aware students in places where courses are not encouraging a sustainable concept could help too.
5. Future designers will need to be on top of new innovations and sustainability trends -
I am really glad to see that one of the highlighted future trends is upcycling and finding ways to use up already existing materials or surplus materials. This will become increasingly valued, especially if resource shortages due to climate change start to happen, like cotton becoming more scare. Another highlighted trend was textile innovation. This is important too, as successful designers of the future will have to embrace the innovation of new materials which don’t rely on finite resources like coal.