As the Autumn/Winter collections have been presented and ecomodista reflects on style, textiles, and the impetus for acquiring the latest fashions she evaluates her own efforts to reduce consumption personally.
For the the first time human beings are responsible for manipulating and shaping the earth’s environment, it’s climate and geological events—the Anthropocene Age it is now designated. In fact ecomodista experienced her first earthquake in Shawnee, Kansas this summer where she awoke to what felt like an automatic massage bed convulsing under her, caused by fracking in Oklahoma, which instantly reminded her of the Simpsons episode in which Marge decamps to a motel because Homer has become a gun fanatic… However ecomodista proposes that actually the dawn of the industrial age should be the turning point rather than 1950, given the impact of using coal over the past 3 centuries as well as deforestation globally during that period.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene for an excellent description of the Anthropcene Age.
hence ecomodista’s revised manifesto:
reduce reduce reduce
Designers have been tackling this issue for two decades, and it is difficult in terms of production for if not mass consumption, even limited consumption is challenging. Using textile waste is often limited however knitwear designers seem to be successful using left over yarns from other productions.
photograph: Carla Breeze, plastic recycling As ecomodista has always maintained secondary use clothing is a great source of stylish clothing, numerous sources both online (ebay etc.) and thrift shops are a major source, not mention trading children’s clothing among friends and relatives. Apparently though such an excess of donated clothing is suppressing textile production in countries such as Kenya although it does provide ancillary jobsin these locations. see the Guardian
Landfill, composed to a large degree of textile waste, has been creating new geological features, a trend that appears to be increasing unless more rigorous recycling is practiced. New equipment to do just this has made San Francisco a destination to study how this can be accomplished. Who has never wondered if that tiny cardboard tag should be added to the paper and cardboard recycling bin or simply thrown in the trash. Food waste is finally being tackled, with food retailers joining the effort to re-direct those oddly shaped squash that don’t conform to the normal. It’s actually amazing that the western world has so much food that decisions such as this actually result in waste. Waste disposal causes costly environmental impact and depletes valuable resources. On the On the other hand, new business models must arise to combat obsolescence; New Yorker reporter, J. B. MacKinnon analysed how the LED light bulb industry is morphing October 5, 2016.
In a sense mass consumption has shifted just as prediction by economists in the 1980’s towards services, snapchat, Facebook, Linkedin, cable, wifi, Netflix. yet there are still innumerable consumer products, not only increasingly specific devices apparently co, and designed to be outmoded.
Christopher Kane S/S 2016 collection used a novel reuse material--plastic cable ties in bright colours Reducing waste (traditionally defined as any product or substance that has no further use or value, a definition that is morphing into a material that has potential value subject to reuse or re-manufacture) from packaging, food is the simplest for a consumer to control. Numerous packaging materials in a food coop or supermarket are recyclable and/or produced from post consumer materials. Bulk foods like rice, pasta, peas and beans, fruits, vegetables and nuts are easily taken home, put away in canning jars or stored in fridge, plastic bags washed and reused shopping next time. The majority of food co-ops have become consequential players in supporting local food production, from urban rooftop to kansas farmland, small farmers are finding their pursuit once again viable. The US Department of Agriculture has even expand it’s programs now funding rural health clinics.
Making one’s own clothing and knitting are extremely viable, now more than ever with vintage yarns and textiles available in thrift and even antique shops and of course innumerable sources online. Tote bags are a chic replacement for paper and plastic.
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