a quote for you..

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead

Where do the solutions lie?

Over the past few weeks i've been doing a lot of reading and thinking on this issue of "sustainability" and consumerism.
How exactly do i plan to approach this?

The first and most obvious way is through considerate design. The problems faced in the production of clothing are huge. And producing a responsible line of clothing is not going to be easy. Considering the production cycle is long I might have to make difficult choices in the process of my project, but we will take things as they come and start optimistically.

Im going to be concentrating on responsible production through:

Material: Organic cotton, linen and (Ahimsa silk)
Dyes: Eco friendly dyes
Local production : Less transport
Minimum wastage through well designed prints and simple patterns for clothing

Secondly I am trying to achieve eco-efficiency indirectly by looking into how I can change behaviour.

The main questions I will be focussing on here are:

- How can we improve human-product relationships?
- How can we change the way people experience products?
- How do we create a desire for products that lasts?

To get answers to the above questions i will need a lot of input from others!
What do you think?

Less ME more WE

i've been looking at the subject of co design and it think this video is the perfect way to get started on this topic.
I'd love it if i could use this space to make a change along with my project..the question is how?

A little bit on the effects of consumerism

The BBC aired a documentary called “Shopology” (September 2nd and 9th, 2001) where psychologists looked into the psychology of shopping and consumerism in places like Britain, USA and Japan and asked if it was healthy for consumers. Of the many points they raised, they pointed out that:

-Consumption now helps to define and answer who we are
-Social definition revolves around consumption (which is heavily commercialized)

-That we essentially “buy” a lifestyle

-Brands help turn perceptions into reality, thus encouraging purchases based on fashion and peer/social pressures to fit in.

-Consumerism can increase stress for various reasons

-To deal with social and consumerism pressures and their effects, people may on occasion resort to what psychologist term as “compensatory consumption” — that is, consuming even more to feel better (similar to how one might feel tempted to take alcohol to relieve stress). This is ironic because this additional consumption often stems from the culture of consumerism itself.

-Rising consumer debt puts pressure on families

-Malls are carefully designed to create appropriate moods to indirectly encourage buying (this is a similar parallel to how department stores evolved, as described above, except that from a department store, it now includes entire malls.)


The BBC focused on the impact on consumers in wealthy countries, which is important to consider. Additionally however, consumerism by the wealthy is also at the expense of the poor around the world (the majority of people) which has enormous ramifications.

From: Global Issues

Generation next forum

L2's Generation Next Forum dissects the characteristics, influence, and brand affinities of tomorrow's affluent consumers.

L2 Generation Next Forum: May 14, 2010 from L2 Think Tank on Vimeo.

The Project..

At the heart of most of the environmental problems is the issue of consumption. Consumerism can be understood as a way of life that is excessively preoccupied with the consumption of economic goods, equating personal happiness with consumption. We consume in an attempt to satisfy our fundamental human needs, mainly our social needs of esteem, companionship and community.

There is an obvious need for change in the world of fashion. Be it in the materials used, the way clothing is produced or the way we consume. Research shows that if designers make informed and appropriate design decisions at the outset, then the environmental performance of any product can be improved by up to 80%.

Changing the way people consume is something that seems nearly impossible. We can not expect people to suddenly start making responsible well informed decisions about something they usually do on impulse. Its true that they need to be informed better but one can only expect a small group of people to actually use this information while shopping. The others will continue to shop on impulse. So as designers we need to get a better understanding of these impulses and see how we can change our products in such a way that the designs to the job themselves. How do we design products in such a way that consumers use them differently, without having to think about it? Therefore extending the life cycle of the products and reducing negative impact.

For my project i will be working towards creating a sustainable line of summer wear for the brand Spring Rhythm.The line will be designed as sustainably as possible, keeping the materials, production and consumer in mind.

Sustainability is all about conflict, it is a vast subject and I do not believe there is a perfectly well balanced solution to anything. This project to me will be a journey through sustainable design and the issues involved with it. It will give me the ability to create more responsible designs in the future and hopefully inspire others to look at things differently in the process.

I want to do this by using an intertwined strategy of directly improving the eco effieciency of the product through its lifecycle (by using organic materials etc) and the strategy to deliver eco-efficiency indirectly through behavioural change.
With my collection I not only want to challenge the current cyclic system of fashion but also give the user a better undertstanding of the process that goes into making their products. I hope to create clothing that is not just seen as clothing but as something special and meaningful.

image courtesy the notebook doodles

The story of stuff

To start things off i would like to share with you a little film/ animation called the story of stuff.
I think the problems that we are facing at the moment have been articulated in a very simple and clear way.
Please watch:

The Story of Stuff

Time flies

So, 4 years have gone by and the time has come for me to start working on my diploma project.
We are on our own now! A scary but comforting thought at the same time.
Now is when we see if we can actually put all we have learnt in the past few years to good use.
We got a little taste of this in the final project that i've documented on this blog and i'm confident that this could be a very interesting time. I am motivated and excited to create something thats actually mine..from scratch!

In the following months i will be putting a detailed documentation of my process onto this blog.
feedback would be greatly appreciated!!