The Fashion Kitchen: a space for collective fashion production and consumption
The Fashion Kitchen is a non-commercial do-it-yourself workshop for anyone looking to repair, find or make clothing with a focus on reuse, participation and collective making. The initiative invites local participants and fashion consumers to engage in skill-sharing and upcycling of discarded textiles and clothing. Together we learn about garment origins, craft and reevaluate our relationship to the making of things.
Local
Sweden
Gothenburg, Västra Götaland
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As an individual
First name: Linus Last name: Holm Gender: Male Nationality: Sweden Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Västra Andersgårdsgatan 4 Town: Gothenburg Postal code: 41710 Country: Sweden Direct Tel:+46 73 773 93 88 E-mail:linusolaholm@gmail.com
URL:https://www.instagram.com/wowneatcaps/ Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): @wowneatcaps #upcycling #localisthenewblack #caps #handmade @linusolaholm
The Fashion Kitchen is a non-commercial do-it-yourself workshop for anyone looking to repair, find or make clothing with a focus on reuse, participation and collective making. The initiative invites local participants and fashion consumers to engage in skill-sharing and upcycling of discarded textiles and clothing. Together we learn about garment origins, craft and reevaluate our relationship to the making of things.
Our current standard model of production for fashion garments and accessories is unsustainable and unethical. What if ethics and joy was considered more important than monetary gain? By engaging in upcycling and craft-based workshops with local fashion consumers and marginalized groups who might otherwise not have access to fast-fashion, together we explore what change in the individual consumer mindset might look like, but also systemic change for a sustainable production of fashion.
Upcycling
Community
Skill-sharing
Craft
Fun
The Fashion Kitchen aims to create a space solely meant for the free distribution and upcycling of clothing. By offering free access to materials and means of production, in this case donated clothing, sewing machines and thread. The fun, free, creative expression of fashion becomes accessible to all who seek it, not just to those who have the money for it.
The initiative aims to reach conclusions pointing towards realistic and applicable changes in contemporary fashion production, yielding suggestions of how the industry as a whole might transition towards a more ethical and joyful making of fashion garments and accessories. By engaging in craft with discarded fashion items, and speculating on ethical fashion production chains, together workshop participants will discuss issues in the industry today and possible solutions in the personal consumers mindset, as well as holistic change towards ethical working conditions.
When the fast fashion industry designs clothes, the main point is to create as much profit as possible. By approaching fashion with that mindset it is easy to fall into a pattern of creating homogeneous clothing that suits the widest possible audience, clothing that does not offend or excite anyone. When the design process is put in the hands of the wearer, or creatives who are not primarily motivated by profit, focus can instead be shifted towards aesthetic expression and individualism.
Clothing is a human right, and I would argue that creative expression is a human right by extension. By creating a free option for people to acquire clothing that speaks to them, the extreme divide in modern fashion between those that can afford and those who can not would be blurred. Clothing is our primary tool for communicating outwards how we feel inwards, what cultural group we align ourselves with and what we want people to think about us upon first glance. Having access to fashion that fits our image of ourselves shapes how we feel about ourselves, and thus how others perceive us.
Taking control of how our clothes are made makes for more informed production, but also more creative fashion choices. A diverse environment feeds itself and creates more diversity.
The Fashion Kitchen refers to and builds on the previously established guidelines of inclusion of The bicycle kitchen. Which is a globally spread out non profit organization offering free bicycle repairs under the condition that you fix it yourself. At the bicycle kitchen you are given a free, previously used and donated or rescued bicycle to fix and ride. Visitors are offered a full workshop to use freely on opening hours, along with trained instructors present to answer any questions and teach visitors how to fix a bicycle.
Using the bicycle kitchen as a blueprint and moving forward with equal values and framework for inclusion would yield a creative environment open to any visitor seeking to wear donated clothing or upcycle and repair garments, as well as encourage a culture of mutual education and the sharing of knowledge.
The Fashion Kitchen is an open Do-It-Yourself workshop for everyone who needs to fix, upcycle or find clothing. The ambition is to prolong the lifecycle of garments and promote ethical consumption as well as craft knowledge and skill, while providing a social meeting place for fashion interested people of all ages. The workshop space is open on a regular basis and also offer courses and events.
Public education and communal learning is a crucial part of the activities. Anyone, regardless of their level of knowledge, is welcome to participate and to get involved. The Fashion Kitchen also operates as a recycling center for discarded clothing in conjunction with local sorting facilities.
The local second-hand clothing chain Björkå Frihet accepts donations of clothing. The donations end up at their sorting facility, where some of the garments end up in their stores, but most donations are either shipped away to be shredded for insulation, or thrown away as trash. In cooperation with Björkå Frihet, some of the more wearable or finer textiles can be saved and reused.
The Gothenburg municipality has a history of providing space and aid for non-profit initiatives such as the bicycle kitchen, endorsing the creation and continuation of spaces for meetings and education.
Studiefrämjandet is a nationwide organization with a big network of study-circles in Sweden. They offer help and resources for thousands of study-circles and provide measurable data on participant activity, progress and results, while offering guidance when needed.
SPOK is a production platform that aims to gather and spread knowledge about local manufacturing possibilities ranging from handicrafts to industries. SPOK aims to promote the development of local production in Sweden and in the long term also more local consumption. I’m interested in initiating a dialogue and collaboration with SPOK and local maker-spaces like Frilagret and Cykelköket, as well as local makers, friends and small-scale garment producers like A-industri who describe themselves as “a factory for physical and digital garment production”.
Cykelköket (the bicycle kitchen) has become a world-wide phenomenon, offering free or affordable repair and education in hundreds of locations and workshops. Collaborating and learning from organizers of the bicycle kitchen could prove essential for the longevity of this initiative. One local founder, Ian Fiddies, is a friend, chairman of the Swedish national cycling advocacy organisation and co-author of "How to start a bicycle kitchen: a guide". His input would help make the Fashion Kitchen an inclusive space focused on education and aid.
The initiative can be considered a critical design reaction to an industry riddled with unfair working conditions, pollution, exclusivity and slavery.
An early inspiration was Otto Von Busch's 2008 PHD work, Fashion-able, Hacktivism and Engaged Fashion Design. In his book, Busch describes an approach to collective fashion-hacking where participants make and alter existing garments by means of craft, with the purpose of prolonging lifetimes of garments and shifting control of fashion production back to the consumer.
“The goal of the upcycle is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world with clean air, water, soil, and power - economically, equitably, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed.” - Mcdonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2013) In this quote Mcdonough and Braungart paint an idyllic picture of what upcycling could mean for the world. By extension, this quote implies that our current system of production and consumption creates the opposite of this vision.
By implementing more upcycling of already existing clothing we could offset some of the extreme pressure put on textile workers to produce more and more clothing in less time, hopefully creating safer and more ethical working conditions.
Upcycling does not have a well established part of mainstream fashion consumption today. The Fashion Kitchen advocates for making upcycling a bigger part of how we consume fashion by creating a space especially for it. A library provides free access to knowledge and community to any who seek it. I believe we need more spaces like the library, that could offer activities and resources for free. For example; a space solely meant for the free distribution and upcycling of clothing. By offering free access to materials and means of production, in this case donated clothing, sewing machines and thread. The fun, free, creative expression of fashion becomes accessible to all who seek it, not just to those who have the money for it. This would have positive repercussions for diversity and artistic expression in fashion. When the fast fashion industry designs clothes, the main point is to create as much profit as possible. It is then difficult to avoid falling into a pattern of creating homogeneous clothing that suits the widest possible audience, clothing that does not offend or excite anyone. When the design process is put in the hands of the wearer, or creatives who are not primarily motivated by profit, focus can instead be shifted towards aesthetic expression and individualism.
The second-hand organizations Björkåfrihet and Myrorna have donations-centers and sorting facilities in a combined 15 cities in Sweden. The Fashion Kitchen initiative could easily be replicated anywhere there is access to donated garments and textiles, as well as willing volunteers and organizers. Using "How to start a bicycle kitchen: a guide" a similar tool and set of instructions could be formulated and shared online as a free resource, eventually leading to meeting-spaces for upcycling and garment repair to open in many cities.
The Fashion Kitchen offers education through communal learning, instruction by trained volunteers and organized courses. Participants will be honing their skills and confidence in reusing and altering clothing, as well as creating their own garments.
Craft is a central approach in the Fashion Kitchen. Sewing, altering and repairing are the three main focuses. By learning about garment construction and alteration, participants gain increased self-reliance in maintaining their wardrobe, prolonging the life of their garments and decreasing dependence on fast-fashion spending.
Volunteers make up most of the on-location staff, available to provide instruction and education on craft and repair, textile identification and sewing. Volunteers are offered courses on sewing and crafts to incentivize an atmosphere of knowledge sharing and education.
The Fashion Kitchen is a place for community building where anyone can come to meet others interested in fashion and craft. Having a free space to meet members of your community and socialize, craft together and skill-share provides an essential hub for those seeking to meet people without the implication of needing to spend money.
The UN’s 12th sustainable development goal reads; Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. The Fashion Kitchen engages in the discourse surrounding the UN goal and aims to nurture and inspire a transition to increased alternative and responsible fashion production and consumption. “Sustainable consumption and production is about doing more and better with less. It is also about decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, increasing resource efficiency and promoting sustainable lifestyles.” (UN, 2016)
In a recent exposé by Channel 4 UK about the working conditions in the factories of the world’s largest fast fashion brand, Shein, we learnt of harmful working conditions and 18 hour work days with little to no pay. (Channel Four Television Corporation 2022)
Offsetting some of the extreme focus and pressure on the fast-fashion industry towards sustainable fashion consumption and prolonging the lifecycle of garments would have long lasting positive effects towards reducing harmful working conditions, pollution and the global environmental impact of the fashion industry.
Creating a center for the free upcycling of garments and the sharing of knowledge about sustainable lifestyle choices, in regards to fashion consumption and production, affects the local culture of how fashion is consumed. The Fashion Kitchen thus contributes to the UN's 11th sustainable development goal; Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. By offering a center open for anyone and providing skill-sharing and communal learning, social meetings and free clothing and access to sewing machines.
“I think the great potential is to look differently on the interface between design and production. This can open new action spaces for design with more participation and deeper engagement and thus rethink parts of how we perceive mass-production.” (Busch, O. V. (26 March 2007). Interview with Otto Von Busch. We make money not art.)
The Fashion Kitchen has been tested and realized in small scale so far. A few singular workshop events have been performed where participants made bags and other fashion accessories with pre-gathered discarded textiles and unexpected trash such as bubble wrap, tarps and climbing equipment. The workshops have been performed both in experimental, free-form conditions but also in academic and planned contexts. The workshops have been our way of testing and feeling our way towards an approach that fits participants needs and has revealed requirements and conditions for a successful workshop and inclusive space. The found requirements involve; opening hours must exceed 2 hours per occasion, at least 4 sewing machines present, preferably one serger sewing machine, Sort textiles by material, quality and color, amongst other findings.
Development plan:
1. Engaging people
Finding more people willing to engage in the Fashion Kitchen is essential for the early development and engagement of the initiative. Volunteers would ideally be willing to spend time in the Fashion Kitchen each week and have prior knowledge or interest in fashion and sewing. Creating a strong social space with shared values is important for retaining volunteers.
2. space
Locating a widely accessible, unused space where sewing workshops can be set up and textiles be stored would establish the Fashion Kitchen as a more permanent presence in Gothenburg and open up possibilities for regular opening hours.
3. collaboration partners
Identifying additional collaboration partners as well as maintaining a relationship with local second hand sorting facilitates will enable continued operation and progress. Collaboration with local actants could yield access to a space, acquisition of materials and knowledge on upcycling and craft.
One of the goals of the Fashion Kitchen is to educate people enough for them to potentially become experts in the field of sustainable fashion production and crafts.
The initiative creates a space for people to gather, organize and learn together in order to enrich their own lives and solve societal issues. Craft-knowledge and tradition is passed on and shared to both passionate makers, but also to newcomers to sewing and fashion, enabling projects and making that would not have been possible without a shared learning context.
