Experimental Sustainable Practices
in Fashion Education
Shlagha Agarwal
Abstract
Sustainability is expanding and transforming the context
and practice of fashion education these days. The current
industrial fashion education paradigm is reaching its
end, and new patterns are emerging to address the
socio-economic, human and environmental concerns
related to the fashion industry. Valued at approximately
3000 billion (3 trillion) dollars by fashionunited.com, the
global fashion industry has seen exponential growth over
the last few years (https://fashionunited.com/globalfashion-industry-statistics. Retrieved 30th July 2018).
The next generation of designers, therefore, need to be
trained and prepared to face fashion industry challenges
and opportunities in the technologically advanced but
resource-constrained future. This paper explores the
application of garment construction sustainability concepts of zero-waste, upcycling and reconstruction in a
viable experimental project based on sustainable design
practices. The project involves the designing and execution of a collection by undergraduate fashion design
students at the College of Design at American University
in the Emirates in Dubai. The works are analyzed based
on design concept, material, process, and professional
sustainable practices. The research outcomes will be
used to shape and enhance future fashion design
projects/assignments based on best sustainable practices
and current fashion trends to promote sustainable design.
Keywords
Fashion education Á Fashion design Á Sustainability
1 Sustainability and the Fashion Industry
Fashion is a vibrant industry valued at USD 1.3 trillion,
employing hundreds of millions, and touching almost every
human life (https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/
news/industry-leaders-join-forces-to-make-fashion-circular).
In the past few decades, clothing has been made to seem
“disposable” in a way it never used to be. This “fast fashion”
phenomenon combined with the higher disposable income of
the rising middle class has led to doubling of production
from 2000 to 2014, and the number of garments produced
exceeding 100 billion by 2014. According to a Greenpeace
report, compared to 15 years ago, an average person buys
60% more items of clothing every year and keeps them for
about only half as long, producing immense volumes of
textile waste thrown out with household waste that ends up
in landfills or incinerators, causing massive negative environmental impact (Greenpeace Germany research. Timeout
for fast fashion. 6c356f9a-fact-sheet-timeout-for-fastfashion. Retrieved 16th August 2018). As cited by Crabb
and mentioned in the Living Planet report by WWF (2014),
we require about 1.5 earths to sustain the current global
consumption levels.
The entire fashion system has thus been readily accepted
as “unsustainable” and a heavy burden on the environment
(Fletcher and Grose 2012). For this study, an examination of
the meaning of sustainability is, therefore, necessary. As
cited by Evans and defined by Gro Harlem Brundtland in the
1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and
Development, “sustainable development is development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
(Brundtland 1987; Evans 2011). Based on the same report,
Muthu elaborates on the definition of a sustainable textile
product as one “that is created, produced, transported, used,
and disposed of with the due consideration to environmental
impacts, social aspects, and economic implications, thereby
satisfying all three pillars of sustainability” (Muthu 2014).
S. Agarwal (&)
American University in the Emirates,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
e-mail: shlagha.agarwal@aue.ae
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. Mateev and J. Nightingale (eds.), Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility—Volume 1,
Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32922-8_8
95
in Fashion Education
Shlagha Agarwal
Abstract
Sustainability is expanding and transforming the context
and practice of fashion education these days. The current
industrial fashion education paradigm is reaching its
end, and new patterns are emerging to address the
socio-economic, human and environmental concerns
related to the fashion industry. Valued at approximately
3000 billion (3 trillion) dollars by fashionunited.com, the
global fashion industry has seen exponential growth over
the last few years (https://fashionunited.com/globalfashion-industry-statistics. Retrieved 30th July 2018).
The next generation of designers, therefore, need to be
trained and prepared to face fashion industry challenges
and opportunities in the technologically advanced but
resource-constrained future. This paper explores the
application of garment construction sustainability concepts of zero-waste, upcycling and reconstruction in a
viable experimental project based on sustainable design
practices. The project involves the designing and execution of a collection by undergraduate fashion design
students at the College of Design at American University
in the Emirates in Dubai. The works are analyzed based
on design concept, material, process, and professional
sustainable practices. The research outcomes will be
used to shape and enhance future fashion design
projects/assignments based on best sustainable practices
and current fashion trends to promote sustainable design.
Keywords
Fashion education Á Fashion design Á Sustainability
1 Sustainability and the Fashion Industry
Fashion is a vibrant industry valued at USD 1.3 trillion,
employing hundreds of millions, and touching almost every
human life (https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/
news/industry-leaders-join-forces-to-make-fashion-circular).
In the past few decades, clothing has been made to seem
“disposable” in a way it never used to be. This “fast fashion”
phenomenon combined with the higher disposable income of
the rising middle class has led to doubling of production
from 2000 to 2014, and the number of garments produced
exceeding 100 billion by 2014. According to a Greenpeace
report, compared to 15 years ago, an average person buys
60% more items of clothing every year and keeps them for
about only half as long, producing immense volumes of
textile waste thrown out with household waste that ends up
in landfills or incinerators, causing massive negative environmental impact (Greenpeace Germany research. Timeout
for fast fashion. 6c356f9a-fact-sheet-timeout-for-fastfashion. Retrieved 16th August 2018). As cited by Crabb
and mentioned in the Living Planet report by WWF (2014),
we require about 1.5 earths to sustain the current global
consumption levels.
The entire fashion system has thus been readily accepted
as “unsustainable” and a heavy burden on the environment
(Fletcher and Grose 2012). For this study, an examination of
the meaning of sustainability is, therefore, necessary. As
cited by Evans and defined by Gro Harlem Brundtland in the
1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and
Development, “sustainable development is development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
(Brundtland 1987; Evans 2011). Based on the same report,
Muthu elaborates on the definition of a sustainable textile
product as one “that is created, produced, transported, used,
and disposed of with the due consideration to environmental
impacts, social aspects, and economic implications, thereby
satisfying all three pillars of sustainability” (Muthu 2014).
S. Agarwal (&)
American University in the Emirates,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
e-mail: shlagha.agarwal@aue.ae
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. Mateev and J. Nightingale (eds.), Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility—Volume 1,
Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32922-8_8
95