Abstract
Sustainable development by its nature appears elusive. It seems the more we try to capture and pin it down the more it moves away from us, leading us into murkier waters and all manner of contradictions. No more is this felt than in the fashion industry where we are presented with a number of oppositions. The fashion cycle renders styles obsolete before they have worn out, generating waste and overconsumptive practices. But it can also bring into the fore practices that have resonance to sustainable development in terms of their location, orientation, and consideration for the environment. As studies emerge considering the detrimental environmental impacts of the manufacture and consumption of new clothes, second-hand clothes have become a focus for research endeavours considering how they can be reincorporated into the fashion system and have resonance to an ever ‘fashion- hungry’ consumer. This chapter discusses methods for the processing of second-hand clothes into fashionable items and, by drawing on the wealth of ‘waste’ materials through reselling, restyling, and remanufacturing, argues that ways of reappropriating them into a more environmentally focused fashion industry is possible and necessary. It sets out as its hypothesis that the global fashion system has value in its transformative powers but that damaging and exploitative forces are still preventing it from being a force for good. This is due to the nature of the items being produced, the way they are manufactured, and how they are ultimately consumed and disposed of.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Fieldwork uncovered a woman weaving a tablecloth from nettles. She owned no table, little less have an idea of why anyone would want such a thing (Dennis 1999).
- 2.
Fair trade products could potentially be viewed under this context where emphasis is placed on the locality of production and the unique qualities that arise from this.
- 3.
The sheepskin was found discarded in a bin and fit perfectly with the 1970s theme and the customer’s style and musical tastes.
- 4.
Leeds 6 is an area close to Leeds University, United Kingdom, and home to many students and a large Asian population. It suffers from many issues relating to social and urban deprivation, including poverty, unemployment, and lack of investment. It has a number of small-scale creative enterprises involved in, for example, the music industry and fashion design, operating from small studios and bedrooms.
Bibliography
Barthes R (1957) Mythologies. Éditions du Seuil, Paris
Basel Action Network (BAN) (2002) Exporting Harm. http://www.ban.org/E-waste/technotrashfinalcomp.pdf
Bauman Z (2005) Liquid life. Polity, Cambridge
Bauman Z (2011) Migration and identities in the globalized world. Philos Soc Criticism 37(4):425–435
Bell S, Morse S (1999) Sustainability indicators: measuring the immeasurable. Earthscan, London
Boradkar P (2010) Designing things: a critical introduction to the culture of things. Berg, Oxford
Bourdieu P, Nice, R (1984) Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London
Braungart M, McDonough W (2008) Cradle to cradle: re-making the way we make things. Vintage Books, London
Brezet H, van Hemel C (1997) Ecodesign – a promising approach to sustainable product development. United Nations Environment Programme, Paris
Brundtland GH, World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Bruzzi S, Gibson PC (2013) Fashion cultures: Theories, explorations and analysis, 2nd edn. Routledge, Hoboken
Burrall P (1996) Product development and the environment. Gower Publishing, Aldershot
Burtynsky E (2006) Manufactured landscapes. http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/site_contents/Films/Manufactured_Landscapes_Film.html
Cambridge N (2011) Maison martin margiela 20. Fashion Practice: The Journal of Design, Creative Process & the Fashion Industry 3(1):123–130. doi:10.2752/175693811X12925927157171
Cavallaro D (2001) Critical and cultural theory. The Athlone Press, UK
Chambers R (1997) Whose reality counts: putting the first last. Intermediate Technology Publications, Rugby
Chapman J (2009) Design for (emotional) durability. Design Issues 25(4):29–35. doi:10.1162/desi.2009.25.4.29
Charter M, Tischner U (2001) Sustainable solutions: developing products and services for the future. Greenleaf, Sheffield
Christie I, Warburton D (2001) From here to sustainability: politics in the real world. Earthscan, London
Collin M, Godfrey J (1998) Altered state: the story of ecstasy culture and acid house. Serpent’s Tail, London
Curwen LG, Park J, Sarkar AK (2013) Challenges and solutions of sustainable apparel product development: a case study of Eileen Fisher. Clothing Text Res J 31(1):32–47
Datschefski E (2001) The total beauty of sustainable products. RotoVision, Switzerland
Dennis (1999) The role of textile production within rural development programmes, PhD Leeds University
Dissanayake DGK, Sinha P (2012) Sustainable waste management strategies in the fashion industry sector. Int J Environ Cult Econ Soc Sustain 8(1):77–90
Dresner S (2002) The principles of sustainability. Earthscan, London
Evans C (2005) Hussein chalayan. NAi, Rotterdam
Farrant L, Olsen SI, Wangel A (2010) Environmental benefits from reusing clothes. Int J Life Cycle Assess 15(7):726–736. doi:10.1007/s11367-010-0197-y
Fisher W, Ponniah T (eds) (2003) Another world is possible: popular alternatives to globalization at the world social forum. Zed books, London
Fletcher K (2008) Sustainable fashion and textiles: design journeys. Earthscan Publications, Oxford
Fletcher K, Dewberry E, Goggin P (2001) Sustainable consumption by design (Chapter 12). In: Cohen M, Murphy J (eds) (2001) Exploring sustainable consumption: environmental policy and the social sciences. Pergamon, London. pp 213–224
Fry T (2009) Design futuring: sustainability, ethics
Fuad-Luke A (2009) Design activism: beautiful strangeness for a sustainable world. Earthscan, London
Goodrum A (2001) Land of hip and glory: fashioning the classic national body. In: Keenan W (ed) Dressed to impress—looking the part. Berg, Oxford, p 87
Greer F (2005) Leigh bowery looks. Violette Editions
Harvey JR (2008) Clothes. Acumen, Stocksfield
Heidegger M (1977) The question concerning technology, and other essays
Julier G (2013) From design culture to design activism, design and culture, vol 5, no 2. Bloomsbury, London pp. 215–236(22)
Kawamura Y (2005) Fashion-ology: an introduction to fashion studies. Berg, New York
Kutting G (2004) Globalization and the environment: greening global political economy. State University of New York Press, Albany
Labour behind the label (2014). http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/resources/itemlist/category/164-reports-guides
Laffen T, Dodds R (2003) Marketing and design targets as stepping stones to more sustainable products. In: Hon B (ed) Design and manufacture for sustainable development, Professional engineering publishing, London
Lee RLM (2005) Bauman, liquid modernity and dilemmas of development. Thesis Eleven 83(1):61–77
Lurie A (2000) The language of clothes. Henry Holt, New York
McLaren D (1998) Tomorrows world: britain’s share in a sustainable future. Earthscan, London
Miller D (2010) Stuff. Polity Press, Cambridge
Miller D, Woodward S (2011) Global denim. Berg, Oxford
Monbiot G (2000) Captive state: the corporate takeover of britain. Macmillan, London
Papanek (1971) Design for the real world: human ecology and social change. Pantheon Press, New York
Papanek V (1995) The green imperative: ecology and ethics in design and architiecture. Thames, London
Pickup J (2007) The fashion of our sustainable future. In: Our sustainable future, Issue 4. Institute of Advanced Studies, The University of Western Australia
Piercy M (1979) Woman on the edge of time. Women's Press Ltd, London
Reiley K, DeLong M (2011) A consumer vision for sustainable fashion practice. Fashion Pract J Des Creative Proces Fashion Industr 3(1):63–84
Ritzer G (2000) The McDonaldization of society. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks
Ritzer G (2004a) The Globalization of Nothing. Pine Forge, Thousand Oaks
Ritzer G (2004b) Rethinking globalization: glocalization/grobalization and something/nothing. Sociol Theor 21(3, Sep. 2003):193–209
Rostow WW (1960) The stages of economic growth: a non-communist manifesto. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Sachs W (1992) Bygone splendour. In: Ekins P, Max-Neef M (eds) Real-life economics—understanding wealth creation. Routledge, London, pp 156–165
Schumacher EF (1978) Small is beautiful: a study of economics as if people mattered. Abacus, London
Sherman C, Respini E, Burton J, Waters J, Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) (2012) Cindy Sherman. Museum of Modern Art, New York
Shonibare Y, Guldemond J, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam, Netherlands) (2004) Yinka shonibare - double dutch. NAi Publishers, Rotterdam
Simmel G (1957) Fashion. Am J Sociol 62(6):541–558
Sinha P, Dissanayake DGK, Hussey C, Bartlett C (2009) Recycled fashion. In: Taking up the global challenge. 15th annual international sustainable development research conference, 5–9 July, Utrecht University, The Netherlands (unpublished)
Sinha P, Dissanayake D, Kanchana G, Mahwera D, Kahabi C (2010) Creating a global vision for sustainable fashion. In: 87th textile institute world conference 2010, textiles a global vision—textile institute centenary world conference, 1, Textiles Institute, Manchester, pp 247–275
Sinha P, Beverley K, Day C, Tipi N (2012) Supply chains for the management of post consumer apparel waste: three scenarios addressing the UK-Tanzania context. In: Proceedings of the 18th international sustainable development research conference, The University of Hull
Song HK, Van Dyke L, (2013) Development of a system for sustainable fashion from recycled clothes—based on U.S. fashion brands. Res J Costume Cult 21(1):139–150
Veblen T (1973) The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions. John Kenneth Galbraith. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
von Busch O (2008) Fashion-able: Hacktivism and engaged fashion design. Art Monitor, Gothenburg
von Busch O (2008) Post-script to fashion-able: methodological appendix to activist design research, (re-edited Lulu version). http://www.kulturservern.se/wronsov/selfpassage/research/MethodPost-web.pdf
von Busch O (2009) http://www.kulturservern.se/wronsov/selfpassage/index2.htm
von Busch O (2013) Zen and the abstract machine of knitting. Text J Cloth Cult 11(1):6–19
Wackernagel M, Rees W (1996) Our ecological footpint: reducing human impact on the earth. New Society Publishers, Canada
Wallace J (2012) Yarn bombing, knit graffiti and underground brigades: a study of craftivism and mobility. The mobile cultures issue, past issues, vol 6, No 3. http://wi.mobilities.ca/yarn-bombing-knit-graffiti-and-underground-brigades-a-study-of-craftivism-and-mobility/
Wilson E (2003) Adorned in dreams: fashion and modernity. I. B. Tauris, London
Woodward S http://projects.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/globaldenim/?page_id=250
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shah, K. (2015). Dilemmas of Development and the Reconstruction of Fashion. In: Muthu, S. (eds) Environmental Implications of Recycling and Recycled Products. Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-643-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-643-0_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-287-642-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-287-643-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)