UBC Sustainable Fashion Week: What you would have missed

ICYMI, here’s a round up of the events from UBC’s Sustainable Fashion Week. Feel free to water (or rewatch) the events here!

Fashion in the Global South

This discussion on fashion in the global south had three panelists from different regions of the world; Nigeria in West Africa, India and Canada, sharing their experiences as consumers and as people at the frontline of advocacy through their different fields of work. 

David Nwachukwu (he/him) thinks of himself as a cheerleader of the African fashion industry and economy, and believes in the power of culture and storytelling. He is a Geography graduate from the University of Lagos and has worked in fashion for over eight years across brand communications, media, marketing and design. He recognizes the need to promote a more sustainable fashion ecosystem enabled through his background in environmental advocacy and sustainable development. He oversees strategic communications at Clean Technology Hub where his work also showcases the intersection of gender in the circular economy through climate journalism.

Kirti Poonia (she/her) is the cofounder of Relove; a circular fashion tech company that allows brands to host their own peer to peer thrift shops, ensuring circularity for their brands. Over the past six years she's built one of the largest apparel and  lifestyle markets in India, enabling rural artisans to sell directly to customers. Her work is centered at the intersection of fashion and tech.

Ashli Akins (she/her) is a non-profit director, social entrepreneur, storyteller and researcher from British Columbia and is the founder and president of Mosqoy: which was inspired over 15 years ago, by a question during her trip to the Indian mountains of Peru. ‘If I didn't know how to positively purchase souvenirs, then how could I be making a positive footprint everywhere I go?’ This charitable organization mitigates the adverse effects of unsustainable tourism practices and development by providing economic opportunities while nurturing  threatened indigenous culture of the remote communities in the Peruvian Andes.

The panelists shared their opinions-mostly shaped through their work experiences and talked about, among other issues in the fashion industry, how most of the overproduction and overconsumption practices of people in the Global North ends up affecting people in the Global South. What are the lessons learnt from clothing donations and how can both consumers and brands do better? How can circularity in fashion reduce the distance between the producer and consumer, creating a connection between them so they can understand and ask questions such as who made them their clothes, what type of materials were used, and what is the story embedded in these clothes? How is waste curved through the entire supply chain so it doesn't end up in a landfill?

How do we celebrate cultural heritage in a way that is sustainable? Clothes should be seen as stories and not commodities. As consumers, we have an important role to play in ensuring the market demands carters to what we need and an industry that is accountable. This will enable us to celebrate stories of clothing through transparency.

UBC reads Sustainability with Aja Barber

Aja Barber (she/her) is a writer, stylist, and consultant “whose work deals with the intersections of sustainability and the fashion landscape.” On Tuesday February 8th, 2022 she joined the 2nd annual UBC Sustainable Fashion Week to discuss her new book, Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism, and the overarching themes that she writes about in the book in relation to sustainability, fashion, racism, feminism, wealth inequality, privilege, and more. 

Aja is incredibly honest in the way that she delivers her knowledge about sustainability and the fashion industry. In precise terms, she lets us know that we all need to be more critical of the messages that we internalize in relation consumption. She asks, “What is enough for you?” and challenges us all to live within a mindset of abundance, instead of a mindset of scarcity. With open eyes, she reminds us that we must see the fashion industry for what it is: an inherently exploitative, racist, colonialist, and capitalist system that must be challenged and dismantled if we ever want to achieve true sustainability. 

To learn more about Aja Barber, you can visit her website at https://www.ajabarber.com/ or find her on Instagram at @ajabarber. Her new book, Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism can be found anywhere books are sold.

Where do my Clothes come from?

Where Do My Clothes Come From was an expansive discussion that is critical to understand the impact of the fashion industry. This conversation asks the question Where do our clothes come from? This question calls for reflection not only of the geographical location but also the hands and processes it took to create these clothes. There is a deliberate lack of transparency within the fashion system. The industry keeping conditions under a veil, out of sight and mind for the consumer, is a deliberate act to keep change from happening and continue the status quo. It prevents others from understanding where their clothes are actually from. 

The ambiguous and compelling nature along with the complex supply chain is how the industry became the significant and alluring industry it is today. To understand the impact of this industry from an ecological and social perspective one must connect the dots of the issues that the industry designed. The purpose of this talk was to map out the industry’s biggest issues so we can collectively understand and fix them. Namrita Lamba, Janet Chemitei, and Sophia Yang did this through a dynamic conversation with the three of them expanding on each other's viewpoints. Sophia captured the nuances and impacts of these complex systems of oppression where submovements like greenwashing and thrifting gentrification are causing more harm to the movement.   

Janet addressed the topic by addressing over consumption and her experience with the secondhand market in Kenya. She argues that this infatuation with consumerism that we are currently experiencing is because there is a lack of knowledge around what goes into our clothes, the labor involved or how Global South communities are being harmed. She explains the colonial practices involved in the garment supply chain like material extraction is exploiting the Global South’s people, land, traditional ways of making and economy. Global North brands produce and destroy their communities to then dump the clothing waste and make it their landfill. Janet believes this is why storytelling and listening to the Global majority’s experiences is how we can understand the true implication of overconsumption as well as the injustice it is to our communities and planet. 

Namrita began the discussion and laid out the framework of the fashion industry’s supply chain. She had three main categories- Pre-production, production and postproduction and broke down the specific steps it takes to make garments, quite literally following the journey clothing takes. She mapped out these processes to emphasize that there is no one machine or facility that makes clothing and instead highlighted a long twisted and complex global effort with many hands contributing to make the garment a garment. She addressed that there are two sides to the industry: the side they want you to see and the side they don’t. The side they don’t want you to see is the majority of the operation: it is the production and processing. It was an incredible discussion rooted in storytelling and allowed the audience to think beyond this myth that our clothes are these non-dynamic objects. This talk emphasizes the different intersections within the oppressive system and challenges the made in_____ statement on my shirt’s tag.

Youth in Fashion

The Sustainable Fashion Industry is just getting started. It warms my heart to see so many young people, unlike myself, starting their career in this space. I got here after having worked in the fashion industry for over a decade. But this post isn’t about me. It is about three talented people, each of whom has their own unique way of contributing to sustainable and ethical fashion. I had the pleasure of being introduced to their stories on the ‘Youth in Fashion’ panel during the UBC Sustainable Fashion week.

Dillea Himbara

Canada based fashion designer and proud owner of the label Sapodillas, Dillea believes that sustainable and ethical fashion need not come at the cost of gorgeous garments. She creates her entire collection using discarded textiles and second-hand clothing with the aim to divert them from landfills. Dillea gets her inspiration from her Black and Indian heritage. She spoke about her struggles as a woman of color and the importance of taking a stand.

Trevor Bessette 

Trevor’s interest in sustainability started at a very young age. His label, Seaside Reclaimed, is a culmination of his own passion along with a desire to create a community of like-minded individuals ready to stand up for change. Trevor gets his inspiration from the negative environmental impact of waste that ends up in landfills. The Seaside Reclaimed collection is created with 100% recycled material like plastic bottles or cotton scrap. They also ensure that the ethical treatment of their garment works in Haiti & Guatemala.

 Taylor Hollan

This story was equal parts interesting and inspirational. Taylor started her label out of being purely bored at home during the pandemic. She stitched up some of her old and discarded fabrics to create new funky clothes for herself. Her designs stood out and she soon started receiving orders from friends for similar clothes. That was the beginning of Taylor Hollan, a vibrant and fun sustainable fashion brand. Taylor learnt how to sow from her mother at a young age and continues to personally hand make each item with love.