The Sustainable Fashion Paradox Solved? How Bio-design can answer the environmental and sustainability issues of the 21st century fashion industry

Studies have shown that the emergence of environmental activism and awareness came largely with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, first published in 1962. However, fashion has been late to follow this trend with some estimates unbelievably placing the emergence of sustainably aware fashion as recently as 2010. As such, the fashion industry is still responsible for a large proportion of global pollution at almost every stage of garment existence, from production through to disposal. Petrochemicals, toxic chemical dyes and energy intensive recycling are just the start. Current efforts of the fashion industry to become sustainable aim only to make the system ‘less bad’ with initiatives focusing often on one aspect of the process, for example with fair trade, rather than looking at the whole. What may be obtained fairly will most likely meet the same end as that which was obtained ‘unfairly’ be that in landfill or perhaps sent abroad for alternative use. I will argue that this is the...Show moreStudies have shown that the emergence of environmental activism and awareness came largely with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, first published in 1962. However, fashion has been late to follow this trend with some estimates unbelievably placing the emergence of sustainably aware fashion as recently as 2010. As such, the fashion industry is still responsible for a large proportion of global pollution at almost every stage of garment existence, from production through to disposal. Petrochemicals, toxic chemical dyes and energy intensive recycling are just the start. Current efforts of the fashion industry to become sustainable aim only to make the system ‘less bad’ with initiatives focusing often on one aspect of the process, for example with fair trade, rather than looking at the whole. What may be obtained fairly will most likely meet the same end as that which was obtained ‘unfairly’ be that in landfill or perhaps sent abroad for alternative use. I will argue that this is the reason for a total overhaul of the current fashion industry processes. This thesis aims to illustrate that bio-design is the only viable option to replace this unsustainable fashion system. The use of living materials in bio-design allows for a cyclical design process in which nothing is taken from nature that cannot be given back. The Tissue Culture & Art Project and Suzanne Lee use bio-design in the production of new materials, whilst Natsai Audrey Chieza and Blond & Bieber create bio-designed garment dyes. Bio-design includes a wide array of processes including biomimicry and synthetic biology and so these cases have been chosen to show as many facets of this as possible in order to demonstrate the huge potential of the field for creating sustainable fashion.Show less

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The Sustainable Fashion Paradox Solved? How Bio-design can answer the environmental and sustainability issues of the 21st century fashion industry