In episode 282, Kestrel welcomes Katia Dayan Vladimirova, a senior researcher at the University of Geneva, to the show. In addition to her research on fashion consumption, sustainability, and degrowth, Katia is the founder and coordinator at the Sustainable Fashion Consumption Network, and recently contributed to the Hot or Cool Institute’s Report – Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable.
“Sufficiency is part of —very much interlinked with degrowth conversations today — it’s about abandoning economic growth in favor of wellbeing and enoughness as a positive vision of the future, in which we are content with enough and are not looking for more all the time.” -Katia
I’ve been thinking a lot about the sustainable fashion narrative (over the last decade or so) and as I see it, we’ve seen a few big stages in the conversation – mind you, there are so many more nuanced narratives that have been out there, but these are the narratives I’ve heard the most noise around:
Stage 1 – A focus on redirecting your consumption habits. The idea that you can be more sustainable with your wardrobe if you buy differently. The narrative was very much interconnected with capitalism and focused on the notion of BUY THIS, NOT THAT.
Stage 2 – A basic understanding that massive corporations are the biggest culprits of carbon emissions and human rights violations in fashion. The narrative shifted a bit away from *blaming the consumer* and a bit toward highlighting the need for brands to change. This also involved an acknowledgement of the important role that legislation can play in transforming the industry. This was when we saw the rise of the fashion activist.
Stage 3 – (This is the stage I believe we are currently amidst.) It’s a combination of the previous stages, with greater context and more specific recommendations on HOW to truly make an impact. It involves an understanding that there is not one specific avenue to change the way fashion currently operates – but instead, we need all hands on deck, and multiple avenues working to address the industry’s inequities.
This week’s guest was one of the authors of a recent report that came out by the Hot or Cool Institute. I feel like the findings in this report directly assist in providing specific ways that a so-called CONSUMER can transform their behavior to make measurable impacts on climate change (something I’m seeing as an integral part of this Stage 3 we are currently amidst).
In the report, it highlights that – “If no other actions are implemented, such as repairing/mending, washing at lower temperatures, or buying second-hand, purchases of new garments should be limited to an average 5 items per year for achieving consumption levels in line with the Paris Agreement – to keep the average global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030.
This is very exciting – to see a report tell us a target number – to let us know that we can still buy clothing, but if we can all reduce our purchasing to only 5 garments per year, we can stay within planetary boundaries.
Tune in to hear more from this week’s guest on HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? when it comes to our fashion consumption.
Quotes & links from the conversation:
Hot or Cool Institute’s Report "Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable: Resizing Fashion for a Fair Consumption Space"
Sustainable Fashion Consumption Network, international research network on sustainable fashion consumption
"Consumption Corridors in Fashion: Deliberations on upper consumption limits in minimalist fashion challenges", Katia’s article that explores how much is enough
“When we’re talking about the key driving force behind the growing emissions in fashion — these are the wealthiest 20%. And we may think that, wealthiest 20%, oh this is somewhere far away from us. But if we look at the numbers — in Germany, to be within the wealthiest 20%, the individual income has to be over 3.2K Euros per month. So, many people who are participating in policy conversations, in research — many people who are asking these questions actually are within the richest 20 percent.” -Katia (26:17)
“Those who really should change is the middle class and upper middle class who can afford to buy better, but they choose not to.” (27:22)
“The positive message here is that when we’re talking about staying within planetary boundaries, we’re not talking about having 2 pairs of underpants, 2 socks and a pair of jeans for the whole year — that’s not the case. We actually have a very generous allowance — our allowance to stay under the 1.5 degree limit is higher than the number of pieces that a woman in France used to have in the 1960s in her wardrobe. So we’re really very generously allowed to experiment.” -Katia (29:30)
“Citizen Insights: Clothing Longevity and Circular Business Models Receptivity in the UK”, WRAP study that Katia mentions
Follow Katia on Instagram >
S03 Episode 140 | ETHICAL STYLE JOURNAL + THE POWER OF INDEPENDENT MAGAZINES
S03 Episode 139 | THE BETTER SHOP + COMMUNITY OVER COMPETITION
S03 Episode 138 | MARKET45 + PROGRESS OVER PERFECTION
S03 Episode 137 | REMODE, THE PREMIER EVENT FOR DISRUPTIVE + SUSTAINABLE FASHION
S03 Episode 136 | THE MINIMALIST WARDROBE
S03 Episode 135 | CLOTH FOUNDRY + A HEALTHY WARDROBE
S03 Episode 134 | REFORMATION + THEIR NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH THREDUP
S03 Episode 133 | NASREEN SHEIKH, ANTI-SWEATSHOP ADVOCATE
S03 Episode 132 | RENEE PETERS + MODEL4GREENLIVING
S03 Episode 131 | KROCHET KIDS, KNOWN SUPPLY + SLOW STORYTELLING
S03 Episode 130 | OUTERKNOWN + SMASHING THE FORMULA
S03 Episode 129 | THE GARMENT WORKER CENTER + ONE WOMAN'S STORY
S03 Episode 128 | THE GARMENT + THEIR VIRTUAL POP-UP
S03 Episode 127 | AGAATI + EMBRACING BOTH HANDS AND MACHINES
S03 Episode 126 | NISOLO + HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT
S03 Episode 125 | COLLECTIVE CLOSETS
S03 Episode 124 | NATURAL FIBER WELDING
S03 Episode 123 | WHIMSY+ROW, THE INFLUENCER AGE + BUILDING A CONSCIOUS COMMUNITY
S03 Episode 122 | ANITA VANDYKE + A ZERO WASTE LIFE
S03 Episode 121 | NEST + BUILDING A NEW HANDWORKER ECONOMY
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