Blog 1 – Reflection on sustainability

All the lectures that I attended made me think about what we should take action right now for establishing better lives as a fashion student, individual and entire. We are now living in this excessively developed society, which means there are full of choices in terms of diversity, social responsibility and sustainability. In this life, it has a positive aspect when it comes to the convenience of buying clothes or necessities. However, also we should be constantly aware of that our actions might contribute to creating contaminated future somehow because of each decision we are making that is invisible in our daily life. One thing that I regarded through the lectures is that considered how companies reveal the process from the origin toward us is vital. The speech presented by Julia Crew was deeply affected by my consideration of sustainability. She introduced us sustainability with clarifying “power” that we are surrounded by, which are a power of fashion, media and consumer etc. As a fashion student, I have concerned about amount of wasted clothing annually (as Julia stated that “will it be in the region around 100 billion garments that are produced annually that figure is set to increased by 60% by 2030 and is that total is estimated that up to 75% of those clothes are going or be end up throwing away in landfill or be incinerated”); however, the action that we have to take was obscure before I took this lecture. 

Within the presentation, the power of media made me look at sustainability different perspective I have ever had. Utilizing SNS, especially nowadays, Instagram and Facebook have been influencing enormously. The power of these have been making impacts on the fashion industry as well, and that is what we need to take into account severely when purchasing garments. As a result, we are continually buying garments impulsively just for our desire and satisfaction. Including myself, it is demanded to consider sustainability in the long run. Nevertheless, it is vague which brand we should encourage in terms of sustainability even though there are options such as a second-hand or vintage store. 

For instance, the brand called “Reformation”, which is shown customers with a tag as well as a description on their online store that how much environmental load was required to make the garments they sell (CO2 and garbage emissions etc.). Additionally, they have been making clothes with sustainable materials. This movement is much more accurate to understand customers what action we made after purchasing and displayed the significance of supporting the brand. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizen can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” by Margaret Mead. This quote was introduced in her lecture and made me contemplated the action that we should convert. Taking advantage of consumer powers and supporting that kind of brand leads to create better society gradually. I want to educate myself furthermore with researching an eco-friendly company and considering the origin.