Keeping up with sustainability: How Birmingham’s Next Generation are Redefining fashion Sustainability
By Lydia Lawrence • October 2024
It was shortly past 9 am on a gloomy thursday morning, when Birmingham City University students started arriving one by one into their classes. Madison Kathleen, one particular fashion design student, was delighted at the sight of a large and enticing pile of old recycled Calvin Klein jeans, that were placed before her. Millions of creative design ideas and practical processes suddenly rushed through her mind, when she was told to focus on making a sustainable yet fashionable and unique look.
As she began her work, Madison couldn’t contain her excitement for crafting brand new and unique garments. She started cutting random yet calculated shapes and letters out of the recycled material which later became the “hidden letters” design technique. This incorporated cutting out blended fonts and cursive letters into the fabric to create certain intricate design patterns.
This would eventually create not only a distinctive unique pattern, but also a wearable one too. As she worked to construct this piece, Madison wanted to enhance the outfit’s overall wearability even more. She thought the garment should become a unisex movement. “I figured it out, when we were having a photoshoot, a male was modelling for the design, I wanted as much flexibility and of course the best way to do this was to create a unisex ensemble, to add to the sustainable elements.”
By creating a transformative outfit combining a skirt and trousers to fit each of the male and female models specifically, she created a look that wowed audiences at the Birmingham fashion week show, held and supported by the local Birmingham Fashion Council. Madison then essentially showcased how simple and easy it was to create something so carefully designed and also wearable, out of reusable materials.
Therefore, we must wonder how many other fashion designers also want to incorporate practical and personal ideas, sustainable processes, and designs into runway and ready — to — wear garments. Yet, might struggle to execute it with being challenged by industry expectations.
Some of those expectations are based upon the current fast fashion model that is widely used within the fashion industry’s supply chains today.Fast fashion is something we all, as consumers, loathe to love and it is what we simply cannot help ourselves to indulge in. However, indulging in these systems and capitalistic models also means debates of ethical responsibility suddenly arise.
When companies, designers and we as consumers are all involved within the fashion production, distribution, and buyer processes; it is hard to define who and what is responsible for what fast fashion produces, beyond our knowledge.
Especially, when the fashion industry is well known as the second largest polluter in the world; emitting an astonishing 10% of global C02 emissions, being largely responsible for 20% of wastewater pollution, and 25% of chemical waste pollution. We all have to now wonder, who’s to blame?
The British fast fashion industry specifically shows how dangerous this is becoming, with overconsumption overwhelming the population. Oxfam studies show more than two tonnes of clothing are bought each minute in the UK, which redefines serious escalating problems within consumer culture and interchangeably the British fashion industry as a whole.
Yet still, many people, when they think of the role of sustainability within the fashion world, often gravitate towards thinking critically. Various questions around defining sustainability in our fast fashion motivated system and the practicality of adding sustainability to it arise. They wonder; is it viable enough to maintain? How is it executed within the industry’s supply chain? And what exactly does sustainable fashion even mean?
Even so, when we take a peek behind the scenes, when we are shown the practical and theoretical processes that it takes for designers to make a sustainable garment; you’ll often notice that many sustainability practices take us right back to the basics. Perhaps, ideas of sustainability are being severely overcomplicated. Simple materials can be used, reused, and recycled very easily as studies estimate that even using recycled cotton can save at least 2,500 liters of water.
Water consumption is also especially important when considering a sustainable approach, as the shocking facts show that 10,000 liters only produces 1 kilo of cotton. This is why designers are increasingly using older and more certain recycled materials, as it is the most beneficial for most constructive design processes.
So, designers at the recent Birmingham fashion week such as Madison Kathleen, even show that there are many ways that we can create what many call ‘fashionable sustainability’ that focuses more on the production of fashion. By using higher quality materials, whilst also creating looks that make us enjoy the clothes we wear, that limits production costs and that also use more eco-friendly materials and ethical processes.
