University: Sustainability in Fashion

H&M Conscious Fashion Range

This week, we have been talking about sustainability in fashion. Hundreds of thousands of garments are produced each week and with Fashion being a trend-lead, forever ongoing cycle, the amount of garments being produced is very unlikely to decrease. However, even though we can't do much about the quantity produced, we can change how the garment is made and also other factors that prove poor for the environment. 

Here are some of the facts (courtesy of ecofriendly-fashion.com);

- The fashion industry is the second largest user of water in the world. 

- Over 90 million items of clothing end up in land fill sites globally each year. (BBC – 2009)

- 60% of the greenhouse gases generated over the life of a simple t-shirt come from the typical 25 washings and machine dryings.

-A lot of the cotton produced in the U.S. is shipped to garment factories in China where it is manufactured into clothing that is then shipped back to the U.S. This results in dangerously high amounts of Carbon Emissions.

So, to prevent so many items of clothing being discarded and dumped in land fill sites, a few designers have created a re-cycle program where you can return old items of clothing and those clothes are then used for other things. Some designers even base their collections around garments that have been made from old ones. Check out Junky Styling, a brand that specialises in Up-Cycling.

In regards to energy used to wash and dry clothes, the solution is probably pretty obvious. Wash at 30 degrees when possible, which a lot of detergent companies are now promoting and try to dry clothes on clothes lines. There's not a lot that brands can do to help in this situation, it's all up to us as consumers! 

As more and more brands are becoming aware and concious of sustainability in Fashion, more are thinking about where exactly they source their fabrics. Obviously, you would look for closer sourced suppliers in order to reduce shipping which would also reduce Carbon Emissions. 

Now, all this 'make the world a better place-yay' is all great BUT, unfortunately, it's very costly, hence why designers/ labels that are eco-friendly usually have a higher price range. Some are prepared to pay extra because they know its for a good reason, but many of us (including me) just can't afford to do that. 

In the end, fashion boils down to 'I like that, I can afford that, I'm going to buy that' It appears to me that brands focus so much on trying to make clothes that DO good that they forget to also focus on what LOOKS good. Which makes me raise the question- what's the point? I'm not going to spend loads of money on clothes that don't look great and the fact they're eco-friendly really isn't going to change much. The real deal would obviously be- It's good for the environment AND it's trend focused and looks good too. 

Which leads on to H&M's Concious Fashion Range. Unlike many other sustainable brands, they truly understand that the customer wants the best of all worlds- Looks great, Affordable and is Environmentally friendly. H&M claim that 15.8% of their cotton comes from sustainable sources (2013), they now use organic Leather in their Conscious range and they have also added extra info onto their care labels, attached to the inside of garments to give a better understanding of how to care for both your clothes and the environment.

You can find H&M's Conscious range on their website, each item is marked with a green 'Conscious' sticker. The range is very much affordable and pretty much the same price ranging as their usual label. 

University Work- CV/ Covering Letter

Covering Letter

This is a short letter, around the same length as your personal statement that writes directly to a designer/ assistant or anyone else that works for the company. By directing to a certain person, you appear far more serious and genuinely interested. Instead of talking about what you think the company can do for you, talk about what you can offer and why you're the best person for the job. It would help to do research on the company you wish to work for to show them that you're interested in a job with them in particular and not just in general.

CV

Layout is very important when it comes to a CV. It can be really interesting to be a little quirky with your layout but don't over do it and risk ruining it. Remember- the most important thing is to make it readable. In lesson, we experimented a lot with different layouts and were shown examples of samples CVs, some experimented with using several columns, some were split down the middle with writing aligned with a plain strip down the centre of the page. Write about education, your contact details and most importantly- experience and achievements. Think about making important information pop out of the page more, and less important information less eye catching.

Here are some examples of CV's that are really eye catching. Some of them are a bit out there and may not work very well when applying for certain jobs but they're interesting-none-the-less!

University Work- Finding a job/ Personal Development Plan/ About Me Page

Finding a Job

For our Professional Practice unit, we've been focusing on how to find and apply for jobs in Fashion. We were shown several websites (Drapers Records, Indeed, Fashion United) to search for a job that interested us and that we could potentially apply for. I really enjoy Pattern Cutting so I tried to find a job relating to that. I found a 'Studio Intern' job that requires a lot of different things (including pattern cutting.) working for Designer Georgia Hardinge. It's always a good idea, when looking for a designer to work with, to choose one that has a similar style to your own. Georgia Hardinge has quite an elegant but quirky style and focuses on geometric shapes. 

Here are a couple examples of her work;

And this is the advertisement for the job;

Personal Development Plan (PDP)

A personal development plan can help you to determine your strengths and draw attention to your skills that need a bit more work. You can write down skills like Pattern Cutting, Designing, Adobe Suites that you've used and anything else you can think of and then next to them, write a number from 1-5 (1 being poor and 5 being strong) depending on where you place yourself with each skill. This can also help you to decide which field to apply for if you're stuck.

Personal Statement

Personal statements should be relatively short- around 5 sentences long. Start with something interesting that will catch the readers attention and certainly do not start with your 'Passion for Fashion' ! Talk about what it is exactly that you enjoy about Fashion, where your strengths lie and possibly where your initial interest in Fashion sparked.

About Me

About Me is an online site where you can basically network and others around the world can view your page and your work. You can write a bit about yourself, your strengths, what you're interested in and upload a picture for your profile (preferably a professional one) 

University Work: Working on a Portfolio

I have already handed in 4 units this year at university and my final units require a portfolio of my best work from previous units. Basically, we're just scanning in work from our sketchbook but taking it apart and putting it back together in a more presentable way. Here are my pages so far:

Here are the pages for my White shirt project. I still have to put in some pictures of the shirt that I made but I haven't got round to it yet. The idea is to make my portfolio as interesting to look at as possible but by also projecting my own personal style.

And these are my pages for Creative Realisation- A unit in which I designed 50 outfits from my chosen inspiration on crystals and then whittled them down to create a capsule collection of 6 final designs.