SLOW: towards sustainable fashion
What is the effect of speed in the wasteful system of fast fashion? And how can advanced technologies help develop sustainable fashion? These are a few of the questions that the project SLOW takes on in its research on ways to change the fashion system towards a more sustainable future.
Project Description
It is difficult to beat the wasteful system of ‘fast fashion’ although many consumers are aware of its environmental, social and economic consequences. The societal goal is clear: to develop SLOW fashion and make the fashion industry ethical and sustainable. This project offers a new take on the problem of fast fashion, by looking at the issue of materiality. The theoretical framework of ‘new materialism’ proposes that human and non-human factors are interrelated. If we understand that humans are deeply entangled with things, such as clothes, then it may be easier to see why we need to take responsibility for the earth. The project thus opens up an ethical imperative to change the fashion system.
Selected Publications
A. Smelik, (ed.) Delft Blue to Denim Blue. Contemporary Dutch Fashion. London: I.B. Tauris, 2017.
A. Rocamora & A. Smelik (eds.) Thinking Through Fashion. A Guide to Key Theorists. London: I.B. Tauris, 2016.
A. Smelik, ‘A theoretical framework for fashion in the age of technological innovation.‘ In: International Journal of Fashion Studies (April 2018).