The Sustainable Fashion Design Guide - A handbook for sustainable choices in the design phase.
The guide helps designers to develop a basic understanding of sustainability in the textile industry and to translate this knowledge into products or systems. The key points are raising awareness of sustainability, one's own responsibility as a designer, interdisciplinary communication and collaboration among all stakeholders in the supply chain, substantive education on the sustainability of materials and processes, circulardesign strategies, and the creation of holistically conceived concepts.
Local
Germany
{Empty}
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
No
As an individual
First name: Sarah Last name: Lehleiter Gender: Female Nationality: Germany Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Nikolaus-Groß-Straße 7 Town: Cologne Postal code: 50670 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+4917631629449 E-mail:sarahlehleiter@gmx.de Website:http://sarahlehleiter.de
Designing sustainable apparel, i.e. making holistic sustainable decisions during the design process, is not always easy due to the complexity of the supply chains. Based on the assumption that already 80% of the decisions made during the design phase determine the sustainability of a product, we as designers have a special responsibility, which so far has often been largely neglected. Therefore, there is a need for an updated and comprehensive overview of the field of "sustainability in the textile industry" from a designer's point of view with concrete options for designers to take sustainable action.
The Sustainable Fashion Design Guide resulted from my final thesis in the Masters Programme Sustainable Design MA at the Ecosign Academy in Cologne. The guide helps designers to develop a basic understanding of sustainability in the textile industry and to translate this knowledge into products or systems in their everyday design work. The structure of this guide is based on the individual life cycle phases of clothing and assigns the various sustainability strategies in fashion design to the respective phases. The guide offers an educational knowledge section in each chapter, which concludes with applicable tools. Sustainability tools and workshops have been specially adapted to the field of fashion design.
In order to facilitate life cycle thinking in everyday design and to have the developed options for action from the tools at hand, the wind wheel diagram was conceived in addition to the guide. The diagram consists of eight pages, on the inside of which the developed options for action can be entered. These are folded individually and folded together to form a circle. By attaching it to a rotating module on the wall, chapters can be viewed and further processed.
raising awareness of the importance of the change
Designer's responsibility
holistically conceived circular fashion design
collaboration
interdisciplinary communication
The goal of the initiative is to provide fashion designers with better education and applicable tools to incorporate sustainability into the creation of a product or system from the beginning. It also aims to increase understanding of the processes and stakeholders along the supply chains and to create an exchange at eye level. The role of a designer changes from an abstract creator who is alienated from the individual processes in the supply chain to a link where all information comes together, to give the ability to create the best sustainable design possible. Each stakeholder brings in his expert knowledge and important information at the right time through better exchange.
The educational knowledge section in each chapter creates awareness of the urge of sustainability in the textile industry. The corresponding tool of the chapter then helps to implement what has been learned in the designer's everyday design work. In order to keep track of all the chapters and the associated changes, the Sustainable Wheel Tool, which is used as a physical tool in the office, helps.
One example is the chapter "Sustainable Creative Direction": First the reader gets educated about the 17 SDG's and why they are necessary. The Tool of the chapter supports to center one or more Sustainable Development Goals in the creation process of a new collection or system with a sustainable guiding principle. The guide consists of the 8 chapters Interdisciplinary Design& Communication, The SDGs, Holistic Conception, Product Design, Raw Materials, from Fiber to Textile Surfaces, Confection, User Phase: Longevity, User Phase: Sustainable Care and Post Use.
The Guide can be used both digital and analog (reduced print version). The guide is divided into an introductory section and ten chapters, which present two general contents and eight lifecycle-oriented knowledge blocks. The unique perceived benefit of the guide is not only that various information and tools are associated with the individual lifecycle phases, but also that this division has been implemented in terms of design. By visualizing the supply chain in a circular diagram, which is also the division of the chapters in the guide, it is easier for the designer to keep track of the complexity of the supply chain. On top, the windmill tool works like a physical To Do list that also shimmies along each Life Cale station. Especially when it comes to keeping track of changes at one point in the supply chain with possible rebound effects down the road. The clear and reduced Design of the guide through repeating elements such as page structure and symbols and the reduction on three colours helps to focus on the content.
Since the guide is digitally accessible, it can be used anywhere in the world on any digital device.
Furthermore, the guide promotes an interdisciplinary exchange at eye level along the entire supply chain and tries to counteract the often prevailing inequality in the textile supply chain by paying more attention to the role of each individual stakeholder. As in order to be able to create a sustainable design, the expert knowledge of all is of great importance.
Through sustainable choices in the design process, both social and environmental improvements can be made in all life cycle phases of apparel. the guide helps to achieve the following sustainability goals: Innovation and infrastructure, Responsible Consumption, Reduced Inequalities and furthermore Clean Water and Sanitation, Life on Land and under Water as well as Climate Action.
As an example: In the wet processes, chemical and wastewater management can protect the ecosystem, workers and neighboring communities, and saves energy. Through the conscious choice of sustainable dyeing techniques or the renunciation of certain finishes, the designer can have an influence here.
At that time, the guide was created as part of my Master's thesis at the Ecosign Academy in Cologne. Due to the short time span of 3 months, it was only possible for me to work with the help of the scientific analytical method and my expert knowledge from 7 years of professional experience as a Designer in the Textile Industry. The guide forms a good sketchy basis on which the testing with companies can be done.
Life Cycle Thinking
System Design
In the textile industry, individual highlight collections are very often designed from ocean plastic or reclaimed cotton and already marketed as sustainable. Supposedly sustainable strategies currently often do not have a holistic approach. The Sustainable Fashion Design Guide provides an overview of all areas and lets you understand sustainability strategies and their scope in the supply chain through visualization. It is often neglected to consider what impact these design decisions have on other areas of the supply chain and whether materials can be recycled beyond the use phase.
It is also worthwhile for apparel manufacturers to take a step back and move from the product level to a service level, where new materials do not necessarily have to be used to generate profit. With support of the Sustainable Fashion Design Guide, Designers can not just design new product but create new ways of working together to aim more sustainable product or systems.
Starting the guide with general education about planetary boundaries and sinks and the problems we are facing, the educational part should be part of general education.
The windmill is the perfect tool for visualizing circular value chains and linking them to the corresponding work orders.
The creation of a design concept based on the SDGs and the associated design phase can be applied to any product or system, as well as the interdisciplinary exchange and workshop to any type of team to improve the communication.
The guide is divided into an introductory section and ten chapters, which present two general contents and eight lifecycle-oriented knowledge blocks. The key points here are raising awareness of sustainability, one's own responsibility as a designer, interdisciplinary communication and collaboration among all stakeholders along the supply chain, substantive education on the sustainability of materials and processes, sustainable design strategies (linear and circular), and the creation of holistically conceived design concepts.
The need to transform the global textile industry into a sustainable one is widely recognized, as it is one of the dirtiest and most anti-human rights industries in the world. The textile supply chains stretch across the globe in a complex web, a fact that doesn't simplify the task, but makes it even more significant as transforming the textile industry can improve the lives of many millions of people. From cotton farmers to the illegal garment dumps in the Global South. The beginning of the global supply chain lies with the designer, who gets the whole process rolling. The power relations along the textile value chain have a strong gradient. It is time for European companies to become even more aware of their responsibility in the world and to educate their employees to be responsible participants of the industry.
In the following year, it is planned to test the guide together with one or more companies in the textile industry and improve the tools for their applicability. The informal part will be more closely aligned with the knowledge of the employed Designers and expanded to bridge the knowledge gap. The goal is for improve the guide to become an applicable tool in everyday design work and to offer designers tangible opportunities to help shape the transformation to a circular textile industry. The Guide can become a source of basic knowledge of sustainability for Fashion Design Students as well as a workshop for employed designers.
To achieve the European Green Deal and the textile strategy , we need better educated designers to help creating a textile industry with social, ecological and economical sustainability.
