Practicing Sustainability
When I started out at Virginia Tech, I wasn't studying fashion. I began in the Sustainability and Biomaterial department studying natural resources and supply chain/industry management, hoping I could one day integrate my knowledge into a fashion career. After one semester, I felt the program was a bit too natural resources (wood, agriculture, fuels) focused, and I wanted to be able to study design principles, the fashion industry, and the realm of sustainability. So, I switched my major to Fashion Design and Retail Merchandising, and minored in Sustainability Practices.
The first year of my minor, I took a two semester reading and discussion based course, Seeking Sustainability. The course goal was to examine and discuss social, economic, and environmental topics and systems, and understand how these systems work with each other, as well as against each other, creating an extremely complex and intertwined web the concept of sustainability must be worked into. I almost want to say I learned more in my minor courses than my major courses, because the perspectives I heard and discussed from my 89 other classmates and professor were points I hadn't thought about, and never had to think about. I think that's the biggest piece I learned coming out of this minor. I was one of a few students coming into this minor from a design department. A mass majority of the class was from natural resource and environmental conservation departments, as well as science and business departments. They had a lot more to say on the subjects we discussed than I did, and at times it was intimidating. We had robust conversations on the intersectionality of it all, and how this issue is truly a global topic in this age of mass globalization. Developed countries cannot advance their own economies and meet certain benchmarks while being supported by the under developed countries that have decades of growth ahead of them. As we currently stand, there is not a common language between critical groups to better understand and decide on how to go about sustainability. In fact, there is little understanding and definition on what sustainability is, and a clear picture of what the goal is. These are just a few of the topics we discussed and read about, and I found it to be a crucial skillset not only for my career in fashion, but as a young person entering a huge world that demands tremendous change.
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I'm going to interject and speak about my experience in sustainability discourse from my fashion courses. While on the right track, I felt many of the topics spoken on fed into misconceptions, and created a false reality of a simple answer to an incredibly complex issue. And that's understandable. While my fashion professors made an effort to meet the interest of students on the sustainability discussion, they didn't have prior experience or extensive knowledge on this subject, and the curriculum left students at a blind disadvantage. They are wonderfully talented and experienced at the fashion stuff, but there needs to be a collaboration between the two (don't worry I've already pitched this)!! I'm bringing this up because I feel that goes for most of those in the industry, and there is not currently an effective level of communication between the two worlds of fashion organizations and system strategists and environmental scientists. But, I feel those of my peers who want to be a part of the sustainability discussion, were given a rudimentary level of understanding because there is not enough research and motive in the fashion industry. And as a consumer, student, and member of gen-z, I see first-hand how industries use greenwashing and buzzwords to make young consumers believe there is something being done. But buzzwords don't make a difference.
After those courses, I took a graduate-level course offered to students in the minor on circular economics and design strategies. This was a course I phenomenally enjoyed, but it was a huge undertaking. Again, as a student coming from fashion design, I had little knowledge on industry and government metrics, measurements, and systems revolving around design circularity and indexes of other industries, such as automotive and electronics. But, I learned it and loved it. I learned about circularity principles and theory, product life cycle analysis (LCA), material circularity indicators (MCI), measuring energy use, repairability and modularity of consumer products, and comparing and contrasting methods of supply chain and design. For one lab project, we each chose an electronic of our choosing, took it apart, and calculated its repairability, LCA, and MCI. The course taught me to realize economic/environmental/social tradeoffs, and many greenwashing dilemmas of today. Sure, solar panels are a great alternative energy source, but the energy and materials used outweigh the lifetime energy production of the solar panel. However, do the materials/energies used in the pre-consumer phase of the solar panel have a smaller footprint than the extraction and use of traditional fossil fuels, or other energy alternatives. For fashion's sake, the same argument for example could be made between vegan leather and animal leather. Emissions from oil-based plastic fabric, or emissions from the lifetime of an animal? Or...myocelium leather???? It's food for thought, and it gave me a strategized and calculated way of thinking and considering design options within fashion.
For my senior year spring semester, I took the capstone course for the minor. Each week we had a speaker come and talk about their profession, and how they must consider sustainable principles in their work. Speakers from agriculture, congresspeople's offices, costume design, transportation, urban planning, diversity offices, tourism and hospitality, and more came to speak and it was a way I was able to gain understanding about industries and their practices. And at the end of the semester, the class was to participate in a fashion show presented by VT's Office of Sustainability! I was so excited for this, because it was a time in this part of my education where I was able to share my knowledge. Further explanations and photos of the process and show can be found on the previous page!