Part 5. Project 2. Research Point. Donna Wilson

In this exercise I am to research a designer/artist/maker whose work I am drawn to. I am then to answer a series of questions on them.

For this exercise, seeing as this is the textiles part of the module, I’m taking my artist from one of those mentioned in Project 2, Donna Wilson.

What is their craft and how do they approach it in their work?

Donna Wilson is a Scottish designer who uses hand knitting, machine knitting, felting and sewing to create a range of textile products. These range from the ‘curious creatures’ which starred in her student show at the Royal College of Art in London, to the homeware/ceramics which she is venturing into now. All the products have a whimsical, quirky and overall cheerful feel to them.

Do they adhere to the ideas of Slow Design? To what extent does this allow them to take risks, experiment and innovate?

I would say that Wilson does adhere to the principles of Slow Design. She creates her pieces to fulfill a function, sometimes this is to make people smile, other times it is more practical such as a plate. These pieces are created if not by her then by her team of knitters based around the British Isles. I could not find information about the origin of the yarn they use but I did find mention of one project in which recycling takes place. The ‘Skelie Seal’ toy, created for the new V+A in Aberdeen is stuffed using leftover lambswool from other projects. This shows a conscious attitude towards resource management.

In an interview for the Scotsman newspaper Wilson said that she had been required to innovate further when noticing at a craft fair that she no longer stood out in the market as much as she once did. This was when she began to experiemnt more with the abstract and to move into home furniture and ceramics.

Is their story or the story of their work important? Why?

The Donna Wilson story is important because it adds depth to the products. To know the origins of the creator of your product makes it seem more alive, more real. Reading the back story on the Donna Wilson website, I can picture her as a girl in the hen house making things. Seeing her as an adult now, having created a successful niche for herself doing something that she loves is inspiring, and pretty cool! It is another example of a Hollywood style ‘chase-the-dream’ story line which everyone loves to be a witness too.

In terms of how the Donna Wilson products are produced, there is emphasis on the fact they are made in the UK. The idea of a team of knitters dotted around the British Isles is quite a romantic one in itself (in my opinion), I think it adds another layer of colour to the story.

Do you value craft and craftsmanship? Why or why not?

Yes. Off the top of my head the greatest reason I value craftsmanship is for the quality of product that they produce. People take pride in their work when they make it by hand. My Dad makes guitars in his garage, if there is one that he isn’t happy with then it isn’t allowed “out of the workshop” unless its in the kindling box. I found another example on the Donna Wilson website for a ‘Creature Clinic’. Wilson sells a lot of cuddly animals, over time these will naturally get a bit tatty and battered. The Creature Clinic allows people to send their product in to be repaired (paying only for the postage), this is a wonderful idea which elongates the life of the product and shows the after sales service that can be expected. It is also something I haven’t noticed on the High Street!

Is there room for craft in modern society?

In a blog article on the website of the British Museum I found an interesting post entitled ‘What is the role and value of craft today’. In the first line the author states that the total annual turnover of contemporary craftspeople in this country is £1 Billion a year. Even before thinking about the psychological positives of something handmade, that is a lot of money.

There is definetley still room for craft in modern society. Even just looking at craft in a domestic setting, the more intense peoples lives get, the more they need to de-stress and take up some kind of craft hobby to relax. The psychological advantages to being engaged in creative activity are endless.

With the continuing development of technology and mass production, there will always be a demand for products which are unique, handmade, that have some soul. I believe that if all the professional craftspeople were to quit overnight, the minute we ran out of handmade products in the market other people would pop up to fill the gaps they had left.

Handmade, well made, products are beautiful, they fill the vaults of museums and are treasured for generations. Grayson Perrys exhibition ‘Tomb of the Unknown Craftsperson’ shows that craftsman’s work will endure long after their actual name has faded from memory.

Donnawilson.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.donnawilson.com/products/for-home/blankets?gclid=Cj0KCQiAn8nuBRCzARIsAJcdIfP6R_1V2LPk2dlZfCxtKB1DmPMuAN-cR9kvyW3jwEo34P3X0EyAdJAaAkB6EALw_wcB [Accessed 19 Nov. 2019].

Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: https://theearlyhour.com/2017/10/17/donna-wilson-textiles-designer/ [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

Scotsman.com. (2019). Donna Wilson – the Scots designer on how her homeland crafts her creativity. [online] Available at: https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/donna-wilson-the-scots-designer-on-how-her-homeland-crafts-her-creativity-1-4939101 [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/designer-dossier-donna-wilson-176990 [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

Victoria and Albert Museum Dundee. (2019). V&A Dundee · Make Works: Donna Wilson. [online] Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/dundee/articles/make-works-donna-wilson [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

The British Museum Blog. (2019). What is the role and value of crafts today?. [online] Available at: https://blog.britishmuseum.org/what-is-the-role-and-value-of-crafts-today/ [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

Fox, K. (2019). Grayson Perry’s Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman – in pictures. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2011/sep/18/grayson-perry-tomb-of-the-unknown-craftsman-in-pictures [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].

Part 5. Project 2. Ex 1

In this exercise I am to read a specified article from the Guardian newspaper and answer a series of questions on it.

McGuirk, J. (2019). The art of craft: the rise of the designer-maker. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/aug/01/rise-designer-maker-craftsman-handmade [Accessed 12 Nov. 2019].

Do you believe there is a demand for hand made objects and work? Why do you think that some consumers seek out these qualities in the objects they buy?

I think that there is a demand for hand made objects. They have character, they tend to be of higher quality than mass produced items and they often allow you to engage in recycling, for example by buying a great piece of furniture from a charity shop.

When it comes to a new item, the craftsmen more often than not make a point about engaging in sustainable behaviour so you can be assured that choosing their work means that you are putting the planet first too.

I haven’t a clue if there is a demand for work as craftsmen! I would assume that if there are still items being manufactured and sold then people are still required to fill those positions? I discovered from watching BBC’s ‘Have I Got News For You’ that where there are niche interests and hobbies there is a whole underground world of magasines, conventions, societies etc, maybe its the same for the world of craftsmen?

Do you think the desire for hand made products is based on a romantic perception of the hand made and a sense of post-industrial nostalgia for the pre-industrial? Why or why not?

I think every person has an element of craftsman within them. Even if they don’t make items, on some level everyone can appreciate a well made piece. For as long as I can remember there has been a constant interest in how things used to be done. I believe this is because we are so saturated with mass produced products, so used to the items that are designed to break so that we have to get a new one, that the idea that things used to be built to last is like a romantic fantasy.

I also think that people admire the skill in a handcrafted object. A machine does not care if it leaves burrs on the side of a chair leg, but a craftsman will see them and smooth them down. A machine can vacuum form plastic into a mould to form a rosette but a craftsman can chisel it by eye out of a piece of pure wood just using hand tools. A machine can make a prosthetic hand, a craftsman can make it look alive, or paint it to look like a fantasy creature!

In my opinion, so much that is hand made is better, and I guess a lot of that opinion is based on a romantic notion about someone putting their soul into something. So, to answer the question, yes I do think that the desire for hand made goods (well mine anyway) is based on a romantic perception of the hand made!

Do you feel that hand made products are viewed as luxury or value added products? How do hand made products compare with mass produced items in terms of their value, life cycle, cost and ethics?

Yes I do feel that hand made products are viewed as luxury or value added. There is an understanding that the price includes the value of the craftsman’s labour and skill in addition to the product components.

In everyday marketing there are often phrases such as ‘hand made’ or ‘crafted’ etc used to underline the luxury value of the item they are selling.

Years ago I brought a chess set from a market in Kandahar, Afghanistan. There were two available, one was obviously carved by machine out of marble, the pieces were identical and perfect. The board was made of precisely cut marble squares set into its board. The alternative chess set was obviously made by hand, very badly, potentially by bashing rocks together. Now, although I love a bit of hand-made, what I wanted was a pretty chess set so I wanted to buy the machined version. It was more expensive because it was obviously better but the man running the stall swore to me over and over again that it was hand carved. The reason for this is that people view hand made as better than machined, this market trader didn’t need to lie to me, but I could see why he did.

Hand made products are generally more expensive than mass produced counterparts, but they also tend to last longer. They are kept for longer by their owners because they have made a conscious choice to invest in that piece rather than just fill a need, that piece has greater value for them. An example of this would have been if I had brought a £5 chess set from Amazon, it probably would have found itself in the bin on my way out of the country whereas I still have my marble set 10 years later.

Hand made products have a greater chance of a longer life cycle, they are more likely to be donated or passed on rather than disposed of. Even if they break, if someone has hand made a product there is more chance that its owner can figure out how to repair it, after all, its only been built by another human!

The ethics behind the two types of product are very different too. A mass produced item is from a factory which consumes natural resources to function. If that factory is in the East then it is often not subject to the same environmentally aware regulations as the West. One example of this is in India where there are issues with textiles factories dumping waste water from the dying process into local waterways.

A hand made object is more likely to be from sustainable sources and to be made with care and attention.

Reflect on any hand made item that you own (not necessarily textiles). Can you remember why you were drawn to it? Did the fact that it was handmade make it feel ‘special’ or did you just buy it because you liked the design? How did its price compare with the industrially produced equivalent?

I have a slightly unusual item for this exercise. It’s a generic plastic moulded Egyptian Pharaoh bust, painted to look like it’s made from wood.

I was in a dusty dingy shop in Luxor, Egypt when I brought it. I was looking at some actual hand carved figures and attempting to choose a decent souvenir. Everything was fairly average until, I looked up and spotted the Pharaohs head on the shelf above me. The colouring on this thing was perfect, it looked like someone with a lot of skill had carved something quite special out of a lump of wood. I wanted it. I wanted it because things made from wood are beautiful, I wanted it because it had been produced with skill, I wanted it for all the romantic associations of smelly men on camels hawking wares to adventurous white girls. As soon as the proprietor put it in my hands I knew exactly what it was, plastic! Mass produced, injection moulded plastic. It made me laugh, and the more I pointed out to the proprietor the plastic markings from the mould, or the paintbrush marks, the more he swore that not only was it made from wood he had cut it down and carved it himself. The worse the lies got the funnier I found it, and, strangely, the more sure I was that I wanted to buy it.

Initially it was the hand made aspect which drew me into that shop. When a craftsman has made something well, it really is beautiful. What drew me to the head inparticular was the wonder at what I believed to be the craftsman skill. What made me buy it was the amusement at the sheer cheek of the man flogging it to me!

The nearest I could find to my Egyptian head online is this pottery version from the European Vintage Emporium priced for approx £55. Mine was approximatley £20 but as I said, it was mass produced plastic!

Europeanvintageemporium.com. (2019). Vintage Egyptian Pharaoh large stoneware pottery figurine head bust ornament decor circa 1980-90’s | European Vintage Emporium. [online] Available at: https://www.europeanvintageemporium.com/product/vintage-egyptian-pharaoh-large-stoneware-pottery-figurine-head-bust-ornament-decor-circa-1980-90s/?doing_wp_cron=1574145913.9684751033782958984375 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2019].

Part 5. Project 2. Research Point: Slow Design

In this exercise I am to do some research into Slow Design and make some notes on the following questions;

What are the guiding principles of this movement?
Do you believe this approach to design and making could have a positive impact on our consumption of products?
Would you place more value on a product that has been created with this principle in mind? Why or why not?

What are the guiding principles of this movement?

The guiding principles of this movement are about greater thought. More thought has been put into the design, it is often from a more sustainable source. More thought and often time has been put into the craftsmanship, pieces are more likely to be made by hand than mass produced by machine. More thought has been put into the visual aesthetic, the materials used will often be chosen for overall look and performance rather than solely on cost. Because of this greater investment in the quality of the piece, the item will often last a lot longer than a mass produced item.

Do you believe this approach to design and making could have a positive impact on our consumption of products?

Yes. I believe that when people put more thought into what they are buying, and choose an item that suits all their requirements, they are more likely to be satisfied for longer. This will mean that they do not require a replacement product and therefore do not need to shop for alternatives, using more resources. The satisfaction of the customer could be down to the look of the item, the quality, or the performance.

Recycling is something which Im pleased to see gaining more prominence lately. The idea that you don’t need to buy new furniture is one which has been a long time coming. This is one way for people to show their commitment towards sustainability, having a look at the second hand market first to see if they can find something which meets their needs.

As an example, I brought a beautiful old carved wooden and red leather armchair from a charity shop. I love it, it looks incredible, it’s wonderfully comfy and the only way I’ll be parted from it is if my house burns down. The quality of the product means I will not need a replacement anytime soon and the handmade look is so good that it is in no danger of being disposed of.

When people are surrounded by a world in which they are constantly bombarded by key messages such as ‘plastic is bad’, they are less likely to choose to purchase it themselves. The more companies that make a point of explaining how they consider sustainability in their products, the more likely consumers are to realise that it is an issue they need to consider. The 1990’s and 2000’s were full of consumerism and mass production of faceless articles. In recent years there has been a noticeable swing back towards the handmade, I believe this is the desire for individuality reasserting itself. We could all have the same bookshelf from Ikea, or you could get one for half the price and twice the quality from the nearest furniture recycling depot. Individually made items have more soul in them, an identity that cannot be cloned by a machine, and that is one of the things that makes them special.

Would you place more value on a product that has been created with this principle in mind? Why or why not?

Yes I would place more value on a product that has been created with this principle in mind, providing that it met both my budget and my visual taste. Budget is king for me, if I need a kitchen table then ideally I would love a handmade beast with carved table legs, the kind of thing that looks like its been dragged out of Blenheim Palace. What I have instead is one which I made out of railway sleepers and some batons, because they were free. Thanks to a disc sander and a pot of wood stain it is the same colour as the tables at Blenheim Palace and I don’t get splinters every time I pick up my soup spoon, but there the similarities end!

If I had the budget for it, and visually the item appealed to me, then I would choose the handmade table over the mass produced version because I place more value on the principles behind it. I support the sustainability cause where I can, but frankly it comes down to budget, needs and necessity on a case by case basis.

En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Slow design. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_design [Accessed 11 Nov. 2019].

TreeHugger. (2019). What is Slow Design, And Where Did It Come From?. [online] Available at: https://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/what-slow-design-and-where-did-it-come.html [Accessed 11 Nov. 2019].

Archiblox. (2019). The Slow Design Movement. [online] Available at: https://www.archiblox.com.au/slow-design-movement/ [Accessed 11 Nov. 2019].

Diopd.org. (2019). [online] Available at: https://diopd.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Book_of_Inspiration_SlowDesign.pdf [Accessed 11 Nov. 2019].

Spacey, J. (2019). What is Slow Design?. [online] Simplicable. Available at: https://simplicable.com/new/slow-design [Accessed 11 Nov. 2019].

Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-5-principles-of-the-slow-design-movement-240942 [Accessed 11 Nov. 2019].

Raaf.org. (2019). [online] Available at: http://raaf.org/pdfs/Slow_Design_Principles.pdf [Accessed 11 Nov. 2019].

Part 5. Project 1. Ex 2

In this exercise I am to choose a product which has been marketed as environmentally sound, ethically produced, green or sustainable. I am then to determine its credentials, and through research, determine whether or not the marketing/labeling is accurate.

My subject for this exercise is peanut butter by Meridian.

Image result for meridian peanut butter"

I chose this because in the supermarket I normally go for the cheapest variation of a product I can find but choose to ignore this when it comes to peanut butter. What makes me choose this brand is the marketing, I get a combined message of healthy ingredients and planet friendly.

The planet friendly message is communicated through the use of the monkey on the right hand side holding up the message ‘no palm oil’. The consequences of unsustainable palm oil harvesting was recently highlighted through last years (2018) Christmas advert by Iceland. This sparked a consumer move away from products containing the oil.

Youtube.com. (2019). YouTube. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA10-oZi4Xc [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

Examination of the label shows that the image of health is promoted through several different ways. The ingredients list has only three (all naturally occurring) items. The photographs on the label are of healthy items. The illustrative elements of the label show a basic representation of happy people emerging from a rising sun, and as previously mentioned, there is a smiling monkey holding up a sign that announces the lack of palm oil. In addition the item appears to be ‘Made in the UK’ which implys that it should have a low carbon footprint.

I then proceded to the website http://www.meridianproducts.co.uk to attempt to learn more about the origin of their ingredients.

There is an entire page dedicated to their avoidance of Palm Oil and their work with the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation who rescue orphans displaced by Palm Oil harvesting and, after rehabilitation, return them to the wild. Meridian have adopted 8 of the 8000 orphans currently looked after by the charity.

I was interested in how, after the emphasis on the UK manufacturing, they would cover the origins of their nuts which I believe mostly originate from far abroad. Within their own FAQ’s I found a list of their nuts points of origin;

seeds and nuts — Meridian. (2019). *Frequent questions*. [online] Available at: https://shop.meridianfoods.co.uk/pages/faqs [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

There was also information about the honey harvesting. The website states that they ” do not advocate wing clipping or the killing-off of weak, older queen bees to re-strengthen colonies. We do our utmost to ensure that our partners and suppliers in origin have ethical policies in place, which we audit”. I would be interested to know quite how the audits are carried out, one of my secondary duties at work is on a process audit team so I know what a nice woolly statement like “do our utmost” can be.

I looked around online but could not find any further information about audit policies or inspection criteria.

To answer the question at the start of the exercise, I believe that as a company Meridian are taking the most sustainable approach that they can, however their product, due to the nature of the beast is one which is doomed to have a high carbon footprint.

Wonderopolis.org. (2019). How Many Peanuts Are In a Jar Of Peanut Butter?. [online] Available at: https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-many-peanuts-are-in-a-jar-of-peanut-butter [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

Greenerpackage.com. (2019). Peanut butter jar lightens up 90% | Greener Package. [online] Available at: https://www.greenerpackage.com/source_reduction/peanut_butter_jar_lightens_90 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

Cars.uark.edu. (2019). [online] Available at: https://cars.uark.edu/resources-reports/Peanut_Report.pdf [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

Part 5. Project 1. Ex 1

How would you define sustainability?

I would define sustainability as a process which does not cause depletion or damage to resources or environment. For example, if you throw away a damaged book it should be recycled into a new book, not thrown into landfill.

In what contexts is sustainability an issue?

Sustainability is an issue in many areas thanks to the worlds obsession with money (which I totally understand, I just wish people were a bit more thoughtful about how they go after it).

Areas I can think of where sustainability is an issue

CO2 emissions in the atmosphere – pollution levels in the air- air quality made unsustainable
Fossil Fuels – depletion of a finite resource – unsustainable
The destruction of the worlds trees – oxygen production – air quality made unsustainable
Plastic – lives forever in landfill – infiltrating the ecosystem – food source quality and landfill capacity made unsustainable
Textiles – requires vast natural resources to realise – capacity of the natural environment to absorb the toll made unsustainable
NHS – attempting to fix a society increasingly subject to large quantities of lifestyle based disease in addition to normal illness/injury – capacity to cope made unsustainable
Housing – the planet has too many people yet there is still relentless breeding taking place, so people build on green spaces to house the people, which kills the environment, which people then complain about, and somehow it’s always someone else’s fault – Unsustainable
Meat consumption -currently a hot topic – linked to toll on atmosphere and the ridiculous number of people on the planet – meat production has been made unsustainable
The public interest in Brexit! – endless debates over a course of years with no real decisions – interest in Brexit is rapidly becoming unsustainable 😉

How do you think sustainability might be addressed in relation to the production and consumption of textiles and other manufactured products?

I can think of a few ways in which the sustainability of textiles and manufactured products could be addressed. First, increased public awareness. As I said previously, I would class myself as reasonably well informed about matters concerning the planet, I had absolutely no idea about the toll the textile industry has on the environment. If I don’t know then there will be others that don’t either. With increased awareness will come more local efforts at recycling, more individuals donating clothes to charity shops for a second life and more awareness about choosing the right article to buy in the first place.

This leads me on to shopping choices. When people became more conscious of the need to eat less meat, they brought more vegetarian meals, when plastic became a known issue, franchises had to do away with straws. If a similar demand can be made in the area of textiles, more response will be required from the textile industry to look at sustainability. This could be something as simple as recycling more cloth and including it in their new creations as either a whole or a percentage such as Levis who now use recycled plastic to make jeans . It could even be a feature item such as a ‘jumper for life’.

H+M are one store which are making a public move towards a more sustainable approach with recycled elements in their clothing and a lot more information about their manufacturing processes on their website.

Another way to aid sustainability could be by varying the materials used to make the textiles. I found an interesting article entitled ‘The top 10 sustainability trends coming out of textile exchange’. In it it describes the notion of the circular economy and how companies are starting to move towards it. There were some interesting examples of these moves towards sustainability involving crops such as a company called ‘Orange Fibers’ which makes a silk-like fabric out of orange peel. Another named Vegea has used grape skin to make a fabric similar to leather, this initiative is being backed by H+M.

Making recycling easier for people could be another way to help sustainability. Maybe something like a recycling deposit box in-store? If. for example, I’m going to Primark for a replacement top, it’s easy enough for me to take my old broken one there at the same time and put it in a recycling bin.

The last method I can think of to aid sustainability is to relocate clothes manufacturing. If English peoples clothes were made in England the monetary costs would be higher, but the carbon footprint of each item would be a lot less. A byproduct of that would probably be that we’d not be able to afford to buy clothes…which would drive us all to the charity shops….which would cause better recycling but then unemployment within the clothing factories….oh it’s complicated!

( Study.com. (2019). Textile Industry & Sustainability | Study.com. [online] Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/textile-industry-sustainability.html [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].)

Donaldson, T. (2019). The Top 7 Sustainability Trends Coming Out of Textile Exchange. [online] Sourcing Journal. Available at: https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/sustainability/top-7-sustainability-trends-coming-textile-exchange-td-74311/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

Part 5. Research Point: Stages of textile product life cycle

In this research exercise I am to briefly summarise what I think each stage of the cycle is, and then research online to see if I am right.

Textiles is completely new to me and I have no idea what the product life cycle might look like, so I hit Youtube to look for some educational videos on the topic.

Initially I watched this one;

It introduced me to lots of the vocabulary involved but didn’t really go into detail – though the information about the global impact of a t-shirt was fascinating.

I then moved onto explanatory videos more about the production of fabric. Initially I went a bit too basic and watched this one;

Whilst this video explained very well how to take fibres from wool on a sheep to a woven piece of fabric, it did not cover several of the terms listed in the course manual such as ginning.

I then used the more traditional Internet text searching to get some answers.

Agriculture/raw fiber production – I would summarise this as the process of growing cotton in fields as a crop.

Common Objective. (2019). What Are Our Clothes Made From?. [online] Available at: https://www.commonobjective.co/article/what-are-our-clothes-made-from [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

Ginning – I had no idea about this one so I had to go straight to the internet.

“The process of separating the cotton fibers from the cotton seeds. Perfect ginning operation would be performed if the separation of fibers from seed was effected without the slightest injury to either seeds or to the fiber. A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seeds, a job previously done by hand.”

Textilelearner.blogspot.com. (2019). Ginning | Cotton Ginning Process | Types of Ginning. [online] Available at: https://textilelearner.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-is-ginning-cotton-ginning-types-of_8829.html [Accessed 7 Nov. 2019].

Spinning – This one I remember from tours of sheep farms with Primary school – the process of turning (unintentional pun) original fibre whether it be cotton or wool etc into a long usable yarn on a reel. A process traditionally carried out by all family members.

Liverpoolmuseums.org.uk. (2019). From cotton to cloth – Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool museums. [online] Available at: https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/exhibitions/cotton/material/cloth.aspx [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

Weaving – The process of transforming a yarn into a sheet of cloth. It requires two sets of yarn, the warp and the weft. Traditionally done by hand on a loom, now controlled by computer.

Processing – I would guess that this is the dying, printing and emroidering of fabric garments?

I discovered online that I wasn’t quite right. It seems that fabric, freshly woven, is known as ‘griege’ which is discoloured and full of impurities. This fabric is bleached to achieve a base colour, it is then treated with chemicals to remove oil, wax, and other naturally occurring elements from natural fibre.

Garden, H., HowStuffWorks, Garden, Decor and Techniques (2019). How is fabric created?. [online] HowStuffWorks. Available at: https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-decor/decorating-styles-techniques/how-is-fabric-created2.htm [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

Stitching – I would assume that this is the process of turning sheets of material into items of clothing? What springs to mind are the news stories about the India sweatshops full of people who are working for pennies per day.

What also springs to mind though, are the good news stories about people who are choosing their own path and making their own clothes…like Zack McLeod Pinset who manufactures and creates Regency clothing. In an interview he says that he does it because he feels like himself and he likes to look smart, I think that is fabulous. I’d love to make my own clothes but do not have the time, I’m saving that and learning the piano for when I finish this degree, so when I see other people successfully doing it I just want to stand up and clap! Fabulous!

Kalia, A. (2019). ‘I don’t see jeans in my future’: the people who wear complete historical dress – every day. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/jul/04/i-dont-see-jeans-in-my-future-the-people-who-wear-complete-historical-dress-every-day [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

Distribution/Retail – I assume that this covers the shipping of created articles of clothing back to the UK, distribution to stores and their marketing.

Good On You. (2019). What On Earth Is A Clothing Supply Chain?. [online] Available at: https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-a-clothing-supply-chain/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

Use/Consumption and end of life – I assume this covers the average life cycle of a piece of clothing and what happens to it after it has been discarded.

This research point was eye opening. I found a government report on the economical cost of fast fashion and was aghast at some of the facts and figures. I consider myself quite well informed on matters related to saving the planet but I had absolutely no idea about the toll of clothing manufacturing on the environment.

The report is full of big hitting points but this one line made me feel physically sick “Textile production contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined”. I will never casually buy an item of clothing again!

More in relation to the point of the research exercise, I learnt that 300,000 tonnes of clothing end up in household black bins each year, less than 1% of clothing is recycled and retailers burn new unsold stock to preserve the brand. Shocking.

Publications.parliament.uk. (2019). Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability – Report Summary – Environmental Audit Committee. [online] Available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/1952/report-summary.html#heading-2 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].