An Aspect of the Discussed TED Sustainability Strategy - Research Paper Example

Creating a better and ‘smarter’ design requires certain efforts and is based on the set of strategies set forth by the TED research group. As design and production of various garments has become a large industry employing millions of people and giving the space for creativity to a great number of textile and fashion designers, the process of delivering textile products is approaching the point of being destructive for the society. “Today, the textile industry, which uses on an average six hundred dyes and chemicals for the priduction of consumer textiles, is considered most polluted sector of all the other industry» (Challa, 2015, p.3). Due to these conditions, the need for more sustainable type of design grows dramatically. Therefore, the key aim of the ten sustainability strategies presented on the TED website is to encourage sustainable textile design in order to make the industry more ecologically friendly, more ethical and ‘better’. The majority of strategies tend to revolve around the issues of waste minimization, production of highly recyclable designs, ethical issues concerning textile design and production (e.g. workers’ rights), minimal energy and water consumption and others. However, the strategy number six stands out among the others, being focused rather on aesthetical and artistic aspects of design than on its environmental impact, economic or ethical value. The strategy is based on taking inspiration for design either in the experience of the past (both techniques of production and details of design, patterns etc.) or in nature as one of the most perfect and rich sources. Fatma Mete (2006) pays much attention to the sources of inspiration in the process of designing garments and textiles insisting on their significance throughout the creative process giving birth to an original style or conception. Indeed, this strategy is of extreme importance for the modern design and fashion industry, for clothing has long ago ceased to be the mere practical need, expanding its functional array to the variety of new aspects such as the means for expressing beliefs, tastes and certain traits of the person wearing it. At the same time, one should admit that everything has already been invented, and the way designers work nowadays is chiefly based on research of the past experience. Research of surviving historical specimens of textiles, data and garments “underpins designers’ ideas, informs the shapes and proportions they use, influences the materials they choose to work with and determines the techniques they employ to put them together” (Murphy, 2011). Thus, designers tend more and more often to reinvent the shapes, combinations and material applications that used to dominate in apparel of the past centuries, for instance, making use of peculiar fit and reinterpreting vintage outfits of the past decades. While nostalgia for the past appears to be the foundation of textile design, “the role of the designer is to refresh and change that look for the present” (Deitz, 1987). Putting the already existing ‘old-fashioned’ tendencies through the prism of their creativeness, designers are capable of producing something principally new and innovative on the basis of the stem borrowed from the past generations. Moreover, studying the history of textile and apparel design and production, designers are likely to trace special authentic technologies of printing or other types of decoration, borrow the ideas for fabrics use and processing and so on. One of the most illustrative and abundant sources of ideas in historic legacy of textile and apparel area is ethnic and folk costumes (Jenkyn Jones, 2005, p.19). In this respect, use of design details typical for traditional outfits of different cultures and epochs might become the great experience for a designer, as it opens the endless range of embellishment techniques, patterns and materials. Particularly, most traditional costumes date back to the past centuries, when people were closer and friendlier to the environment, applying the gifts of the nature in the least ecologically hazardous way and reflecting their culture, values and symbols in clothes. Probably, the most recent example of this strategy’s application is the collection Spring/Summer 2015 created by the designers of Valentino, where the motifs of East-Slavic peoples were turned into sheer art. The collection consisted on women’s clothing models with the strong folk element, namely, lavish use of traditional East-European embroidery and materials such as sheep wool and linen. It is obvious that designers have done a thorough research of Mark Chagall’s cultural background, who is stated to be have inspired the entire concept of the collection. The artist’s homeland was the territory of modern Belarus, and the models illustrate traditional Slavic motifs explicitly: contrastive embroidery – predominantly in red and black, natural linen textures and waistcoats of sheep pelt. Moreover, this fashion design specimen demonstrates eco-friendliness, as the clothes were created in natural colors with virtually no dyeing, and, as it is well known that dyes used for fabrics contain environmentally harmful chemicals. The second large aspect of the discussed TED sustainability strategy is learning form nature and taking inspiration in its elements. For this strategic point, the term biomimicry is widely applied. “For many artists and designers, turning to nature for inspiration has been a way to […] to maintain balance, and increase creativity” (Fifis, 2014, p.45). Biomimicry defined as “the study of nature’s processes in order to achieve greater efficiency and improvement in man’s products and processes” (Ritu Vasu, 2013, p.139) is a very wide term incorporating using perfection of nature in numerous fields of people’s lives: form technologies such as airplane construction inspired by birds to textile industry using visual aspects of nature in design. Therefore, referring to nature is stated to “lead to efficient resource consumption and pollution reduction, which in turn yields instant and quantifiable fiscal savings” (Ritu Vasu, 2013, p.139). In textile industry and design, biomimicry as a strategy is applied rather widely nowadays by both young and experienced designers. Moreover, natural forms, materials and processed are used both to create a visual effect of the apparel and to endow textile products with some of properties observed in nature. Such approach is valuable due to its aesthetics – for nature is undoubtedly the source of the most perfect shapes, colors and combinations – and practical application, for natural materials often used in design of such kind are mainly ecologically friendly and aimed at reduction of pressure imposed on environment. A very good specimen of biomimicry in design is described by Chen & Peng (p.3) – bio couture. “Bio Couture is a type of fiber that can be decomposed by living beings” (Chen & Peng, p.3). Contributing to sustainability in design, the researches offered a type of fabric that could be the possible substitution to synthetic fiber, which adds much to environmental pollution in the process of production and processing, in the future. In addition, Eadie and Ghosh (2011) describe and analyze numerous examples of natural materials that can be the prototypes for highly functional and completely ecologically safe fibers and textiles that will enable “’designing’ and ‘making’ with the least environmental impact» (Eadie & Ghosh, 2011). Creating combinations of biofibres – fibres, textures and surfaces already given to us by the nature - in the process of creating a new design can help compete with more harmful synthetic composites. Illustrating a successful application of biomimicry as a part of the ‘wise’ design strategy, one could refer to the ‘invention’ of Stefanie Nieuwenhuys (Malik Chua, 2012), the way of embellishing clothes inspired by snakeskin. The design created by her incorporates combination of form inspired by snake scales and the waste-free use of wood. Collecting leftovers of wood chips, the designer arranges them in the way scales are arranged on the snakeskin, creating the effect of the reptilian skin, but avoiding harmful influence on environment and use of real snakeskin. The concept has a twofold effect: it aims at creation of elaborate and innovative embellishment of fabric and – at the same time – eliminates the possible ecologically harmful technology. Moreover, such idea presupposes constructive utilization of wood biowaste, i.e. scraps, maximizing recyclability of the natural material. No doubt, this TED strategy of ‘better’ design is very promising and useful, as it multiplies the positive impact, being useful both for environmental protection and for aesthetic demands of consumers. Taking inspiration from the history and traditions as well as from Mother Nature, which already offers the specimens of beauty and functionality, can certainly contribute to improvement to design and fashion industry in the future, though it already brings fruits. References CHALLA, L. (2015) ‘Impact of Textiles and Clothing Industry on Environment: Approach towards Eco-Friendly Textiles’. Fibre2Fashion. [Online] Available from http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/textile-industry-articles/impact-of-textiles-and-clothing-industry-on-environment/impact-of-textiles-and-clothing-industry-on-environment1.asp [Accessed May 18, 2015] CHEN, TZU-YU & PENG, LI-HSUN (n.d.) ‘Nature-inspired Fashion Design through The Theory of Biomimicry’. Available from http://www.academia.edu/5119373/Nature-inspired_Fashion_Design_through_The_Theory_of_Biomimicry [Accessed May 18, 2015] DEITZ, P. (1987) ‘Inspired By the Past’. The New York Times. 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[Online] Available from http://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/01/magazine/evenings-of-fashion-inspired-by-the-past.html [Accessed May 18, 2015] MURPHY, D. (2011) ‘Dialogues between past and present: Historic garments as source material for contemporary fashion design’. V&A Online Journal, Issue No. 3. [Online] Available from http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/research-journal/issue-03/dialogues-between-past-and-present-historic-garments-as-source-material-for-contemporary-fashion-design/ [Accessed May 18, 2015] RITU VASU, P. (2013) 'Biomimicry: On the Frontiers of Design'. Vilakshan: The XIMB Journal Of Management, 10, 2, pp. 139-148. [Online] Available from https://ebscohost.com/ [Accessed May 18, 2015] Read More