Posts Tagged ‘sustainable fashion’
As I have mentioned a few times here, one of my WIPs is a mystery (draft written during 2014 NaNoWriMo), and sustainable fashion plays a prominent role in it. Researching sustainable fashion (also called eco-fashion) has made a deep impact on my consumer sensibilities.
Over the past several years, I’ve been more mindful of the clothing and footwear choices I am making.
One of my constant dilemmas in trying to be more conscious about fashion and waste has been thinking about shoes and how to keep them viable over a long time.
Shoe waste is as much of a problem as garments that are disposed of after being worn just a few times. Shoes often end up in landfills and have many chemicals in them from the shoe manufacturing process that can last in a landfill for hundreds of years.
I’m the type of person that when I love a pair of shoes, I really LOVE them and will wear them as long as I can and get them fixed over and over again.
Although I have been reading a ton about how to “upcycle” clothes, I have yet to try any major design projects. I have been wanting to start somewhere. I’m curious about modifying clothes not just for myself, but also so that I might incorporate insights into the novel.
These ballet flats are ones that I love, but you can see that the glittery surface has eroded. There’s nothing that my cobbler could do for these shoes (maybe if I lived in a bigger city, I’d have more options). I thought these would make a perfect upcycling project.
I am not a crafty person mind you, so I had a bit of trepidation about this project. Still, I was determined to try. I took a trip to a local craft store, talked to one of the very helpful cashiers and got busy.
I bought three items: blue glitter, an adhesive and a glitter sealer. This cost about $20.
First comes the masking of the shoes.
Then I assembled my items.
I proceeded with care. Here they are after I added the glitter. I think I did a good job of choosing a close approximation of the kind of glitter that was on the original. And, I like how this deep royal blue color pops.
Glitter really does get everywhere! Next time I will use even more paper under the shoes.
And, here is the the final product! They are pretty sparkly. I’m excited to wear these shoes.
I took them with me on my cruise, but didn’t get a chance to wear them.
My sense of accomplishment is pretty high. And, I’m glad that these shoes didn’t end up in a landfill. And, the best thing is that if the glitter wears off (which it will in time), I can just repeat this process. Not bad for a $20 investment. Not quite sure how I will use this knowledge in my WIP right this moment, but I am tucking it away for when I can pop it in.
Interested in learning more about recycling your shoes instead of just throwing them away? Check out this link
Like most writers, I love research. And, like most writers, research can send me down endless rabbit holes. For my novella, Reenu-You, I spent years researching viruses. Of course, only a sliver of our research ever ends up in the actual story. This means we have to make wise decisions about how much to research before writing (or while writing). Still, it is so much fun to deeply explore a subject and find details that will create emotional truths in our characters, or enliven our setting.
One of my early creative loves was fashion design. I can still recall spending hours sketching out designs and showing them to my mother when I was about eight years old. Living in NYC, it was easy to fall in love with fashion, as it is one of the driving industries and a style capital. My mother was incredibly savvy about clothes and my early interest in designing was often a desire to understand her aesthetic tastes. As I got older, I remember talking myself out of pursuing fashion design. I didn’t know anyone who was a designer, so it didn’t seem like a real career, just a glamorous dream. My inner critic told me that I didn’t sew very well and that I was horrible at measuring things. Yup, I already had an active inner critic as a pre-teen!
Anyway, our true loves have a way of sneaking into our stories. For example, Constancia, one of the two main characters in Reenu-You is passionate about fashion and is about to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology, for accessories design.
In 2014, I did NaNoWriMo for the first time and completed a draft of a novel where ‘eco-fashion’ plays an important role. I absolutely love this story and have been researching sustainable fashion or eco-fashion for some time.
Before doing research, I had heard of the downsides of “fast” or highly disposable fashion, but I now know SO much more. I love fashion and also want to be a responsible consumer.
Did you know that most of our clothes eventually end up in a landfill?
Approximately, 85% of the clothing we discard in the US is sent to landfills and incinerators.
And, no giving to thrift stores doesn’t solve the problem—most of what is donated is never used and also goes into the landfill: https://daily.jstor.org/fast-fashion-fills-our-landfills/
The fashion industry has historically employed some horrendously unequal labor practices; ones that often significantly impact women workers globally. It also contributes to environmental degradation.
The fashion industry is complex and there are lots of challenges associated with reform.
But, there are also lots of opportunities for change. That is good news and involves consumer advocacy, changes in corporate practices and also the rise of designers interested in sustainable practices.
Although, I’ve read a number of books and articles, on this subject, I hadn’t talked to anyone in the design world.
So, I was thrilled that during the weekend, I was able to attend a wonderful event hosted by the Abundance Foundation called Think Again: Fashion, Farming, Fiber! This event was designed to ask local and global questions about the fashion industry and sustainability. I got to hear from experts about how technology is changing how cotton is grown (to eliminate the need to dye it), and the rise of industrial hemp being grown in North Carolina. I also got to talk to a few designers about the way they use upcycled, recycled and local materials.
The evening fashion show on Saturday was spectacular and showcased a half dozen designers, in N.C., that specialize in eco-fashion!
The model in the video is wearing an outfit made entirely from post-consumer “waste”.
It was a great community event with lots of local kids participating. The models were a range of body types, ages and gender expressions, too.
I think the key to not letting research hijack your writing is to give it a time limit and also to keep writing. This event gave me a boost to keep pushing forward in the novel. Once I get through this draft, I can go back and layer what I’ve learned into subsequent drafts. No more research until this draft is completed.
How do you manage the research process for your writing projects?
The Practice of Creativity 