Should we look at the fashion value chain as a global system or can we imagine local fashion ecosystems?
localism, in short, means that local ecosystems provide both resources and constraints to an area’s activity. Can the rise of small-scale producers and local supply networks provide us with a true business case for localism?
Essentially, localism is about a fashion culture that you can establish, there is more to localism than simply local manufacturing. beyond consumerism, there should be more attention on local skills, redefining values and humans into the fashion industry locally.
in the late '60s, a group of American scientists got together and formed what they called'The Union of Concerned Scientists', in order to be into turn the political discourse towards environmental and social issues. people have also been inspired to do the same within the fashion space, four women got together after a provocation from Linda Grose, from California College of the Arts. She made a provocation about saying, 'we'll maybe we need something similar to the Union of Concerned Scientists in our area'. and so gathered together with an explicit mandate to try and turn the conversation about fashion research, towards difficult questions about sustainability. And really taking on very profoundly the growth logic, which at the moment is impeding any systems change within the sector. So that was, that's what it is. the consumer society and the fact that the fashion system as we currently know it is based on continually growing the business models and the economic ideas that underpin the system, that the fashion sector operates within, is based on an expansionist approach to engaging with things where we extract continuously more resources than ever business needs to grow, in order to stay in the scene. And this of course is inherently incompatible with a planetary system like Earth, which is finite. So the infinite capacity within economic thinking for businesses to grow, is completely at odds with the finite limits of the resource base. brought a focus and a point through which that people feel know they can act in a targeted way. six or maybe seven different areas of work. They range massively. So one of them is a project that's involving editing the pages of Wikipedia, to improve their referencing within there. To sharpen the logic and develop the history more of this space of fashion sustainability.
"people find it easier to imagine the end of the world, than an alternative to capitalism."
And what the group is trying to do, is to show and grow and seed a multitude of different alternatives. That can sit alongside capitalist practices. But will ultimately dislodge capitalist practices exclusively from the number one slot. capitalism will still be present, going forward within the fashion space. But it won't be the main focus. So one of the practices is to try to put forward a whole range of different alternatives.
anti capitalist - A lot of people for example see current practices, current ways to go about engaging with fashion provision and expression, doing business in this area, or even engaging with the sustainability ideas in this area. They sort of see it as neutral values, neutral. And none of it is, because it's explicitly propping up the system dice at the heart of the status quo. So, acknowledging that even the status quo is an ideological position. Because it is. It's an ideological position based on capitalism. Is important in order to begin to look at where me might operate in a different sort of position.
a lot of people within the system as it exists at the moment, spend time and effort trying to rubbish alternatives. Partly in order to bolster no change and prop up the existing system. the most convincing alternative is an alternative that's based in localism. And here what we would have is a fashion system that, or multiple fashion systems, that were shaped by the particulars of place, by the people who were impacted by those ideas and the fact that that "industry" would exist there. These people have influence over the sorts of decisions that affect their lives.
Localism is an extraordinarily powerful way, to begin to bring the benefits of decision making home to the people who make the decisions. the current fast fashion system, in regards to globalism, the fact that our clothes are made increasingly on the other side of the world, places we've never been, maybe never even seen. When you talk about localism then, what is that? What's your vision of localism? to counter pose the fast fashion business model with this alternative of localism? Because what fast fashion tends to do, it's like a centripetal force, it's taking the benefits of the system away from communities, to some sort of invisible global brand. By contrast, localism is a centrifugal force where the benefits and the attention and the environmental impact is all felt locally. What it looks like? It's not easy to see it as about materials, provenance and regional manufacturing. it starts with the people really
what about onshore production? can we shorten supply chains?
The problem is that people very easily latch onto what they consider to be this immediate alternative. And it's not as easy as that. But of course there's going to be an element of regional manufacturing and certainly local materials production. In the UK for example, the most obvious local fibres that we have, that we can cultivate and process entirely within our shores is wool.
wool is part of the UK's local fibre story. As will other minority fibres. Things like hemp and linen. this can push towards thinking about what localism will be, will have an immaterial element, as it will regional manufacturing. People doing good things with fibres on a smaller scale to the globalized system.
everybody automatically tries to reduce fashion purely to out is as a thing that we can make and then basically everyone consumes.
So what does 'local' mean for people in the UK. A system which largely doesn't have any manufacturing anymore. (though in the 1800s and 1900s it was) localism is so much more than actually this slice that we would normally quickly jump to our thinking of it like that. localism is about a fashion culture that you can establish. Unfortunately, no one ever advocates for this unseen, hidden route system that supports the other thing. Not industry, it's not in their interest. Not governments, but If they were to begin to try to find a way to foster better knowledge, better engagement, with and perhaps better reuse networks and other things locally, then that would completely transform what happens above ground in the formal fashion economy.
changes need to be started in manufacture but also with the consumer, there would be a need for adjustment such as price, production time, willingness to consume (different) products within the limits of local availability - some products would be available or would be possible to make - such as bamboo and cotton in the cooler climates, or hemp, linen or wool in tropics, along with a Willingness to buy fewer products.
one of the things individuals can do to support the transition to a circular system, is buy products that were locally made. However, currently, buying locally-sourced and produced clothes is still hard. It might put a considerable financial strain on you, and will result in a much smaller selection to choose from. However, when you think about how the fashion industry operates globally, it can be overwhelming to find any other ways in which you could contribute to change.
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