2012 – The Year Of The Sustainable Wardrobe
As we start 2012, to help you make your wardrobe sustainable, we launch the 12 Rules To Dress By Poster and Wardrobe Shopping Checklist!
I have been following these Rules To Dress By since 2008 when I started working in the Ethical Fashion industry as part of the team on the RE:Fashion Awards, and then later for the Ethical Fashion Forum as a project manager and then associate director. I wanted to live out my values everyday, I couldn’t spend my life talking about ethical fashion and not be an example of it. Before 2008, I had thought about what I wore, I didn’t want to look like everyone else, so was a big supporter of independent designers and chose to match up these pieces with simple things from the high street. I didn’t think I bought that much, but that was a lie. I loved shopping, and would not have liked to count how much I bought. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was over 20 things a month. When I made the decision to take a really sustainable approach to my wardrobe, I basically slowed the whole thing down, spending more time thinking about what I wanted or needed in my wardrobe, spending more time discovering the incredible stories behind the clothes and this whole process made them human and special again.
Even though our awareness is rising about the issues in the global fashion industry most of us don’t have a clue how to think about making our wardrobes sustainable. When I speak to friends and colleagues there doesn’t seem to be a great feeling of responsibility about how we shop and how we dress. Many feel that it’s a girl’s fashion issue, yet we all wear clothes no matter our sex, age, or how stylish we consider ourselves.
The responsibility to change fashion is shared between the fashion industry, governments and us. What we buy or demand makes an enormous difference to what is made. There is a whole vocabulary building up around ethical fashion, with phrases such as Pre-Loved, Up-Cycled, Organic and Fair-trade. It’s important that we all start to understand what these mean and this is the future of fashion.
I wanted to help to share these ideas, and so collaborated with Visual Communication Designer Joana Casaca Lemos to develop a poster and checklist that would make it impossible for you not to think about what you buy and what you wear. As the fashion industry is now so global, we thought it was important to develop this project into as many languages as we could, so that the message could be spread far and wide. This has not been without challenge, especially with the new vocabulary on this topic, but we hope that you share and enjoy our work. We are making it freely available so that nobody is prevented from joining in. The rules and checklist are designed to be realistic to the way that we shop, and to give us some motivation to change our ways. Our aim is to make 2012 the Year of The Sustainable Wardrobe, with each of us becoming conscious consumers and demanding that the fashion industry is changed.
Clothes are an important part of our daily life. We have the opportunity to affect millions of people’s lives and to protect our environment by how we shop and what we wear. Rules are made to be broken, but by following these you can make a difference.
Joana Casaca Lemos said “When Amisha proposed bringing to life her “12 Rules to Dress By” I thought it would be a good opportunity to explore how visual communication could lead us to better interact with clothing items. In the format of a poster, “The 12 Rules” were laid-out in a fun tone, aiming to be graphically engaging. It was important to have easy references to the fashion industry. For this, using universal icons such as the ‘cut here scissors’ and the washing instructions icons, are immediate clues. In order to make “The 12 Rules” practical and applicable to the everyday, they were also designed in the format of a Checklist – an easy, simple tool. Overall, by following these “The 12 Rules” and accounting each one’s fashion consumption, it can lead to better understand the greater impact of our choices.
Like most people in the creative industries, I appreciate clothes and do consider garments an important part of self-expression. I have always maintained a conscious wardrobe and have very long-relationships with some items. But will admit, I have not always shopped as ethical as I could have, possibly because the information was not there when needed. “The 12 Rules” to me are a little pocket-guide, and when shopping provide more guidance. I will be using them for 2012 and look forward to seeing my own stats!”
See the buzz on this on twitter and the blogosphere through are storify..
Tweet your commitment – The #12RulesToDressBy by @amishaghadiali and @joana_cl are helping to make 2012 the year of my sustainable wardrobe
Please share your stories and experiences following these rules with me, and I will happily feature your tales on this site.
E-mail takeamoment (@) amisha.co.uk
Twitter @amishaghadiali #12RulesToDressBy
We also have a facebook group where you can share your experiences and pick up tips with others following the rules.
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[…] Dress By eine Art Regelwerk für nachhaltigeren Klamottenkonsum zusammengestellt. Für ihr Projekt 2012 – The Year Of The Sustainable Wardrobe hat sie ein praktisches Poster und eine Checkliste entworfen, die in mehreren Sprachen […]
[…] are when I meet people which inspire me to continue doing what I do. Today brainstorming with Amisha Ghadiali at Shoreditch House London on the 12 Rules to Dress By. The awesome brand Holstee came up in […]
*LIKE* I think this is great! As a fellow blogger of ethical fashion I love that you’ve given people a take-away piece to print out and inform future purchases! Keep up the good work, and if you’re interested, my blog is:
http://fairfashionyear.wordpress.com
Amy
LOVE this…. Thank you Amisha.
We absolutely love this! A fantastic starter point for anyone wanting to take a more sustainable approach to their clothing (and a lot of the points don’t just apply to clothing, either!). Have re-blogged and tweeted 🙂 x