Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/02/18/fashion-insider-offers-creativ.html
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That’d be right. I guess there’s a certain poetry to it, in much the same way as fucking Trump being president.
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The fashion industry exists only to cause waste. Fashion is only waste, and perpetuates itself by creating the desire to discard items before they are fully utilised. That’s is its definition, purpose and soul. It is fucking ridiculous for someone in the fashion industry to talk about environmental protection. If they cared at all, they would not work in this industry.
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Ah, the difference between youth and experiance.
When I was his age, I cared a lot about fashion. I actually worked in fashion for about 7 years.
I am now 40. Many of my clothes are almost as old as he is, having been part of my personal style for decades, worn in different ways and with different accessories to remain fresh. My new clothing purchases are driven by a mix of style and suitability for purpose, including longevity.
I doubt if organic 100% cotton tees would do well from a composting status… mine from the '90s are still in great condition.
And yes, we need more raggers. Although much like electronics recycling, it ain’t pretty so we are likely to offshore it to someplace else.
I would imagine that finding a way to dissolve the organic fibers and petrol based fibers out of the clothes, crack them back to their components, then respin as fibers may be the best bet.
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Well, fast fashion solves that problem by creating clothes that can be fully utilized within the space of a single season. If they are ratty, that means that they aren’t fashionable. And Vice Versa!
Yeah, that was my thought. Especially when he appeared to believe that he, rather than Bronze Age man, had invented the idea of using vegetable dyes (their drab palette and shitty color-fastness is the entire reason dye technology has been continuously and lucratively evolving for thousands of years).
The thesis seems to be “fashion is enormously wasteful,” [duh] “and you can have a distinctive style by making your own clothes,” [yes] “so… what if the fashion industry made your own clothes for you?!” [delete your account]
I don’t know what Ted Talkerton was thinking when he booked this guy, unless it’s a stunt to make millenials look ludicrously unself-aware.
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Came here to post this. Not just plant dyes, minerals and animals as well were used (tyrian purple from shellfish, squid ink, lapis lazuli come to mind).
So, you learnt that quality and durability is best?
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I mean…
We could all go around in grey jumpsuits and we could patch them endlessly and this wouldn’t be an issue.
Fashion, to some, is art. Some people want to wear art.
Yes, having a few beautiful pieces that last for decades would be preferable to fast fashion, and yes, the fast fashion industry is terrible in many, many ways. But some people like fashion because they see beauty, and wanting beautiful things that don’t destroy the environment is a step in the right direction compared to not caring.
It can be argued that this is the reason for first-world wealth. Bayer, BASF and a lot of other companies got their start from producing colours, went on to become petrochemical-based pharmacies of the world and kicked off the chemical part of the industrial revolution (whicH is far more important than the steam engine/motorisation part, IMO).
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I think durability is the blind spot of the fashion industry (this and terrible work conditions, child labour, low respect for intellectually property, etc.), think about stockings !
The jacket is really a bad example, I got a 30 years old leather jacket from the French Aéronavale, I have to bring it to a tailor to change the lining (witch is in poor condition) and I think it will be good to go for 30 more years. On the opposite side I got shoes that sometime last for a year or so, this is mad.
Fashion have to stop to think in seasons. At least some actors of the industry have to make durable (in time and for the environment) products and market them as so.
For the past decade or so I’ve been wearing Birkenstocks almost exclusively. Although they are touted as environmentally friendly (All natural ingredients! You can have them resoled! You can have them repaired! You can have them almost completely rebuilt!) many times the cost of getting them fixed is a significant portion of buying a new pair. Resoling 2 year old Birks: $40-50. Rebuilding soles: $80-100. New Birks: anywhere from $35 to $130, depending on style and if you are buying them from someplace like ebay. Birkenstocks are nowhere near as indestructible as the hype would have you believe, either; most of my Birks have been beyond salvaging within 3-4 years, even the ones bought at a Birkenstock store, and I do trade off.
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