Social Responsibility: Themes Reflection
Following the series of lectures at the beginning of the unit, my knowledge and practice has been greatly informed on a number of issues surrounding the current climate of the fashion industry. Notably, the impact of human consumption on the environment. The Better Lives project has brought my attention to the problems which are becoming increasingly important and has helped me understand ways I can work to find solutions within my practice.
The concept of sustainability within the industry is an extremely current and prominent one, with a large number of brands aiming to provide products which promote this message. We can see the concept of sustainability spreading through brands from high fashion labels to the high street with big names such as Stella McCartney and H&M showing their engagement in the fight against the ecological crisis of fast fashion. Steps taken by a number of designers and enterprises from around the world to support the sustainability cause has been a great inspiration to me and many others, especially highlighted in certain Better Lives lectures. Within Kate Fletchers lecture on Nature, she insists that “it’s incumbent on all of us to find what we can to join the world and to take responsibility for the lives that we lead and for those of others”, a statement that is definitely worth mentioning given that we as practitioners will soon be immersed within the industry and need to take responsibility ourselves for the decisions we make.
As a costume student, in the future it will be important for me to make conscious decisions when buying materials and choosing how I use them. It is widely understood that fabric waste has become a large problem within the industry with a huge proportion of textiles ending up in landfill. Many of these fabrics will be made up of synthetic fibres which during production will run into rivers therefore enhancing pollution and damaging precious ecosystems. In an ever-growing and developing industry, we need to recognise the need for ethical practice in order to combat the issue from within the industry. For me, I will aim to source responsible fabrics and will focus on not wasting fabric through effective pattern laying. The concept of sustaining the environment also applies to the cosmetics industry with Borunda (2019) stating that this $500 billion dollar personal care industry relies on plastic for packaging needs. As I am on the Makeup Breakdown course for Better Lives, this is an idea I will consider more closely in the future with regards to the products I buy and whether they have been manufactured ethically or not. I believe these ideas I have put forward can be easily be applied to a lot of different lifestyles so that everyone can contribute to ending the crisis of consumption and sustainability and understand the need for social responsibility.
References
Fletcher, K. (2020) ‘ Nature’ [Lecture]. Better Lives, London College of Fashion, 12 February
Borunda, A. (2019) The beauty industry generates a lot of plastic waste. Can it change? Available at : https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/beauty-personal-care-industry-plastic/ (Accessed 15 April 2020)