About | Slow Fashioned One constant thing about fashion is change. Seasonally, trends change the preferred color, silhouette, fabric and more — artificially dictating the obsolescence of a garment. Over the past few decades, fashion trends have been changing at a greater rate due to advances in production technology, shortening the time from concept to store. This speeding up of trends and time from concept to store is referred to by many as “fast-fashion”. Fast-fashion quite often also tends to be of lower quality, intended to only to be worn one season. The term “Slow Fashion” was coined by Kate Fletcher in 2007 (Centre for Sustainable Fashion, UK). Slow Fashion attempts to slow the rate of change down to a more sustainable pace. When we slow down we realize that we don’t need to buy new trends every 6 weeks as the fast-fashion retailers are pushing them out, we need to step back and reassess what is really important to us. Slow Fashioned is not your typical online magazine. Our mission is to:
Considerate Design – Personalised Knitwear Seamless garment knitting for comfort and personalised fit utilising advanced knitting technology. Led by Prof.Sandy Black and Dr.Penelope Watkins , this project addresses the use of 3D body scan data for extraction of precise body measurements and translation into 2D CAD design systems integrated with industrial knitting machines. Its final aim is the direct 3D production of seam free knitwear with enhanced fit and customisation. The issue of sustainability is addressed, by producing individual garments on demand and by choosing wool as a sustainable and versatile product that will be responsibly sourced, for comfort and performance . The project will develop personalised fashion through the design development of upper body garments utilising stitch construction through designs using Stoll machinery.
We can all afford to slow down | Fashion & Gear Why investment dressing costs far less than fast fashion The term “Slow Fashion” combines many aspects of sustainability. From an industry perspective, it can refer to slowing down the production cycle, giving more attention to detail and craftsmanship in each garment, manufacturing locally, or supporting fair wages. From a consumer’s angle, it means slowing down our consumption habits, buying fewer garments that are classic, of quality, and will last us for years. As a frequent public speaker on the topic of sustainable fashion, I find that the concept of slow fashion resonates really well with the audiences I speak to. Those habits are hard to break. Like fast food, we are victims of fast fashion in North America. As consumers, we are a sale-driven culture used to the quality of disposable products. The problem with this mentality is that it fuels excessive over-consumption, which comes with a hidden price tag on the environment. Jasmin Malik Chua, Managing Editor Ecouterre
Slow Fashion Consultancy | katefletcher.com For over a decade businesses, education establishments, arts organisations and the research community, primarily in the fashion and textile sector have been commissioning consultancy services from me. The services I offer work at the forefront of the social, ecological and economic agenda; designing ways to foster change towards sustainability. To discuss a project or learn more about the services I offer, please email me. What clients say about my consultancy services: ‘Your work on a sustainability concept for my brand was wonderful, fantastic… it nailed all the primary points’ Sydney Brown Shoes, USA & Germany. ‘Going by the feedback from participants, your session was a real highlight and you had a very inspiring effect on the audience.’ ‘I cannot thank you enough for this report. ‘Thank you for the fantastic work you are providing.
Fashion Trends,Understanding Fashion, Fashion Trend Forecasting Market Intelligence: In recent years, world growth has slowed and markets have matured or become more protective. It is evident that the only way for many small & big companies to grow is at the expense of their competitors. The marketing intelligence cycle whether its apparel or other business houses typically consists of directing, collecting, compiling, cataloguing, analyzing and form filled up data by consumers therefore making it easier for industry to create product which is market based. Consumer Research: The agencies & Manufacturers may ask consumers directly about their buying preferences or can look in to their buying habits over a period of time. The industry overall has one purpose, i.e. to provide a desirable and appealing product to satisfy customer needs, demands or aspire to have. About the Author: Deepak Singh is working as national designer for various prestigious government projects since the last nine years.
Slow fashion Fast speed in fashion is a defining characteristic of today’s textile and clothing industry. It’s fast in production – tracking sales with electronic tills and just-intime manufacturing, which can now turn a sample or design sketch into a finished product in as little as 12 days; and fast in consumption – a recent report revealed that people are buying one third more garments than four years ago, fuelled by the rise and rise of supermarkets and ‘value’ retailers like Primark and Matalan. Yet the fabric in super-cheap, ‘value’ or fast fashion is no quicker to make or use than any other garment. The fibre takes the same length of time to grow, regardless of a product’s speed to market (in the case of cotton, around a year). Fast fashion isn’t really about speed, but greed: selling more, making more money. Yet it doesn’t have to be this way. Slow fashion is about designing, producing, consuming and living better. The concept of slow fashion borrows heavily from the Slow Food Movement.
What is Slow Fashion? | Slow Fashioned When a new concept like Slow Fashion comes around it is often hard to describe it. We find ourselves grasping for parallels like: ‘Slow Fashion is a sister movement to Slow Food’ or using comparisons like ‘Slow Fashion is the opposite of Fast Fashion’ or even clarify a little more like: “Slow Fashion ≠Anti Fashion” or “quality over quantity” — and while it is important to understand what Slow Fashion IS and is NOT is some sort of familiar term or phrase it isn’t enough to capture the essence of the movement. Rather than pigeonhole the entire movement into these little sound bites we need start to explore what Slow Fashion CAN be rather than what it CAN’T — Slow Fashion opens up a world of creative possibilities in personal fashion that chasing fast trends at the mall never will: Slow Fashion… …Celebrates Personal Style Slow Fashion embraces the idea of personal expression through your clothing. Related articles:
Studio Orta After graduating with an honours degree in fashion-knitwear design from Nottingham Trent University in 1989, Lucy began practicing as a visual artist in Paris in 1991. Her sculptural work investigates the boundaries between the body and architecture, exploring their common social factors, such as communication and identity. Lucy uses the media of sculpture, public intervention, video, and photography to realize her work. Lucy’s work has been the focus of major survey exhibitions at the Weiner Secession, Austria (1999); the Contemporary Art Museum of the University of South Florida, for which she received the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts award (2001); and the Barbican Centre, London (2005). Exhibitions Six Yards Guaranteed Dutch Design venue: MMKA museum voor moderne kunst arnhem , Arnhem , Netherlands type: Group Exhibition, curator: Suze May Sho artists’ collective site: Block Party venue: UK Touring Exhibition, London, UK Lucy Orta type: Solo Exhibition
slow fashion forward New fashion consumers realize the powerful role they play in the industry. By focusing on the big picture, new consumers are aware of the ecological and social effects of fashion production that are supported by consumption. Each decision you make as a consumer matters and can help shape a sustainable future for fashion. These simple guidelines offer some creative and thoughtful solutions to inspire more sustainable choices. Feel free to mix and match the guidelines to suit your individual lifestyle, possibilities and needs. Less is more. ● Think twice. ● Make a swap! ● Cherish the story. ● Lease a designer dress or handbag. New consumers are encouraged to build a wardrobe of well-made, beautiful and versatile pieces. ● Quality matters. ● Support craftsmanship and seek out unique, handmade pieces ● Take care. Slow fashion uses local resources, skills and materials to make, restyle and repair garments whenever possible. ● Get your hands dirty! ● Learn something new. ● Get creative!
The Slow Fashion Movement: 10 Brands That Are Doing it Right December is an important month for the fashion and retail industry--and not just because of the ka-ching of the cash register duing holiday sales. You may not know it, but December is also 'Made in America' month. Started in 1985 under Ronald Reagan, Made in America month aims to encourage consumers to purchase items produced locally in the United States. Outsourcing production overseas, where labor is by and large cheaper, not only contributes to our country's unemployment rate and shrinking garment industry, but also helps keep overseas sweatshops and factories with unfair working conditions in business. Needless to say the 'made in America' movement is more important than ever--not least because it's helped give way to a bigger, broader-minded movement: Slow fashion. The term 'slow fashion,' coined in 2008 by sustainable design consultant Kate Fletcher, describes an approach to clothing and fashion that is decidedly at odds with the fast (and even faster) fashion cycle.
Yeohlee Teng Name Yeohlee Teng. Website www.yeohlee.com Education Born in Penang, Malaysia into a family with roots in China, Yeohlee became interested in fashion at an early age, making costumes for the local school recitals. Fascinated by the process of dress construction, she learned how to make patterns when she was 9 years old. In the late Sixties she moved to New York and studied at the Parsons School of Design. Encouraged by Halston, she opened her house, Yeohlee.Inc, in 1981. Breakthrough Her first collection, based on five one-size-fits-all functional black pieces, immediately sold at Bergdorf Goodman. After this success Yeohlee was invited to participate in “Intimate Architecture: Contemporary Clothing Design”, an exhibition curated by Susan Sidlauskas at the Massachussets Institute of Tecnhology in 1982. About her Awards Yeohlee was the recipient of the prestigious Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Fashion Design in 2004. Outstanding qualities What's next Other project Her advice Icons
Levi Strauss seeks to slow down fast fashion with sustainable practices Sixteen years of work as a fashion designer in New York was enough for Paul Dillinger. He quit and took a job teaching design at his alma mater, Washington University in St Louis. "I had become somewhat disillusioned – really challenged morally or ethically – by the industry," he says. Then a friend recruited Dillinger to work for Levi Strauss & Co Today, he's leading a cutting-edge initiative to take sustainable design to new heights at the 160-year-old company: a Dockers line of clothes called Wellthread. Dillinger wants to weave responsibility into every stage of design, manufacturing and usage, from the cotton fields to the factories to the market and beyond. "I saw all these different nodes of activity in the company that were tackling different problems," Dillinger said, when we met this week at Levi's Eureka Innovation Lab, a research and development unit near the company's headquarters in San Francisco. In a business-case study of Wellthread, the company explains:
Where is Sustainable Fashion Headed in 2014? In the face of both triumph and tragedy, fashion’s masked and intricate supply chain is becoming more transparent. So where is the industry headed in 2014? I never ever dreamed I would find myself working in the fashion industry. But never say never right? And somewhere between scraping plates for food waste studies and being shoulder deep in a cow’s rumen for ecological restoration research, a lot changed. Fashion was always an interest of mine, surely an influence from my Parisian mother and catty American high school upbringing, but I always saw the industry as vain–only meant for those that have too much time and money on their hands to care about anything else other than what they wore. Unless you are a staunch nudist you consume fashion. But to churn out fast and cheap in a complicated global supply chain, means processes need to be slimmed, quality diminished and externalities bleeding out at all steps. But there is no right or wrong way. Our loudest vote is our dollar.
About Graduate Opportunities / Arcadia Group It’s not only our products but our people who drive our success. Our graduate recruits are no exception to this. Whichever cornerstone of our business you join – Buying, Merchandising, Finance or Digital – you’ll be contributing from the start. We recruit for Buying, Merchandising and Digital all year round, whilst we recruit for our Finance programme three times a year. In this section you’ll find out everything you need to know about our Graduate Opportunities. Our graduates have independently reviewed us on the JobCrowd.