Sustainable Fashion: A Handbook for Educators

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sustaInaBlE FashIon : a handBooK For Educators

1970s-1980s: relocation of Mass Production to the Far
East and other Developing Countries
Notes for educators: Businesses began moving their
production in search of cheaper labour. This was the
beginning of the post-Ford era.

1971: Friends of the Earth Founded
Notes for educators: There was a growing awareness
amongst some sections of society that the excesses
of consumer society were having a negative impact on
the planet.

1980s: Thatcherism
Notes for educators: The British prime minister Margaret
Thatcher championed liberalisation of the economy
and less state intervention. She believed that individual
consumers could make decisions about their own needs
rather than the state providing for their needs.

1987: Brundtland Commission report
Notes for educators: It was within this report that the
term sustainable development was first coined. Awareness
started to grow that the capitalist system as it currently
operates is unsustainable.

1989: Collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Demise of the
Soviet Union
Notes for educators: The collapse of the Berlin Wall
signalled the demise of communism, the main alternative
economic system to capitalism. This was the moment when
liberal democracy and consumer capitalism triumphed.

1990s: Growth of Consumerism in India and China
Notes for educators: Emergence of these markets
extends the reach of contemporary consumerism to
developing nations.

1990s: Growth of the Brand
Notes for educators: In the 1990s, companies stopped
selling just products and started selling brands, lifestyles
and identities leading to changes in consumption patterns.
Consumers did not just buy a product, they were buying
into an idea or an identity.

2003: Iraqi War
Notes for educators: Oil underpins the consumer driven
economy. Some theorists suggest that the Iraqi war was
about securing oil for Northern interests.

part thrEE: coursE outlInE prEparEd For sEcond

yEar Ba studEnts at cEntral st. MartIn’s collEgE oF

art and dEsIgn, autuMn 2007: thE rEsponsIBIlItIEs

oF consuMptIon – BEyond shoppIng

The clothes we wear, the food we buy and the equipment

we use have long journeys across the world, through

time and history, continuing into the future after we

have finished with them. The journeys are guided and

constrained by, and in turn influence, the political economy,

public policy, corporations and the physical environment.

Within complex supply chains, people with names and

faces create the systems of production and consumption,

creating a direct relationship between producer and

consumer.

The industrial revolution, the political economies of the

colonial age and the rise of super-consumption in the post

World War Two era set on track a journey that has led

to unparalleled economic growth and a rise in the power

of multinational companies. The inequalities that exist

within global supply chains, and degradation of the natural

environment caused by patterns of over-consumption,

have given rise to the language and practices of ethical

consumerism and sustainable development.

Is sustainable consumption an achievable goal in the brand-

dominated, globalised political economy of the twenty-first

century? Can we continue to enjoy consumption whilst

learning to become responsible shoppers? In this module,

created for Central St. Martin’s students, we draw on

food, fashion and other industries for case study material,

examine fair trade, corporate social responsibility, “eco” and

organic production and the rising awareness of ‘slow’ and

changing consumption patterns which could lead to more

local sourcing,.