Last night saw the bringing together of three very interesting figures; Bia Saldahana, the eco entrepreneur behind the label Veja; Ed Siegle, a novelist who has recently brought out a book about Brazil called The Invisibles; and Lucy Siegle, the Observer journalist and all round eco fashion icon. The subject uniting them in conversation? Whether fashion can save the Amazon rainforest.
I have written about Veja before click here. In the early days of my blog I visited their showroom in Shoreditch and met Aurelie, who enthusiastically explained the process involved in making Veja shoes. I was absolutely captivated; their supply chain was unlike anything I had heard of before. So to hear Bia’s story first hand, how she has spent the past 20 years living in the heart of the Amazon pioneering a process of rubber production that both supports the rubber tappers and fights against deforestation – well, it was a privilege to say the least!
There were a number of points raised which seem worthy of sharing here. When I first received the invitation, I thought ‘well it sounds interesting, but why the rainforest?’ When I was growing up and first became aware of environmental concerns as a teenager, I remember there was an awful lot of attention paid to the rainforest. What happened? I almost did a double take of, ‘rainforest? oh yeah… rainforest.’ Perhaps I haven’t been digesting quite the volume of news that I should have been, but it definitely feels there has been an attention shift towards concerns such as climate change and carbon footprint. Ed mentioned that we have a very 2D image of the rainforest; that we know that we should care about it and do what we can to save it, but it’s such an abstract and distant concept to many Westerners (and it is a concept!) that we don’t understand the character of the rainforest. It has its own personality, through the communities who live there and the different ecosystems. Unfortunately I don’t think we can appreciate this unless we have spent time there (or perhaps read Ed’s book which I’m looking forward to getting stuck into!) As Lucy rightly pointed out, we can get riled about the state of the rainforest now, but in a week’s time it will virtually have gone from our minds. Unfortunately this is often the case with eco awareness (and I can’t deny I am guilty of selective memory and responsibility too).
Lucy went on to say that to her, the most important shift in awareness should be towards where our clothes come from. We have absolutely no idea who or what made our clothes. Worse still, neither do the fashion brands who sell them to us. Lucy said that we need to become more production-focused, so the designers go to the production and find out what they’re capable of, and then base the designs around that.
I instantly had an issue with this. As you are all aware, one of my bugbears of the ethical fashion industry is that I don’t feel the design is as good as it could be. That’s a sweeping generalization and not applicable to many designers, but when you look at the industry as a whole, I don’t think it competes with mainstream design. So I put this question to Lucy at the end: ‘You mentioned earlier about the need to become more production-focused and that design should be built upon the capability of the producer, but do you think that this limits the scope for contemporary design?’ Lucy said that she is not a designer so it is difficult to say. However, she does get approached by many mainstream designers who are extremely disillusioned because they feel they are designing for landfill. In addition, the restrictions in mainstream design are absolutely huge. It is quite a philosophical point, but yes, it does impose restrictions, however from her understanding of design that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Designers should embrace restriction as it encourages them to use their creativity to overcome it. At the end of the day we need to make a decision about whether we connect with our production or not. The trade off for doing so is that we couldn’t design in bulk any more. But who really wants to wear something that thousands upon thousands of other people are also wearing?!
Spot the eager beaver frantically scribbling notes at the back...
I was really grateful to Lucy for tackling my question so intelligently and eloquently. She is a very captivating speaker and in one hour had already reignited my enthusiasm for ethical fashion! I honestly have never thought of it from the perspective that designers need limitations. Of course they do. Having dabbled in design myself, the prospect of totally free reign is actually quite terrifying to the point of paralyzing. You need a theme to work with, or a challenge to overcome. And what better challenge than to be shown a limited way of producing garments, and then seeing in what ways you can make that contemporary, exciting and inspiring?
Phew, long post! My final mention goes to the girls who are the future face of ethical fashion. Increasingly I seem to magnetize people who are interested in ethical fashion and not sure where to start, or need someone to bounce ideas off. Initially it can be a lonely venture, but once you start meeting people it is such a welcoming industry and there is an incredible support network. So, here’s to Lucy Harvey at ethicalstylist.com, Ayesha Mustafa at Fashion ComPassion, Noel Azirar who is developing her ethical fashion business idea and Katrina Williams who is also in the initial stages of investigating ethical possibilities. They’re well worth a follow on Twitter – these ladies are (or will be) leading ethical fashion into the future!
All in all it was a brilliant evening and above all very inspirational. Sometimes I get tired of promoting ethical fashion; my passion for it seems to swing from a tidal surge to a tiny trickle. I think perhaps I now understand that as with any new venture, it is the people that make the experience. So here’s to more networking and meeting of like-minded people; and to the future of ethical fashion.
PS. If you made it this far I might* send you a prize!
*Might means probably won’t.
I have to be honest when I think about ethical fashion I don’t directly associate it with saving the Rainforest but there is so much about the fashion industry that is detached from it’s origins. Part of that is the attraction of fashion and often there is so much emotion and these days self-esteem issues being confident with what you wear for many is hard enough with out the thought of the ethics behind it.
On another point you raised, often not producing in bulk can allow for more design freedom but it does raise the cost. Which is the biggest restriction for the main-stream market to accept ethical fashion. The design seems to get compromised when the cost is factored in. (I have worked for high street fast fashion companies in the past and now currently creating limited edition jewellery in Fairtrade & Fairmined Ecological Gold)
Most people see someone in the media looking good in a certain outfit or trend and they feel confident to try the same look/outfit so they search for it on a budget. That is a huge part of what the high street caters for these days. The media plays the key role in influencing majority of todays shoppers, that until they truly get behind ethical fashion designers and promote them with the same strength and conviction as the do the others it sadly seems like it will take a long time before the public are really interested or believe that ethical fashion can be a natural part of their shopping habits.
Sorry for the rambling comment your blog left so much food for thought! Is brilliant to see people supporting ethical fashion!
Thanks a lot for coming to the event – and really glad to read you’re looking forward to getting stuck into my novel “Invisibles”. On that point I should perhaps clarify something: my novel isn’t set in or about the rainforest (though the next novel I’m writing will be). The connection with Bia’s work and the issues discussed is more thematic – relating to the way we render people or communities invisible. In Invisibles this is explored in an urban context, in Rio de Janeiro; the other night we were talking about the way communities in the Amazon are often ignored (we tend to think mainly of the trees). I really hope you’ll still want to get stuck into Invisibles – quite apart from the issues touched on, I hope it’s an enjoyable story – but I wouldn’t want you to launch in thinking you’ll find insight about the Amazon, because it isn’t there!
Ed – I’m so sorry! I know you talked about Rio de Janeiro, I think perhaps you might have covered that at the start before the mics were working properly – being tucked away at the back I must have missed it! I’m still very interested to read it, I think the parallel between invisible communities and our lack of knowledge of the origins of our clothes is quite pertinent. I very much enjoyed the evening and hope your book does well!
Parul – please don’t apologise for the rambling comment, it’s really interesting to get your views on the discussion. I very much agree with everything you have said. I often find my position on the subject a strange one because to me, there is no alternative – I can’t imagine the fashion industry continuing as it is. But then I look at the reality of the situation; the lack of responsibility, accountability and traceability; and I honestly do not know how things will change. I think the message going out to consumers needs to alter but also the industry needs to change from the inside out. It will take baby steps but I’m hoping in my lifetime I will witness a significant shift. Until then, onwards and upwards!
thanks for your thoughts – really interested & have been wondering about the idea of restrictions and also how we create change.
I think we have come to a cross roads and that despite it being 2011, we still need to beat mainstream fashion on its head. They are still seen to be normal and yet they create an industry that feeds on waste, bad working conditions & an unfair supply chain that feeds on the work of the people at the bottom of the chain. One thing we should be doing is starting to change our language. No more should we be saying that ethical fashion is working with restrictions when we are working the ones working “normally” & “conventionally”. Minimising waste, treating workers fairly and being aware of our environment is how we work here in the UK with our workers, why would our unions be striking without that fundamental feel for the rights of the workers.
Somehow we fight for our rights here in the west & then hop into Primark & forget all about rights & the dignity of working. We are all in this together (sorry i have no intention of quoting Osbourne!!) – we have all committed hari cari – but there is this great bunch of people (the ethical fashionistas) who are no longer happy to take a blind approach to life. I am not sure what the whole answer is, but changing the way we talk about how “mainstream” fashion behaves, is one small part and something this is free for everyone to do.
I think you’ve raised a very interesting point here. Having studied Linguistics at BA level and having read up quite a lot on NLP over the years, I definitely understand how language is a very powerful tool. I always refer to the dominant fashion industry as ‘mainstream’, because that’s where the largest amount of energy and money is directed. I will take a more considered approach to my language usage now! Perhaps it’s better to call mainstream fashion unethical? Without wanting to too heavily cast aspersions, my experience has been that unless a fashion label has ethical, Fairtrade and organic stamped all over it, there is a total lack of knowledge of supply chain and almost definitely some sort of abuse, be it pesticide poisoning or slave labour, somewhere along the line. If you’re ok with this Sam I might write a whole blog post on this actually (of course will give you a mention) – I think I have quite a lot to say!