It seems extraordinary to me that even just 3 years ago I would tell fashion students and young graduates that it was imperative for them to understand and practice sustainable innovation in their collections, that the industry was looking to recruit people who could fuel a shift towards it.
In Asian cultures, sustainability has always been a natural practice. Im Indian and my parents generation exclusively had tailored clothes. Westernisation brought with it industry and polyester and chemicals and mass brands; but now younger designers are veering back to the old ways. I feel like the time lost is but a speck- a reflection of a lost generation that will be quickly replaced.
Absolutely. With my latest project, My Mender / Menders Without Borders, we mapped clothes menders in Delhi and Bangalore and they support this. Once a thriving business they now earn less than ever before because of cheaper clothes. We are now hoping to expand the mapping globally to record and preserve mending techniques.
Interesting. What you’re describing isn’t the death of sustainability- it’s the collapse of its performative phase, I think.
For a decade, the industry aestheticised ethics instead of embedding it. What’s fading isn’t the need, just the noise around it.
The real shift now will be quieter- and far harder to ignore.
Agree. It’s sustainability moving back from greenwash to subversive. However, time was lost and time is if the essence.
In Asian cultures, sustainability has always been a natural practice. Im Indian and my parents generation exclusively had tailored clothes. Westernisation brought with it industry and polyester and chemicals and mass brands; but now younger designers are veering back to the old ways. I feel like the time lost is but a speck- a reflection of a lost generation that will be quickly replaced.
Absolutely. With my latest project, My Mender / Menders Without Borders, we mapped clothes menders in Delhi and Bangalore and they support this. Once a thriving business they now earn less than ever before because of cheaper clothes. We are now hoping to expand the mapping globally to record and preserve mending techniques.
Love this ❤️
Thank you 🥰