Development on the Ground: Final Portfolio

Final Portfolio Development on the Ground

Justin V. Estanislao

Internal and External Deliverables

Good Life Collage At the beginning of the semester, we were challenged to collage what we consider a “good life” for each of us. In discussion, my group realized the generational changes that have occurred in our life dreams. Decades ago, the “good life” meant the American Dream: fancy house, fancy car, a life defined by materialism. In our group, we realized a thematic transition into a good life being defined by surrounding yourself in love and filling it with memorable experiences. How each person defined this love and experiences looked different for everyone but stayed tied together by similar themes. My collage defines my “good life” as “Love. Urbanism. Good Times. Good Food.”

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Fast Fashion For our discussion on Diverse Economies (DE), my group was tasked with re-imagining the way we define the transactions in our economy. I was particularly intrigued by an example in our reading on (fast) fashion.

Part of the DE approach to understanding transactions recognizes the production and afterlife of anything we subject to a transaction.

For the fast fashion industry, that means seeing more than just a cheap, cute garment.

With the a DE perspective, participants in fast fashion transactions are challenged to recognize the support they unintentionally show for worker exploitation, corporate greenwashing, and abuse of natural resources.

YOUR SHIRT IS SH*T.

WHAT IS FAST FASHION? Our idea of fashion today originates from the early 20th Century with the popularization of particular designers: Paul Poiret, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Christian Dior, and several other noteable names. These stylistic visionaries helped mold a culture increasingly concerned over the wardrobes they possessed.1 It’s important to note that this isn’t the first time people were concerned over what they wore all together. Since as early as the Roman Empire, what someone wore communicated economic status and social hierarchy. The rise of our era of fashion introduced a period more concerned over individual style and aesthetic and less community norms–it became about standing out. Participation in the latest trends, however, was still largely driven by economic status. The rise of contemporary “Fast Fashion” opened up these traditionally pricey trends to a wider audience. Fast Fashion is the continuous and rapid introduction of new clothing that caters to new trends at a generally low cost

THE FAST FASHION INDUSTRY AND ITS IMPACT ON PEOPLE AND THE PLANET JUSTIN ESTANISLAO |

FALL 2023

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GDS 3100

WHY IS FAST FASHION SO POPULAR? Humans, generally, have a naturally inherited herd mentality that includes fashion. As we notice certain trends and styles pick up, we quite quickly incorporate or seek to incorporate those design elements into our own wardrobe. While keeping up with latest trends could historically cost the equivalent of housing for certain parts of the population, the rise of Fast Fashion meant it could become much more affordable for more of the population to participate. This aspect of affordability has played a crucial role in the popularity of this fashion culture. With full outfits costing under $50, keeping up with trends became much easier.

“Dynamic assortment” meant there was always something new to buy, as fashion companies relentlessly pushed out new clothes and styles, too.

The rise of social media in recent years has only

further augmented a fast fashion culture. With consumer hauls and product advertisements significantly omnipresent, consumers feel more enabled to purchase all the latest garments.2 Fashion didn’t just become faster and cheaper by itself.

Producers and consumers chose to develop and participate in a market with little concern over the embodied carelessness associated with Fast Fashion as long as the garment is trending and cheap. What I seek to do with the rest of this project is expose the parts of the fast-fashion transaction over which consumers traditionally demonstrate minimal concern, particularly considering it through the lens of J. K. Gibson-Graham’s and Kelly Dombroski’s Diverse Economies framework.

WHO MAKES FASHION FASTER?

People of the Transaction The birth and maturation of the Fast Fashion culture has received the critical support of two parties toward its growth: producers and consumers. In an effort to highlight why Fast Fashion has grown to be such a concern socially, economically, and environmentally, we must first discern the stakeholders of this industry. It is people who promote or discourage the success of certain trends and markets, and a noteworthy balance exists regarding each of their influence.

Producers

Producers are at the top of the Fast Fashion food chain. Producers; such as Zara, UNIQLO, SHEIN, H&M, Boohoo, Forever 21, and more; are the core decision-makers for how items are made, how much they cost, and how long the item lasts. The current expectations to which we primarily hold producers is to create a product in line with trends at a price we can afford. It is these expectations that keep their spot in the market. SHEIN’s ability to offer thousands of garments all for under $20 has turned them into a $100 billion industry.3 Producer expectations over cost and product selection have left us in the dark regarding other parts of their production process. If we were to see how much waste they produced or the treatment of their employees making these garments, these wouldn’t be multibillion-dollar industries. Producers need to not only be influenced by market forces but also strict ethical expectations that consider the human and non-human impacts of their transactions.

1 https://www.businessoffashion.com/education/collection/fashion-history 2 https://youtu.be/xGF3ObOBbac?si=ByvEbx4dqpDML8Ln 3 https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-shein-billion-dollar-fast-fashion-company-explained-2023-7#shein-sold-wedding-dres ses-before-it-became-a-fast-fashion-retailer-1

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Consumers

Consumers have ultimately promoted the success of the Fast Fashion industry. As we noticed the low cost and trendy aesthetic from these producers, we rushed to their websites and storefronts. The average consumer buys 60% more clothing items than they did back in 2000. The Guardian reports people to wear these items an average of 14 times before we resell, donate, or discard the item.4 As we consider more pieces of our wardrobe obsolete, we add new $3 tops and $10 pants to our cart to subject them to the same cycle. This is further exacerbated by the short lifespan we give the pieces we own. Just like producers, we have a responsibility to remain cognizant of the human and non-human impact our participation in this fashion culture has. We have to know what is behind the transactions we are a part of to understanding the ethical implications of it. The other sections of this project on Labor and the Environment identify some of the primarily ethical elements to consider as consumers. These may be hidden parts of the transaction but maintaining a healthy relationship with the human and non-human requires we consider them.

4 https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/fashion-clothing/what-fast-fashion-why-it-problem 5 https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-shein-billion-dollar-fast-fashion-company-explained-2023-7#shein-has-faced-a-lot-ofbacklash-for-its-role-in-climate-pollution-7 6 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60382624

FAST FASHION VS. THE ENVIRONMENT Clothes requires the earth’s resources to be produced. If the Fast Fashion industry can get away with treating workers how they do, you can only imagine how the industry treats the environment which can’t fight back on its own.

Around 10% of global carbon emissions come from the fashion industry. This is a greater percentage than emissions from aviation and maritime industries combined. The use of raw materials for this industry contributes to this significant environmental scarring. It takes the equivalent of 5,400 bottles of water to produce one T-Shirt and 20,000 bottles for one pair of jeans. Furthermore, 2.5% of the world’s farmland is used for cotton–that’s over 100 million acres.

Yet cotton is only one of many materials used for clothing production. Polyester is an increasingly popular choice for clothes for its strength and its moisture-wicking qualities. Its widespread use has led to the annual consumption of 342 million barrels of oil. Coloring the clothing garments requires over 43 million tonnes of chemicals.6 Greenwashing blinds us from this environmental

degradation even further.

In response to demands for corporate environmental responsibility, many fashion companies advertise their production of eco-friendly, sustainably produced, green, ethical, responsibly derived garments. Without any legal or policy backing to what these terms mean, it holds the company to no real standard.

The ambiguity of this terminology enables corporations to improve their advertisement leverage without actually making a difference in their production practices. On the Zara website, the corporation claims their clothing garment is made from the, “most sustainbly produced polyurethane.”2 Polyurethane is an oil. How do you “sustainably produce” oil? Just as we fail in our ethical obligation to humans, the relentless damage to the environment caused by the Fast Fashion industry we participate in demonstrates our failure to the non-human too. We have to be able to recognize the relationship we maintain between ourselves and the planet as part of our transactions with the Fast Fashion industry.

WORKING TOWARD FASTER FASHION Labor

Our obligation to helping maintain the well-being of other humans is among the first things we should consider before we participate in an act. When we see an ambulance, we pull to the side of the road, because it’s the law, but also because we know there is a person who needs help and we, in the moment of being on the road with the ambulance, know we have an immediate part to contribute in ensuring that person receives the care they need. This compassion should extend to the laborers who produce the goods we purchase. The labor that goes into Fast Fashion is notorious for its exploitative and unhealthy conditions, so we have an ethical obligation to other humans to recognize those as part of our transaction.

Workers

In order for the cost of the product to be low, the cost of production must be low too. This has typically meant relying on labor sources that are cheaper, which are typically overseas. About 75 million factory employees make up the labor force for this industry.5 Worker exploitation is part of the Fast Fashion industry model. Pushing workers to their limit for countless hours at wages often significantly below a living wage, allows fashion giants to sell new clothes quickly and cheaply.4

Conditions

DIVERSIFYING AGAINST FAST FASHION

We are socially trained to avoid falling behind our peers in the latest styles and trends. While there is nothing inherently wrong about keeping up with latest cultural eras, we should also consider the impact we have on our human and non-human relationships in doing so.

In our traditional market economy, we define a transaction as the transfer of goods, services, or funds. Purchasing a new top from H&M is a transaction. We pay some amount and receive an item we like. Gibson-Graham and Dombroski challenge us to consider what else makes up this transfer of goods and services.

When we purchase a good or request a service, there are human and non-human implications that should be accounted for as well. We have the expectation that a producer will provide us with something we like at a reasonable price. Do we also have the expectation they enforce humane production practices overseas? Do we expect them to have a net-zero impact on the environment? These are the human and non-human implications of a transaction. We trust the producer is providing us with an affordable, desirable item. This relationship of trust should also include fair and ethical treatment of workers and minimal environmental impact. We must direct our attention to the ethical attributes associated within our transactions and more than just the item itself and how much it costs.

If we were to define a transaction instead as a communicative action or activity involving two parties or things that reciprocally affect or influence each other, how well are we mindfully recognizing this reciprocal affect and influence?

A lot of uncertainty and ambiguity exists in the relationships we have with the corporations from which we purchase our fashion goods. We must work to build better relationships of trust, certainty, and alliance with the producers of our clothing to fulfill our moral obligation to humans around the world and the environment we share with the non-human world.

Do you remember the 2013 garment factor collapse in Bangladesh that killed 1,100 workers? Do you remember how 80,000 safety related issues were found in fast-fashion factories after that? This should have served as an eye-opening turning point for the world to reject the malpractice of the Fast Fashion industry and demand better working conditions for them. Instead, we continue to allow the industry to exploit over 75 million workers, have them work 16 hour days for seven days a week, make below a living wage, and expose them to thousands of toxic chemicals.5 Where is the ethical obligation to other humans?

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Class Notebook For the first time in years, I used a physical notebook for a class. This notebook houses my class notes, 100-word reflections, short reflections, and even a few sketches. A beauty and complexity exists in the handwritten medium incomparable to any tablet or laptop experience. With words flowing more naturally into one another in cursive style, my ideas felt more connected, personally inspired, and artfully syntaxed. Such an enriching written production is further augmented by the immediacy promoted by the rapid grab of the notebook and pen versus the opening of a laptop or tablet, launching of an app, and tactile response of a glass screen or bouncy plastic keys.

Working in a notebook almost felt like a counter-movement to the technocracy that pushes digital rationality onto a productivity-aspiring society.

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Working with Westhaven Concurrent to my studies in Development on the Ground, I participated in an on-the-ground development within Charlottesville. Through my Neighborhood Planning Studio, I investigated methods of community engagement for the redevelopment of Westhaven. I studied the impact of virtual reality in the participatory development process. Residents can often feel excluded from the design process as they are communicated to in terms of blueprints, schematic sketches, and CAD models, all forms not immediately understood to nondesign professionals. The introduction of virtual reality in the engagement process can dismantle the traditional design tool boundaries that could exclude resident participation. Residents are placed in a life-like experience that makes design ideas more immediately understood, for it is placed in the context and scale of real life.

Democratic Design with Virtual Reality

No group of individuals matter more to a design project than the residents themselves. Virtual Reality (VR) is an increasingly effective tool for collaboration to design with the community. VR dismantles the traditional boundaries that communicating through blueprints and CAD models typically create by allowing residents to experience and comment on life-like design.

Making Reality Virtual Creating a virtual scene for engagement requires software already available in many studios. It is up to the firm to choose what additional rendering and viewing experiences it wishes to pursue.

Westhaven Charlottesville, Virginia

Modeling

Rendering

Viewing

ArcGIS City Engine

Twinmotion

Smartphone

Rhinoceros 3D

Lumion

Meta Quest

SketchUp Pro

Enscape

HTC VIVE

Revit

eyecad VR

Varjo XR 3

AutoCAD

Fuzor University of Virginia School of Architecture

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