The Journal of Design Strategies. Alternative Fashion Systems

THE JOURNAL
OF
DESIGN
STRATEGIES
Alternative Fashion Systems
VOL. 7, NO. 1 | FALL 2014

VOL. 7, NO. 1 | FALL 2014
ALTERNATIVE FASHION SYSTEMS
EDITORIAL STAFF The Journal of Design Strategies is published

Guest Editors by The New School in association with the School
Pascale Gatzen and Otto von Busch of Design Strategies at Parsons The New School
for Design.
Executive Editor
Matthew Robb PA R SONS
2 West 13th Street, 9th floor
Managing Editor New York, NY 10011
Emily Culliton
Parsons focuses on creating engaged citizens and
Copy Editor outstanding artists, designers, scholars, and business
Ellen Keelan leaders through a design-based professional and
liberal arts education.
Template Design
Pure+Applied Parsons students learn to rise to the challenges
of living, working, and creative decision-
Graphic Design making in a world where human experience is
HvADesign increasingly designed.
Henk van Assen
Mariah Xu The school embraces curricular innovation, pioneer-
ing uses of technology, collaborative methods, and
Illustrations global perspectives on the future of design.
12-na Marks and Spenser
Fiona Bailey OpenWear Volume 8 of the Journal, to be published Spring
Jennifer Ballie Painted 2015, will address the theme of New Public
Suzanne Bocanegra Lauren Downing Peters Goods.
BurdaStyle.com Joke Robaard
Petter Cohen Nacho Rojas The New School 2014. All rights reserved. ISSN: 1935-0112.
ISSN: 1935-0120 (online).
Jorge Colombo Serpica Naro
Emmeline de Mooij Bert Stern
Miriam Dym Stephanie Syjuco
Marco Garofalo Louise te Poele
Giana Pilar Gonzlez Bianca Thoyer Rozat
Paige Green Simon Upton
Marc Herbst Hannah van Grimbergen
Amy Twigger Holroyd Robin Vogel
Kldoteket Pieter Wackers
Simon Edgar Lord
THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTER FROM THE DEAN
3 LETTER FROM THE DEAN
4 STEPHAN WEISS LECTURE SERIES
5 LETTER FROM THE EDITORS I am pleased to present Volume 7 of The Journal of Design Strategies, on
Pascale Gatzen and Otto von Busch Alternative Fashion Systems. Fashion today plays a bigger role in more

peoples lives than at any previous time in history. New designs move from
catwalk to retail outlet with unprecedented rapidity, even as prices have fallen
9 SECTION 1: STEPHAN WEISS LECTURES
sharply. But this democratization of style can also impose its own costs,
10 In the Hands of the User: The Local Wisdom Project and the Search for an replacing a thoughtful and enduring relationship to ones clothing with a
Alternative Fashion System Kate Fletcher regime of relentless consumption for its own sake.
17 From Open-Source Branding to Collaborative Clothing Zoe Romano The artists, designers, and thinkers whose work is collected in this volume
share a commitment to exploring new types of fashionability, beyond those
28 Workstyles J. Morgan Puett recommended by the mainstream fashion system. The various projects span
37 A Winning Fabric, A Broken Text Joke Robaard an exceptionally wide range, some operating squarely within the parameters of

commercial enterprise, others independent of the marketplace and its demands,
still others sharply critical of the current system. Notably, none of the projects
45 SECTION 2: VIGNETTES
exhibited here represents an anti-fashion sensibility: on the contrary, all of
the artists, designers, and theorists showcased in these pages have a serious and
46 Wardrobe, Recycling, Consequence: Interview with Mariano Breccia and abiding interest in clothing and in the many meanings that clothing style can
Mechi Martinez of 12-na Elizabeth Oria convey. Collectively, they reaffirm fashion as something worth reflecting on.
55 Logo Removal Service Miriam Dym I want to thank the Karan-Weiss Foundation for its continued sponsorship
62 Fashion Codes Hacked, Indexed, and Shared Giana Pilar Gonzlez of the Stephan Weiss Lecture Series as well as this Journalsupport that allows
us to continue to explore emerging developments at the intersection of design,
65 Laundry Habits Jade Whitson-Smith business, and the wider culture we share.
68 Golden Joinery: On Imperfect Beauty Margreet Sweerts
80 Fashion 2012 Marc Herbst
84 The Counterfeit Crochet Project (Critique of a Political Economy
Stephanie Syjuco
88 Unpick and Remix: Textile Design Services for Fashion Jennifer Ballie Joel Towers
Dean

93 SECTION 3: CASE STUDIES
94 The Brooklyn Flea: A Model for Counter-Consumption?

Lauren Downing Peters
100 Disruption Through Download: Burdastyle.com and The Home
Sewing Community Rachel Kinnard
107 Check Out Some Fashion: Clothing Libraries in Sweden
Alessandro Esculapio
118 Re-Knitting: The Emotional Experience of Opening Knitted Garments
Amy Twigger Holroyd
128 CONTRIBUTORS
2 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 3

STEPHAN WEISS LECTURE SERIES
LETTER
FROM THE EDITORS
Each year, Parsons School of Design Strategies hosts the Stephan Weiss Lecture
Series on Business Strategy, Negotiation, and Innovation. This lectureship
was launched in 2002 to commemorate the life of the late artist and sculptor
Stephan Weiss, husband and business partner of the fashion designer Donna
Karan. Weiss co-founded Donna Karan International in 1984, and was instru-
mental in every significant venture the company undertook: launching and
structuring new brands, most notably the Donna Karan Beauty Company;
signing new licenses; establishing in-house legal and creative departments;
devising its computer design technology; orchestrating the companys initial
public offering in 1996; and negotiating its sale to the current owner, LV MH
Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
In Spring 2009, the School of Design Strategies became the formal host of the
Stephan Weiss Lecture Series, inaugurating a new format for the lectures, the
Design Strategies Dialogue. Weiss lectures have since been conducted as inter-
views and as larger panel discussions, in addition to traditional lectures.
Recent Weiss lecturers and Dialogue participants have included Natalie Jer-
emijenko, director of the Environmental Health Clinic at New York University;
Yochai Benkler, Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard
University and co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society;
Sonia Manchanda, co-founder of IDIOM Design Consulting in Bangalore,
India; and Joo Tezza Neto, Director of Science and Technology at the Brazilian
nonprofit organization Amazonas Sustainable Foundation. Over the last decade, under the banner of a
democratized consumption driven by ever-cheaper The dominant discourse and
and more rapid production methods, fashion has
become a phenomenon saturating the everyday life practice of fashion have made the
of most western societies. The dominant discourse fashion industry more ubiquitous
and practice of fashion, which tend to support core and influential than ever before,
values of the market economy, have made the fashion
industry more ubiquitous and influential than but have also transformed it into
ever before, but have also transformed it into an an unsustainable behemoth in
unsustainable behemoth in serious need of change. serious need of change.
Can we identify other fashion systems and nar-
ratives, currently subsisting in the shadow of the
dominant one: everyday practices of dress; alternative
modes of exchange; deviant historical and cultural This issue of The Journal of Design Strategies exam-
modes of production, consumption and dress; partici- ines alternative fashion systems now developing in
patory, do-it-yourself (DI Y ), and other practices at the margins and interstices of the dominant market
the fringes of the mainstream fashion system? Could model, collecting cases, examples, and proposals
these parallel systems be nurtured and organized, from across the world and providing access points
creating visibility and proposing socially sustain- for the advancement of new practices and educa-
able alternatives to the dominant models of clothing tional models in fashion.
provision and the dissemination of style?

OVERVIEW OF THIS VOLUME in which participants use crochet to counterfeit The range and diversity of these various initiatives
handbags based on recognizable designer styles. And hint at the amount of creative and reflective energy
This issue of the Journal is divided into three sustainable fashion researcher Jennifer Ballie details being devoted to some of the challenges associated
sections. The first contains articles provided by a clothing swap initiative sponsored by the British with mainstream fashion. But they also attest to
the invited Stephan Weiss Lecturers of 2012-13. retailer Marks and Spencer in conjunction with the the abiding importance of fashion itself, as a vehicle
Sustainable fashion theorist Kate Fletcher shares UN agency Oxfam, and a correlated workshop she for self-definition and differentiation. In the end,
examples of some of her work intended to promote conducted in which participants were encouraged these projects suggest that a true democratization
more thoughtful and resourceful ways of maintain- to redesign and repurpose existing garments using of style must go beyond increasing the number
ing and relating to ones clothes, and a more general simple dressmaking techniques, taught on the spot. of available consumption choices, engaging people
conception of prosperity that goes beyond mere more directly in the active and intentional develop-
purchasing power. Political activist and open-source ment of their personal style, and of the clothing
pioneer Zoe Romano details her role in an elaborate A true democratization of style they choose to express it.
hoax carried out during the 2005 Milan Fashion
Week, and her more recent efforts to develop an must go beyond increasing the
open-source fashion brand. Artist J. Morgan Puett number of available consump- Pascale Gatzen and Otto von Busch
surveys some of her many art projects and instal- tion choices, engaging people Guest Editors, The Journal of Design Strategies
lations that have explored various aspects of attire,
particularly in their social implications. Artist and more directly in the active and Volume 7
fashion theorist Joke Robaard offers a meditation intentional development of their

on textile-based metaphors, and their power to personal style, and of the clothing
illuminate aspects of social and political life more
generally. they choose to express it.
Section 2 comprises a series of short vignettes,
each exploring a practice that in some way rep-
resents an alternative to the mainstream fashion Section 3 includes four case studies, each
system. In an interview, textile artists 12-na discuss exploring a current initiative that in some way
their practice of using recycled clothing both as complicates the standard top-down and consump-
means of exploratory self-expression and in the tion-driven structure of the contemporary fashion
creation of unique, high-value garments. Artist industry. Fashion studies doctoral candidate Lauren
Miriam Dym shares her practice of removing com- Downing Peters exposes the inner workings of the
mercial logos from garments, replacing them with Brooklyn Flea, a thriving series of flea markets that
randomly-shaped patches in contrasting colors. are helping stimulate, while also profiting from,
Branding consultant Giana Pilar Gonzlez describes an increasing interest in pre-owned and vintage
her method for hacking the brand codes of luxury clothing. Journalist, curator, and fashion designer
fashion lines, extracting elements and motifs that Rachael Kinnard investigates the robust culture that
can be incorporated into other clothing items by the has sprung up on the BurdaStyle.com website, a
craftivist fashion lovers who attend her work- commercial outlet for downloadable sewing patterns
shops. Textile expert Jade Whitson-Smith discusses which has also become a large repository of reviews,
her experiment in giving up the use of her washing advice, and general support, created by and for
machine for a year. Fashion and theater designer home sewing enthusiasts. Fashion studies researcher
Margreet Sweerts describes the work of Painted, Alessandro Esculapio discusses the emergence of
the artist collective she helped found, in particular clothing libraries in Sweden. Finally, fashion de-
their workshops providing instruction and support signer and researcher Amy Twigger Holroyd shares
in old or almost-forgotten craft and repair methods some materials from her doctoral studies focused
for garments. Artist and publisher Marc Herbst on the practice of re-knittingunraveling part
shares a speculative proposal for a post-capitalist of a knitted garment in order to repair or refashion
fashion style. Installation artist Stephanie Syjuco itand the emotional resonances connected with
discusses her web- and workshop-based project this practice.

SECTION 1:
STEPHAN WEISS
LECTURES

IN THE HANDS OF THE USER:
These consumption patterns have altered the High described as a velvet glove of seductive surface cov-
Street, changing the face of the market for clothes as ering the hard fist of economic expediency.3 Thus,
well as our ideas about what fashion is. Combined if we are to begin to envision alternative fashion
The Local Wisdom Project with the decline in real prices, the need for ceaseless
market growth and positive return on investment
has changed the way people consume clothes
systems, we must be prepared to think and engage
with existing patterns of power, economic logic,
and social conditions. We must be prepared to ask
and the Search for an primarily by greatly accelerating their rate of

consumption. In the UK alone, 2 million tons of
and answer questions that speak to societys most
important themes, and to do so with a focused mind
Alternative Fashion System

new clothing are bought each year, and 1.1 million and heart. Granted, consumerism and the ceaseless
tons discarded.2 Besides suggesting a hoarding pursuit of economic growth may not be at the root
problem among many British consumers, this figure of all the problems we face, but they make many
testifies to fashions enormous contribution to the of those problems much, much worse. Therefore,
Kate Fletcher waste stream. in order to even begin to think about alternative
fashion systems, we must first understand fashions
relationship to consumerist materialism.
As an engine both of rapid consumption and of
In the UK alone, 2 million tons the ideology of consumerism, fashion is bound up
of new clothing are bought in systems of economic growth: it rewards individu-
each year, and 1.1 million tons alization, commodification, and the speeding up of
instant solutions. All this has major consequences.
discarded. The UN estimates that by 2050, we as a global
society will be facing a tripling of annual resource
extraction and consumption rates.4 In order to
Shopping is presented as a democratic choice, maintain relative climate stability, it projects, af-
a political triumph that conjoins economic and fluent countries must reduce their resource use by
personal freedoms. But we measure fashion success about a factor of five, or 80 percent.5
in terms of retail sales figures, and this in turn The impact of the fashion sector on the global
shapes the way we dress, as people are channeled environment began receiving specific recognition
Over the past 50 years, our civilization has become into specific ways of dressingcalling into ques- in the early 1990s. In response, the industry has
a consumerization. The prevailing consumerist style, It has become normal for us to tion how free our consumption choices really developed alternative fibers, new chemical processes,
in particular the expression of consumer society are. Businesses provide garments at specific price technical improvements in water and energy use,
through the clothes we buy and wear, is so natural access and engage with fashion points for specific target markets; as a corollary the and supply chain efficiency improvements. Many
to our way of thinking and acting that we hardly primarily by exchanging money quality and quantity of other options often declines. of these changes are positive in themselves. Yet the
notice it. It has become normal for us to access and for products. It has also become Especially since the 1960s, a new hierarchy of fash- welcome decline in impact per garment that these
engage with fashion primarily by exchanging money ion provision, driven by top designers and brands, eco-efficiencies have delivered has been completely
for products. It has also become normal to us that normal to us that these same has helped to displace nearly all other experiences overshadowed by an increase in overall consump-
these same products will be out of date, stylistically products will be out of date, of fashion. Shared public expectations of creating tion. In other words, efforts to lessen the impact of
incongruous, within about six months. We discard stylistically incongruous, within fashion are largely forgotten, with solutions now
rather than repair. In fashion as in most other areas framed entirely within the shopping mall. Choices
of contemporary society, our ideas of progress have about six months. We discard that dont fit into this paradigm are made to appear 1 Robin Anson. Editorial: End 4 Decoupling Natural Resource
become so tied to a societal narrative of growth rather than repair. undesirable, impractical, or too expensive. of the Line for Cheap Clothing?
Textile Outlook International
Use and Environmental Impacts
from Economic Growth, A
through continuous buying that the accelerating Contemporary fashion is also linked to structures 147 (2010): 5. Report of the Working Group on
Decoupling to the International
purchase and disposal of garments is now seen as a that reinforce the socioeconomic status quo: instead 2 Textiles and Clothing: Resource Panel, United Na-
necessary component of modern living. of reflecting fashions wider potentials, the industry Opportunities for Recycling, tions Environmental Programme
Textile Outlook International (2010): 30, www.unep.org/
The market domination of clothing production garments have likewise changed consumption reflects the dominant mode of production and the 139 (2009): 94-113. resourcepanel/decoupling/
and consumption has changed the fashion indus- patterns. In the first decade of the 21st century, interests of the dominant market players. In this files/pdf/decoupling_report_
3 Jeremy Till, Architecture english.pdf.
try: fashion is now structured to suit the demands clothing prices in Europe fell by over 26 percent way, fashion is implicated in modern systems of Depends (Cambridge: The MIT
of consumption as an independent value. Cheaper in real terms, and in the US by 17 percent.1 power and controlindeed the industry has been Press, 2009), 123. 5 Decoupling Natural Resource
Use, 30.

the fashion sector at the level of individual garments and shared public discourse that sees consumerist many of the conflicts around consumption. Our experience of the user again and again. The value of
have been eclipsed by the vastly increased total fashion alongside credible, viable, beautiful, exciting sense of responsibility and concern for others draws sustainability is not imposed by the intrinsic physi-
number of garments that we now buy. alternatives. If we are to think about fashion in a our gaze to the longer term, but prevailing social cal properties of a garment but given by the social
Contemporary fashions dependence on the new way, we must not only reduce the amount we norms and infrastructure urge, Buy it now! You systems that surround it, by the interrelationships
consumerist ideal lends to the idea of sustainable buy, but also and importantly engage with the pro- need it! You deserve it! You want it! Individualized that happen on an ongoing basis in peoples lives.
fashion an air of paradox. After all, even if we buy cesses and infrastructure of consumption. advertising made possible by Internet marketing Fashion is frequently created and put on display
organic cotton childrens pajamas or recycled polyes- strategies only reinforces this focus on ourselves. in ways that have nothing to do with real life;
ter fleece for weekends in the country, we neverthe- instead, fashion posits an idealized moment before
less maintain our dependency on market exchange. If we are to think about fashion time enters, before the garment has been on the
We reduce our ability to be self-reliant and mark our in a new way, we must not We need prudence, self-control body of an actual person. Such an approach to
own path, not just in acquiring clothing but in life design is almost an attempt to control time, or to
more generally. An increasingly narrow spectrum only reduce the amount we and willpower. We need fashion look away from it.9 When time and the real user are
of activity is valued, and what we demand today is buy, but also engage with the systems that promote these traits, ignored, fashion becomes an object for which you
more and more conditioned by prior experiences of processes and infrastructure of by evoking an idea of commitment have no responsibility, one that isnt about having
individualistic consumption. Alternatives are forced social experiences and relationships at all, but about
out of the mainstream and into the shadows, and consumption. to long-term security as a making money. By freezing time, you distance your-
ultimately suppressed. counterweight to the call of the self from the garment as a potential site of social and
individual, immediate moment. cultural engagement and value.
In her book Architecture and Design versus However, we can no longer pretend that our inter-
The UN estimates that by Consumerism: How Design Activism Confronts est in garments stops at the point of sale. Without
2050, we as a global society Growth, author Ann Thorpe explores the idea that
What strategies will help us balance our desire
a sense of real life and time, garments are empty.
we must confront the values of consumerism and We need to enter the complex, messy, unpredictable
will be facing a tripling of endless growth head-on in order to foster change. for immediate rewards with our long-term interests lives of other people and tap into them as a resource.
annual resource extraction and She surveys research on the pleasure that attends and commitments? Offer suggests that we need When we operate within a broader time frame, we
prudence, self-control and willpowerbut these are
consumption rates. In order to the purchase of something one wants. If we have a
qualities that are very difficult to maintain against
move away from the certainty that we can control
fairly low overall level of consumption, we experi- everythingthis fabric, in this style, at that cost
maintain relative climate stability, ence pleasure from buying more. However, as we a backdrop of cheap, instant gratification, and that and instead embrace a dynamic relationship that is
it projects, affluent countries begin to accumulate more, we experience diminish- can only be cultivated through time, training and open to change. We should provide a frame for life
a process of social learning and education. Perhaps,
must reduce their resource use by ing emotional returns of novelty and stimulation.
then, what we need are fashion systems that
to unfold in, that enables people to reach their full
We become locked in a cycle of needing ever more potential and capabilities. In other words, the new
about 80 percent. stuff to regain the satisfaction and the stimulation promote precisely these traits, by evoking an idea garments we create should be judged not for what
experienced with earlier consumption.7 Similarly, of commitment to long-term security as a coun- they are at the point of sale, but for what they are
in The Challenge of Affluence, author Avner Offer terweight to the call of the individual, immediate capable of becoming.
The challenges we face are more political than speaks eloquently about the benefits that increasing moment. We need to change the social narrative, Resourcefulness is another especially crucial
technical; indeed, we have most of the technologies affluence has afforded over the last 50 years, in the so that the idea of progress is no longer tied to component of any alternative to the mainstream
we need to transform our economy. At the 2012 US and the UK especially. He writes that, while af- economic growth through increasing the number fashion system, particularly at a time when we are
R I T E (Reducing the Impact of Textiles on the fluence has indeed increased our standard of living, of market transactions alone, and old patterns can reaching the environmental limits even to continued
Environment) Conference, participants discussed more moderate increases begin to shift. We need to build a more integrated existence on our planet. In a genuinely alternative
waterless dying, super-critical carbon dioxide dy- in affluence would nev- picture of social and material assets and connec-
6 See ritegroup.org.
ing, and a range of other readily available techni- ertheless have sufficed tions, using fashion as a medium.
because beyond a certain 7DesignAnn Thorpe, Architecture and This more integrated picture requires us to open
cal initiatives that reduce the amount of resources versus Consumerism:
up the life of the user. Consumerism promotes a The new garments we create
used per garment produced.6 What we lack are the threshold, additional How Design Activism Confronts
skills to apply these techniques within a larger bank Growth (London: Routledge,
wealth contributes little, 2012). view of us as autonomous individuals who are not should be judged not for what
of alternatives. We need new types of action, and nothing or even nega- part of an ethical, social world. Part of what we they are at the point of sale,
8 Avner Offer, The Challenge need from a new social narrative is a renewed sense
structures that allow cultural conditions, customs tively to well-being.8 of Affluence: Self-Control and
of responsibility to others. And to create such a new but for what they are capable
and routines to change, to create new kinds of The struggle between Well-Being in the United States
demand. Essentially, we need to adopt a much long-term and short-term and Britain since 1950 (Oxford: social narrative, we need of becoming.
Oxford University Press, 2006),
broader view. We need big thinking, political vision, reward is at the heart of 356. 9 Till, Architecture Depends, 79.
to enter the everyday

FIGURE 1 (LEFT): Self-mended jeans. San Francisco, July 2012. Photo: Paige Green.
fashion system, design and use would comprise a that people have come up with in connection with
single whole: what actually happens in the lives of their clothes (SEE FIGURES 1-3).10
people who use garments would provide inputs for Among the projects benefits are the opportuni-
fashion design and production. Therefore, an impor- ties it provides to look elsewhere than the fashion
tant part of altering the fashion system must involve world itself for ideas. One such idea comes from
fostering skills and practices that are conducive to the Dutch town of Drachten, where traffic engineer
promoting a satisfying use of garments. Hans Monderman introduced an innovative type of
These componentstime, resourcefulness, user- street layout designed to reduce the number of ac-
shipare central to the Local Wisdom research cidents between pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles.11
project, an initiative to capture and record innova- In a radical move, Monderman took away all the
tive practices of garment use by gathering everyday street signs and street furniture, and flattened the
individual stories and photographs. We advertise a sidewalks to road level.
photo shoot in a local community, inviting members 10 See localwisdom.info.
He then installed a
of the public to take part. People come to the shoot single sign declaring
11 Tom McNichol, Roads
to share the craft of use: the subtle, clever, and sat- Gone Wild, Wired, December
that nobody had prior-
isfying things they do with their clothes as they use 12, 2004, wired.com/ ityin this area, called
wired/archive/12.12/traffic.
them. The projects goal is to find ways to amplify html?pg=1&topic=raffic&topic
a shared space, all users
the ingenious fixes, alterations, and modifications _set=. had to be respectful
FIGURE 2: Altered vest. Bollington, Cheshire, UK, July 2009. Photo: Fiona Bailey.

and aware of all others. The goal was not to curtail Each of the images from Local Wisdom represents
freedom and mobility but to encourage it, and to do an alternative that has been suppressed because it is
so in a whole new way. Both traffic efficiency and not part of the fashion status quo. The new fashion
pedestrian safety improved measurably after the system must breathe life into these alternatives. It
Monderman re-design of the intersection. How was must enable our society to develop in quality with-
this possible? Monderman reasoned that at a road out necessarily growing in quantity, that is, without
junction, if there is a sign saying who has priority, producing yet more stuff. Well-being is about more
or a light that indicates who should stop, then we than having more things. Pacing our consumption
cease to watch out for one another. We dont take is actually better for us.
responsibility, because the system is doing it for us. We neednt start from scratch: the stories collected
In a shared space, on the other hand, we have to in the Local Wisdom archive provide numerous
take over the responsibility of watching out for each examples of people who effectively regulate their
other and begin to care for everybody. consumption of fashion without in any way dimin-
ishing their joy in experiencing it. But it is up to us
to foster and nourish these alternatives.
These stories are seeds of hope, and they must be
A new, alternative fashion system told many times if they are to take root and change
must be based on an ethos of lives. We are beginning to develop a system with
care, on attentiveness to one alternative values, perhaps chief among them a sense
of responsibility and an ethos of care. As in a shared
another and concern for the space where no one has priority, and in particular
future, on continuous tending. where industry doesnt have priority, we are allowing
the absence of hierarchy. We are allowing everyone
to develop opportunities in their own way.
The situation is similar in the case of consumerist

fashion. Here too, it is easy to rely on government
to introduce a new law that tells us what to do, or a
labeling service that says, This one is good for the
planet. That one was made under fair labor condi-
tions. But we have to begin to take responsibility
for ourselves. A new, alternative fashion system
must accordingly be based on an ethos of care, on
attentiveness to one another and concern for the
future, on continuous tending. Its about fostering
an economy of community alongside the economy
of freedom.
This new system must be holistic, interdependent,
dynamic, creative, responsible, resourceful, and
satisfying. It must lead toward an alternative that
permits us to imagine a way of living and being to-
gether not predicated on constant economic growth,
that builds prosperity through channels other than
the market, and that values a broad spectrum of
activity, not only those that can be most readily
monetized.
FIGURE 3: Found sweater. San Francisco, April 2010. Photo: Paige Green.

FROM OPEN-SOURCE BRANDING
TO COLLABORATIVE CLOTHING
Zoe Romano
In the mid-1990s, changes in Italian labor laws on Italys youth: insecurity caused by chronic under-
brought about a fundamental shift in the way employment.2 The market was no longer providing
people worked.1 These changes particularly affected
young people entering the workforce, who were no 1 Rachel Donadio, Stuck in 2 Precarity may refer to any
longer being offered the type of long-term contracts Recession, Italy Takes on Labor condition of existence without
Laws That Divide the Genera- predictability or security, affect-
familiar to their parents, many of whom had stayed tions, The New York Times, ing material and psychologi-
in the same job for 30 years or more. Instead, in- March 19, 2013, nytimes. cal welfare, but is commonly
com/2012/03/19/world/ associated with the condition of
creasing numbers of young Italians were starting europe/italy-tackles-labor- underemployment. To some de-
their careers under reduced contracts, the details of laws-that-divide-young-and-old. gree, the condition of precarity
html?pagewanted=all. Stephan affects all of service labor, but
which were often difficult to understand. I became Faris, Italys Labor Pains, the phenomenon is historically
involved in a social movement that arose to address Bloomberg Businessweek concentrated among youth,
Magazine, November 16, 2011, women, and immigrants. See
this situation. Our Milan-based group, known as businessweek.com/magazine/ Merijn Oudenampsen and Gavin
the Chainworkers, began coordinating with work- italys-labor-pains-11162011. Sullivan, Precarity and N/
html. European Identity: (An Interview
ers in France and England, seeking to publicize the with Alex Foti [Chainworkers]),
concept of precarity as a way of highlighting the Mute, October 6, 2004, www.
metamute.org/editorial/ar-
circumstances of young Europeans, and in particu- ticles/precarity-and-neuropean-
lar the consequence of the new working conditions identity-interview-alex-foti-
chainworkers.
FIGURE 1 (SEE PREVIOUS PAGE): Logo for San Precario, developed by the Chainworkers.

adequate full-time jobs, a state of affairs very famil- afforded a way for service workers to identify one peopleabove all the National Chamber for Italian fictitious designer seem obscure and controver-
iar to freelance, temporary, and flex workers in the another without their employers knowledge. Fashion, the industry group that organizes the sial. For example, the interviewer asked, Youve
United States, but previously unknown in Italy. The other sector in Milan that my group focused Milan fashion shows.7 said that you design the design. What does that
Our group held weekly planning and strategy on was the creative sector, comprising the intersect- mean?to which Serpica Naro answered, I design
meetings in squatters buildings around Milan.3 ing worlds of fashion design, advertising, event everything, from when I wake up to when I go to
With all our actions and activities self-organized planning, and media. In contrast to those working To increase the realism around sleep. Even the people who work for me have to let
and self-financed, we chose to focus our initial in the service sector, people in these fields see their our fictitious fashion designer, themselves be designed. Design is no longer just the
efforts on the two industrial sectors that employ career not as a job, but as an expression of their making of clothes or products. Today we create our
the most young Italians: the service sector, which personality. As a result, many young people are will- we developed branding and a own universe. Essentially, we were imitating the
includes call centers, chain stores, and restaurants; ing to work for little or no pay, in the hope that they communication campaign, and senseless art-speak and design-speak typical of the
and the creative sector. Both of these sectors are will eventually be recognized and rewarded for their we mobilized San Precario as an industry.
characterized by high levels of precarity within their creative work. These factors combine in frequently- Concurrently with the interview, one of our
labor forces. overheard comments such as, Im a designer, but antagonist. groups members contacted the National Chamber
Workers in the service sector generally dont see I pay my rent by working in a call center, or, Im for Italian Fashion posing as Serpica Naros agent,
their job as their real work, and they therefore a journalist, but I work at a bar to pay the bills. explaining that we were a new brand just enter-
tend to avoid confronting poor conditions. We Many live with their parents until well into their Fashion Week in Milan is a crazy, compressed ing the Italian market from Japan, and asking
began organizing call center and supermarket work- thirties, staying at low-paying jobs in the anticipa- week full of events. Knowing that journalists how we could be part of the event. They told us to
ers, who were able to talk, plan, and strategize over tion of promotion and independence. However, would have no interest in talking to activists then, send them a book of the collection, our trademark
the course of the many hours they spent working that rarely happens: a 2009 survey by Chainworkers we invented a way to be heard. Using people who registration, a list of buyers, and other materials, all
together. Working with freelancers and temporary of fashion workers in Milan found that 60 percent worked in the fashion systemas freelancers, temp of which we could easily fabricate. They didnt ask
workers proved more difficult, since they could had been working for more than five years, and 60 workers, and catwalk internswe created a fake to see the collection itself, so we didnt need to show
be let go once they showed signs of organizing. fashion designer to enter into the official schedule any actual products.
Partly to address this problem, the Chainworkers for Milan Fashion Week 2005. It was the one-year To make the book, we altered stock photos from
drew upon the countrys tradition of patron saints A 2009 survey of fashion workers anniversary of the birth of San Precario, so we the web (SEE FIGURE 3). We didnt have funds for print-
in canonizing a new saint, an Italian worker we in Milan found that 60 percent used an anagram of that name: Serpica Naro. This ing, so I designed the book industrial style, en-
dubbed San Precario, the saint of precarious work- Anglo-Japanese name served both to capitalize on larging the photos at a copy shop and binding them
ers everywhere. We also developed an associated had been working for more the current Italian infatuation with Asian design,
logo for our new saint (SEE FIGURE 1).4 than five years, and 60 percent and to obscure Serpica Naros origins by making her
The image of San Precario soon became wide- depended on their parents headquarters in Japan (SEE FIGURE 2).
spread throughout Italy and Europe, largely as a To increase the realism around our fictitious fash-
result of the EuroMayDay Parades, an annual event financial support. 65 percent ion designer, we worked on multiple levels: we de-
that focuses on precarity, which originated in Milan believed that they would never veloped branding and a communication campaign,
in the early 2000s and by 2005 were being held in earn enough to support a family. and we mobilized San Precario as an antagonist.
15 cities and drawing some 100,000 participants.5 The first step involved creating a fake fashion
Thousands of pins magazine, Settimana della Moda, which purported
3 Chainworkers interviewed by
bearing the logo of San to focus on promising young designers in Milan.
Mara Cecilia Fernndez, From Precario were distrib- percent depended at least partially on their parents Soon, young fashion designers began writing to us
Labor Precarity to Social Precar-
uted at these and similar continuing financial support. Almost 65 percent asking to be interviewed and expressing their ap-
ity: Interview, Chainworkers
3.0, March 2005, www.chain- events, and these pins believed that they would never earn enough to sup- preciation that Fashion
workers.org/node/82. port a family.6 Week was finally think-
4 Marcello Tar and Ilaria Vanni,
We wanted to help stimulate a conversation 6 Adam Arvidsson, Giannino
ing and talking about
Malossi and Serpica Naro,
On the Life and Deeds of San 5 Alice Mattoni, Serpica Naro around the fact that millions of Italys young people Passionate Work? Labour them. But our main
Precario, Patron Saint of Precar- and the Others. The Media
ious Workers and Lives, The Sociali Experience in Italian
now work for years without proper pay, and to Conditions in the Milan Fashion
purpose was to have
Industry, Journal for Cultural
Fibreculture Journal 5 (2005): Struggles Against Precarity, find ways to confront the situation. We wanted to Research 14, no. 2 (2010): a vehicle for publish-
23, five.fibreculturejournal.org/ Portal Journal of Multidisci-
fcj-023-on-the-life-and-deeds- plinary International Studies 5,
activate a network of otherwise atomized work- 295-309, accessed January 2,
ing an interview with
2014, doi: 10.1080/
of-san-precario-patron-saint- no. 2 (2008): 4-9, epress.lib. ers, to make them more visible in the mainstream 14797581003791503. Serpica Naro.
of-precarious-workers-and- uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/
lives/. portal/article/view/706/920.
media, and to challenge the fashion companies and The interview was
7 See cameramoda.it/en/as-
other institutional actors that were employing these sociazione/cosa-e-la-cnmi/. designed to make the FIGURE 2: Image from the press release for Serpica Naro

with metal hardware from which the book could Shortly before the event, we circulated the rumor
hang. Three days after they received our materials, that Serpica Naro had offered 15,000 euros to San
the Chamber for Fashion called to tell us that we Precario for the use of his Milan squat for her
were accepted. catwalk showsiting shows in squats and unusual
Some of our friends who worked in fashion alternative venues being a common practice among
agencies and press offices couldnt believe it: they designers at the time. We had San Precario reply
thought we must have known someone on the inside that he would not allow Serpica Naro to bring
in order to be included in the official Fashion Week gentrification to his neighborhood, and that he now
schedule. Designers typically hire graphic artists planned to come to her show with protesters.
and incur enormous expenses to get into the Milan This fabricated controversy began to attract the
shows. But the truth is, we were just doing our attention of journalists. Even the police called
jobsas workers in the fashion system, we knew us, to warn Serpica Naros agent that protestors
how to make things look good. However, we were were planning to invade her catwalk and ask if
now doing our jobs for a different reason: activism. she needed protection. The agent said no, that the
Meanwhile, for the catwalk show we created designer wanted direct contact with the activists,
a collection of ten garments, each an allegory of but the police came anyway, and eventually we had
our work experiences. In one, called 60 Days, to reveal the truththat there was no new fashion
the model wore 60 T-shirts numbered 1 to 60, the brand, that we were behind both Serpica Naro and
idea being that you take one off every day for two San Precario, and that we were actually a group of
months as you wait obediently to be paid, a situation precarious workers, determined to have our say.8
that occurs often in Italy. Another, called Bisex
Tenderness, allows you to dress either as a man or a CREATION OF THE METABRAND
woman, depending on the employers requirements.
The Mouse Trap is a shirt and skirt designed As soon as the Milan Fashion Week hoax became
to fend off an inappropriately touchy boss. The known, we sold out of our Chainworker and San
Pregnant Lady is designed to help precarious and Precario T-shirts, and people were clamoring for
temp workers hide a pregnancy for as long as pos- more. Thats when we realized that we had had actu-
sible, so they are not laid off. The Mobbing Style ally created a brand, something with independent
is a pair of trousers with anti-stress puppets. When value. Indeed, people began contacting us offering
you are really stressed out, you just squeeze the pup- to buy the brand and turn it into a real fashion label,
pets to relieve stress. Finally, the Wedding Dress is but by then we had higher ambitions for leveraging
designed for migrant workers who need to marry an our newfound cultural notoriety.
Italian man in order to get a work permit (SEE FIGURE 4). Like all mainstream fashion brands, Serpica Naro
had been built to appeal by expressing valuesonly
the values we actually wanted to promote included
How could we have a brand sharing, social innovation, security over precarity,
and alternative economies, not just endless
that didnt just accumulate consumption for its own sake. Our conversations
value, but redistributed it; how accordingly began to coalesce around two main
could we find an alternative to questions: how could we have a brand that didnt
just accumulate value, but redistributed it; and how
the overproduction of creative could we find an alternative to the overproduction
workers, itself a major cause of creative workers, itself a major cause of the low
of the low wages and chronic 8 Ben, February 27, 2005
wages and chronic un-
deremployment typical
underemployment typical of the (22:08), Milan Fashion Week
Anti-precarity Action, www. of the sector?
sector? nettime.org/Lists-Archives/net-
time-l-0502/msg00066.html.
As we studied FIGURE 3: Images from Serpica Naros collection
the fashion system

the Serpica Naro hoax, a subgroup formed within indicate specific means of production and quality
the Chainworkers, focused on the fashion sector. In control. Its not a top-down designation, but rather
2006, the group created a non-profit organization, a way to build a bottom-up value system through a
also called Serpica Naro, with the goal of supporting peer network of small-scale creators and consum-
craftivists, artisans, and makers in collaborating to ers, all of whom both produce value for, and benefit
create shared e-commerce platforms, businesses, and directly from, the collective brand.
online communities. With the help of Adam Arvidsson, a sociology
professor at the University of Milan, I began to
develop relationships with European companies
Our aim is to optimize the ability and universities. We wanted not only to see if we
of small producers to compete could build a new brand that would be economi-
cally sustainable, but also to bring the ideas that
in the marketplace through the Serpica Naro experience had engendered into
collaboration and networking. a more institutional setting. These efforts resulted
We believe that economic in EDU fashion, a consortium of two companies
and three universities: the Slovenian design studio
sustainability can come from Poper,10 Ethical Economy from the UK,11 and the
manufacturing garments in a University of Milan,12 the Copenhagen Business
way that is highly creative and School,13 and the Department of Fashion and
Textiles at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.14 As
that keeps prices low without we researched open design and peer-to-peer fashion,
exploitation. we began prototyping the community that was to
become OpenWear in 2010.
We began with the concept of intellectual prop- THE OPENWEAR MODEL

FIGURE 4: Photos from the Serpica Naro catwalk show
erty. Realizing that there were no extant examples of
liberated trademarks, we worked with lawyers from Three shared resources form the core of OpenWears
Creative Commons to write a license for the use of activities. The first is an online platform where
fashion brands accumulate wealth by exploiting the Serpica Naro metabrand. This would permit people can present their personal or collaborative
Both luxury and fast fashion their creative, production, and sales segments. They individuals, small producers, and small factories to work and connect with others. The online platform
control the brand, but outsource the actual work. use the brand on their own clothing. We hoped this has allowed us to bring the barter system, already
brands accumulate wealth We wanted to develop an alternative scheme, and model would help fill the gap between big luxury common among small producers in Milan, to a
by exploiting their creative, this desire led us to develop the concept of an open- brands and fast fashion while also expressing, in larger community.
production, and sales segments. source brand in fashiona metabrand. a sophisticated manner, the values, images, and The second resource is an annual series of proto-
Recent years have seen a resurgence in DI Y trends desires of a grassroots movement that loves fashion type collections: garments plus plans and instruc-
They control the brand, but and maker movements.9 More and more people are but wants to produce it in a way that is based on tions for producing them, all created collaboratively
outsource the actual work. We wanting to learn how to do things with their hands, collaboration and sharing rather than exploitation. and in response to a brief that our group provides.15
wanted to develop an alternative: and to know more about the origins of what they Questions arose as to how we could guarantee The result is a common resource for members of
buy. Along with this, a new approach to design, that the people who made use of the Serpica Naro the online community, who can download the pat-
an open-source brand in called open design, is taking inspiration from metabrand practiced good ethics. But a metabrand terns and instructions for free. Members can then
fashiona metabrand. open-source movements and trying to change the doesnt function as a certification, in the way that produce the garments as presented or modify them,
way design is conceived. names such as Parmesan or Prosecco, for instance, changing the patterns and re-sharing these with the
Open design focuses on 9 Betram Niessen, A Path To-
community. They can also sell finished garments
further, we came to realize that it is characterized project sharing as both wards Networked Artisans, in 10 See poper.si/en/main.php. 13 See cbs.dk. directly on the platform, with the community
Openwear. Sustainability, Open-
by an increasing polarization: on the one hand big a catalyst to innovation ness and P2P Production in the 11 Company now defunct; see 14 See www.ntf.uni-lj.si/ot/
receiving a percentage of the profits (SEE FIGURE 5).
luxury brands; on the other fast fashion. Because and a way to expand World of Fashion. Research Re- youtube.com/watch?v=_on- index.php?page=news&target= The third resource is the Serpica Naro metabrand.
port of the EDUfashion project, PJdnlaGA. novice&item=255.
it was so hard for small producers to survive, there access to products and (e-book: Creative Commons,
Every item of the collection can be trademarked
was nothing in the middle. Both luxury and fast self-production. After 2010), 13-17. 12 See www.unimi.it/ENG. 15 See openwear.org/lookmap. with the Serpica Naro logo as well as with members

personal brands, if any. This enables individual As this concept evolves, similar hubs are opening
members, while remaining part of the community, in cities everywhere. These maker spaces, where
to create unique garments and lines, for example by infrastructure is shared, also serve as co-working
choosing inexpensive or luxurious fabrics depending labs where people can informally share industry-
on their own resources, tastes, or customer base. specific innovations in a non-competitive context.
Our aim, in short, is to optimize the ability of
small producers to compete in the marketplace
through collaboration and networking. We believe We are attempting to define a
that economic sustainability can come from manu- new type of worker, occupying a
facturing garments in a way that is highly creative middle ground between fashion
and that keeps prices low without exploitation. This
vision is described in the OpenWear license: designer and crafter-artisan. We
use the term network artisan,
OpenWear is an open brand a type of collec- meaning a worker who is a maker
tive trademark that recognizes the productive
role of co-production, engages in strategies that but also capable of setting up a
aim at redistributing the values thus produced, small business.
and seeks organizational solutions that give
co-producers a say in determining the overall
governance of the brand [as well as] the overall
social values toward which the brand should In fashion and beyond, new business models
contribute.16 need to be developed so that small local producers
and freelancers can operate outside of the main-
The OpenWear project is an experiment with two stream system in ways that are socially, economi-
key objectives. First, we are attempting to define cally, and environmentally sustainable. Collective
a new type of worker, occupying a middle ground laboratories promote this development by enabling
between fashion designer and crafter-artisan. We small producers to invest in themselves instead of
use the term network artisan, meaning a worker expensive machinery or software. Instead of paying
who is a maker but also capable of setting up a small for their own facility, small producers can pay a
business. Second, our experiment involves open- monthly fee to access high-tech machines such as
sourcing the brand and distributing the manufac- professional 3D printers, large sewing machines,
turing process. Our aim is to make social goals photography studios, or printers that print directly
primary and business a means of achieving those on textile. One model for this type of space has been
goals. developed in Australia, where the Council of Textile
and Fashion Industries has created a hub for access
to technology, training, and production in order to
THE FUTURE OF COLLABORATION promote business development and the Made in
A number of new technologies are now available Australia brand.18
that can help small producers succeed outside Co-working in a lab can also help small producers
of a factory setting. For fashion, this means that by allowing them to purchase supplies as a group
small batches of garments can be produced almost rather than individually. Fast fashion companies pay
on demand. The Fab Lab, housed within the less for their fabric because they buy in bulk. Small
Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Center for producers could benefit
Bits and Atoms, for example, is a laboratory with 16 See openwear.org/info/ similarly by joining with
license.
computer-controlled machines that enable people OpenWear or similar
to make almost anything.17 The aim of the lab is 17 See cba.mit.edu/about/ local hubs in purchasing
index.html.
to explore how community can be empowered by fabric for hundreds of
FIGURE 5: Designs from OpenWears collaborative collection
technology at a grassroots level. 18 See tfia.com.au/textile- producers at a time.
fashion-hub.

Today, people are also exploring new, mixed
business models in fashion, in which they not only
produce but also teach and work in collaborative
approaches to the production and consumption of
clothing. We believe that making things is better
than consuming them through the mainstream
WORKSTYLES
projects. For instance, a carpet-maker in Milan who economy; and that making things collaboratively is
was having difficulty selling her high-priced prod-
ucts is now earning money leading carpet-making
better than making them alone. Finally, we believe
that experimental efforts like these represent the
J. Morgan Puett
workshops in her home. Rather than spending 1,000 beginnings of a new way of understanding and
euros on a carpet, people can spend 250 euros learn- participating in fashion itself.
ing how to make their own. Expensive goods can
thus be sold in different ways: small producers can
avoid retail mark-ups by selling directly, creating
events that feature their products, or opening an
online shop.
Making open-source machines

available to grassroots local
hubs could revolutionize the way
fashion is produced, just as 3D
printing is revolutionizing product
design.
Open-source hardware is another, increasingly

available way to create a large local space at low per-
use cost. A project called OSLOOM (open-source
loom) was begun two years ago as a Kickstarter I am interested in new modes of being in the world, EARLY PROJECTS
proposal to produce a more affordable jacquard particularly in the context of our relations to the
loom.19 The loom is computer controlled and modu- environment, to each other, to forms of dwelling, to I have been engaged in the conceptually and materi-
lar, with modifiable open-source software, making inventive domesticating, and to clothing appara- ally complex field of installation art my whole life.
it adaptable to different needs. Making open-source tuses. Altogether, these relations compose an ethics Even as a child, I dug holes and lined them with
machines available to grassroots local hubs could of comportment, and ethical comportment is a aluminum foil to create swimming pools, and glit-
revolutionize the way fashion is produced, just main theme of all my work, Mildreds Lane and The tered the leaves around my bedroom windows so I
as 3D printing is revolutionizing product design. Mildred Complexity in particular. These projects could gaze onto a fairy world.
Other collectives are working on open-source encompass a working, living, researching, making Before I began working on my most recent proj-
parametric software to make patterns. Software like strategy that develops rigorous engagement with ect, Mildreds Lane, I created a series of large-scale
this could potentially be used to digitize patterns every aspect of lifesomething that I call work- museum research projects and art installations,
and alter them to fit different bodies by entering styles. Being is the practice. primarily investigations into the histories of the
measurements online. needle trades. These works reflected my experiences
With the Serpica Naro hoax as its background in the fashion industry through autobiographical
and inspiration, OpenWear is working to foster new stories intersected with the histories that emerged in
Ethical comportment is a main the form of live, performative installation.
19 See kickstarter.com/
theme of all my work. Earlier in my career, I designed and created
projects/mbenitez/osloom-an-
a series of experimental storefront projects in
open-source-jacquard-loom-diy- Manhattan that stemmed from undergraduate and
electrom; osloom.org.

graduate art and filmmaking projects at the School my practice is to try to let go of preconceived ideas
of the Art Institute of Chicago. I held dinners, about fashion in order to expand our notions of
salons, and performances in these storefront shops. what it could mean.
From there, my research projects morphed from I tried to develop an interstitial way of operating,
living-clothing-dwelling installations to a small, exploiting the apparent gaps of the disciplines
international clothing label, the retail and wholesale within which I worked, using my conceptual
business J. Morgan Puett Incorporated. toolbox. Ive spent the last 17 years disentangling
those experiences in a string of transhistorical
fashion-related installation projects. These have been
I initially sought to circumvent an attempt to slow down the research and making
process in order to investigate the intersections
the rarified field of experience of fashion, architecture, fine art, science, history,
of the art world, so overcoded by environmental activism, and other fields. I try to use
exclusionary conditions that, as the binding ingredients of contemporary culture to
create a more accessible public sphere.
a young rebel, I found extremely Ive always been interested in the collective. In
frustrating. Somehow, though, my storefront projects and installations, I learned to
I found myself entangled in collaborate and to attract and engage the public in
an immediate way, which triggered this long series
the fashion world, yet another of projects and exchanges. The concept of exchange
exclusionary system. for me is the transferring of an idea or object from
one person to another and the subsequent trans-
formation in thinking, feeling, and understanding FIGURE 1: Manhattan Tartan Project: Phase 1 & 2: Financial Tartan,
Ethnic Tartan and installation view, J. Morgan Puett and Suzanne
that takes place. Exchange evolves from collabora- Bocanegro 1996-2001.
During this period, I divided my time between tion, and in these projects, varieties of collaboration
Pennsylvania, where I lived in a small chicken coop, unfold in complex ways, fundamentally influencing
and New York City. Even then, I was drawn to both my being.
organic and metallic materials. Having come from
four generations of beekeepers in the Deep South, I
drenched my clothing and eventually the entire ar-
chive of my corporation in beeswax. My entire fash- Part of my practice is to try to let
ion experience was petrified, preserving what was go of preconceived ideas about
and simultaneously transforming into new forms of fashion in order to expand our
being, a concept I am continually fascinated with in
all of my practices. notions of what it could mean.
I fell into the fashion arena quite by accident.
During graduate school, I initially sought to
circumvent the rarified field of experience of the The Manhattan Tartan project, a collaboration
art world, so overcoded by exclusionary conditions with my friend Suzanne Bocanegra, focused on how
that, as a young rebel, I found extremely frustrating. textiles convey meaning through conceptually com-
Somehow, though, I found myself entangled in the plex semiotic systems. Tartans in particular were
fashion world, yet another exclusionary system. designed to reflect kinship relations and regional
I understand fashion as a symbolic system used distinctions, and later emerged as sophisticated
and negotiated by every person on this planet. expressions of colonial resistance (SEE FIGURE 1).
Theres no more universal system than clothing, and For Cottage Industry, a project in Charleston,
fashion involves our very being, so debates regard- South Carolina, I drew from a deep-rooted lo-
ing the proper place of style, art, and commerce, as cal history to explore womens work and roles FIGURE 2: Cottage Industry, installation and performance view. Curator: Mary Jane Jacob.
these bear on fashion, are not insignificant. Part of through tales of womens pursuits at home, and to

evoke industrial sites of exploitation by following and responsive forms of sartorial composure. For
garment-making through its history, from the 17th the project, my collaborators and I formed an actual
century to the present, from design to dying to company, based at the Massachusetts Museum of
sewing to marketing. The project involved extensive Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA), and proceeded to
research and extended collaborations with artists entangle ourselves with the museums management.
and artisans from the area. Piecing together missing The complex garments that were the products of this
social histories based on local sources, architectural corporation were at once multiple, multiplied, and
details, and everyday textiles, it centered on the multi-pieced.
creation of a multipart garment (SEE FIGURE 2). Ostensibly, the company existed to create tailored
My collaborators were part of a daily performa- suits for clients. But these suits did not exist as a set
tive installation housed in a small building that we of complete-unto-themselves piecesa jacket, vest,
had brought back to life. Every room had multiple and pair of pants, for examplebut rather as a suite
experiences for viewers to engage with, becoming
themselves part of the production.
The project RN: The Past Present and Future of
the Nurses Uniform (a collaboration with artist
Mark Dion), investigated the subtle ways in which
the uniform, by design, informs notions of identity,
professional hierarchy, and labor within any given
field. As we know, the uniform is a distinctive form
of attire worn to communicate the particularity
of a given group, as well as the specific role of an
individual within a network. Its goal is immediate,
universal identification, registered in specific behav-
ioral patterns in both the un-uniformed person and
the uniformed subject.
The RN exhibition specifically considered the
past, present, and future of uniforms worn by
American nurses. Throughout the space, we at-
tempted to chart the evolution of nursing apparel in
order to explore how changes in design shadowed
broader transitions within the social sphere and the
field of medicine. In particular, the exhibition ex-
amined changes in the symbolic role of nurses and
the redefinition of the professions conceptualization
through its uniforms. It consequently explored the
function of style in the production of knowledge.
The exhibit also addressed temporality by com-
bining historical artifacts with the collaborative
creation of the ideal uniform for the contemporary
nurse, and by projecting tropes of knowledge into
the future to create uniforms intended for, among
others, the Bioterrorist Nurse, the Diagnostic
Nurse, the Post-Apocalyptic Nurse, and the
Intergalactic Nurse (SEE FIGURE 3).
My next project, That Word Which Means FIGURE 4: That Word Which Means Smuggling Across Borders,
FIGURE 3: RN: The Past Present and Future of the Nurses Uniform, J. Morgan Puett and Mark Dion with Incorporated: The Multipled Suit, J. Morgan Puett in collaboration
the Fabric Workshop and Museum of Philadelphia 2003-2004.
Smuggling Across Borders Incorporated, was a with Mass MoCA, Iain Kerr, Jamie Grace and others.
form of business practice directed toward emergent

of quasi-pieces that constantly drifted in form and and educational philosophy of Mildreds Lane in- way for the next gesture. This requires generosity at
composition, shifting and slipping through identi- volves the collective creation of new modes of being all times. These turbulent multiplicities of deport-
ties from jacket to skirt to pants to unrecognizable in the world: comportment as commons. All this is ment, ethics, etiquette, and above all, hospitality, al-
attire. In wandering across our bodies and desires, embodied in what we call workstyles. low for comfort and freedom, opening up possibili-
these pieces would wander across a larger terrain Workstyles are the result of any practitioners ties for new types of exchange. Such workstyles have
of possible futures: hopeful futures encompassing autobiographical and experiential making, doing, no beginning and no endthey make up our lives.
corporate and noncorporate identities, new gender and thinking process, both interrelational and in- The participants at Mildreds Lane, who come
associations, and alternative forms of engagement. trarelational. This requires active systems thinking, from many different nations and disciplinary
The three-piece suit became a 36-disparate-piece a highly intuitive aesthetic sense, and understand- backgrounds, are constantly learning and sharing
suit complexity. When customers placed an order ing of how things influence one another within a workstyles centered around highly charged topics
through the company, we collaborated with them whole through cyclical, as opposed to linear, ways of that are addressed collectively throughout the year.
in an elaborate fitting process, during which they thinking and doing. These topics are prompted not only by those of us
would hear the history of the three-piece suit begin- at Mildreds Lane, but also by visiting artists own
ning with its origin in 1666, when Charles II pro- projects. Many topics involve expanding notions of
claimed that mens suits would henceforth include We try to make each gesture a dwelling and sustainability, and transhistorical and
a vest. In actuality, all of the projects Ive described philosophical musings; we usually have a theorist
are about collaborating with the customer in some sensitive and sustainable one that in residence. Short and dense discursive intensives,
sense, and moving through an experience together. makes way for the next gesture. called sessions, usually feature small groups of
FIGURE 5: Mildreds Lane.
This requires generosity at all students from the most outstanding institutions in
the world. These students, referred to as fellows, co-
times.
All my work is about weve made into the Mildreds Lane Historical
evolve workstyles with faculty and guests through-
out the sessions. A day at Mildreds Lane requires
collaborating with the customer Society and Museum, now encompasses dozens of negotiating a leave-no-trace policy, similar to that
in some sense, and moving 19th-century outbuildings, site-sensitive projects, Workstyles are activated through creative engage- of the National Park Service, while at the same time
experimental landscape interventions, and public
through an experience together. events scattered across portions of this magical
ment with the surrounding environment of things, encouraging interaction with all of life. The requisite
and especially by working with others. Such collab- sensitivity applies not only to the landscape, but also
acreage. orative relationships grow out of the complex mate- to people, animals, outbuildings, and objects. The
Mildreds Lane as a place is a future preserve that rial discipline of installation art, which is my base, ongoing activation of workstyles, therefore, asks one
MILDREDS LANE is in the process of becoming. Its where the creative but remain theoretically grounded in quotidian to seek new balance and relationships.
practitioner, the student, and the institution have tactics of getting by. Adaptive reuse, re-assembling, Food and dining are central to these exchanges
My current focus is on a vernacular architecture and collapsed roles as we seek to coevolve a new strategy recyclingall are ways to rethink what we have and and, food being a collective event, involve con-
landscape project called Mildreds Lane, which em- toward an emergent curriculum. In conversations what is useful about what is at hand. There is an stantly emerging collaborations. Our food projects
braces site-sensitive, event-based, and collaboratively among friends and colleagues who teach theory and emphasis on caring for each other and for the topics have been highly memorable for participants and
emergent practices in experimental living. practice in a variety of institutions, the limitations that drive us, and our comportment brings us closer guests. Making meals at Mildreds Lane often
Mildreds Lane is a 96-acre site deep in the woods of conventional visual arts programs become appar- together in all areas of our lives. involves an algorithmic process consisting of a set
of rural northeastern Pennsylvania. Besides me, ent. There is an excitement in exploring alternatives Thus commons is conceptualized as being or of steps or instructions that create new problems,
this ongoing collaboration involves the artist Mark that offer a new way to live, work, and research affecting a whole community, and comportment forcing participants to allow for dinner surprises.
Dion, our son, Grey Rabbit Puett, and friends and collectively. Mildreds Lane welcomes a new age as commons offers us a way to navigate everyday This process enables an emergent, energetic, socially
colleagues. Its also a homemy home. This experi- of curiosity, activating connections situated at the experienceat least at the Mildreds Lane site. engaged event based on a democratic arrangement
ment in living has developed as a rigorous pedagogi- nexus of science, life experience, and critical artistic Comportment here also refers to considering ones rather than a singularly authored or predetermined
cal strategy: a working, living, researching environ- practices. This unusual situation affords participants behavior as a constant negotiation with the environ- outcome. No two meals are ever quite alikenever
ment that fosters engagement with every aspect of the opportunity to collaborate on the production ment of things and space, and in rethinking our in exactly the same place or set up in exactly the
life. The entire site has become a living museum or, of large-scale, research-driven art projects within involvement with everyday habits such as shopping, same wayand theyre only as good as the people
rather, a new contemporary art complex(ity). a truly transdisciplinary environment. These col- making, eating, cleaning, sleeping, reading, think- who come to them.
The place itself is inspired by a remarkable laborations are designed as shared experiences that ing, and doingin short, everything. Through a series of sessions called Retail 21st
woman, Mildred Steffens, who grew up and lived may have transformative, lifelong effects on how Through cultivating our attention to what came Century, we collectively decided to establish an
there her entire life, from 1902 to 1987. For much of we think of ourselves as creative practitioners in the before and what comes after, we try to make each off-site space in order to promote a broader com-
that time, she was alone. Her old homestead, which social and political sphere. The core of the practice gesture a sensitive and sustainable one that makes munity conversation and experiment on the future

of exchange. The resulting project, The Mildred
Complexity, now comprises a retail storefront,
project space, production studio, and office in the
PG Its also doing things together, like making
meals, arranging the table, and so forth. A WINNING FABRIC,
hamlet of Narrowsburg, New York, about 100
miles northwest of New York City. The Mildred
JMP Right. There are no servants; we all
serve each other. The staff is there to fill in A BROKEN TEXT
Complexity focuses on the dynamics of people and the gaps, training others, watching over the
the production of the spirit of exchange, challeng- flow of people, and explaining the system of
ing preconceived notions of what the retail store can workstyles and how its accomplished. Some Joke Robaard
do. Its about attempting to recondition consum- people come expecting a bed and breakfast,
ers to retain their critical faculties when they cross where somebody makes their bed for them.
the threshold of a storefront, rather than dropping Then theyre given a set of sheets and a lovely
them. note saying, Kindly spruce up your building
Projects with resident artists at the retail space for the next person. Its the way we need to
may manifest in installations, dinners, workshops, start thinking in the worldthinking of the
musicalways with community collaborations in person who came before you and the one who
mind and particular attention on locally sourced will come after.
food. In this small town, our colleagues are building
a renewable sociality, charged with environmental AUDIENCE MEMBER Im curious about the entering
activism. Driven by concern for the future, were and exiting process. How do you choose like-mind-
exploring new ways to conceive, produce, make, ed individuals to collaborate with?
and do things systemically and interpersonally,
while seeking democratic, collaborative, coevolv- JMP Its a wonderful, self-organizing system,
ing responses not only to the economy but to the which is the best of all worlds. It started
environment. Were interested in the possibilities of out with our friends doing projects, then
where to situate these practices and actionsnot we began bringing students in to work on
only in galleries or institutions, but also in factories, projects. Realizing that we were all in major
domestic spaces, or deep in the middle of the woods. museums and teaching at major institutions
All in all, we remain ambassadors of entangle- around the world, I reached out and asked my
ment and seekers of new modalities of exchange that friends to support having students come to JUST WORDS
aspire to a hopeful modernity, seeking new tropes Mildreds Lane. In 2007, we formalized the
of knowledge and keeping in mind that persistence visiting student program. The sentences in Figure 1, from a 1983 issue of the garment encourages the purchase of the dress.
overcomes most obstacles. In the midst of all this American Vogue, accompany a series of photographs During the early 1960s, when Barthes was research-
flux, at Mildreds Lane being is itself the practice. of the innovative work of Comme des Garons ing the rhetorics of popular and commercial culture,
design team, Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto.1 fashion was developing gradually into a highly
PASCALE GATZEN (PG) Having been at Mildreds Lane As Roland Barthes argued in his book, The Fashion structured industry fueled by the mass distribution
and having grown beautiful friendships out of my System, garments may be read through the details of images. Fashion images needed to provoke fas-
visit, I feel that the power of the work youre doing of their design, disclosing facts and norms pertain- cination, fashion texts an appropriation of specific
there involves bringing people together who have ing to the sociocultural context that created them.2 garments and trends.
amazing energy and want to do something in the How, then, are we to read this written garment? American Vogue projected a cool, almost distant
world. Something magical happens, some chemistry The only direct textual information offered by Vogue message in 1983, trusting its somewhat educated
happens, and many projects have come from people are the words slit and irregular cut-ups. There public to understand. That same year, the Dutch
who met there. is no use of typical fashion rhetoric, and almost no lifestyle magazine Viva
2 Roland Barthes, The Fashion
description of the character of these revolutionary reacted to the high System, trans. Matthew Ward
J. MORGAN PUETT (JMP) Yes, it is really magi-

clothes. Still, the words are significant, since in production costs of the and Richard Howard (Berkeley:
calso many intense people coming together effect, language allows the source of meaning to be so-called poverty look University of California Press,
1983 [1967]), 4.
with like minds around topics were all attached quite precisely to a small, finite element
1 Fashion: Steel Yourself! 3 Barthes, The Fashion System,
interested in. Its a bit like a book club, but on (represented by a single word).3 The descriptions American Vogue, March 1983, 14.
an amplified scale. exist to direct the eye of the viewer: describing 352. Photo: Bert Stern.

FIGURE 1: Comme des Garons advertisement, American Vogue, March 1983. Text: More of this seasons
changes-one-step-further fashion-from Comme des Garons: a big black squared-off cotton top, FIGURE 2: Front page of the Dutch newspaper NRC Next, May 10, 2012. Headline reads:
matching asymmetric skirt, both slit with irregular cut-ups ... new shapes, new ideas. The Euro Knitwork is Tearing Apart.

with an article under the headline Paris: From Chic Gruyter explains that the French have developed a produced by Donald John MacKay of Luskentyre
to Seedy.4 Manufacturing holes in a piece of fabric specific word for the decline of financial integration on the Isle of Harris; his tweed samples were chosen A textiles full meaning always
was immensely expensive in the context of mass in Europe: dtricoter, or unknitting.7 The slow un- by Nike in 2003 for a limited edition of trainer
production. Yet the post-punk Japanese style revolu- knitting or unraveling of the EU systems structure shoes. The company approached MacKay in an incorporates collective and
tion epitomized by Miyake and Yamamoto explored is occurring, she suggests, not through wear and effort to update their Terminator, a basketball shoe narrative elements, such as
all properties of textiles, celebrating them in all their tear but through a process of unwinding, as when from the 1980s, and made an initial order of nearly Dribbling fabrics connection to a
possible material expressions-transparency, vulner- a sweater is carefully unknitted in order to create a 10,000 meters of cloth. Because MacKay could not
ability, unfinishedness. This was in strong reaction new one. But what are the repercussions of unknit- produce enough in the loom shed behind his house, soccer star, or the tweed fabrics
to the glamorous post-war fashion surfaces as well as ting such a complex set of relationships? weavers throughout the Outer Hebrides were called association with the Scottish
the earlier release of mass produced, deconstructed Textiles appeared in many fashion magazine into action to meet the demand. His tweed fabric countryside.
surfaces. Vogue characterized this phenomenon in advertisements in the 1960s and 70s; in fact, textile absorbs all the colors of his surroundings, even the
terms of a distinction between two different ap- brands helped fuel the fashion industry. After turquoise dots exactly matching the color of the
pearances: One represents a sleek polished point of the 1970s, textile production almost disappeared sunlit seawater next to his house. The collaboration Plato studied the technique of weaving carefully
view ... the other is freer, more experimental from in Europe and the US, as textiles and clothes between Nike and McKay received a lot of media before he used it as a metaphor for the organiza-
head to toe.5 Viva instead employed a vocabulary increasingly came to be mass-produced in Asia. attention and helped establish the specific connota- tion of an ideal state as part of a discussion about
familiar to many of its readers, expressing distrust of Accordingly, advertisements related to textiles began tions associated with this fabric. Although you can leadership and statecraft in the dialogue Statesman.10
new appearances in almost gossipy terms. Whether to disappear from fashion magazines (manuals perceive a textile simply as compressed matter, a In this work, the character known as the Stranger
they appear in fashion, politics, or architecture, for textile production had already disappeared as textiles full meaning always incorporates collective explains that the statesman acts like a weaver, creat-
words are able to encourage or break down, much people stopped producing their own garments). and narrative elements, such as Dribbling fabrics ing a perfect fabric. This conversion of technologi-
the same way that textiles can be constructed and Traditionally close relationships among designer, connection to the physical qualities and fame of a cal thinking carries implications for the possible
deconstructed. producer, and user were coming unraveled. soccer star, or the tweed fabrics association with the political and social organization of a state. The
Scottish countryside. loom not only serves as a tool for weaving, but also
A WINNING FABRIC imposes restrictions on the weaver: the warp is able
Fashion images needed to provoke to expand, while the weft is trapped within the
In 1993, ten years after the construction of Comme Manufacturing holes in a piece of boundaries of the loom. Warp people are leaders;
fascination, fashion texts an des Garons torn and cut-up clothing collection, a fabric was immensely expensive, weft people followers.
appropriation of specific garments winning fabric called Dribbling was introduced The use of the term fabric as a metaphor for
yet the post-punk Japanese
and trends. by the Italian fashion designer Nino Cerruti, who society has continued in modern times. In the US,
borrowed the term dribbling from soccer to name a style revolution explored all for instance, the writer and urban planning critic
new material that could somehow absorb the quali- properties of textiles, celebrating Jane Jacobs famously observed that frequent streets
ties of a famous soccer player (Jean Pierre Papin, star and short blocks are valuable because of the fabric
BREAKING, UNTHREADING
of the Milan team, who endorsed the fabric).8 In transparency, vulnerability, of intricate cross-use that they permit among the
Wagners 1876 opera Gtterdmmerung (The order to produce a mere meter of the new fabric it and unfinishedness. users of a city neighborhood.11 In Europe too, the
Twilight of the Gods) begins with three goddesses, takes 86 kilometers of wool thread. Then, an 18-step notion has gained currency that the fabric of
the Norns, sitting on a rock and weaving the rope finishing process guarantees impeccability and pure various communities has been torn, a phenom-
of the worlds destiny. As they pull and stretch the comfort.9 Cerruti explained that Papin embodied SOCIAL FABRIC enon illustrated by the NRC Next article mentioned
cord, it suddenly breaks. Our eternal knowledge is the spirit of the times and the fashion and lifestyle previously.
at an end, they lament. The world will know noth- trends of the 1990s, enhancing the value of his en- The term social fabric is commonly used to The bearing of textile metaphors on modern
ing more of our wisdom.6 In Wagners opera, the dorsement. Another historical one-man fabric was refer to the composition and coherence of society. life coincides with the recent evolution of fashion.
world is projected onto a piece of woven fabric and Writers, intellectuals, and politicians frequently Since World War Two, fashion has become a huge
its history determined through the act of weaving. I make use of this textile-derived metaphor to industry, with its strict
4 Parijs. Van sjiek tot sjofel, 7 Caroline de Gruyter, Het eu-
recalled this desperate scene and its animating meta- Viva Magazine, March 1983, robreiwerk gaat scheuren, NRC
describe social conditions, including whether a ritual of seasons and
phor upon viewing an issue of the Dutch newspaper 27. Next, May 10, 2012, 4-5. community is strong and resilient or torn and accompanying consumer 10 Plato, Statesman, Philebus,
Ion, trans. Harold North Fowler,
NRC Next from 2012. The cover illustration shows 5 Fashion: The Contrast, 8 An. Ma., A winning fabric,
disintegrating. Where does this expression come behaviors. The idea of W.R.M. Lamb (Cambridge: Loeb
a man and a woman struggling to hold onto the last American Vogue, July 1983, Mondo Uomo 1993, 98; article from, and what exactly does it mean? What is the illusion attached to gar- Classical Library, 1925).
156. derived from information insert
threads of a shredded piece of fabric, alongside the in the magazine (authors
relation between the fabric of a society, resilient or ments, along with the 11 Jane Jacobs, The Death and
headline, The Euro Knitwork is Tearing Apart. 6 Richard Wagner, Gtterdm- archive). torn as it may be, and public discussion making use power of branding, is Life of Great American Cities,
merung (Boston: Oliver Ditson (New York: Vintage, 1992
In the accompanying article, writer Caroline de Company, 1926). 9 An. Ma., 98.
of such rhetoric? now mainstream. Today [1961]), 186.

SECTION 2:
the process of developing a
real, sustainable material,
of knowing how to create
a proper surface, is gaining
new significance. Many
artists have started to learn
weaving again, designers
are exploring and combin-
VIGNETTES
ing old and new weaving
techniques, architects are
expanding knotting and
related techniques, and col-
lective knowledge is shared.
Indeed, the construction
of textiles is itself based
on collective knowledge:
almost anyone can under-
stand how to construct a
piece of fabric by observing
others and following their
example. By studying the
structure and binding of a material you immediately of textile techniques, which can be constructed and
encounter the philosophical and metaphysical con- deconstructed at any moment.
cepts that are involved. Suddenly, a piece of fabric In 1983, when Comme des Garons initiated a
series of new proposals for fashion clothing made
of disrupted fabric, they created a contradiction
Textiles create an ongoing in meaning: devotees of punk culture were liter-
exchange between different ally ripping the fabric of their clothes, a symbol of
their general rejection of consumer society, even as
cultural and social fields such as Comme des Garons was proposing ripped material
architecture, fashion, sociology, as a radical new form of elegance aimed at a broader
philosophy, and literaturenot public of consumers. As noted previously, American
Vogue had a hard time finding appropriate words
merely through words or images, for describing these disrupted materials, and opted
but through the character of for a neutral sartorial language instead.
textile techniques, which can be In daily life, the word fabric generates the
same dualities. On the one hand, we have an
constructed and deconstructed at almost archaic belief in a woven fabric: an endless
any moment. dependence on the solidity and strength of a fabric.
On the other hand, theres a common experience of
the decay or unraveling of this fabric, in actuality
seems infused with paradigms of expansion, con- as well as in language. In its common use the term
traction, infill, repair, fraying. Textiles, both as pure offers connotations of binding, cohesion, solidity;
matter and as language, create an ongoing exchange the cognate term social fabric, operating on a
between different cultural and social fields such as much larger scale, is used as an acknowledgement of
architecture, fashion, sociology, philosophy, and the binding of a society. It is hard to describe how it
literaturenot merely through words or images, looks when it is torn. Is there a fault in the weave
but through the open but programmed character or is it just wear and tear?

WARDROBE, RECYCLING, AND contemporary interpretation of the kusillos, using
the look and design of 12-na.2 The characterssome
of them half bicycle, half cyclistgenerate change
MARIANO BRECCIA AND MECHI MARTINEZ
(MB/MM): Our process always originates from
the material we are using: used clothing. The
CONSEQUENCE and awareness, raising in a new context the possibil-

ity of the body as a legitimate means of transporta-
material available is very important to us, as it
directly affects the type of piece we develop.
tion (SEE FIGURE 1). It limits us and also gives us the opportunity
to develop a certain acuity when the time
Interview with Mariano Breccia comes to leverage the resource. In this process
For Breccia and Martinez, we have two routes. In the first, everything
and Mechi Martinez of 12-na remaking a garment involves revolves around the deconstruction of a gar-
ment, which allows us to take full advantage
more than assembling a collage of existing, ready-to-wear resources to make
of fabrics; it requires the ability clothing and give it new meaning. The second
Interviewed by Elizabeth Oria1 to design a garment that meets route involves traditional molding: in a more
conventional way, we cut a vintage piece and
the same expectations of a new use the parts in combination with sometimes
piece of clothing created by a untraditional materials, thus creating a new
designer, including high quality, a piece of clothing.
good finish, and the ingredient of EO: Where does the inspiration for your creations
creativity. come from?
MB/MM: It comes from our environment, our

Collaboration is another important aspect of roots, music, and from the materials we use,
Breccia and Martinezs practice. In YOMONS T RO , out of which we tell a story or generate a
monster masks and costumes are created in feeling. Our creative developments are very
interactive workshops from recycled materials, playful and free.
creating a vehicle for people to explore and expand Our design and creative work moves be-
12-na is a creative platform designed in 2004 by and Martinez achieve in their work. For this reason, the boundaries of the self and reveal their complete tween the worlds of fashion and art, aiming at
textile artists Mariano Breccia and Mechi Martinez, they have gained a following, particularly among identity in a social environment.3 This process, a customer who is respectful of his or her en-
an Argentine couple based in Chile. Breccia and Japanese consumers, long known for their design termed demonsterate, from monster and demon- vironment and conscious of the way consump-
Martinez work in diverse formats ranging from sophistication. In Japan, consumers appreciate the strate, serves as a creative action that is open to the tion works today. The negotiation of that fine
costume design to installations, films, workshops, exclusivity that a brand like ours generates, say integration of polaritiesone that does not attempt line between fashion and art is clearly visible
and interventions on public streets. Their complex Breccia and Martinez. They know that no one else to separate or divide what is from what is not, good in our workshops and in the research methods
body of work uses recycling as a means of expres- has what they are wearing. The garment also has from bad, or beautiful from ugly, but simply to that give rise to the collections.
sion, raising questions about sustainability and the another value: it is a recycled piece. Japan is among explore and recognize the contradictions that dwell
experience of dressing and eating in more conscious the countries with the most developed recycling within each of us. YOMONS T RO operates as a col- EO: How do you see your own work in fashion: as
ways. systems and culture, and therefore its citizens have lective experiment involving artists from other areas, work or lifestyle?
Remaking clothes usually involves a process of an awareness of the value of what we do. with 70 artists from four countriesArgentina,
recycling an outfit with a green objective, a task The couple found inspiration for their 2012 Chile, Germany, and Brazilcurrently demonster- MB/MM: Our work is based on a strong creative
rarely successful from the standpoint of fashion collection, Kusiclos y el Cndor, from Bolivian ating (SEE FIGURE 2). urge, and our lifestyle responds to that urge.
design. For Breccia and Martinez, remaking a mythological characters called kusillos. To create We are in the fashion world as well as the
garment involves more than assembling a collage the collection, Breccia and Martinez traveled to La ELIZABETH ORIA (EO): What is your daily creative pro- art world. We do things with love, which is
of fabrics; rather, it requires the ability to design a Paz, where they filmed a fashion piece based on a cess like? Do you begin with a drawing, a drape? reflected in our work and in our lifestyle.
garment that meets the same expectations of a new
piece of clothing created by a designer, including 1 Translated by Ubiqus. 3 See www.12-na.com/
workshop-y-festivales.
high quality, a good finish, and the ingredient of 2 See www.12-na.com/videos/ FIGURE 1 (SEE FOLLOWING PAGE): From the Kusiclos Collection, Bolivia.
creativitya stamp and a unique feel that Breccia kusiclos.

FIGURE 2: Mask-making workshop at Lollapalooza, Chile. FIGURE 3: Piece for a Japanese client. Photo: Nacho Rojas.

EO: Why is Chile a good home base for 12-na? through different channels. Besides clothing,
we make installations, videos, textile sculp-
MB/MM: Of all the countries in the region, tures, and life-size dolls, among other things.
Chile receives perhaps the best used cloth- Our work is diverse; it is a place to unload our
ing from Europe and the United States. creativity and to promote the use of recycling
Additionally, Chile has a free trade agreement as a channel of creative and personal trans-
with Japan, whose stores and consumers are formation. Just as we use a t-shirt to make
our best customers.4
EO: You refer to the Japanese consumer as respectful.

Used clothing gives us another
What exactly do you mean by this?
world in which to work. We are in
MB/MM: We construct highly complex pieces of the middle: we make clothing, but
clothing using sumptuous materials, some so more than interposing a system,
costly that the fashion industry no longer uses
them. In Japan, we find consumers who value we interpose the consumer.
items made the traditional way, with skill. We believe in responsible
The Japanese value the craft that goes into our consumption and in working from
products design and tailoring, and are willing
to pay what they are worth (SEE FIGURE 3). there. It is impossible otherwise.
EO: What is the philosophy and aesthetic of 12-na?
a mask, we also invite reflection. We are
extremely attentive to what is happening. We
want to do many things, and we are ambi-
Our design and creative work tious. Our desire is to make larger and larger
moves between the worlds of things, and complex things, a desire reflected
fashion and art, aiming at a in all aspects of our work.
We do not compete with the big fashion
customer who is respectful of his conglomerates: our work is something differ-
or her environment and conscious ent, with different resultsnamely unique,
of the way consumption works one-of-a-kind pieces. The basis of our work
is not the insane production of money; it is a
today. project that meets a creative need. We work
hard to provide clothes that are understood
as products made in a sustainable way. Our
MB/MM: We like to think of 12-na as a multi- pieces have an added value that classifies our
disciplinary creative platform but with a very work in the craft rather than the industrial
defined aesthetic perspective. Our philosophy category (SEE FIGURE 4).
is to use recycling as a
4 See www.mofa.go.jp/policy/ means of expression, EO: How is it possible to interpose the system of fash-
economy/fta/chile.html.
and from this to create ion with a practice like yours?
FIGURE 4: From the Free Guilli Collection.

MB/MM: We dont think very much about fash-
ion, or style. At the moment of making, we
dont have our sights on leaders of the fashion
LOGO REMOVAL SERVICE
circuit. Our material, used clothing, gives us
another world in which to work. We are in the
middle: we make clothing, but more than in-
Miriam Dym
terposing a system, we interpose the consumer.
We believe in responsible consumption and in
working from there. It is impossible otherwise.
EO: What advice would you give to young designers

looking for an alternative route within fashion?
MB/MM: To implement recycling, relating to

the environment and understanding their
place in it, while still enjoying their profession.
To produce while having a good time.
EO: To close, a dream: what sort of fashion would

you like never to see again?
MB/MM: We would love to witness the disap-

pearance of fast fashion: fashion that
generates misinformed consumers who need
to follow trends, fashion that is nothing but
a fancy name. Todays mainstream fashion
industry leads to irresponsible consumption,
without awareness of the deterioration of the
environment through industrial processes and I am an artist seeking to engage and transform deliberate, visually formal experiments, emphasiz-
disposable products, and all too often profits extant systems of production and consumption. ing color relationships, shape and line. An appar-
from abusive and cheap labor. To never see I launched Logo Removal Service in 2009, after ent commentary on commercialism and consumer
this againthat would be our utopia. replacing two commercial logos on a t-shirt with habits also inserts fine art values into quotidian and
colored shapes. Logo Removal Service assists people often-overlooked artifacts (SEE FIGURES 1-6).
who, for whatever reason, prefer to see something Through Logo Removal Service, I hope to keep
other than a logo, brand, or stain on their clothing fabric items in circulation for longer periods, so they
and other possessions. may be repaired and improved instead of simply dis-
With most garments, I use a reverse appliqu carded. The ultimate goal is to help bring about less
method, cutting out and replacing the logos with intensive and more deliberate patterns of consump-
other fabric, often in a contrasting color. The shapes tion, while also exploring possibilities for beauty
that emerge as I remove the logos are each unique. and originality in everyday life.
While frequently riffing on the form of the logo
being removed, I am careful to leave behind no
trace that might allow brand recognition. Even
when removing a series of identical logos or other
marks from several garments, Logo Removal Service
produces each one individually, guaranteeing an
original new look for each item. In this way, I am
able to use the removal practice in order to make

FIGURE 1 FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3 FIGURE 4

FIGURE 6
I use the Logo Removal Service to

make deliberate, visually formal
experiments, emphasizing color
relationships, shape and line.
An apparent commentary on
commercialism and consumer
habits also inserts fine art
values into quotidian and often-
overlooked artifacts.
FIGURE 5

FASHION CODES HACKED,
INDEXED, AND SHARED
Giana Pilar Gonzlez
Hacking Couture is an open-source online atelier legacy of the brand, workshop participants identify
and workshop series that I started in 2006, focused and articulate the code of a fashion brand, style, or
on identifying fashion patterns from luxury brands, subculture.
the media, and the street. Hacking Couture seeks Looking at a brand such as Burberry, for example,
to empower individuals to hack the dominant reveals some of the notions that make up this
fashion system by making something unique, using companys brand code: rain, trench coat, tan color,
the codes embedded within high-fashion clothing tartan pattern, gabardine, and being very British.
design. This is what Burberry stands for: their unique code.
These original codes (or DNA) of a brand are There are other components of the Burberry code
interwoven with current trends, cultural movements as well, from cuts to colors to how the garments are
and other brands codes. The constant re-mixing of performed in the companys advertising cam-
the original DNA with other codes allows a brand paigns.
to have ongoing aesthetic relevance and commercial Through visual indexing, we can clearly identify
success. and define these codes, analyze them, and make
Another inspiration of Hacking Couture is to comparisons. A comparison of the Burberry code
facilitate the creation of an open-source library in with that of the American leather crafter Coach, for
which visual patterns connected to high-fashion instance, reveals some common elements as well as
brands are indexed and shared. Through an analysis differences: motifs which can be extracted and re-
of the patterns (using style magazines, runway contextualized or repurposed. This is the essence of
FIGURE 1
shows, and the streets as data sources) as well as the hacking couture (SEE FIGURE 1).

LAUNDRY HABITS
Hacking Couture seeks to
empower individuals to hack the
dominant fashion system by using
Jade Whitson-Smith
the codes embedded within high-
fashion clothing design to make
something unique.
My hope is that through technology we can

create venues to discuss and share fashion codes,
in ways that do not violate fair rules of trade and
that promote making and a general DI Y sensibility.
Audiences want to engage creatively with fashion
codes, and we are finding digital and non-digital
ways to optimize and document these exchanges
through new practices.
In 2013, I decided to give up the use of my washing garment, and the laborious process of laundering it
machine for one year. I wanted to challenge myself makes me value the wearing even more.
to question each act of laundering clothes. Since starting to wash garments by hand, Ive
Figure 1 shows my previous normal process, noticed that I now question whether, for example,
and Figure 2 my current experimental process. a once-worn blouse really does need a full wash, or
The experimental model has two process pathways, whether it could just be freshened up by hanging
fast and slow. I have a laundry basket of underwear it on the clothesline.
and basic items that I need on a fast rotation. Fast It has never been my goal to discard technologi-
items come into the shower with me on a daily basis. cal advances. Time-saving devices such as washing
They are washed in my shower water, wrung out and machines have allowed many people to enjoy leisure
then hung up to dry. Slow items are separated from time that would otherwise be taken up by domestic
my fast items in a second laundry basket. When drudgery. I merely wanted to open up the launder-
I have a free day, or the weather is good enough, ing process, experiment with it, and challenge my-
I wash my slow items in the bathtub, squeeze out self by removing some of the tools on which I had
excess water with a mangle, and hang the clothes become reliant. My year without a washing machine
out to dry. has enabled me to develop both new attitudes and
Fast items are continually in my consciousness; new skills in regard to this universal domestic task.
I see, touch and clean them very often. I am aware My hope is that this experiment may encourage
of them. Slow items can disappear for months into others to challenge themselves, and lead to other
my washing basket, only to reappear as if to fresh alternative practices in the use and maintenance of
eyes. I remember why I love wearing a particular garments.

FIGURE 2: Experimental Laundry Process.
I wanted to open up the

laundering process, experiment
with it, and challenge myself by
removing some of the tools on
which I had become reliant.
FIGURE 1: Normal Laundry Process.

GOLDEN JOINERY: Theres a crack in everything, thats where the
light gets in.
of invitations, as we call the various prompts and
suggestions we deploy to move ourselves and our fel-
low creators. The ensuing interactions, spontaneous
On Imperfect Beauty LEONARD COHEN and playful, imbue the workshops with their own
rhythm and lightness. Spending a few hours in a
Golden Joinery is a non-commercial, collabora- Golden Joinery workshop affords an opportunity to
tively-developed clothing brand, the outcome of slow down and give attention to something the par-
Margreet Sweerts a series of workshops conducted under the same ticipant treasuresan opportunity otherwise rarely
name by the Dutch fashion collective Painted. found in modern life. All participants highly value
Started in 2006 by fashion designer Saskia van the atmosphere of relaxed focus that characterizes
Drimmelen, embroidery artist Desiree Hammen, the Golden Joinery gatherings (SEE FIGURES 8-10).
fashion student Jarwo Gibson and myself (a theater In part, Golden Joinery evokes the question,
director by training), Painted works together with Whats new? Adding a second, new layer to a gar-
masters in nearly-forgotten crafts like needlepoint ment puts into question the monopoly of fashion
lace from Bulgaria and the complex beadwork of labels over the parameters of personal style, calling
the Assiniboine tribe of North America. In addition out the expressive capacity of end users and giving
to preserving old craft techniques, Painted explores them an empowering sense of their own creativity.
new and alternative ways of making, presenting and The question of newness is of course fundamental to
distributing fashion. We seek to develop a praxis fashion as such, but it need not be driven exclusively
that enables people to (re)connect with their natural by commercial considerations. Indeed, Golden
physical capabilities, and to (re)use everything that Joinery demonstrates the potential for an informal,
is present and given, materials as well as skills and non-commercial collective to start and develop a
talents. brand collaboratively. The future of the brand is
In the Golden Joinery workshops, for example, literally in everyones hands (SEE FIGURE 12).
we invite participants to repair their beloved but
damaged clothing items with golden thread. The
garments emerge with unique, beautiful golden
scars at the points of repair. Golden Joinery
translates the term for the 15th-century Japanese
repair technique kintsugi, by which broken pottery We seek to develop a praxis that
was fixed with molten gold. Not only could the re- enables people to (re)connect
paired pottery continue to be used, but its aesthetic
value was often actually enhanced by the repair with their natural physical
work. Our practice takes its initial inspiration from capabilities, and to (re)use
the kind of imperfect beauty exemplified by the everything that is present and
kintsugi technique, reinterpreting it in the context
of contemporary fashion. given, materials as well as skills
At the workshops, in addition to showing and talents.
examples of previous Golden Joineries, we offer
instruction in old and new methods of repair. Some
participants want to learn specific techniques; others
wish to liberate their imaginations, often developing
elaborate, jewel-like repairs in the process (SEE FIGURES
1-7, 11).
We have developed not only an increasing num-
ber of Golden Joinery garments that can inspire
FIGURE 1
workshop participants, but also a scenario for con-
ducting the workshops themselves. We use a series

FIGURE 2
FIGURE 3 FIGURE 4

FIGURE 5

Adding a second, new layer to
a garment puts into question the
monopoly of fashion labels over
the parameters of personal style,
calling out the expressive capacity
of end users and giving them an
empowering sense of their own
creativity.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 7 FIGURE 8

FIGURE 9
FIGURE 10 FIGURE 11

FIGURE 12

FASHION 2012
Marc Herbst
Fashion has a capacity to create self-generating The Fashion 2012 project would also reduce the
forms of solidarity that can translate specific great discrepancy between the American political
cultural positions. This capacity has another word: and cultural Lefts respective capacities to reach
style. Fashion 2012 is a proposal for a potential large and diverse audiences. While the political Left
social project: the design of a recognizable style to remains hemmed into a few major metropolitan
facilitate the identification and development of a areas, the cultural Leftrepresented for instance
post-economic (i.e. post-capitalist) subjectivity. by tolerant ideas around race, sexuality and gender,
The style would address the emotional needs of and support for environmental protectionsis a
individuals and communities left behind by capital- dominant force on the cultural landscape. The new
ist economic development. Instead of answering fashion style would recognize cultures success based
these needs with wan affect (the pout of a model, on its ability to motivate, distribute and multiply
the empty gestures of punk fashion), this style attractive cultural forms (SEE FIGURES 1-2).
would suggest solidarity in action, and consist of
clothing to be worn and shared in recognition of our
common subjection to modern economic pressures. Fashion 2012 is a proposal for
This style must be distinct from previous fashion
regimes, because it would signify a clear departure a potential social project: the
from the limited, consumerist identity made avail- design of a recognizable style to
able by capitalism. facilitate the identification and
development of a post-economic FIGURE 1
(i.e. post-capitalist) subjectivity.

FIGURE 2

THE COUNTERFEIT CROCHET In 2006, as an outgrowth of my interest in the
politics of production and consumption, I started
The Counterfeit Crochet Project (Critique of a Political
mistakes in their stitching, thereby corrupting the
purity of the logo or brand that they have chosen to
represent.
PROJECT Economy), a participatory artwork that invites cro-

chet crafters all over the world to create a handmade
The workshops are free, with all materials and
tools provided; as such, they are a friendly and en-
(Critique of a Political Economy)

replica of a designer handbag that they wished gaging way to learn skills and participate in a group
they owned but cant affordand to use their own activity, much like other popular DI Y workshops or
improvised skillsets and techniques in its produc- a convivial knitting circle. In exchange for this vol-
tion. There are no formal patterns provided, just a unteered free time I create an ongoing, dispersed
downloadable tip sheet. Makers choose the item and international collection of fashion goods, a de
Stephanie Syjuco they wish to produce; because of variations in taste, facto product line consisting entirely of prototypes,
skill level, and available time, the final product, with no centralized design direction and no defined,
while always bearing some resemblance to the correct manner of production (SEE FIGURES 2-3). The
original, is at the same time an obviously wrong participants further disseminate their counterfeit
or counterfeit representation of the original. products by displaying, wearing, or sharing their
Indeed these handbags are difficult objects to finished items within their respective circles.1
classify. That each one is a self-professed and blatant
copy is anathema to a fashion system that depends
on never-ending cycles of newness and the cult of
originality. At the same time, the irreproducibility
of the objects, stemming from the lack of a proper
production pattern and from differences among
participants, also departs from the serial standard-
ization that typifies mass-produced goods. The fact
that these are in an obvious way designer hand-
bags pulls them in the direction of haute couture.
Yet the traditionally common and hence some-
what lowly status of crochet as a craft betrays the
bags remoteness from the rarefied world of high
fashion (SEE FIGURE 1).
Initially located online, with a website serving
both to distribute the call for collaborators and as a
repository for images of finished works, the project
has grown over the past seven years to encompass
physical gallery installations, displays of completed
crocheted works lent by their makers, and a series
of international workshops in which I lead how-to
classes in basic crochet technique in conjunction
with informal discussions on ways to reclaim indi-
vidual agency within the larger capitalist world.
Counterfeit Crochet workshop participants commit
to several hours of working with me to create their
own small product: in most cases a simple crocheted
wristband upon which they embroider a logo to
brand it as a high-end
item. The participants, al-
For more information about
most always beginners to 1this project, see www.counter-
FIGURE 1
crochet, inevitably make feitcrochet.org.

PRODUCTION FLOW SCHEMATIC: PRODUCTION FLOW SCHEMATIC:
Traditional model of fashion production and consumption The Counterfeit Crochet Project
(Critique of a Political Economy)
ideas and CRAFTER

advertising self-styled choices
gue
and marketing photo shoots self-determined ialo
gand d
campaigns take place arin
developed illsh
unique pattern , sk
tips
developed and
designs generated handmade item
and directives sent produced
to factories for FASHION HOUSE CRAFTER project
production information and
feedback sent out
via internet or
physical workshop
CRAFTER
CRAFTER
CRAFTER
COUNTERFEIT
CROCHET
PROJECT
FAC TO R Y FAC TOR Y FACTO R Y (artist)
serialized
mass-
production
CRAFTER
CRAFTER
profit
generated some items
loaned for
and returned
CRAFTER exhibition
back to top displays
visitors attend workshops

and view participant
other crafters learn contributions at
about project by exhibition spaces
visiting exhibitions or
via online networks
and join up
STORE S
products sent
to stores and CRAFTER
CRAFTER
EXHIBITION SPACE
purchased by
consumers nothing is bought or sold; participants
volunteer out of interest and labor is
compensated in exhibition acknowl-
edgements
FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3

TEXTILE DESIGN SERVICES FOR
FASHION: Unpick and Remix
Jennifer Ballie
FIGURE 1: Marks and Spencer Shwopping, 2012.
Unpick and Remix is a workshop I designed and At the workshop, the metaphors of unpicking
delivered for a design lab as part of an interac- and remixing were employed to encourage the
tive 2012 exhibition organized by the Centre for participants to develop their own personal style
Sustainable Fashion at the University of the Arts through the creative adaptation of existing gar-
London. The project was commissioned for the UK ments. Pinterest-based mood boards were created
fashion retailer Marks and Spencer in collaboration for each participant before dissecting each look FIGURE 2: Marks and Spencer Shwop Lab, 2012.
with Oxfam.1 As part of the exhibition, a Marks and to unpick their garments. Methods of draping,
Spencer campaign entitled Shwopping sought to folding, and smocking were then identified and
encourage consumers to donate an existing garment demonstrated as textile design techniques to support 1 Marks and Spencer Shwop
from their own wardrobe to offset every new pur- the remix of each garment, enabling participants Lab Exhibition, curated by The
Centre for Sustainable Fashion
A Marks and Spencer campaign
chase, thereby counterbalancing the environmental to rework their clothing items with their own hands.
impact of their consumption.2 This campaign thus The success of the design lab experiment suggests
in collaboration with Oxfam,
May 2012: see www.social.
entitled Shwopping encouraged
explored an aspect of a possible alternative fashion that such service ideas could be expanded to include marksandspencer.com/fash-
ion-2/ms-to-launch-sustainable-
consumers to donate an
system, with a focus on reclaiming consumer a range of bespoke offerings through further consul- fashion-lab.
existing garment from their own
waste. The system that Marks and Spencer devised tation and co-design with customers.
to take back unwanted or discarded clothing has en-
2 Marks and Spencer Shwop
Lab Exhibition.
wardrobe to offset every new
couraged the donation of over four million items; as 3 Leon Kaye, Marks &
purchase, counterbalancing the
a consequence 1,300 tons of clothing have not ended Spencers Shwopping One
Year Later: Progress and
environmental impact of their
up in landfills. The program has also generated $3.7
million dollars for Oxfam.3
Potential, TriplePundit, May
9, 2013, www.triplepundit.
consumption.
com/2013/05/marks-and-
spencer-shwopping.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
In many contexts, the most sustainable solution At the workshop, the metaphors
involves dematerialization: simply using less stuff. of unpicking and remixing
The Unpick and Remix workshop suggested the po- were employed to encourage
tential for exploring ways that textile design might
begin to replace the need for constant consumption the participants to develop their
by offering viable alternatives. We must begin to own personal style through the
view a product as something that will forever need creative adaptation of existing
completion, and the designers role as one of facilita-
tion of this process as opposed to the finalization of garments.
a product.
NOT E: the author would like to thank the Centre

for Sustainable Fashion, Marks and Spencer, and
Oxfam for the opportunity to conduct the work-
shop within the Shwop Lab. Additional thanks to
Hannah van Grimbergen and Bianca Thoyer Rozat
for supporting the workshop.
FIGURE 3: Unpick and Remix 2012, Photos: Jen Ballie.

SECTION 3:
CASE STUDIES

THE BROOKLYN FLEA: A Model other places where can you shake the hand of the
man who brined your pickles, or learn the prov-
enance of a vintage acquisition directly from its
packed with people earnestly cultivating a quirky
interest and other people who are happy and
excited to celebrate those people.3
for Counter-Consumption? curator. While money is, naturally, exchanged for

objects, these exchanges suggest the potential for a
Rarely in their reporting on the Flea do journal-
ists mention the retail underbelly of the market;
rather, it is portrayed as a space for the cultivation
of identities, sartorial sharing, and artistic exchange.
Lauren Downing Peters The slow in slow fashion can Increasingly, however, places like the Flea have
also be glimpsed in the exchanges emerged as alternatives to the consumption sites that
have historically reinforced New Yorks status as a
and interactions happening at fashion capital. As Fletcher states, in the collec-
the Brooklyn Flea, a marketplace tive cultural consciousness, fashion is consumption,
that serves as a microenvironment materialism, commercialization and marketing. It is
buying high street and high end.4 Fletcher explains
for buying and selling all manner further that the domination of consumerist fashion
of organic, sustainable, local, within the fashion mindset means that alternatives
repurposed, and alternative items. are squeezed out. Other options seem unworkable.5
new consumption landscapeor, rather, a revival of

some older modes of consumptiondriven largely
by human interactions and communication. The in-
formal conversations and exchanges that take place
at the Flea help to imbue the saleable items with
value, and to foster lasting relationships between
customers and objects. What makes this scenario a
potential model of counter-consumption is the man-
The rhetoric of slow fashion has acquired a new in Brooklynand in particular at the Brooklyn ner in which buyers are encouraged to invest them-
sense of urgency in the wake of the April 2013 Fleacan in principle have major ramifications for selves in the stuff they are buying, and in the people
Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Dhaka, fashionable consumption in far-flung corners of the who created or sourced that stuff. As Kate Fletcher
Bangladesh. While the slow fashion movement as globe. explains in regard to the fashion industry, what has FIGURE 1: Two flea attendees take a moment to pause and play
a cultural phenomenon has largely manifested itself Purveyors at the Brooklyn Flea are striving to put been lost in the speeding up of fashion consumption foosball.
in the form of green garments and beauty prod- the heart and soul back into retail by highlighting in recent decades is fashions original meaninga
ucts, the slow in slow fashion can also be glimpsed the channels of creation and exchange that nurture group activity of making and doing.2 Perhaps it is
in the exchanges and interactions happening in a consumer good into being. Indeed, there are few in reestablishing just such a zone of local, collabora-
places like the Brooklyn Flea, a marketplace that tive production and consumption that the Brooklyn
serves as a microenvironment for buying and selling Flea hints at a possible alternative fashion system.
1 Henry Alford, How I became 3 Adam Sternbergh, Can You
all manner of organic, sustainable, local, repur- a Hipster, The New York Guess Where These People
posed, and alternative items. At a time when people Times, May 1, 2013, www. Live? New York Magazine,
THE RISE OF FLEA CAPITAL
nytimes.com/2013/05/02/ September 26, 2010, www.
are realizing that our rate of consumption, even of fashion/williamsburg. nymag.com/news/features/
eco-goods, is unsustainable in every sense, can a html?pagewanted=all. establishments/68492. Since the opening of the Flea in 2008, a vibrant
community vintage market provide an alternative? 2 Kate Fletcher, The Dear 4 Kate Fletcher, Consumerist
community of making, selling, and trading has
Do the lifestyles enabled by the Flea, perhaps, hint Fashion Journal Alternative fashion: innovation repressor, materialized out of what was at the time a dwin-
Perspectives on Style, Kate Kate Fletcher: Sustainability
at an incipient model of counter-consumption? Fletcher: Sustainability Design Design Fashion, February 17,
dling flea market culture. Favorable press coverage
As Henry Alford of The New York Times has Fashion, February 5, 2013, 2012, accessed May 16, has included New York Magazines description of
accessed May 16, 2013, www. 2013, www.katefletcher.com/
noted, Brooklyn has become a powerful cultural katefletcher.com/the-dear- consumerist-fashion-innovation-
the Flea as a cross between a consumer bazaar and
signifier, a byword for cool from Paris to Sweden fashion-journal-alternative- repressor. a creative laboratory, promising high-quality offer- FIGURE 2: A seller assists a customer by holding a mirror.
perspectives-on-style.
to the Middle East.1 In other words, what begins ings in a stridently low-key setting, and as being

In light of its success, the Brooklyn Flea does appear them aspects of the Flea experience on which it is the citys many independent vintage and thrift an impression in order to make a sale.16 The Lins
to demonstrate the possibility of alternatives to difficult to put a dollar value. stores, while still allowing them to feel that they are accomplish this in part through the descriptive,
mainstream consumption, including consumerist At the same time, the Flea helps to reestablish the active participants in an alternative sphere.14 In hand-lettered price tags that accompany their goods,
fashion. But serious questions nonetheless remain task of shopping as itself a worthwhile, legitimate which provide an entryway for fostering a relation-
about the sustainability of such an alternative pastime, one in which procurement is but one feature ship between consumer and bag. Palmer explains
marketplace. Moreover, given that business at the of the overall experience. Indeed, it has been argued Increasingly, places like the Flea that the purpose of such tags is twofold: first, like a
Flea is still marked by the exchange of money for that the act of shopping for and wearing vintage museums object label or catalogue record, the hang
garments is only secondarily about [the] resale of have emerged as alternatives to tag authenticates and interprets the vintage mer-
clothing it is primarily about being involved in a the consumption sites that have chandise that is, in effect, curated.17 Second, the
While money is, naturally,

change of status and a revaluing of clothing beyond historically reinforced New Yorks tags authenticate the merchandise as rare or special:
the original time period or setting.9 The smart con- here, high-end designer labels are inferred to be
exchanged for objects, these sumer who spends enough time within the vintage status as a fashion capital. removed from the negative, tainted aspects of the
exchanges suggest the potential realm, actively engaging with its social networks, can used garments.18 In contrast to similar bags that do
achieve the status of a connoisseur,10 a status that is not include mini-biographies, the Lins bags have an
for a new consumption landscape difficult to attain in traditional retail settings. an astutely curated vintage market, the consumer aura that helps to legitimize their cost.
or, rather, a revival of some older Yet the Brooklyn Flea remains a site of commerce, is virtually guaranteed to find a suitable purchase, While Andy fields technical and provenance-
modes of consumptiondriven like any other store or shopping mall, thereby prob- given the [diverse] range and amount of stock.15 related questions, Chery teaches her return custom-
lematizing its claim to be truly alternative. With only ersyoung women she refers to as her Dooney
largely by human interactions and 140 vendor stalls available, prospective sellers must Girlsabout the history of the brand and how
CULTIVATING MEANING AND SELLING HANDBAGS
communication. have a credible business model and appealing mer- to identify fakes. She is also happy to explain why
chandise in order to stand out among the other 7,000 Much of what is wrong with todays wasteful and her bags are superior to similar versions sold by
vendors who have applied for a stall since the Flea speed-obsessed consumption landscape has to do neighboring vendors. Through the dissemina-
opened.11 Brooklyn Flea co-creator and manager of with the manner in which the human labor that tion of this kind of information, Chery and Andy
goods, can it truly be an alternative? How different everyday operations Eric Demby has the final word goes into the creation of consumer goods has been have created a cachet for Dooney & Bourke at the
are these retail spaces from the malls and specialty in selecting vendors, making him a powerful figure hidden. Therefore, in seeking to elucidate what is Flea, placing themselves at the top of its hierarchy
shops that support most consumption today? in the cultivation of Brooklyns cultural capital. truly alternative in the Brooklyn Flea, it is helpful of vendors. The Lins customer base has directly
The vintage market, once a backwater industry Demby has proven to possess a knack for choosing to consider the vendors themselves. shaped Cherys market behavior as a business owner.
for individuals who could not afford higher-priced vendors that contribute to the overall Brooklyn Andy and Chery Lin sell restored Dooney & While her high-end European bags by designers
apparel, has moved away from its historical outr vibe,12 admitting that the vendors overall ultimate- Bourke handbags from the 1970s through the such as Chanel and Prada have sold well at other
and shabby associations, and become a mainstream ly reflect my personal taste in one way or another, 2000s. Their booth at the Flea stands out both for outlets, Cherys Brooklyn customers prefer the more
and highly commodified fashion alternative to and a certain amount of cohesion has emerged its appearance and for the comparatively high price
wearing new designs.6 Meanwhile, as the slow a look I guess you could call it.13 of the bags: around $100 for most models. Sellers
fashion movement has become a trend in and of Dembys curatorial influence at the Flea helps to like the Lins carefully select and arrange their The Flea helps to reestablish
itself, vintage, artisanal, and bespoke consumption draw in customers who are too busy to troll through goods in order to mitigate potential anxieties that
have to some extent encroached on the territory of consumers might have in approaching their display, the task of shopping as itself a
traditional, high-end retail. as well as to draw individuals out of the chaos and worthwhile, legitimate pastime,
5 Fletcher, Consumerist 8 Alison Clarke and David Miller,
Shopping for secondhand goods can create a fashion. Fashion and Anxiety, Fashion
into their booth. After all, Brooklyn Flea shoppers one in which procurement is
certain degree of anxiety in the unacquainted. As Theory 6, no. 2 (2002): 209. are a discerning bunch . Vendors need to make
fashion theorist Alexandra Palmer explains, part 6 Alexandra Palmer, Vintage but one feature of the overall
Whores and Vintage Virgins: 9 Marilyn DeLong, Barbara
of the anxiety rests in the subtle nuances of when Second Hand Fashion in the Heinemann and Kathryn Reiley, experience.
Twenty-first Century, in Old Hooked on Vintage! Fashion
an item is suitably vintage. The danger exists of Clothes, New Looks: Second Theory 9, no. 1 (2005): 23.
12 Guy Trebay, Scaven- 15 Palmer, Vintage, 203.
gers on the Urban Savan-
making a faux pas and being merely out of date.7 Hand Fashion, ed. Alexandra
nah, The New York Times, 16 Eric Demby, e-mail message
Palmer and Hazel Clark (Oxford: 10 Palmer, Vintage Whores,
Consumers often rely upon social networks to guide Berg, 2005), 197. See also 200.
April 13, 2008, www. to author, April 10, 2010.
them, since they are frequently too anxious about Nathaniel Dafydd Beard, The
nytimes.com/2008/04/13/ mainstream Dooney & Bourke. This sort of trial-
fashion/13flea.html?scp=1&sq 17 Palmer, Vintage, 209.
the choices to be made to proceed without various Branding of Ethical Fashion and 11 Amelia Blanquera, Brooklyn
=scavengers%20on%20the%20
and-error marketing is not uncommon at the Flea.
the Consumer: A Luxury Niche Flea Business School, The
forms of support and reassurance.8 The Flea accom- or Mass-market Reality? Fash- Local: Fort Greene, April 14,
urban&st=cse. 18 Palmer, Vintage, 205. There is no formula for success, says Denby. Its
plishes this support function admirably: within its ion Theory 12, no. 4 (2008): 2010, www.fort-greene.thelo-
13 Eric Demby, e-mail message 19 Blanquera, Brooklyn Flea
an alchemy of passion, talent, luck and timing.19
447-468. cal.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/
funky environs, relationships are formed, knowl- brooklyn-flea-business-school.
to author, April 10, 2010. Business School. In contrast to large markets, the Flea encourages
edge is shared, and attachments nurturedall of 7 Palmer, Vintage, 200.
14 Palmer, Vintage, 203.
rapid and informal types of market research that

a quest for a simpler life, [the vintage] attitude also
carries a darker suspicion that recent social, cultural
and political developments are profoundly cor-
rosive.22 The Brooklyn Flea is close to the hearts
of many New Yorkers, who patronize it out of a
deep commitment to sustainable alternatives to
the consumption economy. Yet, given the many
other, similar markets in New York and elsewhere,
the question remains, why Brooklyn? Eric Demby
responds,
We didnt choose Brooklyn so much as it chose

us. [The] Flea is more a culmination of a new
FIGURE 3: A seller helps a customer by tying on a bracelet. consumption/production landscape [which
reflects] things that are good about Brooklyn and
perhaps show a way to a new kind of economy
themselves reflect the social characteristics of the scale . When it comes to creating a major
market as a whole. locally grown project in their own backyards, ev-
With its affordable $100-per-day booth fee, the eryone at the Flea seems invested in succeeding.23
Flea serves as a space both for individual sellers to
pursue their idiosyncratic passions and for seasoned While the future of the Flea, and of the consump-
business owners to test new marketsalthough the tion landscape of New York generally, is uncertain,
differences among these types of vendors can be all signs point to a profound shift toward more
difficult to see. Indeed, in the vintage marketplace, homegrown alternatives. Nevertheless, the jury is
the borderline between collector and dealer is still out on how major an impact on the overall
sometimes not well defined [since] both deal- economy of New York places like the Flea will be
ers and collectors share a sense of gratification likely to exercise in the near to medium term.
and nostalgia towards [vintage] clothing.20 This
sentiment is particularly evident at the Brooklyn
Flea, whose participants generally downplay the
pecuniary aspects of the market while championing Dembys curatorial influence at the
those who promote community and connoisseurship Flea helps to draw in customers
among the various vendors and buyers.
who are too busy to troll through
CONCLUSIONS the citys many independent
vintage and thrift stores, while
Fashion theorist Nathaniel Beard explains that
vintage clothing allows individuals to assert their still allowing them to feel that
personal identity as well as their affiliation with they are active participants in an
particular social and political values.21 More than alternative sphere.
20 Anna Catalani and Yupin 21 Beard, Ethical Fashion,
Chung, Vintage or Fashion 449.
Clothes? An Investigation
inside the Issues of Collecting 22 Beard, Ethical Fash-
and Marketing Second-hand ion,456.
Clothes, (paper presented at
the 8th International Confer- 23 Eric Demby, e-mail message
ence on Arts and Cultural Man- to author, April 10, 2010. FIGURE 4: Two Flea visitors search through a pile of vintage kilim
agement, Montral, Canada, rugs.
July 3-6, 2005): 7-8.

DISRUPTION THROUGH restoring a culture of home-based clothing produc-
tion that represents a genuine alternative to the Through social networking, sewing
mainstream fashion system. pattern distribution is shifting from
DOWNLOAD: BurdaStyle.com and A practice traditionally associated with house-
wives and homemakers, home sewing is finding new a one-directional, top-down affair
to a collective enterprise of home
the Home Sewing Community
devotees among a younger generation that appreci-
ates the DI Y approach to clothing and fashion. sewing knowledge, tips, and lore.
BurdaStyle.com has carried the tradition of home
sewing into the 21st century by exploiting the
possibilities of the Internet as a vehicle of distribu- the craft of sewing to a new generation of fashion
Rachel Kinnard tion and knowledge-sharing. The average age of the designers, hobbyists, DI Yers as well as inspire fash-
BurdaStyle member is 33, with the majority living ion enthusiasts.3
in the US, UK, Germany, and Australia. A platform
for sewing inspiration and knowledge as well as the DISRUPTING TRICKLE-DOWN FASHION
sale of patterns, the sites primary value for users
consists in its archive of user-generated content, Experimental fashion projects question the
comprising personal sewing projects, recommen- hierarchical fashion system by intervening in the
dations, sewing pattern reviews, and tutorials. production of fashionable goods. Through the social
Members can also share their own patterns and platform BurdaStyle.com, sewing pattern distribu-
designs by uploading them. The site thus fosters a tion has shifted from a one-directional, top-down
more active type of consumption by promoting the affair to a collective enterprise of home sewing
practice of home sewing through the collective de- knowledge, tips, and lore. The website operates as
velopment of a community-based sewing resource. a social facilitator of fashion, mediating knowledge
It is through the socially networked nature of the dissemination and social connections, with member
platform that the tradition of home sewing is being contributions enhancing the online sewing commu-
reimagined and made accessible to a wider, younger nitys core value. The website approaches the home
audience. Moreover, as a commercial business oper- sewing market in an uncommon way, merging
ating on a global scale, BurdaStyle is demonstrating concepts already present on the web but not previ-
Fashion is not created by a single individual, magazine Burda Style, is a website that supplements the commercial viability of several concepts previously tailored for home sewing enthusiasts. While
but by everyone involved in the production of a standard e-commerce channel for the sale of sew- ously found only in conceptual fashion projects. other creative project sites such as Etsy, Ravelry,
fashion, and thus fashion is a collective entity.1 ing patterns with an open-source pattern platform Craftsy, and Instructables rely in a similar way on
for a global audience of home sewers. The combined ORIGINS user-generated content, BurdaStyle.coms focus on
Today, the practice of home sewing can be seen as commercial and non-commercial approach is help- the practice of home sewing is unique to its online
a disruption to the mainstream fashion systema ing to foster a community of independent designers, Hubert Burda Media, one of the largest publish- community.4
system fueled by fast-paced consumption that typi- ing houses in Germany, began including sewing Although free to join, BurdaStyle.com requires
cally separates producer from consumer by great patterns in Burda Style (formerly Burda Moden) that users become members in order to access many
distances both geographically and socioeconomi- magazine in 1952. The magazine gained prominence of the sites features. As a member, one can buy
cally. The online community challenges this global A practice traditionally associated as one the most popular and download sewing patterns (most are $5.99),
fashion system by encouraging home sewing, while with housewives and homemakers, home sewing pattern upload homemade sewing patterns to share with
also reimagining the consumption of sewing pat- home sewing is finding new 3 See www.burdastyle.com/
statics/about.
producers in Europe. other members, upload photos and instructions of
terns themselves. BurdaStyle.com was personal sewing projects, contribute tutorials to the
Traditionally, sewing patterns have been designed devotees among a younger 4 See www.etsy.com; www. founded as an initiative Learning section (for example, Cutting Chiffon
and produced by a group of designers hired by a generation that appreciates ravelry.com; www.craftsy.com;
and www.instructables.com.
to bring the Burda brand and Other Slippery Fabrics5), or participate in
publisher (McCalls is the DIY approach to clothing 5 Cutting Chiffon and other
into the US market, es- the Discussion section. Facilitating a peer review
an example).2 By con- pecially among younger component, BurdaStyle.com members can also link
1 Yuniya Kawamura, Fashion-
ology (Oxford: Berg, 2005), 1. trast, BurdaStyle.com, and fashion. Slippery Fabrics, last modified
November 28, 2011, www. consumers. According to their projects to the pattern used, thus creating a
burdastyle.com/techniques/
2 See www.mccallpattern.
launched in 2007 by cutting-chiffon-and-other-
the company, the aim of library of user-generated variations on a single pat-
mccall.com. the German fashion slippery-fabrics. the website is to bring tern (SEE FIGURES 1-2).

FIGURE 1: BurdaStyles Franzi vest project and pattern page.
FIGURE 2: A selection of member-created variations on Burda Styles Franzi pattern.

Fashion theorist Otto von Busch has described user-generated content, and most importantly is a
traditional home sewing patterns as establishing community for sharing knowledge and inspiration.
a form of controlled action spaces, not primarily The platform publishes original content through
aiming to teach sewing as much as reproducing the blog posts and editorial projects, but the staffs
latest fashion .... Similar to the pattern magazines of primary function is to foster community growth
today they offered no real possibility to talk back and achievement through sharing and learning.
or form new communities.6 This unidirectional The platform is a place for members to build virtual
form of idea circulation is broken by BurdaStyle. identities and social relationships (SEE FIGURE 3). In
coms interactive functions. Although the site con- her Featured Member interview, for example,
tinues the distribution of professionally-created sew- member mollykatherine explains her relationship to
ing patterns from Burda Style magazine, its most BurdaStyle.com:
valuable asset lies in the community contributions.
When members share their personalized projects us- Ive been a BurdaStyle member since January
ing a particular pattern (such as the Franzi vest), 2010, pretty much the day I started sewing
new possibilities for the sewing pattern are created. again. I was looking for a free pattern online to
The social-sharing feature of the platform encour- practice with and stumbled across BurdaStyle.
ages further interpretation and modification of the I was so excited by my discovery that I joined
patterns, a fundamental practice in fashion design. immediately and eagerly got sewing so I could
be a part of it and upload my first project. I am
now an avid member and stop by several times
a day. I find the community so supportive and
BurdaStyle.com members often informative and gain endless inspiration from all
the other members creations.7
reimagine mass-produced sewing
patterns by altering the patterns In response to mollykatherines article, communi-
in accordance with their personal ty member Turtlegirl00 wrote, So happy you were
featured! I love your sense of style and your projects
tastes and specific projects. are always inspiring! Pambox, another member,
Community members identify with commented, Molly! Congratulations on being fea-
sewing no longer as just a means tured. Always love your stuff. Pampula wrote, Oh FIGURE 3: mollykatherines BurdaStyle.com member profile.
I loved reading your feature article, it was so fun to
to copy fashion trends, but as peek in your life and sewings! Everything you make
an outlet for their own creativity is so lovely and inspiring :) And Im so flattered that
and originality. you chose two of my projects to your top ten favou- ENGAGED DESIGN: THE MARYY DRESS PATTERN
rites, Thank you so much!8
BurdaStyle.com members often reimagine mass- The extensive catalog of
produced sewing patterns by altering the patterns user-generated patterns and
COMMUNITY LABOR 6 Otto von Busch, Fashion-
able: Hacktivism and Engaged
6 Turtlegirl00, October 26,
2011 (4:34 p.m.), Pambox,
in accordance with their personal tastes and specific modifications represents a
projects. Community members identify with sewing
Home sewing today is an activity taken up through
Fashion Design (Gothenburg:
Art Monitor, 2008), 46.
October 26, 2011 (2:25 a.m),
Pampula, October 25, 2011 no longer as just a means to copy fashion trends, but genuine alternative to the popular
a variety of motivations. But whether as a hobby, 7 Molly Katherine, Featured
(12:52 p.m), comments on
Molly Katherine, Featured
as an outlet for their own creativity and originality. image of the designer as genius,
passion, or necessity, the practice connects produc- Member: mollykatherine,
BurdaStyle Blog, last modified
Member: mollykatherine,
BurdaStyle Blog, last modified
The platform facilitates the practice of creative home and the corresponding top-down
tion with consumption in ways that have grown sewing by encouraging engaged design. In 2008,
increasingly rare in the era of the globalized
October 24, 2011, http://www.
burdastyle.com/blog/featured-
October 24, 2011, http://www.
burdastyle.com/blog/featured- BurdaStyle.com held an open call for the design of distribution system typical of
fashion industry. In addition to promoting this member-mollykatherine. member-mollykatherine.
their next professionally produced sewing pattern, mainstream fashion.
self-reliant practice, the BurdaStyle.com experience 9 See www.burdastyle.com/ an initiative that further extended the community-
projects/maryy.
engages members in another level of consumer/pro- driven, crowd-sourced design practices promoted
ducer intermingling. The site gains value through within the site. The winning design was the Maryy

dress pattern,9 a personal project shared prior to
the open call that was nominated by members
of the community. The Maryy dress was eventu-
promoted by the mainstream fashion system, above
all fast fashion. By supporting a community of
knowledge, best practices, and mutual inspiration,
CHECK OUT SOME FASHION:
ally made into a free, open-source sewing pattern,
available for download: as of November 7, 2011, it
experiments like these promote a more active style
of consumption, even within the parameters of a Clothing Libraries in Sweden
had been downloaded 29,294 times, and used as the commercial, profit-seeking business. This sort of
basis for over 100 new member projects.10 Member value-added activity may also represent a hopeful
comments on the project include expressions of
excitement about their own version, disappointment
example for other industries, in which traditional
craft skills and local differences have been replaced
Alessandro Esculapio
in specific details of the pattern or instructions, and by globalized manufacturing and media businesses
questions regarding the pattern. Mema79 writes, I that together promote the passive consumption
can support DanniiDx. I also had problems with of generic products. Through the social functions
the instructions and in the end I had to cut 8 cen- of the platform, the community reimagines the
timetres from the bust of the dress so that it would practice of home sewing as an interactive fashion
fit me. Despite these problems I am very happy with system. The Maryy sewing pattern exemplifies
the result and this is a very nice dress.11 the kind of community-driven design encouraged
on BurdaStyles website. When a pattern is made
available on the platform, members reinterpret and
By supporting a community of enhance the design through their own variations.
The community engagement produced through the
knowledge, best practices, and online platform disrupts the traditional top-down
mutual inspiration, experiments dissemination of sewing
like these promote a more active patterns and promotes 10 See www.burdastyle.com/
a more engaged kind of projects/maryy.
style of consumption, even within fashion that is helping 11 Mema79, July 28, 2010
the parameters of a commercial, to restore the traditional (8:29 p.m), comment on
profit-seeking business. role of home sewing as an Maryy, last modified July 7,
2009, www.burdastyle.com/
aspect of popular culture. projects/maryy.
In the past few years, clothing libraries, like toy and to borrow clothes for a limited period of time, and
tool libraries, have emerged in many industrialized both are open only at certain times during the week.
The ability for members to link their modifica- countries, their establishment a reaction to cloth- Additionally, both libraries maintain blogs that keep
tions of a standard pattern through the site creates ing overconsumption and environmental concerns readers and members up to date on their activities
an ever-growing catalog of pattern interpretations connected with the fashion industry. The phenom- and on issues and initiatives related to sustainability.
and variations. This extensive catalog serves as a enon is spreading especially quickly in Sweden, In this sense, the libraries ambition is to contribute
library as well as a source of inspiration for mem- with clothing libraries operating even in small to a long-term cultural shift in our relationship to
bers own versions, and also represents a genuine cities such as Malm, Ume, and Norrkping.1 clothing consumption, by promoting alternative
alternative to the popular image of the designer as Lnegarderoben in Stockholm and Kldoteket in consumption practices and by contributing to a
genius, and the corresponding top-down distribu- Gothenburg provide good examples of this increas- democratization of style through facilitating broader
tion system typical of mainstream fashion. ingly critical attitude toward fashion production access to fashionable clothes.
and consumption.
CONCLUSION 1 Katrin Srbring and Henrik
Lnegarderoben CLOTHING LIBRARIES AND OVERCONSUMPTION
Ek, Unna dig ngot du inte and Kldoteket were
har rd med, Expressen, April
As the twenty-first century proceeds, the web is 25, 2013, www.expressen.se/
established in 2010 and While conspicuous consumption was long
transforming the practice of product development nyheter/dokument/unna-dig- 2012, respectively, and ago identified by Thorstein Veblen in relation to
nagot-du-inte-har-rad-med/.
and fashion marketing, blurring the line between are similar in structure wealth display by the upper classes,2 a much more
producers and consumers. Online communities 2 Thorstein Veblen The Theory and aim. Both require widespread habit of clothing overconsumption has
of the Leisure Class, (Oxford:
like BurdaStyle.com can to some extent counter- Oxford University Press, 2007
users to buy a member- manifested itself with the advent of fast fashion:
act the relentless materialism and consumerism [1899]), 49. ship that allows them cheap, low-quality yet trendy clothes produced by

big global retailers such as H&M, Forever 21, Zara, a requirement that is clearly of primary importance appealing. It satisfies needs that differ from those
and Uniqlo, among others. According to a study The libraries ambition is to for many people. The key characteristics of fashion satisified by simple clothes, such as the need for
carried out by the management consulting firm contribute to a long-term as a concept, namely, change, novelty, and variety, protection from the elements. According to Fletcher,
Technopak, which focuses on the fashion industry, are thus honored by the libraries, but without neces- alternative fashion practices must remain attuned
global per capita apparel consumption will grow cultural shift in our relationship sitating separate purchases by individual end users. to the symbolic meanings of fashion in addition to
significantly by 2020.3 to clothing consumption, As Fletcher puts it, fashion can, and must, play the more mundane practical purposes of clothing
Journalist Elizabeth L. Cline provides a clear by promoting alternative another role that helps us both identify the causes of as such:
picture of the current situation in Western coun- sustainability problems and cultivate new aspira-
tries, with particular attention to the United consumption practices and by tions.13 Clothing librar- On the one hand we have to celebrate fashion
10 Johanna Bjrk, Clothing
States. Referring to a 2008 statistical analysis by contributing to a democratization Libraries: A Shift from Waste- ies, as part of fashion as a significant and magical part of our culture
ful to Resourceful, March
the American Apparel and Footwear Association, of style through facilitating 31, 2010, accessed March
in the sense of a broad (while divorcing it from rampant material
Cline observes that Americans buy an average of 11, 2014, www.goodlifer. cultural phenomenon, consumption). And on the other hand we have
sixty-four items of clothing per year, a little more broader access to fashionable com/2010/03/clothing-librar-
are to some extent con- to produce clothes that are based on values, on
ies-a-shift-from-wasteful-to-
than one piece per week.4 As both she and fashion clothes. resourceful. tributing to this positive skill, on carefully produced fibres; clothes that are
scholar and consultant Kate Fletcher have pointed 11 Fletcher, Sustainable Fash-
change. contentious, sustainable and beautiful.14
out, this pace is not sustainable for our planet.5 ion, 117-118. The concept of fash-
What needs to change is the premise of the system, writes, the act of sharing a product increases its 12 Srbring and Ek, Unna dig
ionability plays a very Looking at the items of clothing that can be
the model that determines our patterns of clothing efficiency because it then meets the needs of many ngot. important role in our checked out at Lnegarderoben and Kldoteket pro-
consumption. Fletcher writes about paradigms, or people.9 Emelie Dahlstrm, spokesperson for the 13 Fletcher, Sustainable Fash-
dress practices. Fashion vides a better understanding of how the sustainable
accepted models of how ideas relate to one another cultural association Kulturfreningen Kreativitet, ion, 118. is clothing imbued with aspect of the libraries activities meets the need for
as being the sources of systems, including the which was responsible for the establishment of 14 Fletcher, Sustainable Fash-
symbolic value, which the aesthetic, symbolic dimension of fashion. The
mainstream industrial fashion system. She goes on Lnegarderoben, stated in an interview that [cloth- ion, 120. is what makes it so most striking difference between the two libraries is
to argue that if we influence things at the level of a ing libraries] may not be good for basic clothing
paradigm, then a system can be totally transformed like everyday jeans, but for party clothes and special
. Fostering this new way of seeing is the ongoing occasion wear it is the perfect solution.10 Whereas
biggest challenge of sustainability for the fashion it can be problematic to argue in favor of the renting
and textile sectorto build a more convincing, of basic t-shirts or underwear, it is much easier to
reflective and ethical paradigm that is more sustain- promote the sharing of clothing items that are not
able by design.6 worn on a daily basis. The typical consumption
The Lnegarderoben and Kldoteket libraries pattern of such special-occasion garments is a good
focus on the concept of sustainability by offering starting point for promoting new behaviors and mo-
members the opportunity to rent clothes instead tives, beyond the consumerist desire for pleasure,
of purchasing them. On the Kldoteket website, new experiences, status and identity formation
the founders describe the library as an alternative through buying goods.11
to the consumption hysteria in todays society7;
similarly, Lnegarderoben was established with the
idea that one can renew ones wardrobe without AESTHETICS AND FASHIONABILITY
contributing to further consumption.8 As Fletcher The Swedish newspaper Expressen recently pub-
lished an article featuring an interview with a mem-
ber of Lnegarderoben who works as a spokesperson
3 Arvind Singhal, Clothing Con- 6 Kate Fletcher, Sustainable
sumption by 2020, and Their Fashion and Textiles (London:
and moderator: I go to many meetings and I find
Impact on Fibre-Manufacturer Earthscan, 2008), 73. myself often on stage, so I need a large wardrobe.
Supply Chain, www.technopak.
com/files/ITMF_06Nov12.pdf. 7 See www.kladoteket.se/
But I dont need to own everything I wear. I want
var-ide. to protect the environment and its also cheaper [to
4 Elizabeth L. Cline,
Overdressed: The Shockingly 8 See www.lanegarderoben.se.
rent clothes] than buying new things that one might
High Cost of Cheap Fashion, perhaps wear only once.12 The principle behind
(New York: Penguin, 2012), 5. 9 Fletcher, Sustainable Fashion,
155.
Lnegarderoben seems to be shared by its members, FIGURE 1: The Lnegarderoben clothing library, Stockholm, Sweden.
5 Cline, Overdressed, 5. as it allows them to have access to a variety of items,

that Lnegarderoben stocks clothes designed specifi- more personal and creative approach to the concept
cally by Swedish brands, whereas Kldoteket focuses of fashion, one that does not necessarily lie within
more on secondhand and redesigned clothes. This the parameters of the mainstream industry. This
difference seems to mirror an ideological difference different approach seems to mirror, in turn, the atti-
between the respective managers and members of tude toward fashion and clothing of people living in
the two libraries. Gothenburg, who are often characterized as being
The attention that Lnegarderoben shows to more relaxed and alternative in comparison to
brands, whether well-established ones like Filippa Stockholmers.
K, J. Linderberg, or Nudie Jeans Co., or upcom-
ing ones such as Matilda Wendelboe and Uniforms CONCLUSION
for the Dedicated, is relevant to its Stockholm
location.15 As Swedens fashion capital, Stockholm With a focus on issues of sustainability and con-
is famous for its cool, fashion-conscious residents, sumption, Lnegarderoben and Kldoteket are
people who, more than other places in Sweden, proving the impact that consumers can have on
value branded clothes and the public, performa- fashion. However, there are more opportunities yet
tive dimensions of style. The presence of a biannual to be explored.
Mercedes Benz Fashion Week,16 as well as a vibrant Members of Lnegarderoben are required to
night scene, are contributing factors to the central wash the clothes they check out before returning
role of fashion and fashionability more generally in them, and the library also reserves the right to
the city. have items dry-cleaned and charge the cost to the
Attention to sustainable practices is the thread
that connects the brands that donate clothes
to the library (this being the primary source of
Lnegarderobens inventory). Bigger companies like
Filippa K and J. Linderberg have signed the Code
of Labour Practices of the Fair Wear Foundation,
an independent nonprofit organization that works
mainly with European companies and their Asian
factories to improve labor conditions for garment
workers.17 The other, generally smaller, companies
and designers all produce their clothes locally on a
small scale and employ, for the most part, organic
materials.
Kldoteket, by contrast, does not carry branded
clothes, but rather vintage or redesigned pieces.
Unlike Lnegarderoben, this clothing library cur-
rently relies mainly on donations from individuals
and redesigners, not from companies.18 In this
sense, Kldotekets activity is less restricted by the
concept of fashionability as articulated through
traditional fashion media. Instead, it promotes a
15 See www.filippa-k.com; 17 See www.fairwear.org/488/

jlindeberg.com; www. labour-standards.
nudiejeans.com; matildawen-
delboe.se/sv; and uniforms- 18 On the concept of redesign,
forthededicated.com. see e.g. www.redesigndesign.
org. FIGURE 4: The inventory at the Kldoteket library, Gothenburg,
FIGURES 2 & 3: The Lnegarderoben clothing library, Stockholm, Sweden. 16 See www.mbfashionweek. Sweden.
com.

FIGURE 5: Inside the Kldoteket library.
from laundering and not from growing, processing

The key characteristics of fashion and producing the fabric or disposing of it at the
end of its life.19 The library could raise its sustain-
as a concept, namely, change, ability standards by adopting alternative cleaning
novelty, and variety, are honored processes like hanging garments in a steamy space
by the libraries, but without or by providing members with instructions on how
to wash the garments by hand.
necessitating separate purchases The establishment of clothing libraries is a signal
by individual end users. of how our relationship with dress can be explored
in unexpected ways. New attitudes toward fashion
result from a shift of our ideas and feelings, which,
borrower. The practice of dry-cleaning, however, is as Fletcher noticed, are usually hard to challenge:
anything but sustainable, mostly because of the use The more radical innovations [in fashion] focus
of perchloroethylene (perc), a petrolchemical-based on consumption patterns and bring the biggest
solvent, as detergent. Fletcher points out how sus- benefits because they are based on cultural change
tainability is a key factor in clothing maintenance, and shifts in consumer consciousness, although
even more than in production: even though they are both difficult and time consuming to
the typical garment is influence.20
19 Fletcher, Sustainable
only washed and dried
Fashion, 75. around 20 times in its
20 Fletcher, Sustainable
life, most of its environ-
Fashion, 80. mental impact comes

RE-KNITTING:
The Emotional Experience of
Opening Knitted Garments
Amy Twigger Holroyd
FIGURE 1
knitting are limited. Although it was common to changing the buttons or putting lace on it or
My PhD research explores design activism in the the material practices of design might be recast in rework knitted garments in the past, such prac- something like that. And it just never looked
context of my practice as a designer-maker of knit- terms of a negotiation with those things already in tices have fallen out of favor. The ability to open right. It was never good enough that you d want
wear. Motivated by the prospect of a more sustain- existence.1 I concur, and argue that the same is true and reconfigure a garment depends on its physical to wear it. It was a lot of effort, and the result
able and satisfying fashion system, I am investigat- for amateur making. properties, and what one perceives to be possible. was unsatisfactory.
ing the idea of openness within my practice. I have chosen to initiate re-knitting as a new Although knitting has an inherently open and
Openness can be explored on a number of levels. craft of use2 and to study how it develops. By re- tinkerable structure, we tend to perceive garments I cant see it, I cant visualise, I cant imagine
At a macro level, I have constructed a metaphor of knitting, I am referring to a range of processes that as closed and inviolable. Activity is limited by a lack what you would do.
fashion as a commons, which has been subject to utilize knitting skills, techniques, and knowledge of knowledge of how to open and alter the fabric
gradual enclosure through professionalization. I see and can be carried out by individuals to repair and and by cultural expectations regarding appropriate Im not very imaginative in that way.
a lack of making knowledge as one element of this alter existing items of knitwear. Re-knitting extends ways of interacting with our clothing.
enclosure, and suggest that an open fashion system the making relationship beyond original contstruc- As part of my research, I worked with a small I wouldnt like to spoil something thats perfect.
would permit a greater role for individuals to make tion and has the potential to keep garments in use group of female amateur knitters, exploring ways to
and maintain their own clothing. However, I am longer. Activity in this open existing knitwear and discussing the emotions Despite these concerns, they liked the idea of
aware that the majority of knitters focus on making area has been patchy; involved; through this article, I would like to share re-knitting and could think of items that they might
new itemsmirroring, rather than challenging, the 1 Alison Gill and Abby Mellick
while there are many their experiences, and their words. want to change.
Lopes, On Wearing: a Critical
linear production-consumption model of the main- Framework for Valuing Designs examples of wearers At the start of the project, I asked the knitters
stream fashion industry. Design researchers Alison Already Made, Design and
repairing and reworking about their perceptions of altering knitwear. This is an article perhaps I can do something
Culture 3, no. 3 (2011): 312.
Gill and Abby Mellick Lopes argue that too many garments using dress- with it, so that I can wear it, and it be an inter-
sustainable design initiatives involve the production 2 Kate Fletcher, Craft of use,
making techniques, My experience of altering things, or dressing esting, individual piece. Certainly, its not at the
accessed August 11, 2013,
of new things; they suggest that the challenge for www.craftofuse.org. current examples using them up, is limited but they always involved moment.

Before starting to work with the group, I knitters generally have a horror of cutting knitting.
developed a range of methods for altering knitted If I mention the word cut to knitters, the response is
garments. Many of the methods involve open- usually a sharp intake of breath and a look of panic;
ing the fabric through unraveling, laddering, or more than once I have heard sacrilege muttered
cutting; knitters have different experiences of, and in response. Their horror is understandable: when
feelings about, each of these actions. Unraveling a knitted fabric is cut, the structure of intermeshed
the deconstruction of the fabric, row by rowis loops is disrupted, and it cannot be unraveled into
a common activity within conventional knitting. a continuous thread. Cutting cannot be reversed, as
Unraveling directly reverses the formation of loops unraveling can; therefore, it is a more violent means
involved in knitting, and the yarn remains in its of opening a fabric.
original state, as a continuous strand. Knitters To explore these feelings, we deconstructed some
unravel and re-knit their work in order to correct knitted garments together. During this process
mistakes; this might be a small section of a single the participants perceptions of the knitted fabric
panel, or an entire garment that has not turned started to change. They realized that the nature of
out. Some knitters also unravel existing items of the knitted structure is such that ladders need ma-
knitwear to reclaim the yarn. nipulation to run, and a fabric cut vertically does
not come apart without vigorous handling.
When I was first married, and we didnt have
much money, I used to buy jumpers at jumble Its that expectation that it would all fray, and it
sales and unpick them, and knit my son jumpers just hasnt.
from the best of the wool.
Its liberating because its not all just disappeared.
Hence, unraveling can be seen as an integral
element of knitting practice. Although unraveling Theres something subversive about doing this.
is sometimes associated with disappointment, the
process offers the satisfying opportunity to start Its like a new world.
afresh.
The experience of deconstruction proved to be
Ive knitted one thing recently that was appall- essential both in developing a deeper understanding
ing, I mean the fit, it was just dreadful, rubbish of the knitted structure and in building a willing-
pattern. And Ive pulled it out to wool. ness to open knitted garments. Following the
deconstruction activity, we tried out a number of
Im known as a backwards knitter. Im always the re-knitting techniques that I had developed; this
pulling stuff out and doing it again. I cant bear introduced the participants to a range of options.
to be defeated by some balls of wool, and I cant The project culminated in each participant using
bear waste. re-knitting techniques to alter an item from her own
wardrobe; I was able to observe their emotions and
Laddering occurs accidentally when a stitch is thoughts as they negotiated this new experience.
dropped; for some, this is a worrying experience. The knitters felt it was important that their re-
knitting alterations produced an improved outcome;
Im always scared, if you drop a stitch or some- however, this was thought to be a challenge.
thing, Im always scared its going to run right
down to the bottom. Its a very fine line, between altering something
and ending up with something naff, and end-
However, most knitters know how to re-form ing up with something where actually youve
a ladder, and are able to use this technique as an improved on it.
alternative means of correcting mistakes.
The actions of both unraveling and laddering, FIGURE 2
therefore, are seen as relatively safe; in contrast,

I dont want the cure to be worse than the Weve done things I would never have dreamt of.
disease.
Its made me a bit braver.
Design discussions revealed a crucial issue:
whether the alterations would look intentional and They also felt good about having been able to
purposeful. The idea of looking like its meant to transform an unworn item and return it to wear.
be like that arose again and again in the conversa-
tions. This issue of intentionality relates to a broader It does feel good (noble perhaps sounds too
concept of wholeness. During the early stages of pompous) to reinvigorate a rather sad garment.
the design process, several participants expressed
concern that their additions might look stuck on. I feel, sort of, justified that Ive been able to turn
Another comment links these issues of intentional- it into something I want. And I shall feel self-
ity, wholeness, and purposefulness: righteous when I wear it!
Yes, as if its meant to be like that, rather than

sticking it on for the sake of it. I was excited to hear that they would continue
with this activity in the future.
The knitters addressed these concerns by using
the repetition of design elements to tie everything Ive realised that knitting the garment is not the
together, making the original garment and the new end of the journey. Whereas before, when you
additions part of a new whole. When the partici- knitted something, you either wore it out, or got
pants reflected on their projects, positive comments tired of it, or gave it to charity.
mentioned the additions looking like its part of
what its supposed to be and looking like a whole; But its no longer the end of the journey, it can
they were described as looking interwoven, always become something else.
blending in, and hanging together.
Following the project, the knitters reflected on At the end of the project, I asked: What advice
their transformed garments; they were pleased would you give to another knitter interested in re-
with them, and considered their alterations to have knitting?
improved the original items. They also felt positive
about the activity of re-knitting. It doesnt have to be an immediate success. Youve
got to allow for, not exactly failure, but for things
Its been really quite exciting, what you can do to turn out in a surprising way.
with existing garments that youve got. Just to
turn them into something really original, which I
think is fantastic its quite a liberating thing.
You feel like you can go in and alter and put
back together. Its a really nice thing to do.
They described feeling proud of having achieved a

complex task.
Im impressed with the way it all works, the

construction of it. I think thats really clever. And
Im quite pleased that Ive been able to do it.
FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4 FIGURE 5

CONTRIBUTORS
JEN BALLIE is a post-doctoral researcher in the Design in Action unit of the Arts KATE FLETCHERs work is both rooted in natures principles and engaged
and Humanities Research Councils Knowledge Exchange hub in Swinton, with the cultural and creative forces of fashion and design. Over the last two
England. Her work explores social, interaction, and sustainable design for fash- decades, her original thinking and progressive outlook have infused the field of
ion, furthering the design process through service design. Her doctoral research fashion, textiles and sustainability with design thinking. Fletchers pioneering
combines textile design processes with social media to develop design interven- work ranges from developing slow fashion ideas and practices to directional
tions for citizen engagement. These projects have produced a series of service sustainability projects, includingLocal Wisdom,which has engaged thousands
design concepts and speculative new business models for fashion and textile of people worldwide with craft of use and post-growth fashion.Fletcher
design with consideration to sustainability. Workshops have been delivered at has over 50 scholarly and popular publications, includingSustainable Fashion
the Victoria and Albert Museum, Marks and Spencers Shwop Lab, and online and Textiles: Design Journeys(2008, 2nd ed 2014). She is also co-author
fashion retailer A SOS . ofFashion and Sustainability: Design for Change(2012). Fletcher is Professor of
Sustainability, Design, Fashion at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London
MARIANO BRECCIA grew up in the western suburbs of Buenos Aires. During College of Fashion, where she has a broad remit spanning enterprise, education
his childhood,the distant figure of his uncle (the comic strip writer Alberto and research. Her strategic leadership within the Centre includes spearheading
Breccia) inspired him. He studied law and communication, and worked at a its role as co-secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ethics and
radio station for 10 years. These experiences, his time as a garbage collector Sustainability in Fashion at the House of Lords.
while in his teens, his passion for vintage clothing, and the technical develop-
ment he acquired through working with different brands in the textile industry, PASCALEGATZENis an artist, educator and fashion designer based in New
all contribute to the artistic textile recycling project 12-na, developed with his York. Within her art and design practice, Gatzen produces and facilitates large
partner Mechi Martinez. collaborative projects using clothing as her main medium.The focus both of her
teaching and of her artistic practice is on relational aspects of fashion, and on
MIRIAM DYM is an artist whose work addresses themes of resource extrac- developing reciprocal models of production and exchange.She is an Associate
tion, manufacturing, consumption and waste. Her current work includes live Professor of Fashion Design at Parsons The New School for Design, where she
manufacturing performances. Under the corporate name Dym Products, has developed and implemented an alternative fashion curriculum within the
Dym mingles art, design, materials handling and supply chain services. Years BFA Integrated Design program. Website:www.pascalegatzen.net.
of searching for ways to transform her own households trash production and
disposal led Dym to reframe her art practice, turning it into a functioning busi- GIANAPILARGONZLEZ is a designer and consultant who works and plays
ness whose products and services attempt to re-order the generation, consump- with brands, technology and cultural systems.She researches, analyzes and
tion and discarding of material goods. Dym has exhibited her work at museums (re)maps brand codes and structures to create new user experiences, engage-
and galleries in the US and abroad, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, ments and products.Within her practice, Gonzlez blurs the lines between
SFMOM A , and the Weatherspoon Museum. Residencies include The Watermill art and commerce, digital and analog, and couture and popular fashion.She
(Long Island, New York), Cit des Arts (Paris), and Stanford University Digital integratesmethods including hand processes (sketching, prototyping, illustra-
Art Center. tion, book-making), ethnographic research (participant-observation, interview-
ing), user experience and interaction design. Gonzlez has led and designed
ALESSANDRO ESCULAPIO is a student in the MA Fashion Studies program at user experience projects for brands includingMoleskine, Google, Benjamin
Parsons The New School for Design. His thesis focuses on wabi-sabi in fashion, Moore, AOL , Nokia and Coca-Cola. She also develops maps that document
with specific attention to its role in sustainable practices. He co-editedBI AS : and open-source the codes behind fashion labels such as Chanel, Burberry and
Journal of Dress Practice, and contributed toJust Fashion: Critical Cases on Social Versace. Her artwork has been featured in exhibits atEyebeamandGaranti
Justice in FashionandThe Fashion Condition, both published by SelfPassage. Gallery, and in publicationssuch asWired U K ,Hurriyet,and Fashion
Esculapio has worked as an assistant to fashion historian Emily Spivack on her Practice. Gonzlez holds a Bachelors Degree in Architecture from the Catholic
projects Worn Stories and Sentimental Value. His interests include alterna- University of America in Washington D.C. and a Masters Degree in Interactive
tive fashion practices, conceptual fashion, and fashion in fiction. Telecommunications from Tisch School of the Arts at N Y U. She currently

lives and works in New York City, and is the founder and creative director of Design and an MA in Fashion Studies. Kinnards research interests explore the
T EOSA N TOS Inc., a brand and interaction design consultancy. boundaries between fashion and the body, specifically with regard to technology
and medicine. Her MA thesis project considered how the social experience of
MARC HERBST is an artist, writer, and co-editor of theJournal of Aesthetics & the female body and daily dress practices can anticipate the decision to undergo
Protest (www.joaap.org). He is interested in the expansive field at the intersec- a breast reduction or breast augmentation procedure. In 2013 she served as a
tion of the environment, livability, and what people make of itthat is, culture. curatorial assistant on Front Row: Chinese American Designers at the Museum of
His work is based on an appreciation of political activism in a cultural context. Chinese in America in New York City. She served as project manager in devel-
Herbst has edited or contributed to 10 books, including authoring a comic book oping The BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook, an instructional sewing book published
series focusing on what might eventually constitute a post-capitalist and post- by Random House in 2011. She is a regular contributor to the online magazine
global-warming style of dress, and a small zine on pre-World War 2 German Apparel Insiders, and a co-founder of BI AS: Journal of Dress Practice. Website:
youth groups. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the Goldsmiths www.rachel-kinnard.com.
Center for Cultural Studies at the University of London.
MECHI MARTINEZ was born in Buenos Aires, and has been involved in making
AMY TWIGGER HOLROYD is adesigner, maker and researcher, working at the clothes since childhood. By the age of 18, she was working independently,
intersection of fashion, making, design and sustainability. While pursuing making all types of garments. In 2004, she began the recycled textile art prac-
undergraduate and graduate studies in fashion and textiles at Manchester tice 12-na in partnership with Mariano Breccia, a practice that she continues to
Metropolitan University and Winchester School of Art, Holroyd developed a this day.
sustainable fashionphilosophy based around craft, longevity and versatility. In
2004, she launched her experimental knitwear label, Keep & Share, to explore ELIZABETH ORIO is a Chilean journalist, based in Stockholm since 2003. She
these ideas further. In addition to creating collections of knitwear as well as studied garment design in Chile. In 2007, she founded Prendas Pblicas (www.
individual items on commission, Holroyd runs workshops and participatory prendaspublicas.com), a fashion blog focused on Spanish culture as well as
knitting projects in a variety of settings. She also creates conceptual one-off on Scandinavian fashion design. In 2011, she was invited as a panelist to the
pieces which investigate issues of authorship and ownership. Holroyd sees her conference, Jornadas Blogs de Moda, hosted by the Museo del Traje in Madrid.
practice as a type of research, generating new knowledge that can be shared with She has worked for newspapers including NEO2 (www.neo2.es), Tendencias
others, and potentially influencing future fashion and design activity. Between Fashionmag (www.tendenciasfashionmag.com), VA N IDA D (www.vanidad.es)
2010 and 2013, she undertook full-time PhD study at Birmingham Institute and C AC AO Magazine (www.cacaomag.comChina/Sweden), and a variety of
of Art &Design. Her research explores amateur fashion makingwhich she Spanish-language blogs. She is currently a content editor for the international
describes as folk fashionas a strategy for sustainability. More specifically, project Fashion Revolution (www.fashionrevolution.org), specifically developing
the study investigates the practice of re-knitting: the use of knitting techniques content for Fashion Revolution Chile.
to rework existing knitted garments. In 2014 Holroyd joined the University of
Leeds as Research Fellow in the School of Design, working on a 3-year Arts and LAUREN DOWNING PETERS is a PhD candidate in the Centre for Fashion Studies
Humanities Research Council-funded project investigating the role of design in at Stockholm University. She was in the inaugural class of the M A Fashion
revitalizing traditional craft processes and place-related products and patterns. Studies program at Parsons The New School for Design, graduating with honors
Holroyds work has been featured in many publications, from Vogue to Fashion in May 2012.Her current work emerges from her Masters thesis, and explores
Theory, and in books including Sustainable Fashion and Textiles by Kate Fletcher, the discourse of plus-size fashion and the function of clothing in fat activism.
The Culture of Knitting by Jo Turney, and Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craft by Her dissertation is tentatively entitled At the Margins: Plus-Size Fashion, Fashion
Sandy Black. Systems, and Stigma, and is scheduled to be completed in 2018. Peters has recent-
ly published articles in the peer-reviewed journalsFashion Theory, The Journal of
RACHEL KINNARD is a fashion journalist, independent curator, and currently Curatorial Studies, Canadian Review of American Studies,BI AS: Journal of Dress
part of the team at the Brooklyn-based fashion brand, BAGGU . A double Practice, and Cuaderno 48, as well asa co-authored chapter in a forthcoming
alumnus of Parsons The New School for Design, she holds a BFA in Fashion volume entitledGlobal Fashion Brands: Style, Luxury and History.

J. MORGAN PUETT is the founder ofMildreds Lane,a combination hand-crafted Artists in Genk, Belgium, on a new body of works utilizing 3-D scanning of
clothing line and social practice. Her work has been exhibited at renowned in- Belgian and Congolese antiquities to produce hybrid ceramic objects address-
stitutions worldwide, most recently at the MoM A , New York City, and has been ing the legacy of colonialism, empire, and trade routes.Syjuco received a BFA
featured inNew York Magazine, W, Harpers Bazaar, Art Forum, Art in America, from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an MFA from Stanford University.
World of Interiors, I.D. andThe New York Times, among other media outlets. She Her work has been shown at major institutions nationally and internationally. A
is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, and was named a Fellow of recipient of a 2014 Guggenheim Fellowship Award, she is an Assistant Professor
United States Artists in December, 2011. in Sculpture at the University of California, Berkeley, and lives and works in
San Francisco. Website: www.stephaniesyjuco.com.
JOKE ROBAARD is an artist, researcher and lecturer based at the Gerrit Rietveld
Academy in Amsterdam. Her work spans many fields including geography MARGREET SWEERTS trained as a theatre director and worked in theatre for
and cartography, photography and philosophy, and fashion theory. Robaards many years in Holland and Belgium. In 2002, she founded SERA together with
brochures and photographic works, videos, texts, lectures, student projects and Ivo van Megen, specializing in site-specific theatre. With the fashion designer
archives are all aspects of an ongoing process of uncovering hidden or forgot- Saskia van Drimmelen and fashion student Jarwo Gibson, Sweerts co-founded
ten connections between people, clothing, words and society, and of how these the hybrid fashion collective Painted in 2006; since then, the group has explored
things change over time. Selected recent exhibitions include: Endless Shirt, new and alternative ways of making, presenting and distributing fashion, look-
Reading Back and Forth (group exhibition), Stadtmuseum Graz, Austria, 2007; ing for reciprocal relationships in all phases of the process. The work of Painted
Opera Aperta, Dutch Pavilion, Venice Biennial 2011; Get Real/Real Self, Museum has been displayed in various international exhibitions, and Sweerts and von
of Modern Art, Arnhem, Holland, 2011; Does it Work? How Does it Work? Drimmelen are frequently invited to give lectures and workshops about their
(group exhibition), Goldsmiths College and Slade School of Art, London, 2014. practice. Golden Joinery is the latest offspring of their body of work. Sweerts
Website: www.jokerobaard.nl. also has 25 years experiences as a performer and teacher of the Argentine tango.
ZOEROMANOlives in Milan and currently works on Digital Strategy and OTTO VON BUSCH has faculty appointments at Konstfack University College of
Wearables for the open-source electronics prototyping platform Arduino. She Arts, Crafts and Design (Stockholm) and at Parsons The New School for Design
co-founded Openwear.org, the European pilot project around collaborative (New York). He has a background in arts, craft, design and theory, and aims to
fashion and open-source branding, and Wefab.it, an initiative for the diffusion seamlessly combine all these fields into one critical fashion practice.His research
of open design and digital fabrication in Italy. Her media-based political activ- explores the emergence of a new hacktivist role in fashion design, in which the
ism has focused on issues of precarity, social production, and labor in the cre- designer engages participants to reform fashion from an institution fraught with
ative and service industries. She recently launched a Makerspace in Milan called anxiety and fear into a collective experience of empowerment and liberation
Wemake.cc, focused on contemporary fashion and design practices. Websites: that helps people become morefashion-able. In recent years, Buschs work has
www.wemake.cc and www.zoescope.wordpress.com. primarily engaged the politics of fashion, especially in his collaborations with
the Parsons-based research group The Fashion Praxis Collective.Website: www.
STEPHANIE SYJUCO is a sculpture and installation artist whose work often selfpassage.org.
includes an active public component that invites viewers to directly partici-
pate as producers or distributors. Representative projects include starting an JADE WHITSON-SMITH is a lecturer on textiles at the University of Huddersfield,
ongoing collaborative project with crochet crafters to counterfeit high-end UK. She is currently pursuing doctoral research that examines human/garment
consumer goods (2006-present); presenting a parasitic art counterfeiting interactions. Whitson-Smith is interested in challenging post-purchase fashion
event,COPY STA ND : An Autonomous Manufacturing Zone,for Frieze Projects, behavior, and has delivered lectures and workshops for ReMade in Leeds explor-
London (2009); andShadowshop, an alternative vending outlet embedded at the ing the practices of repair, exchange, and re-design. She sits on the board of
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art that explored ways in which artists today Leeds Community Clothes Exchange, one of the biggest and most established
are navigating the production, consumption, and dissemination of their work clothes swaps in the UK. Whitson-Smith works closely with illustrator Simon
(201011). She is currently collaborating with the FL ACC Workplace for Visual Edgar Lord to visually communicate her adventures through the wardrobe.

126 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS

The Journal of Design Strategies. Alternative Fashion Systems

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Journal of Design Strategies. Alternative Fashion Systems

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Journal of Design Strategies. Alternative Fashion Systems

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

THE JOURNAL

VOL. 7, NO. 1 | FALL 2014

EDITORIAL STAFF The Journal of Design Strategies is published

THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 1

3 LETTER FROM THE DEAN

4 STEPHAN WEISS LECTURE SERIES

93 SECTION 3: CASE STUDIES

94 The Brooklyn Flea: A Model for Counter-Consumption?

2 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 3

4 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 5

fashion theorist Joke Robaard offers a meditation intentional development of their

6 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 7

8 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 9

and the Search for an primarily by greatly accelerating their rate of

Alternative Fashion System

10 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 11

12 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 13

14 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 15

The situation is similar in the case of consumerist

16 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 17

18 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 19

20 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 21

22 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 23

We began with the concept of intellectual prop- THE OPENWEAR MODEL

24 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 25

26 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 27

Making open-source machines

Open-source hardware is another, increasingly

28 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 29

30 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 31

32 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 33

34 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 35

J. MORGAN PUETT (JMP) Yes, it is really magi-

36 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 37

38 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 39

40 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 41

42 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 43

CONSEQUENCE and awareness, raising in a new context the possibil-

MB/MM: It comes from our environment, our

44 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 45

48 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 49

EO: You refer to the Japanese consumer as respectful.

FIGURE 4: From the Free Guilli Collection.

50 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 51

EO: What advice would you give to young designers

MB/MM: To implement recycling, relating to

EO: To close, a dream: what sort of fashion would

MB/MM: We would love to witness the disap-

52 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 53

54 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 55

56 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 57

I use the Logo Removal Service to

58 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 59

60 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 61

My hope is that through technology we can

62 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 63

I wanted to open up the

FIGURE 1: Normal Laundry Process.

64 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 65

66 WWW.NEWSCHOOL.EDU/PARSONS/SDS THE JOURNAL OF DESIGN STRATEGIES 67