Here you are.
- “as the world falls down”
A great overview of the messy world of sustainable fabric I’ve just dipped my toes in: “A World Consumed by Guilt” at the New York Times.
We all make compromises every day. Making them with your eyes open instead of arbitrarily is the best piece of advice I could give.
“Future Fashion White Papers” (via PSFK) may be a good resource for making compromises with your eyes open:
FutureFashion White Papers aims to educate all people interested in sustainable fashion and offers safe environmental practices for the industries and consumers. It is an invaluable and ground-breaking resource that proves how style and sustainability can coexist.
We shall see.
Today’s postsong: Trying to navigate the world of sustainable fabric is kind of like going to masquerade ball after eating a dosed apricot, and ending up dancing with David Bowie… Or not, but either way, today I bring you David Bowie, singing “as the world falls down” from the movie Labyrinth.
- Provenance
I’ve been blogging a lot about “locally grown” clothing, the “100 mile closet“, and other ways the apparel industry can mimic what’s been happening with food systems for several years. The provenance of our clothes—where they came from, through what processes and systems—is just as important as the provenance of our food.
Monocle magazine makes a good business case for why provenance is something businesses should pay attention to (via PSFK):
Provenance became a big issue for brands low, medium and high in 2007. A spate of scares involving Chinese-made products saw the world’s largest toy maker, Mattel, recall 21 million toys due to concern over lead paint. Gap was stung when it was found that children in India were employed to make garments for their Western peers. In the showrooms of many luxury brands, buyers were starting to question if the clothes and accessories were really made in the UK, France and Italy.
In 2008, provenance is going to become more important at luxury goods companies as CEOs decide whether to downgrade their brands (they wouldn’t call it this, but we would) by shutting workshops and moving the work to Asia to improve margins, or take a long-term view and keep investing in craftsmanship, education and maintaining manufacturing facilities above the shop.
The decision should be a simple one. The fake handbag might be made in China, but if 90 per cent of the real thing is made there as well, where’s the point of difference other than price? Against this backdrop, a growing movement for authenticity, craftsmanship and heritage is creating greater opportunities for artisinal companies.
When we start paying attention to ‘provenance’—where stuff comes from—what changes will we demand from the fashion industry? How will we vote with our dollars?
- Mankiw’s Economics: Translated, and Animated
Yoram Bauman, one of my economics professors at BGI last year, is the world’s first and only stand-up economist. Watch him talk about Greg Mankiw’s “Principles of Economics: Translated”:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVp8UGjECt4[/youtube]
Relatedly, I’ve been watching Mankiw’s blog, and came across this, by a group of Harvard students, called “Principles of Economics: Animated”:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSaFAEJHJKw[/youtube]
- onset of chaos / edge of chaos
School has begun.
Projects are unfolding, vertically integrating, and squeezing novelty out of magic. My notes from the residency are cryptic:
• Idea for a business: Too much change in too short a time
• Idea for a business: Magnificat
• Idea for a business: Recycled conduit metaphors.
• Idea for a business: Value = limits on boundlessness. That is, choices become easy or disappear.
• Idea for a business: 1) Agitate the images. 2) Shaken awake from the restless sleep of images. 3) Decisive variation, novelty, values.
• Essay idea: “Why art and business must consume each other.”• Trust the shape changer (written on a large work in pastels)
• Bona fide (”in good faith”) activist-in-residence Bill Grace: “You can either look good, or learn publicly.” “Form a relationship with someone suffering because of the way things are.”I will need clients and contracts soon.
