Design Research Development- 22nd November 2016

Sustainability 

I have decided to look at three topics to focus my research on; sustainability, erosion and pollution. I have started researching thoroughly into sustainability using online sources and information from various books. The first book I have looked at is 'Sustainable Fashion Past, Present, and Future by Jennifer Farley Gordon and Colleen Hill. This book discusses many issues related to sustainability including disposable fashion, sustainable fashion brands, sustainable fabrics and dyes used to colour the fabrics and how they can be harmful to the wearer and the environment. We are living in an era where it is fashionable to buy cheap clothes and wear them just once, however things are starting to change and people are starting to want to buy high quality pieces that will last. This is what I aim to convey through my collection. This book features examples of designers who have used sustainable fabrics or sustainable methods of making garments;  

Zero Waste YEOHLEE 2009.
Made this sarong out of pieces of black organza and stitched them together, to show its zero waste construction

Slow and Steady Wins the Race (Mary Ping) "Postal" bag, unbleached cotton canvas, Fall 2002 USA



Using Synthetic Dyes

• Dyes poisoning the environment, 'Toxic Threads: The Big Fashion Stitch-Up found that a number of popular fashions had "residues of a variety of hazardous chemicals". Out of the 141 garments that they bought and tested two were positive for carcinogenic amines associated with azo dyes, and both were from fast fashion retailer Zara.' These chemicals are harming the environment during the dying process, they could also be harmful towards the wearer. Therefore, precaution needs to be taken when dying fabrics, and brands should consider alternative ways of dying their fabric that aren't harmful. When I am deciding what fabrics I want to use for my collection, I will take into consideration the dying methods used.