This week I was finally able to sit down and complete some of the research portion of my contract now that all of the logistics are sorted and the quarter is in full swing. I’ve been reading “The Responsible Fashion Company” by Francesca Romano Rinaldi and Salvo Testa and it has proved to be super useful from a business point of view. The beginning of the book is entirely dedicated to economic ideas that also incorporate social and environmental concerns. It’s been really refreshing to be able to read a book that is pretty academic in nature but also focuses on things other than science and profit. In fact, one of my favorite concepts of the book so far is that the authors consider fostering the wellbeing of society and the planet as part of the “net income” of an enterprise, which I think is incredibly inspiring. It’s been helpful to me to be able to see all of the ideas that I’ve had about how a business should be run put into actual academic models and I’m looking forward to continuing to be inspired by them as I explore different ways to create beautiful clothing.
I also began to look at more ‘high end’ fashion and how it can be made sustainably on a small scale. I explored this through reading the book “Refashioned” which features a few high fashion designers that created their pieces through completely repurposed materials. The book didn’t cover how expensive these upcycled pieces end up being – which doesn’t quite make sense to me because if they are using discarded items from ‘the 99%’ and only marketing to ‘the 1%’ how much materials are they really saving, and is it really truly sustainable on all levels? Even so, I began playing on this idea by adding elements to my upcycled design that aren’t necessarily integral to the design but are detailing that add the extra artistry that allows for a higher price.
I am out of town this week and Lynn will be out of town the next, so I have a bit of a break from my internship with Olympic Yarn and Fiber. I’m sad that I won’t be back next week, but I plan to use the extra time to begin reading up on mill equipment and how it relates to energy consumption and sustainability.