What does sustainable mean? Able to be maintained at a certain rate or level, and this is what Zero Waste Daniel does. Daniel is the CEO of his own company graduated from FIT. His story went viral in 2017 with more than 35 million views on INSIDER, BUZZFEED, and MASHABLE. He realized that couture and reality TV’s were too superficial for the way he wanted to give a meaning to the world of fashion and sustainability. He reuses fabric making patchwork giving it a new sense of identity and uniqueness for consumers and brands who want to take part of the future in fashion. I find this very inspiring as sometimes we don’t acknowledge how much we throw away and become so oblivious to the mountains of waste rising in landfills, and how selfish we have become only taking from the Earth, and not giving enough back, as stated in the reading “industry altered the natural equilibrium of materials in the planet”. Daniel is implementing cradle-to-cradle by making all his work become technical nutrients. It is not only how much he is contributing to the fashion industry, but also by labor. He believes in a sustainable working environment in which he knows the story behind his workers. I find this extremely important to create a conscious way of living. As a brand you need to be responsible for all areas of your work, and think in the future as a team and not individual. The message he tries to convey is way more deep than what most people can realize. When I walked into the store in Brooklyn my first thought was ‘wow this is a bit cluttered’ but the more you keep expanding that thought it leads you to ‘wow, where did all of this come from?’. Finding people in the world who are dedicated to be this transparent about the whole process of how he does a t-shirt (breaking down price, having the factory in the same store, and time frame for a product to be made) really shows he is ahead of what fashion should look like.
Another thought, as he kept talking about his transparency that came to mind was to compare it to the brand ‘Reformation’ in SoHo. This brand now has a tab for ‘sustainability’ every time you click on an item online. I think this really attracts customers, and is a way of marketing that will be more influential in the future, as people start to wake up to how damaging we are to the Earth.
(Reformation online shop – look at bottom right where is says ‘sustainability’).
The quote from the reading “to eliminate the concept of waste means to design things, products, packaging and systems, from the very beginning on the understanding that waste does not exist” is a statement that should be followed by marketing teams in brands when looking at how to implement a new product, advertising, social media exposure, or when looking for new investors. I believe this is something Daniel really portrayed through-out his talk for us, making me personally be less scared of reusing things I have at home and giving them a new purpose. Just like energy, not destroy it but transforming it.
Moreover, the only high-end brand that comes to mind that threw some light on this topic was Dior for their collection of Fall 2018. They made beautiful clothes, bags, and shoes out of ‘patchwork’ with the quote ‘Peace and Dior’ bringing some awareness globally to the reduce, reuse, recycle technique. This was also a great way to connect the audience on a more personal level, as patchwork has to be done by hand, making people appreciate and respect more how many hours it takes to piece all of the fabrics togethers and bring a sense of comfort.
(Dior fashion show Fall 2018).
Moreover, if we look at the history of patchwork, we can see Egyptians were using this technique in their tombs, Japanese armor was made out of layers of wilted fabric to keep the soldiers warm and protected, or European’s also started using this technique in the households of 11th and 13th century because climate became colder around this time. This really shows us the true value it has to reuse fabrics as we have done out before out of need. I just think we have become too spoiled with too many resources to remember practicality over trendy.
(Egyptian patchwork).
(Samourai patchrowk).
Overall, I think Daniel is a very thoughtful person who also lives his life this way after leaving the studio, and is really influencing others to widen their minds on how to use what we already have, without being selfish and fighting against fast-fashion and the feeling of ‘metaphorical defloration’.
Reading Notes:
-growth
-industry altered natural equilibrium of materials on the planet
-biological mass
-technical mass
-technosphere
-‘societies began to find ways to get rid of their wastes’
-‘humans began to take more and more nutrients from the soil and to eat up resources without replacing them at an equal rate’
-‘pecunia non olet: money doesn’t stink’
-metals are called technical nutrients
-throwaway products have become the norm
-mountains of waste rising in landfills
-‘frankestein products’
-raw sewage
-substances can terminate natural systems—mutations of aquatic and animal life
-opening a new products is a kind of metaphorical defloration
-‘to eliminate the concept of waste means to design things, products, packaging and systems, from the very beginning on the understanding that waste does not exist.’
-form follows evolution, not just function
-DesignTex
-Swiss textile: Rohner
-design a fabric that would do no harm; design one that is nutritious
-reduce, reuse, recycle
-technical nutrient: material or product that is designed to go back into the technical cycle, into the industrial metabolism from which it came.
-rice husks
-‘eco-leasing’
-‘maybe we want our things to live forever, but what do future generations want?’
-waste phaseout
