fashion: ecosystems and nature

Fashion has two different relations with ecosystems.

1) impact of the whole fashion industry on ecosystems.

2) circular economy in fashion.

 A circular economy has some characteristics that connect to ecosystems thinking, to use ecosystem thinking to get perspectives for the fashion industry. circular economy should have the same characteristics as ecosystems, as nature, so the new economy should also be unending, it should have sources and ways of working that look like ecosystems.

 The aim is to change the fashion system. work on a systems change, when you work on systems change, you need to see what kind of interventions you can do to facilitate the change in ecology and nature. Systems are never closed systems, but always open systems. And the connection with the surrounding world is always important , the most challenging is that nobody has any clue of what the ecology is.

 what are the the characteristics of an ecosystem? you can see three levels more or less in development, the first is on the product level: better design better use of materials and cleaner production.

The second is on process level identifying potential new business models that could be adapted in the fashion sector.

the third level is of course the level of systems change, which is the most, vague ambition, and difficult to identify what should be done.

 But we try at least to work on all three levels of innovation.

 What can we learn from ecology for the economy - mimic ecology for economy. diversity is very important in nature development and ecology. You can see that time and activities over time are very important for the quality of ecosystems. When you take a forest there are, let's say products that lasts the trees.

ecosystem has an amount of resources, nutrients, that is flowing around in the system slower or faster, and keeps the ecosystem on a high level of quality and growth.  Maybe the strategy should be: what do we have in abundance? we have in abundance: energy from the sun - Nine thousand times as much as we need for the whole human system, the sun sends us every moment of the day.  But we technically are not yet there to use it in the good way.We have an abundancy of creativity, which is no problem. Use it and let's have it in the fashion sector more and more. And so on design level we can do far more than we do now. Not just in the creativity but also in  design of the materials and the way the materials can be used after use. And how the resources can come back into the flows.

 C&A now has several gold certified t-shirt and jeans and jean jackets. And that's on the highest level possible on a product level, the highest level possible for reuse and regaining the materials. we also need to

 Give workers a voice, give female workers a voice, challenge and change the gender situation in the industry. from an ecological perspective this is using the diversity in the sector to gain quality in the way we collaborate. we need to try and not just create less impact, less negative impact but We also want to create also a positive impact.

for example the zero line, we have a zero negative impact,  is not enough.you need to step over the zero line and have a positive impact. So whatever you do in the fashion industry, it has a positive impact on people, on working condition on living conditions. It has a positive impact on ecology, on biodiversity and ecosystems, and it has a positive impact on economy

ecological systems work with products that last and products that flow. In nature, products that last are things like trees, while products that flow are the leaves that fall from the tree and become nutrients for the soil. Products that flow are thus fast-moving products, that instead of becoming waste, are resources for other products when they cease to exist (recyclable/ reusable in terms to fashion) These products move around in flows throughout the system to feed into other parts of the system. 

An example of a product that lasts in the fashion system could be a well-produced and timelessly designed leather jacket that can last for years. (good materials, and design, durable and timelessly stylish and/or functional ) 

An example of a product that flows is a garment or (mycelium) bag designed for cyclability with a biobased material. This item can be reused and safely composted at the end-of-life, in order to feed other elements in the biological system.