Papers

Expanding Style Horizons: Slow, local and collective care as an intervention to fast fashion cycles

Format: Papers, RSD11, Topic: Cases & Practice, Topic: Methods & Methodology, Topic: Socioecological Design

Donna Maione

Fashion brands and clothing manufacturers rely on a global supply of extractive and linear materials. This economic model leads to exponential growth in waste across every supply chain stage. A growing trend to reduce textile waste from overconsumption is based on a capitalist model of exponential economic growth meant to keep people wanting more. Research on sustainable fashion focusing on alternative futures through small and local making practices explores how engagement with clothing deepens our attachment, illustrating the vitality of practice to reshape the disposable nature of fashion. To shift away from fast fashion, the collective efforts of everyday citizens demonstrate how social forces can have a significant impact. This paper explores an ongoing research project on prolonging garment and textile usage by engaging with surplus textiles and hand stitching. As a developing method for future research, the aim is to imagine a useful future for garments, stitch by stitch. While narrowly focusing on the slow stitch, there are connections to the larger problem space.

KEYWORDS: systems thinking, design for repair (DFR), product longevity, reverse supply chain, slow fashion, care and maintenance, generational garments

Citation Data

Author(s): Donna Maione
Year: 2022
Title: Expanding Style Horizons: Slow, local and collective care as an intervention to fast fashion cycles
Published in: Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design
Volume: RSD11
Article No.: 117
URL: https://rsdsymposium.org/breaking-fashion-systems-slow-local-and-collective-care-as-an-intervention-to-fast-style-cycles-expanding-toward-the-long-horizon
Host: University of Brighton
Location: Brighton, UK
Symposium Dates: October 3–16, 2022
First published: 23 September 2022
Last update: 30 April 2023
Publisher Identification: ISSN 2371-8404

Copyright Information

Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design (ISSN 2371-8404) are published annually by the Systemic Design Association, a non-profit scholarly association leading the research and practice of design for complex systems: 3803 Tønsberg, Norway (922 275 696).

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Open Access article published under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. This permits anyone to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or form according to the licence terms.

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Author(s). (20##). Article title. Proceedings of Relating Systems Thinking and Design, RSD##. Article ##. rsdsymposium.org/LINK

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