SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

HOW SUSTAINABILITY CAN INFORM THE DESIGN PROCESS?

MAIBE MAROCCOLO LIMA UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS LONDON LONDON COLLEGE OF FASHION MA FASHION AND THE ENVIRONMENT

How Sustainability can inform the design process?

Sustainability is still in its infancy in 2011. This is one reason that it's a very exciting time to be a sustainable fashion student. Having lived in Brazil for 24 years, it is amazing to have observed Brazilian culture close up, and to have witnessed first hand the effect of sustainability on society.

Brazilian artcraft, which we've being doing for hundreds of years and has only ever been considered “artcraft” is now, in this era, coming into it's own. The love and respect I have for my home country including the Amazon, and my concerns about the deforestation and the disappearance of birds, animals, flora and fauna are a huge concern.

There were indigenous tribes that are no longer indigenous. Their natural habitats are no longer natural and their freedom to express themselves freely including not wearing clothes at all, are now restricted.

The fashion industry is involved and engrossed in their culture nowadays. They buy clothes, they choose colors and styles; They too want to feel pretty and attractive and they also now have mirrors. The idea that the fashion industry is partly responsible for a living environmental catastrophe, along with the impact that fashion has on the eco-system, was a realisation I had about five years ago. My concern and awareness led me to believe that any decisions I have today as a designer, can have long lasting effects and repercussions tomorrow, both in a good and harmful way. If whatever I do, concerning these issues proves to be successful, it may well inspire current and future generations.

The term “sustainability” has many different meanings and definitions.

The word sustainability is derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere, to hold; sus, up). Certain dictionaries provide more than ten meanings and definitions for sustain. Primarily the word means to “maintain", "support", or "endure”. However, the more relevant question is how is sustainability perceived as a word to me or anyone else? Sustainability for me, means quite simply that whatever you take out of a system, whatever that system may be, has to have the same amount replaced or put back into 1 the system using the same amount of energy, with no pollution or waste.

A sustainable process is one you can do forever without exhausting resources or fouling the environment. Perpetual existence with no harm done in the process. Sustainability does not require a loss in the quality of life, but does require a change of mind-set, as well as a change in values toward less consuming lifestyles. I read newspaper and magazines on a daily basis. It occurred to me that terms like “eco-chic”, “ethical”, and “environmentally conscious” have become part of our daily lives. These commonly used terms and phrases are welcomed and easy to understand when used in fashion articles.

I wondered, if it was correct or acceptable to use the world ”sustainable” as a prefix to the word “fashion”. The term “sustainable fashion” could be construed as contradictive. If one definition of sustainable means longevity and fashion is about change, pace and staying ahead of the next idea, how could these words be such comfortable companions. Fashion has a powerful role to play in sustainability. Fashion is a process. It is expressed and worn by consumers, and as a material object. It has a direct link to the environment. It is part of our everyday lives. Therefore, fashion is not only ripe for sustainable action on all fronts, but the initial fear associated with something so fast moving, can ironically work in its favour and towards the benefit of society and therefore the environment.

That material, resource or process, once put into action, can enhance the well being of The unique the people who interact with it, along with potentiatial of sustainability within benefitting the environment it was developed fashion, means that for and used within. through the development Referring back to my opening statement and use of a material, resource or process, concerning the excitement I have, for being no harm is done to involved in such a topic and process, I can people or the planet honestly say that I feel lucky to be in the right place at the right time. The industry appears to be very optimistic. Responsible decisions are being made and eco-brands have been accepted by conscious consumer's. Trying to analyze this mind set, I decided that my start point would be to investigate the design process and investigate the different approaches for different brands. 80% Of the social, environmental and cultural impact a fashion 2 product has on the environment is determined by the design process.

This highlights the severity and importance of sustainable design, therefore making it an obvious starting point. Sustainable development, design with nature, environmentally sensitive design and holistic resource management. Sustainability in whatever form enables the capability of natural and cultural systems to continue over time. This is the key to our future, both in fashion and social terms.

What is sustainable design?

In clothing, it means sourcing materials and methods of production that do not pollute through the process of manufacture. Sustainability should not deplete non-renewable resources, whether those are from the planet or man made. It refers to clothing that can be absorbed back into the environment when it has reached the end of its life. Very few products, let alone garments, fulfill the concept of sustainability in its entirety.3 The growth of eco-friendly and socially conscious corporations continues to rise and move upmarket. One of the concepts of the eco corporations is to work with communities along the lines of the “Fair trade” brand. Fashion has often taken its inspiration from different countries and from different communities around the world. This uses crafts from everywhere as an element of the aesthetic. In the past, however, high street design has rarely incorporated this process or used the expertise of the communities. Designers have preferred to copy 4 ideas and re-interpret them to better suit their market. However, I now believe that those fashion designers have woken up to the rich and powerful diversity of global craft techniques.

My home country of Brazil for example, is a country that develops brilliant and exemplary work with COMMUNITIES. Fashion corporations do include their work in their designs. Traditional craft skills have become more and more valued and used, and eventually incorporated in to the fashion industry, while simultaneously supporting their communities. For many years in Brazil, we didn't believe or have faith in ourselves. The fashion industry always looked abroad, in the belief that other countries did things better. That has now changed. I have experienced this, first hand when I worked as a volunteer for a Brazilian brand named CIA DO LACRE. All products were prepared using “ring pulls” from aluminum cans. It is now an established brand that transforms lives through simple “ring pulls” that were previously discarded or thrown away.

I developed new models, new lines and styles of handbags, accessories and clothing. I also monitored the production cycle from demand and sourcing of the “ring pulls�, right through to retail and the consumer. This also created an alternative income and gave its members the opportunity to develop their artistic and creative potential. It was a brilliant opportunity to be involved with communities that didn't have hope or belief in a better quality of life.

CIA DO LACRE . Capital Fashion Week . Spring/Summer 2005

Communities and sustainable material are two forces that work extremely well together. The Brazilians are well known for being creative.

CIA DO LACRE, used that general creativity as a necessity. Brasil has huge unemployment, but in 2010, Brazil managed to recycle 95% of the 5 cans it had used. No country recycles more aluminum cans than Brazil.

A brilliant idea that creates jobs though resourceful means, which in turn provides a sustainable change. In my opinion, most of the sustainable Brazilian artcraft was created through the simple process of being creative through available resources. When needs must, resource fullness comes into its own. Creating bags from ring pulls cans, curtains from plastic bags, houses from recycled bottles, shoes made of fish skin, and they always found a way to make a profit. What is the material available? What can we create from it? Will that product be accessible and desirable ? That was the CIA DO LACRE ethos and starting point.

The company today is running very successfully.

It was an example of a company that was built up by being creative as well as wanting to give an opportunity for people, families and societies to change their quality of life.

Researching for other examples of community work, I came across People Tree. This is a corporation that I've being using a lot as, a reference. Their work is also inspirational for nearly all of my projects.

People Tree’s sustainable design process uses an alternative approach.

This recognizes the possible damaging effect or impact that every design choice may have on the natural and cultural resources of the local, regional, and global environment.

“For every beautiful garment People Tree makes, there's an equally beautiful change happening somewhere in the world.” (Safia Minney, 6 People Tree founder and CEO). They work closely with 50 FAIR TRADE groups in 15 countries. They try to bring benefits to people at as many steps of the production process as possible, such as, growing cotton, weaving, dyeing, embroidery, stitching. People Tree designers goal is to create work and opportunities in developing countries. They know that each and every choice made in the design process effects the lives of the producers and work their designs to be of maximum benefit.

So, if there's two ways of creating something, and one way uses more labour (such as hand weaving the fabric), the People Tree designers will specify that method. Not only that, but they'll actively seek to add product features to create work.

This is a contradiction to years of scaling back labour costs, with the aim of producing more for less cost but with more damage done in the long run.

All this takes time, which is why they use designers equipped with incredible powers of fashion foresight, because the design process starts over a year before they hit the high street in order to give producers time to create them 7 without being overworked.

PEOPLE TREE . Safia Minney, founder and CEO (top), Spring/Summer 2010 Campaign (left), People Tree’s Artisan (right).

So, throughout their collection I found the following symbols. They are there to tel youl when a labour intensive hand crafting technique has been used. That way, you know that time and skill has gone into making that garment. Using hand-production techniques also means that the items have a much smaller carbon footprint than conventional methods.

Hand Woven Hand weaving uses nine times more labour than material produced on a power loom, hand looms don't use electric power, which keeps running costs down and they don't suffer downtime due to power cuts.

Hand Knit Knitting is Granny's favorite pastime, but it's also a powerful tool for economic change. At People Tree, they use it to provide underprivileged people all over the world with the income to escape from poverty.

Hand Embroidery Artisans have passed embroidery skills down through generations. They use this rare talent to produce beautiful garments. The embroidery on each dress takes 36 hours to 8 complete.

Not only is most of their cotton certified organic and Fairtrade, but all their clothes are dyed using safe and natural dyes. They also source as many products as they can locally, choosing natural and recycled products over toxic, synthetic and non-biodegradable materials.

Their work force have some of the smallest environmental footprints in the world. They live and work in communities without most essentials of modern life, including electricity. They buy few consumer goods, eat locally produced food and use hand production methods to earn their living.

People Tree is really well know for being Fair Trade, but Fair Trade doesn't just mean paying a fair price. It is an entirely different way of doing business, where the objective is not profit at any cost, but to help people in the world's most marginalised communities escape poverty and promote sustainability. They provide training to artisans and their organizations so they can improve their skills, and strengthen their businesses and social impact. This is all part of the fair trade concept.

Could a Fairtrade cotton item still be manufactured in a sweatshop?

Fairtrade cotton, like all Fairtrade certified products, comes through fully registered and transparent supply chains. The Fairtrade trading standard requires all operators that handle Fairtrade cotton throughout the supply chain from ginner, spinner, knitter, weaver, dyer, garment factory, including any subcontractor, to submit independent verification which documents their efforts to meet recognized labour standards. Updated evidence must be submitted every two years.

The monitoring of labour conditions is an incredibly complex issue.

Organizations such as the Ethical Trading Initiative, the Fair Wear Foundation and Social Accountability International have FAIR TRADE . Certification Label made enormous efforts to improve working conditions in the garment industry and our efforts are intended to complement this work. While there is still a long way to go, the requirement for all operators to submit independent verification demonstrates how Fairtrade certification of cotton can be a way of leveraging change and improvements for workers throughout the entire 9 supply chain.

Over all, People Tree bring together working with the community and also Fair Trade as the best example to date that re-globalization of trade, from the bottom, people to people, is the key to creating a sustainable world in the 21st Century.

The growth of the ecological fashion industry has finally reached a state where designers do not feel unduly restricted in their fabric choices. Textiles like hemp, previously coarse and roughly woven, have long been combined with silk, bamboo and other fibres in the weaving process to produce refined and varied fabrics for multiple markets, including high-end fashion design.

The development of new fibres such as soy, milk, bamboo and seaweed have added to the diversity, texture and expression of ecological materials available to designers.10

Researching for new and ECOLOGICAL materials I found some really interesting facts about the creative fashion designer Linda Loudermilk. In my opinion she is one of the pioneers of the ecomovement and I am glad to have come across her work and learned so much. She has introduced innovative process's and techniques to develop material for a sustainable change.

She has created fashion but with a green revolution, shifting the way people think about the earth.

It's undeniable that conventional garment production has overlooked issues of human health and environmental degradation in the production process.

With a groundbreaking passion, she began researching products that are sustainable, by meeting with and learning from scientists and seeking out companies that create fibers without pesticides or other toxic processes.

Linda Loudermilk spends countless hours researching and developing textiles that are not only made from LINDA LOUDERMILK.Spring/Summer 2010 certified eco-conscious materials, but suited for high design. I found this particularly impressive because the fashion design process is already grueling. And, no doubt, these steps added a lot of expense to production costs.

Loudermilk is also responsible for many of the eco fabrics that are gaining ground and being recognized as both necessary and desirable.

Her work is distinguished by her use of sustainable exotic fabrics, such as Sasawashi, an avant-garde fiber-blend of Japanese paper and herbs, containing vitamins and amino acids said to have antiallergen and anti-bacterial properties, purifying the blood and skin; Lenpur, which is made from wood pulp; soya, which is made from soybeans; bamboo jersey, which is anti- bacterial and deodorizing as well as highly ecosustainable; and Eco-Spun, which is made from recycled soda bottles and when blended with 11 LINDA LOUDERMILK organic cotton has the texture of sheepskin.

Necklace, “water is a human right� Campaign, Spring 2010

For her denim line, through research, she became a big fan of ozone washing as It doesn't break the fiber down, it's a molecular process, and that's how she treats her denim line.

It's entirely environmentally friendly.

Time, energy, water usage, and the water is actually returned cleaner than when it came out.

Ozone is highly unstable, and this property also makes it a very powerful oxidizing, cleaning and Adriano Goldschmied. Designer also uses Ozone Technology bleaching agent, hence it has a special application in laundry washing. Ozone works best in cold water hot water breaks ozone down before it can perform as intended - it attacks most organic soils and kills bacteria 3200 times faster than chlorine bleach. Ozone is totally biodegradable and when it completes its function, it reverts rapidly back to Oxygen (O2), leaving no chemical 12 residues behind. “Our biggest challenge is not choosing the right options, but finding 13 them," says Linda Loudermilk.

Her extraordinary vision and commitment to research and product development have established her as an authority and positioned her company years ahead of the competition in understanding how to generate sustainable profits in this emerging market. "Nature has turned out to be a catalyst for everything that I do. It's my goal to take this passion and turn it into something that is good commercially, that is a strong business that also feeds our ego so we look good walking down the street. God gave us an ego so why not use it for the good, strut it, feel proud of ourselves and trust that we are making the right decisions for 14 ourselves and the world that we are in." For Linda Loudermilk, there is no question: change is inevitable. It is the only way to the future.

The reason I choose Linda Loudermilk work was to highlight the importance of fashion designers working in conjunction with science and technology, with a sustainability mind set we need to be looking ahead and searching for answers instead of waiting for solutions. Linda came up with fantastic textiles, in order to change the limited availability of raw materials in the fashion industry.

PLEASE, READ SLOWLY . . .

We live in a society obsessed with high speed, quick decisions, instant gratification and rapid economic growth. Our common habitat has never been more threatened. Our common future has never been more uncertain. The need for a reduction in everything fast and a reduced pace and reflection has never been more relevant than today.

Just like the opposites to the rather unhealthy fast food era, slow food and a slower life trend might emerge in design also, reflecting the benefits of getting things done more slowly.

I witnessed the “slow” movement two years ago in Italy, when the love for the “dolce vita” might have inspired some people to go “slower”. It is obvious that our life and society is just one over-connected society with a Italian Cracking Art group. twelve pink “snails” have been placed in central Milan, part of an outdoor art installation that is designed to fast-food chain for everything. encourage fast-paced city residents to think about slowing down, ''Speed isn't always a virtue'' .

Deadlines, digital, real-time, instant messengers, our world is rapid and our day is filled with immense time pressure. That has the potential to ruin your creativity in the long term. Because of these issues, I've decided to try and bring these two themes of slow approach and new design, together for the mutual support they can offer each other: the slow approach can open up new opportunities for design while the new design can bring useful conceptual and operational tools to the slow approach. They marry well together and both offer a means for the other to develop at a more manageable pace.

SLOW DESIGN, or a return to traditional craft techniques and practices, were my work place/life for two years. I decided to immerse myself into the art of patchwork and also Brazilian artcraft. My aim with this company called Rejane Cadore, was to encourage the company to minimize waste and maximize profits. First of all, the manufacturing sector consisted of women that had no previous experience in sewing or any artcraft skills. The designer choose a different way to work, to train all of them for the first time, that way, they wouldn't have any bad habits and would also recognize the art of patchwork without comparing it to any other products.

The textiles used were of the highest quality available on the market, and all the garments took at least a month to be available for purchase.

The Designer also graduated in Fine arts, design different forms and shapes for each individual garment, so in this sense, all of them were unique. I developed partnerships with factories and persuaded them to trade those fabrics for the production and development of patchwork.

Prior to that, all fabric had been purchased. When you get deeply involved in this process, you understand the value of money and the value of the slow process from design to durability, viability to desirability.

These are some of the aspects that I've discovered and for that I am truly grateful for my experience so far with slow design manufacturing: DOING FASTER IS NOT NECESSARILY DOING BETTER

Forcing designers and employees to work fast is potentially a false economy for both clients and the designer. It virtually guarantees frustration and at times a potentially low quality of work.

LETTING THINGS SIT MIGHT BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE

When you're not entirely satisfied with a design, having some time to put it aside and come back to it later can give you a fresh vision of your work with a renewed input. Structure, colors and textures become clearer, and soon enough, you might be able to produce some high quality work. This might not have been possible if you had forced your way Cubedtv.com. Slow Campaign around it in order to finish quickly. Result: less frustration, a fresh view, and more self satisfaction and pleasing outcome when you finally produce something completely finished, polished and perfect.

WORKING MORE SLOWLY DOES NOT MEAN WORKING INEFFICIENTLY

It should be about stopping to think about the design industry as a real craft not as a multi billion pound business. When working on my own, study wise or work wise I definitely try to slow the process down. This helps me create better work and more importantly for my self esteem, it makes the whole effort of work hugely enjoyable. If one could transfer that happiness to workers, the quality of work would be instantly better.

But how can slow design help us to create a sustainable world?

Slow design reveals experiences in everyday life that are often missed or forgotten, including the materials and processes that can be easily overlooked in an artifact's existence or creation. Consider the real and potential "expressions" of artifacts and environments beyond their perceived functionalities, physical attributes and life spans. Slow Design processes are open-source and collaborative, relying on sharing, cooperation and transparency of information, so that designs may continue to evolve into the future. It encourages users to become active participants in the design process, rather than bystanders being slightly 15 involved.

Overall, it's about designing, producing, consuming and living better. It’s not time-based but quality-based (which has some time components). In this instance, slow is not necessarily the opposite of fast. A different approach in which designers, buyers, retailers and consumers are made more aware of the impacts of products on workers, communities and 16 ecosystems.

Creating something new from something old seems to be a logical solution in making fashion more sustainable. The idea that second-hand and recycled items pass on their life experiences is what embodies redesign clothing with its sense of value. The care and affection lavished on a cherished piece of clothing remains with the item and is inherited and added too by new owners, with each of them giving the item a new lease of life that is almost tangible. This is the beauty and attraction of vintage, recycled and redesigned garments: the sense of history, ownership and of lives lived, that the garment automatically brings with it.

I confess to loving second hand clothes shops. I do however have certain reservations about REDESIGN, reconstructed clothes. My doubts see these items as a viable, but not and more importantly, as a desirable product. This maybe because they have a unique style and as yet, have not been seen in the major publications or saturated throughout the media.

I do however, think that it is amazing work.

Laborious and clever, the union of so many different shapes, textures, coming to an amazing result.

I also admire the philosophy and mission of each of these great brands in an ever increasing market. I question my judgement when I wonder why these garments lack personal appeal ?

I have visited some stores in London, such as Junk Styling, based in Brick Lane. I believe they've developed an incredible range and impressive line of clothes, but even then, I have left the shop without ever purchasing. Again, that leads me to question why none of the items I have seen, have appealed to me. I do admire, respect and appreciate the process, but as a normal consumer, I have to question why I am not urged or enticed to purchase, especially when I know the historical process and ethics behind the garments are ideal.

My solution to this dilemma is simple. The primary reason that drives consumers to purchase an item is the desire to JUNKY STYLING. Coat constructed from seven blazers. own it; fundamentally, it's because “I love it and I want it”.

There are admittedly other driving factors to purchasing something. They might be, cost, quality of manufacturing, process of manufacturing, durability, practicality or environmental goodness of manufacturing. All these reasons are justified and worthy.

However, I believe that none of them supercede or are a bigger contributor to buying a new item than the basic, primary force of desire.

I therefore think that this basic idea of making an item desirable (mainly through design) has been overtaken by some of the secondary reasons for purchasing. While this demonstrates a willingness to change by the consumer, or an ideal to buy something for alternative reasons, it in itself, will only lead to wardrobes full of “never worn” clothes. Essentially this contradicts one of the many philosophies of sustainable fashion. If clothes or garments are going to be reworked or reconstructed, the basic elements of designing something that's potentially desirable to the consumer must still exist and furthermore be paramount from the outset.

Relying on the wholesome goodness of the process is not a good enough reason in itself to make that item desirable. It certainly carries added value, but that will never replace the simple desire of wanting something. That person may appear to be a perfect partner, but if the basic desire to want them is overtaken by the more mundane but perfect practicalities, your love for them will surely wane more rapidly.

One label that does incredible work and for whom I have huge admiration and empathy with, is Antiform based in Leeds UK. Lizzie Harrison, the designer and creator found a solution to clothes waste in the fashion industry and the undervalued wealth of sewing, repair and embellishment skills that exist within communities in the UK. She started gathering cut-offs from local mills and arranging monthly second-hand clothes exchanges. However, as forward-thinking and fashionable as it is, the Antiform collection is not the only part of Lizzie's dream that has materialized. As well as regular clothes exchanges, which encourage people to reuse clothes, learn to customize them and exchange them for adjustment services, Lizzie also takes her skills to the community. Along with volunteers, she takes educational workshops into schools, universities and even Leeds City Council.

These workshops encourage everyone to develop their creative skills, learning to sew and to reuse clothes that are too often thrown away. As a result of these workshops, Lizzie has developed an ever-growing network of brilliantly skilled people who can offer all sorts of techniques, from 17 embroidery to knitting and crocheting.

ANTIFORM. Collection 2010

To conclude, these different concepts of sustainable design that I have tried to describe, were once part of my work, that’s why I’ve chosen them to be part of my essay.

REDESIGN: In theory this a brilliant idea. It reduces waste and has a neutral carbon footprint. However, it may struggle with longevity, due to its potential lack of desirability.

ECOLOGICAL: This is ground breaking and innovative work. By exploring new textiles that are eco friendly as well as having health benefits from inspirational newly tried materials, the future for ecological design is wonderfully exciting. It is futuristic and hugely progressive.

COMMUNITY & FAIR TRADE ECOLOGICAL & SLOW DESIGN

SUSTAINABILITY

REDESIGN

SLOW DESIGN: If ecological is futuristic, Slow Design is possibly regressive, considering it’s foundations were laid hundreds of years ago. While this could be considered a backwards step, it is actually beneficial way forward. There are few negatives other than people not adapting or altering their mind set to working at a slower pace. These along with COMMUNITY, FAIR TRADE may well occur naturally through economic necessity, as they provide a more economical solution to extending peoples wardrobes.

My involvement with communities, slow design and trading, made me more aware that this is the key to the future. We've got to the point that we need to address the lack of trust between society/consumer and the fashion industry to create a better environment. In my opinion, as important as the design process, is the purchase itself. Most of us buy clothes with our subconscious, and that may well be where most of the problems begin. I came to realize, that if I can't even remember the things I own, then I probably shouldn't either have purchased them or have them in my wardrobe.

When you buy any organic, fair trade, ecological, slow design, redesigned or other “green” garments or when you actually embrace the green mind set into your life, there is no turning back. You literally start to question everything and everyone around you. It's easy, beautiful and profound to talk about being environmentally friendly or eco conscious, but the hard bit is putting those thoughts into everyday practice.

How we can change our attitudes and habits is easily thought out but it is not always easy to change those thoughts and dreams into actions. If you follow it, your life will change and your personal environment will become a better place. If this was replicated around the world by just a few, it would engage a domino effect resulting in a worldwide improved environment.

To believe that from my own thoughts and actions, the entire world may eventually benefit is truly inspiring. If that is not enough of a stimulus or catalyst to change the way I think and do, nothing will be.

Mankind has progressed and succeeded for thousands of years by making correct yet sometimes difficult choices. This choice is not difficult. If I chose to carry on regardless and with no change or a continued careless lifestyle, I would be guilty of regressing as a member of mankind. These issues are not created or resolved rapidly. Change takes time and so it should. The longer the change takes, the more likely it is to last. Rapid or instant fixes lack durability. The current issues did not suddenly appear overnight. They developed as problems over a period of time. Passion in anything can have viral properties. Belief and persuasion are powerful tools and if the end result is an improved environment not only for me but for generations to come, the choice to be made is therefore fantastically easy. There are few things more basic than the clothes we wear. If we can change our mindset on something so simple as our attire, and that, in so doing, we would enhance how we live, imagine what else we could go on to achieve.

REFERENCES: 1 - Hethorn, J. and Ulasewicz C. (2008) Sustainable Fashion Why Now? A conversation about issues, practices and possibilities, pp xviii 2 - Hethorn, J. and Ulasewicz C. (2008) Sustainable Fashion Why Now? A conversation about issues, practices and possibilities 3 - Hethorn, J. and Ulasewicz C. (2008) Sustainable Fashion Why Now? A conversation about issues, practices and possibilities, pp 7-28 4 - Brown, Sass (2010) ECO Fashion pp 13 5 - www. noticias.ambientebrasil.com.br 6 - www.peopletree.co.uk/content/fair_trade.php 7 - www.peopletree.co.uk/content/fair_trade.php 8 - www.peopletree.co.uk/content/fair_trade.php 9 - www.fairtrade.org.uk 10 - Black, S (2008) ECO-CHIC The Fashion Paradox pp 210 11 - www.lindaloudermilk.com 12 - www.lindaloudermilk.com 13 - Black, S (2008) ECO-CHIC The Fashion Paradox pp 215 14 - www.lindaloudermilk.com 15 - Fuad-Luke, A. Slow Theory A paradigm for living sustainably? www.slowdesign.org 16 - Dr Kate Fletcher's interview for fashioning an ethical industry www.fashioninganethicalindustry.org/!file/Kate+still+2.mp4 17 - www.antiformindustries.com .Sublime Magazine – The First International Sustainable Lifestyle Magazine sublimemagazine.com .The Observer Magazine 06.02.11 The big ideas issue – The pioneers activist and thinkers who are changing the way we live. .Fuad-Luke, Alastair (2002b) The Eco-design Handbook, Thames & Hudson, UK .Mackenzie, Dorothy (1991) Green Design, Design for the Environment, Lawrence King, UK. .Slow Food, Italy, www.slowfood.com, July 2003 Slow Food, Italy, www.slowfood.com, July 2003 .Chapman, J and Gant, G (2007) Designers Visionaries and Other Stories: A Collection of Sustainable Design Essays .Litvinoff, M. and Madeley, J (2007) 50 reasons to buy FAIR TRADE .Fletcher, K (2008) Sustainable Fashion & Textiles, Design Journeys

.Blackburn, W (2007) The Sustainability Handbook, The complete management guide to achieve social, economic and environmental responsibility.

IMAGE SOURCES: Cover fig 1:(online image) Available at www.britishfashioncouncil.com Fig 2. Amazonian Indian: personal archive Fig 3. Planet Earth: personal archive Fig 4. Cia do Lacre S/S 2005: personal archive Fig 5. People Tree: (online image) available at www.peolpletree.co.uk Fig 6. People Tree symbols: (online image) available at www.peolpletree.co.uk Fig 7. Fair Trade certification label: (online image) available at www.fairtrade.org.uk Fig 8. Linda Loudermilk S/S 2010: (online image) available at www.lindaloudermilk.com Fig 9. Linda Loudermilk necklace: (online image) available at www.lindaloudermilk.com Fig 10. Ozone washing: (online image) available at www.agjeans.com Fig 11. Pink Snails: personal archive Fig 12. Slow Campaign: (online image) available at www.cubedtv.com Fig 13. Junky Styling: (online image) available at www.junkystyling.co.uk Fig 14. Antiform Collection 2010: (online image) available at www.antiformindustries.com