Nought couture

Lecturer in Fashion and Textiles Design, Alison Gwilt, says that from the moment a designer begins to think about developing a new garment they should be considering what could be done with it once it’s discarded.

“Traditionally, as a fashion designer, you’re finished with the product the moment it reaches the shop floor. But if you’re working within sustainable frameworks, you have to be thinking about what your consumer does with the product, how they care for it, and what they do once they’re finished with it.”

Gwilt and UTS fashion and textile graduate and former Textile Design Lecturer, Timo Rissanen, are the editors of the new book Shaping Sustainable Fashion: Changing the way we make and use clothes, due for release in February next year. They believe sustainable strategies should be integrated into initial teachings of the design-making process.

“It should become just another part of a designer’s practice – where they think of silhouette, fabrics and colours, sustainable strategies are also part of that process,” says Gwilt. “At UTS we run a third-year subject for fashion and textile students and the feedback from students is, ‘why am I not learning this in first year?’

“Students can see the issue needs addressing, but integrating sustainability into design education has been difficult for design schools worldwide.”

Gwilt argues teachers and educators haven’t really known where to place sustainable design strategies within coursework. “At the moment the issue is generally considered as an add-on to design practice.

“The current model of teaching fashion design expects the students to adopt sustainable strategies after mastering the fashion design process itself,” she says. “I think that has to change.”

The concept of sustainable design is not restricted to only one approach. Considering how a piece of material can be cut to minimise the amount of scrap material created, is a good start to zero-waste design.

Gwilt says, “Think of it as a jigsaw puzzle. You aim to have interlocking pieces so you don’t waste any fabric. There’s also a good economic reason for doing this – you save money.”

Another strategy is to think about whether a garment could be given a second life. If not, is there a way to recycle the garment so the materials can go back into a closed loop system of production?

“As part of a UTS alliance with The Smith Family, we are taking our students out on a tour of their recycling plant where they commercially produce a new material from discarded fabrics and clothing which is then used, for instance, as an underlay,” says Gwilt. “It’s a great example of material reuse.

“Developing links with business and NGOs is really important. It’s been interesting to work with such organisations. As a designer and an educator, it’s useful to hear what problems face industry so we can positively respond. Our knowledge in sustainable design practices at UTS can make the biggest difference to industry.”

From a consumer’s point of view, the way we look after our clothing is equally important.
Gwilt says, “I gave a lecture on the washing of clothing to the fashion students recently, and I think they were absolutely amazed because few of them had considered how you look after clothing and how that matters when ensuring the extended life of your clothing.

“For example, 90 per cent of the class said they use a tumble dryer. Why are we using tumble dryers in Australia? People also habitually use a hot wash because that’s what they’ve always done, or it’s what their mum told them to do. These are habits that are formed without any consideration of an appropriate, responsible process.”

Gwilt believes designers are willing to adopt sustainable strategies but need to see examples of best practice first. She also emphasises designers alone can’t make all the difference.

“One of the problems facing sustainable fashion is that as a designer you might have the best intention in the world to create a garment that is fully recyclable, but if your consumer doesn’t put it into a suitable recycling system then this becomes redundant. We also need improved recycling systems that are run by national and state governments for this to work.

“Designers and consumers need to take an holistic view and we’ve tried to explain that in our book. It is a complex issue that requires more thought on how we can make sustainability work properly in society.”

Rissanen is currently Assistant Professor of Fashion and Sustainability at Parson The New School for Design (most famous in Australia, for its involvement with US reality television series Project Runway). He will soon be co-teaching one of the world’s first fashion courses in zero-waste.

He says an open mind throughout the design process is key. “It is actually not difficult to design a zero-waste garment, but to design a beautiful, wearable, sustainable zero-waste garment is a formidable challenge.”

It’s an experience the Finnish designer is currently facing as he undertakes his PhD in sustainable design (long-distance) at UTS.

“During my PhD I’ve had to relearn how to design. Certain aspects of conventional fashion design approaches become obstacles for fabric waste elimination. Once I accepted this, designing became much easier.”

So where does Rissanen see fashion trends heading?

“As thinking into sustainability becomes more common in the fashion industry, the focus will hopefully shift from trends to questions about what fashion design is, what it is that fashion designers do and could do?

“Fashion is a reflection of a society at a particular point in time, but the artificial pace of change imposed by the industry is untenable and somewhat disingenuous. If we all slowed down a bit, we’d probably notice more around us.”

Gwilt believes it will be difficult to change the mindset of current designers. She is, however, confident the future generation of designers will be incorporating sustainability as a core part of their creative process.

“There seems to be marginal success in changing the habits of people within the current industry. People carry on doing business as usual and although there may be thoughts of bringing in sustainable strategies, suddenly it looks too difficult.

“The biggest impact is going to be in educating people appropriately from the beginning. That’s why I really do think teaching responsible fashion design has to happen within the education system – it’s too late once they’re in industry. We really are in a position to make the biggest impact.”