Multi-stakeholder Initiatives: The business case for human rights
As an activist for human rights along the fashion supply chain, it is easy to label corporations, governments and factory owners as “the bad guys”. They are the ones perpetuating unfair labor practices, right? In many ways, yes, but it’s too simple to stop asking questions there. Digging deeper into the situations causing them to exploit people, and understanding exactly how these powerful players are able to skirt systems put in place to protect workers is at the crux of solving this issue. Addressing these oversights and bringing everyone to the table to find pathways for mutually beneficial change is crucial to building better businesses that are able to navigate the apparel supply chain in a way that incorporates human rights at every level.
At NYU Stern, the Center for Business and Human Rights is working on research to tackle exactly these issues in the garment industry in Bangladesh. Stern established the Center for Business and Human Rights in 2013, the first of its kind. Forming right after the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, the center decided to take a close look at how the government and brands address this tragic loss of life in the sector. After their first report, they identified a major issue causing human rights violations to be transparency in the Bangladeshi supply chain. To shine a light on the breadth of the garment industry and how different factories operated, they created an interactive mapping tool to track all the factories in the country. Their latest report, Five Years After Rana Plaza: The Way Forward – released just this month, assesses this critical juncture in the Bangladeshi garment industry where the Accord (mainly comprised of European brands) and the Alliance (mainly comprised of American brands) are gearing up to transfer their responsibilities to the government and outlines recommendations for moving forward.
Although we are five years out from the Rana Plaza disaster and some improvements have been made, the industry is still on the verge of a major disaster in the Bangladeshi garment sector due to the drastic inequalities between factories that have emerged. Instead of lifting up the industry as a whole, the Accord and the Alliance groomed select factories to raise their standards for foreign export, while other factories lagged behind and even decreased in standards as they produced for countries with more lenient standards, the Bangladeshi domestic market or even served as subcontractors for these larger sanctioned factories. In effect, they managed to create a bifurcation between factories and further engrained subcontracted work as a necessary component to meeting foreign brand’s demands.
After reading the report and talking with April Gu, the Associate Director of the Center for Business and Human Rights, I learned how the center is advocating for steps forward that will help to raise accountability with the Bangladeshi government, create a shared responsibility over worker’s rights and funding for remediation, and provide more transparency throughout the web of factories operating in the country. Stressing the importance of mitigating risk across the sector, brands don’t want to invest so much money to remediate factories just to have their garments show up in a subcontracted factory with major fire or structural problems and cause a media frenzy. The next steps for the center are to start forming a task force and build the timeline for their Shared Responsibility model.
This is not the first organization to preach the necessity of shared responsibility and accountability across all parties involved, but their neutral stance and ability to bring different stakeholders together helps them accomplish this better than other advocacy groups. When given a platform to come together and collaborate on important social and environmental issues in a non-competitive space, brands are able to learn from each other and discover ways in which they can collectively change the industry for the better. Since the center is housed in a business school and is approaching the problem from that mindset, they are able to bridge the gap between workers rights and business strategy.
Beyond their research and advocacy work, the staff at the Center for Business and Human Rights also teach courses at NYU Stern in the Business and Society Program, embedding this into the core business curriculum. A speaker series is also put on for all NYU students to explore careers in Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Innovation to encourage them to follow career paths in these fields.
I’m happy to see programs like this emerging within a business context and hope to see more. One of the recommendations from the center for the way forward for Bangladesh is to shift the way in which brands purchase from suppliers. They are encouraging companies to consider including a social component into the cost of good. Having worked in the industry managing production and negotiating pricing with factories, I am acutely aware of how ingrained this mindset of driving down the price of the garment at all costs and the pressures brands feel from consumers to keep their pricing low. The idea of disrupting the industry in this way, and being able to change the way in which fashion businesses interact with their suppliers through education would certainly be revolutionary. I hope to start seeing this shift as more business students are taught to address issues of human rights and ethics along the supply chain.
Multi-stakeholder partnerships were my reason for returning to graduate school, how are they formed, how do different members work together, how are the goals decided upon when everyone has a different approach? Last semester I studied Race to the Top‘s structure in Vietnam and their perspective of setting standard auditing systems throughout the country and also collectively raising money for creating a sustainable garment sector. The Center for Business and Human Right’s approach in Bangladesh focuses more on stamping out subcontracted work and raising the industry as a whole, as well as a system for collective funding. These initiatives are in their nascency and it is too early to measure the positive impact they’ll have in the industry, but it’s great to see the big players taking the first step and start to work together on these pressing human rights issues.
Grassroots Organizing: Student led initiatives
Playing off of the last post, this one will be zeroing in on building a grassroots coalition and army of supporters to move your cause forward. I’ll explore this through the efforts of an NYU student group eager to learn about and solve the issues of the sustainable fashion industry.
Wanting to learn more about student groups on campus passionate about sustainable fashion, I jumped on a Facebook invite I saw to Earth Matter’s clothing swap last week. Earth Matters is an undergraduate led environmental student club at NYU and thought I’d go check it out their event to see how students were talking about issues of sustainable fashion and what they were doing to fight back. Once I arrived at the event and put down the pieces I brought to contribute, I looked around the big conference room, people were casually pursuing the clothing, trying on pieces and chatting with friends. The selection was largely fast fashion but that’s to be expected in a college clothing swap. It was encouraging to know that these pieces would stay out of a landfill and the students were shifting their mindset about how to consume fashion.
Although there seem to be some champions in colleges around the US, undergraduates are a difficult group to turn onto the sustainable fashion mindset. Having small budgets and wanting to stay on trend usually drives their clothing consumption habits, not curating a one of a kind style or buying pieces that will last. I spoke to Liv Chai, an executive board member of Earth Matters passionate about sustainable fashion, to get her perspective on how NYU students feel about these issues and what students can do to make a difference (pictured in the middle below promoting the Earth Matters Clothing Swap).
We sat down to chat in the student center last week, where she explained her motivation for starting the sustainable fashion campaign with Earth Matters and why she thinks that her generation has a responsibility to step up and take action. Having grown up in an environmentally conscious household, she’s always cared about sustainability but it wasn’t until her first year in college that she came to realize that fashion is a major perpetrator of environmental issues. Wanting to do more, she approached Earth Matters to start up her own sustainable fashion campaign, organizing sustainable fashion shows, panel discussions, and clothing swaps.
Liv explained her motivation for starting the campaign with me – “I wanted to educate myself and start a proactive dialogue, especially as a part of fast fashion’s main consumer base…they don’t think that young people are conscious of what’s going on behind the scenes, but the young people are the ones fighting for these causes.” She explains that younger generations are stepping up and taking action where others are falling short. Take the Parkland shooting, for example, students are the ones who were able to start a movement and push for actual change in the government, policymakers were listening in a way that they hadn’t before. This has encouraged students like Liv to step up and take action on issues that they care about, knowing that their voices are powerful and can truly make a difference.
I asked Liv about how she can help influence her classmates and their consumer behavior to become more sustainable. She tells me that “it’s all about showing, not telling…showing them that there’s value in second-hand clothing and helping them realize the value of that.” She goes on to say that she’s learned a lot from Youtube and social media and has seen a trend for people to talk about becoming a more mindful consumer and including thrifted items in their lookbooks. It is clear that as we become an ever more connected world, online platforms and social media are key to shifting behavior and mindsets around how we shop.
Oftentimes sustainable fashion brands ignore younger generations who cannot afford their clothing, but I think this is a huge oversight. Like Liv mentioned above, her generation is the generation that will grow up to be leaders in sustainability. Furthermore, this is the demographic that fast fashion companies predominantly market to, and they are not offered many alternatives to the fast fashion model. By giving college students outlets to buy sustainable and ethical fashion, at a price they can afford, you can bring major disruption to the industry. Even if this means introducing updated consumption models like clothing swaps, upcycled clothing, or systems for renting more expensive sustainable brands, it is imperative that we don’t assume this generation doesn’t care because they are largely shopping at Forever 21 and H&M. They are shopping at these stores because we are failing to provide an alternative accessible model.
Now that I am back in school and surrounded by undergraduate students at NYU, I love to hear how excited they are about getting involved in sustainable fashion and what they can achieve. They are dreaming big, and I can’t help but feel hopeful for the future of the industry.
Policymaking: A way forward from advocacy
Since I’m currently pursuing a Masters in Public Administration, policy-making seemed like a good place to start this Fashion Revolution series on ways in which we can drive change in the fashion industry. I started the MPA program at NYU Wagner in the fall of 2017 and have been pleasantly surprised by the school’s attention on human rights issues along the supply chain. From learning about the start of the labor rights movement and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 to reading case studies about the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013, even though they are 100 years apart, the root causes and issues seem to be the same. Exploitative and forced labor of garment workers in lower Manhattan has merely moved into communities further and further away, where laws and regulations do not protect them.
Advocacy and disruption go hand in hand with radical shifts and policy change. This was true with the beginning of the labor movement during the era of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and it is still true now with the rise of the widespread and quickly growing #MeToo movement. How can we take lessons learned from these cases and apply it to improving labor standards along the global supply chain? Admittedly, the process of international policy change has different layers and intricacies from a local state legislature, but the methods of building a movement, laying the groundwork and telling your story remain the same.
Last week, the NYU Wagner Women’s Caucus held a policy formation workshop that centered around the partnership between Assemblywoman Nily Rozic and Founding Director of the Model Alliance, Sara Ziff and their efforts to pass a bill protecting models against sexual harassment. Due to the way in which models are hired as independent contractors, they have few legal protections and no human resources department to turn to when they are harassed on the job. The workshop served as a tool for students to understand how advocacy and policy-making work together to build new laws to shift industries.
In a quote from a New York Times article on their partnership, Ms. Ziff explains that “There has been a sense that simply speaking out is enough” and goes on to assert that “It’s an important first step, but it does not solve the problem. If there aren’t basic legal protections in place, then real change does not occur.” This sentiment was echoed in the NYU event and underscored the importance of taking action and partnering with organizations and people who can drive change through altering the legal structure and governance. As the #MeToo movement has gained traction, many have wondered what about the next steps and how the movement could result in an actual change in behavior. For Ms. Rozic and Ms. Ziff, the answer is through policy-making and establishing laws to protect workers from a harmful and toxic workplace.
The case of the Model Alliance’s partnership with Ms. Rozic is a great framework for looking at how to move the fashion industry forward towards a more sustainable future. Now that the Fashion Revolution movement has raised awareness, and educated consumers on the reality of the garment industry, it is time to find opportunities to impact change from a policy standpoint.
During the workshop last week, Ms. Rozic recommended four steps towards introducing new legislation.
1) Find your allies – who will be the sponsor to shepherd the bill through the process?
2) Build a coalition – who will back you up and lobby legislatures?
3) Get committee members to sign on – who will join in to support you once you have the bill together?
4) Push it on the agenda so you can vote for it.
In addition to these steps, the role of media and communications is crucial to galvanizing support and getting the bill on the agenda. The timely breaking of the Weinstein scandal allowed for their work addressing sexual harassment in the modeling industry to come to the forefront. Just like how the Rana Plaza disaster brought labor rights issues in the garment industry to the forefront. In order to take advantage of these unexpected situations, I think it’s important to have a two-tiered approach. Firstly, have an arsenal of policies backed by research and key influencers ready to mobilize when these situations arise. Second, building relationships with media partners and those who will champion your story when the timing is right is crucial.
This workshop challenged me to think about solving fashion’s sustainable and ethical problems through policy-making, especially in countries and regions where the government is receptive to protecting workers rights and where there is a coalition of supporters to engage governments, factories, and brands in supporting their cause. We saw an outcry from the apparel industry after the Rana Plaza disaster that resulted in the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, the Accord on Fire and Safety in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi government’s National Initiative. Five years later there are some improvements, but a lot of work is left to be done. These initiatives brought the industry in the right direction but we need to continue to fight for better laws and regulations to protect garment workers. Hopefully, it will not be another factory collapse to shake the industry into acting again, but an advocacy and awareness campaign ready to take action that can continue to move these efforts forward.
Top-down Change – Building a Sustainable Fashion Industry in Vietnam
Thus far in my look at how to impact change in the ethical fashion industry I analyzed a grassroots middle school project to decrease overconsumption, and systematic change in Cambodia that caused waves globally. Now, I turn to look at a multi-stakeholder organization that aims to impact the garment industry from the top-down.
Changing business practices and altering people perceptions of how to succeed in the fashion industry is a big task. Organizations like the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) and Fashion Revolution have been taking on this task from the producer and consumer side respectively. The SAC in particular has been able to penetrate the market and build a standard around what sustainable and ethical fashion should look like, and more importantly, how companies and factories can achieve and prove these standards. They’ve been able to achieve this by establishing the Higg Index, an industry wide auditing tool to measure sustainability practices and labor standards. Even with the prevalence of this tool and the growing trend of sustainable fashion, the garment industry still struggles to raise standards.
One recent multi-stakeholder initiative that has caused waves in the industry is Vietnam’s Race to the Top program. A collaboration founded in 2015 and boasts big name brand participation, including Nike and Gap Inc., in large part due to its association with the SAC. Race to the Top was founded to answer the question: “What if, rather than a system characterized by a race to the bottom framed by tragedy there was a race to the top with a sustainable system of apparel characterized by measurable progress both in environmental performance and the well-being of workers.” To do this, they needed the help of all parties involved, brands, governments, NGOs, and nonprofits.
The program has effectively brought together all the pieces and put them together to work as one, from encouraging sector-wide use go the Higg Index, to working with Better Work to maximize their efforts in the industry. With the multi-stakeholder approach, large scale problems like climate change and human rights violations cannot be solved by one company alone nor the perfect government policy, there needs to be a collaboration between all stakeholders to converge on common goals for all organizations.
After a pilot program with three mills, the Race to the Top initiative was able to produce drastic cuts in electricity and water usage. This not only is beneficial to the environment but also saves money for bottom line driven corporate leaders and ultimately results in lower costs for fabrics. These systematic changes are tedious to implement, but in the long-run, lead to a more reliable and cheaper supply chain. It is important to consider the long-term benefits when forming these programs, and look beyond quarterly earnings.
Vietnam’s Race to the Top program has lofty goals such as streamlining assessments, lean manufacturing to facilitate worker-manager dialogue, incentivizing better buying patterns, and creating capital for improvement activities and sustainably operating factories. I’ll be keeping an eye on the group to see how these goals play out, for now, they have made some headway in raising sustainability standards in local mills. These top down approaches can take time to trickle down and make impact. Also, with so many factors at play, it’s near impossible to control for every factor, requiring flexibility and frequent readjustments to strategy. I look forward to following up on their progress in the following years.
As I continue my graduate studies I will be analyzing different approaches to shifting the fashion industry and identifying when each approach would be most impactful. Each situation is unique and requires different solutions. From small scale grassroots projects that grow into global movements to having the right policy lined up at the right moment in time, to shifting mindsets from the top down, it’s an energizing time to be a part of sustainable and ethical fashion. There are a growing number of opportunities for people to step in and drive change in the industry, as companies open up to the idea of sustainable fashion, consumers demand a better product, and tools are made available to help us achieve this. Regardless of which approach you gravitate to, there will always need to be some degree of top-down change in order to make drastic shifts within our corporate structures and government policies, it’s a continuous process.
Systemic Change – Better Labor Standards in Cambodia
When you start looking into the world of fashion corporate social responsibility, it is not uncommon to stumble upon big game changers that somehow haven’t trickled down to the media. These are often actions taken by corporations out of necessity and have good timing to thank. International trade negotiations in Cambodia during the rise of their garment manufacturing sector are a clear example of this case, which I like to call “accidental ethical fashion”.
One thing I’ve learned since starting graduate school at NYU is that policies may seem to sometimes pop out of nowhere, but there is often a long history of hard work that is goes unseen. Interest groups and activist are waiting to pounce on those perfect, unpredictable opportunities to push forward their initiatives. It’s our job to be ready, and know how to mobilize quickly when those windows open.
In the case of Cambodia, and confluence of multiple factors led the country to be the first to partner with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to monitor labor standards in garment factories. This partnership resulted in working conditions in factories being directly tied to how many garments they were able to export. The pilot program sparked a new era for the ILO and Better Work organizations were formed in other countries to continue the program around the world.
Cambodia has grown from being completely a closed market from 1975 to 1989, to now having 32.65% of the global garment sector share. The country’s entry into the market in the early 1990’s allowed them to sidestep export quotas allowing their garment sector to flourish. The rapid growth in the industry led to growing pains in the workforce and when stricter trade regulations needed to be put in place in 1998 this allowed for the perfect climate to create the first ever trade laws developed to incentivize ethical labor standards.
During the 1990s when Cambodia was stabilizing, the government saw garment manufacturing as a low capital plan for economic development in their country. Cambodia looked to their neighbor’s economies booming after establishing successful garment manufacturing sectors and wanted to reap the same benefits. The state had a large population of unskilled workers looking for jobs and the garment industry’s low barrier to entry was ideal. Minimal capital investment and training were required to get the industry started, so Cambodia jumped on the opportunity to bring economic prosperity to their people.
Seeing the opportunity to work around the Multi-Fibre Agreement (which set strict export quotas in other countries), investors from Taiwan, China, and South Korea descended on Cambodia to build garment factories and attract foreign brands who were limited by quotas system in other countries. This served Cambodia well, and the market grew rapidly from $80 million in exports in 1996 to $6.8 billion in 2015. The rise of Cambodia’s garment industry owes its success to their opportune timing of market entry. The lack of restrictions allowed them to thrive as other developing countries’ manufacturing sectors were dampened.
In 1998 when the US government faced growing pressure from domestic apparel manufacturers to impose restrictions on Cambodian garment imports, simultaneously Cambodian factories were experiencing increasing discontent from their workers leading to strikes and protests. News of the conditions in factories abroad prompted American supportive labor groups who in turn petitioned the US government to take action and review the claimed abuses of workers’ rights in Cambodian factories. This created the perfect climate for US and Cambodian governments to collaborate on a trade incentivized structure for monitoring working conditions in apparel factories.
With acknowledgment from all parties that government monitoring of factory labor standards was not credible, the ILO was approached to step in as a third party auditor. This was an innovative and groundbreaking partnership, at the time the ILO had never monitored private sector operations, nor had they been involved with on the ground audits of workplaces. The Director-General of the ILO at the time, Juan Somavia, cautiously accepted the proposal after much debate with the ILO bureaucracy and governing body. This agreement would prove to be successful and spark the Decent Work program at the ILO, which protects workers and advocates for fair wages and safe working conditions. The partnership also created a more cohesive ILO, and some would argue, more relevant in the increasingly globalized apparel supply chain.
The monitoring system faced some problems at the beginning, but they were amended quickly to ensure transparency and credibility. Firstly, the quotas were set for the entire garment sector in Cambodia, not by the individual factory, and it was not mandatory for factories to participate in the ILO workplace monitoring. This did not incentivize manufacturers to partake in the program, instead, they would be more likely to try and get a free ride off of other factory’s good efforts. Once this problem came to light, the Cambodian government limited availability of the export quota to the US to only factories participating in the ILO program.
Secondly, transparency of information was imperative for the industry but whether the ILO should name all factories by name or produce an aggregate report was left unresolved. In order to address this issue, the ILO came up with a two-step approach to their reporting. First, they would release a synthesis report of all factories, highlighting overall trends and problems that need to be addressed in the industry. Then, after a re-inspection for compliance, the ILO would name factories that weren’t complying by the ILO standards for labor rights and working conditions. This allowed for the transparency needed and did so in a more impactful way than comparable private monitoring programs.
The private sector responded positively to the ILO monitoring program, which allowed for risk mitigation for operating in Cambodia. Nike, for example, had left Cambodia due to labor rights scandals tarnishing their brand image. Once the ILO started their monitoring of labor conditions in factories, Nike returned some of their production to the country.
There have been debates whether these private sector fashion brands should financially support these initiatives since they are largely benefitting from them. This idea, however, raises issues of incentives. If the private sector is funding the monitoring, they could be driven by driving profits and improving public image, not necessarily by ensuring fair and safe working conditions. That being said, there is a trend in the market for brands to invest in complying with labor laws, so there is some hope that brands may become more invested in this effort in the future.
As the program continued to grow and response from the private sector was highly supportive of their efforts, Better Factories Cambodia was created to manage and oversee the monitoring program in apparel factories. This monitoring agency was founded in 2009 and has grown to offer training programs to help factories reach the ILO standards.
Although this ILO partnership was revolutionary for it’s time, we are still left wanting more. Working conditions in garment factories are still lacking, as seen by the mass faintings occurring in Cambodia in the summer of 2017. Now that we are creating better systems for monitoring and change, how can we inspire a higher level change in the way we conduct business?
Grassroots Change – A Middle School Robotics Team’s Efforts to Decrease Overconsumption
While visiting family outside Boston during the holidays, I got to catch up with my cousin about her robotics team project to reduce t-shirt consumption in Lincoln, Massachusetts. They had consulted me as an expert for their project back in October and I was anxious to hear if they were able to persuade their town to stop automatically handing out t-shirts for events.
After spending a semester researching large scale multi-stakeholder initiatives to drive change in the fashion industry, it was refreshing to hear about a successful grassroots campaign led by a 6th grade robotics team.
When I jumped on a call with the team back in October, I was excited to hear what kinds of questions they would ask about sustainable fashion. At 11 and 12 years old, I wondered what would resonate with them, and how they would think of solving the problem.
For their robotics competition they were tasked with conducting a research project to decrease water consumption. After doing some research, the team was startled by the 2,700 liters of water needed to produce a t-shirt, and decided to focus on how to reduce this waste. Understandably, a lot of their questions revolved around what I think we can do to reduce water consumption, as well as what I thought of their solution. They had come up with a plan to work with local organizations that give out a lot of t-shirts for events to instead encourage people to reuse their t-shirts and add appliques for subsequent years.
The team reached out to the principle of the local school, Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department, Parent Teacher Organization and the Lincoln School Foundation. Their pitch was well received at all groups, but the most impactful connections were with the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department and the Lincoln School Foundation. Both groups committed include messaging to encourage people to reuse their t-shirts from previous years, and opt to add an applique. The concept reminded me a lot of earning badges in girl scouts or adding stickers on luggage for different cities visited.
The Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department gives out a lot of t-shirts for sports competitions and camps, and the Lincoln School Foundation runs the town spelling bee, which also generates a lot of new t-shirts. Not only was the idea to prolong the use of each t-shirt attractive to help make the town greener, buying less t-shirts meant saving money as well.
After describing their solution, questions on the call soon turned to how best to promote their idea and encourage people to choose the appliques over the new t-shirts. I laughed and said, “well now that’s a marketing problem.” The team is lucky that they are promoting their idea in a tight knit community that cares about environmental issues. Yet, even in a town like Lincoln there are barriers for a project like this to get off the ground. When people expect a t-shirt for every event, activity or competition they participate in, it could potentially be a turn off if they are pressured to then not accept the free t-shirt.
The key to promoting a sustainable fashion choice is a mix between offering good design and informing the customer. People are naturally going to gravitate to a free or cheap product, but if you show them the impact that even one t-shirt can have on the environment, they are likely to rethink their choices. As seen in Fashion Revolution’s 2 Euro t-shirt social experiment, once people know the harm they are creating with their fast fashion choices they are likely to shift their behavior.
I look forward to seeing how this project plays out in Lincoln and how people react to their idea. They have the first step of getting the big players on board. Now it’s all about how they tell their story with their community and grow the movement.
Elements of a Textile – Who Are the People Behind the Fabric?
#HawaiiFiberProject Part IV – Textiles
Do you see the people behind the fabric you wear? Traditionally weaving textiles for clothing, blankets and rugs was done artfully and carefully by women. Children grew up watching their mothers and grandmothers spinning yarn and weaving intricate designs in the home. As our societies have changed, these traditions have slowly left our households and have become a far away industry in developing countries. An industry in which many laborers are exploited and suffer harmful working conditions. Something that was once globally ingrained as a part of our everyday cultural heritage has shifted to big garment industries in economically struggling countries eager for work. There are still small pockets of artisan made textiles and fiber artists, but our visceral connection to textiles has been more or less lost.
In this post I want to bring the textile back to life, and look at the human lives touched along the way. From harvesting and gathering materials to weaving the fabric, there are many hands in the process before the textiles even enter a garment factory or design studio. During the #HawaiiFiberProject, I researched every step of the supply chain for natural materials. The process for creating textiles would be similar for synthetic materials except for steps one and two (spinning and harvesting), and leathers and furs deserve a whole dedicated post, which I’ll put out another time. For the purpose of this project and showing the many layers and people involved, I stuck with wools and plant based materials.
I’ll walk you through each step, harvesting and gathering, spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing. As we go, imagine the men, women and children around the world that work to make these textile take shape. To take a peek into the lives of those constructing clothing, you can learn more in the Fashion Revolution’s Garment Diaries series, where they researched the day to day lives of garment workers in Cambodia, Bangladesh and India. Textile mills and dye houses exist in these countries as well and this valuable research provides a snapshot of what their lives may be like as well.
Step 1 – Harvesting and Gathering
For each fiber this will vary slightly. In my project I looked at three different fibers, pineapple, waste materials, and locally grown wool. You can check out my post on pineapple fibers to learn more about the process of stripping the leaves and extracting the fibers. For the waste fabric I cut strips of waste materials that my mom had saved, it took several hours to cut up enough fabric for one tote bag. The locally grown wool is by far the most labor intensive fiber in this group. First the sheep need to be sheared, then the wool needs to be washed and carded until it’s ready for spinning.
This stage of textiles is often overlooked but it has a huge impact. Cotton, for example, requires a lot of water to grow, making it a controversial sustainable fiber. There are vast differences in the treatment of sheep between locally grown wool and mass produced wool. Oftentimes breaking down plant fibers is extremely labor intensive and requires a lot of difficult manual labor. With every fiber there are different concerns. I would encourage you to research the fibers in your clothing and thoroughly understand the process of growing and harvesting the fibers. Is there a history of forced child labor? How do pesticides affect the workers? Are the animals treated well?
Step 2 – Spinning
This stage is a bit simpler, and nowadays would mostly be done by machine. The biggest concerns I would have are in regards to labor conditions and working with the machines. Are the machines safe? And are the workers treated fairly?
Traditionally, hand spinning was done in the home and is still practiced as a fiber art. You can still find artisan made, hand knit or hand loomed products made with hand spun yarn, but since this is so time intensive, these products are a luxury item.
While in Hawaii I got to learn to spin with the Hawaii Handweavers’ Hui at the Hilo public library. It was fun to chat with the members and hear what they planned to do with their yarn. I was also excited to see three young girls learning to spin, loved to see that the younger generation had an interest in the craft. I have to say, it takes a lot of patience to get an even and fine thread. I didn’t quite get the technique down, but it was almost mesmerizing to keep the thread consistent. It seems like it could be useful as a meditative practice.
Step 3: Weaving
Weaving, like spinning, has been mechanized for large scale production. The introduction of the power loom in the late 1700’s revolutionized the textile industry and has led to the high tech industrial looms of today. In this stage the fiber is transformed into usable fabric, and depending on the type of weaving, this stage can determine the end use for the textile. For example a cotton can be woven into a heavy weight denim or a thinner cotton thread can be used to create a lightweight lawn fabric. Each type of textile would be used for completely difference products.
There are different levels of mechanized looms and since hand loomed products are very popular, some of the easier to use looms are used to make artisan products. Since these artisan made products can be sold at a higher price point, this allows women in rural areas use their cultural heritage to make textiles and get paid fair wages. There are also those who still use the original rustic looms of their ancestors to create truly stunning works of art, further increasing the value and earning potential.
Although both spinning and weaving have largely been mechanized, people still run these machines. The human element is not removed by the introduction of high powered machines, just lessened to some degree. The introduction of big machines can bring up new concerns, such as safety precautions.
Step 4: Dyeing and Finishing
Sometimes the dyeing process happens before weaving depending on the textile being created or the process at the mill, but it can be done after the textile has been woven as well. Dye houses work in batches, and it’s important to use fabric from the same dye lot for each production run. The fashion industry tends to identify colors via pantone numbers in an attempt to get everyone on the same page, but even though the dye house uses the same dye and same process, different dye lots can produce slightly different shades.
When working with factories overseas, they are often in charge of confirming colors and will usually provide swatches from different dye lots to ask for preference. As a production manager in the America you may have little to no interaction with the dye houses and textile mills. Many overseas factories handle the sourcing, dyeing and finishing, which means this part of the supply chain is left unseen.
Like I mentioned in my last post, dyeing is extremely water intensive, and depending on the dye, can be very harmful to those working in the factories and those living in nearby communities. What is the global environmental impact of using so much water? How can these communities recover from being exposed to toxic chemicals from dye run-off?
The last stage of a textile is finishing. This includes chemical washes to decrease flammability (which is mandatory for children’s clothing), mechanical shrinking, water resisting treatments and an array of techniques for altering fibers for better hand feel. Finishing has similar concerns to dyeing, water waste and chemical run-off. This part of the process can be virtually unseen in the finished product, but can be necessary for selling in any major retail store. For example chemical washes to decrease flammability are mandatory for all children’s wear. Is it good to expose workers and the children wearing the clothes to these chemicals?
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This all happens before a garment worker gets a hold of the fabric to start sewing the product, and I’m afraid it’s the most overlooked part of the garment industry. Granted, it can be challenging to find information on these stages of textile creation, many companies are not forthcoming about these processes. It never hurts to ask questions and express concern, consumer behavior can drive serious change in an industry.
Today, on Labor Day, I thought it was important to call attention to those workers around the world who contribute to the products we wear daily and who are overlooked and often unseen. Labor Day is traditionally about the social and economic achievements of American labor workers, but I think it’s also our responsibility to be aware of the laborers abroad who make our American consumed products. Who are the workers behind the goods that we buy at Labor Day sales? And what is our responsibility to them? Should we be fighting for their rights and safety in the work place? I think the answer is yes.
Dyeing with Avocado and Indigo – Looking at Water Waste in the Dye Process
#HawaiiFiberProject Part III – Natural Dyes
Natural dyes aren’t always the practical choice, but they are certainly an art form. Getting the right combinations and knowing how the dyes will react with fabrics, mordents, and weather is an extensive learning process. Due to the complexities in process and inconsistencies in color, natural dyeing may not be the answer for large scale fashion to become sustainable. To reverse the harm done by this part of the garment industry, we need innovative technologies in dye processes and textile production to address the water waste and chemical pollution caused by modern dye houses. By looking closely at artisanal methods of dyeing, I hope to spark curiosity in finding better solutions. Are there ways to infuse color without wasting water? What about growing materials to have a natural color without dyeing?
Unlike the previous parts of the #HawaiiFiberProject (sakiori weaving and making pineapple fibers) I’m not a novice in natural dyeing. Besides growing up dyeing with Japanese indigo with my Mom and conducting research projects in middle school on how mordents and fabrics impact the dye color, I’ve also taken a natural dyeing course at the Fashion Institute of Technology with Liz Spencer (the founder of The Dogwood Dyer) as part of the Sustainable Fashion Entrepreneurship Certificate.
This project got me daydreaming and I started thinking, Why don’t I start a dye garden?? Then I snapped back to reality when I remembered that I’m starting a challenging graduate program at NYU, training for the NYC Marathon, and promised myself to consistently write for this blog. Unfortunately I just don’t have the time, but maybe one day. During my time back home in Hawai’i, I did have a chance to experiment with wild indigo and avocado pits. Two materials I have never dyed with before, and two materials you can find growing in Hawai’i.
The Process
I scoured the Waimea nature trail for wild indigo, having only seen pictures on the internet, but didn’t see anything quite right. At least, I didn’t see anything that matched the pictures I saw with enough certainty to merit hurting and picking the plant. I returned with my Mom a couple days later to try again. We were about to give up when we spotted a plant near the end of the trail. There were only a few plants here and there, not the big bushes that they can grow into. We picked what we could get, and hoped it would be enough to dye one tank top.
After gathering the leaves (and a few seed pods to try and plant later) we got home and immediately prepared the dye bath. With wild indigo, the leaves must be used fresh, otherwise they won’t be effective. We took all the leaves off the stems and tied them up in an old stocking, then left the leaves to soak in water overnight.
Avocado pits were easier to come by. After gathering a couple from the neighborhood, we supplemented them with a few store bought ones, there were eight pits in total.
Now that I had cleaned my eight avocado pits and let my indigo leaves soak overnight, it was time to start dyeing. I went to the local thrift shop at St. James Church and got two tops, one 100% silk tank and one 100% cotton t-shirt. I found another silk top to throw in the mix when I got home. First, I soaked the tops in water with a bit of soap and rinsed them out.
In the meantime I prepared the avocado dye, boiling the pits along with some of the rinds for a little over an hour. After letting the dye pot cool and steep for about another hour I placed the cotton t-shirt inside. I thought this would only take about 10-15 minutes, but I ended up leaving the shirt in the dye bath for several hours hoping the color would get stronger. Ultimately the shirt came out a very light pink, not what I was hoping for, but still nice.
For the indigo tops I submerged them in the dye bath several times for 15 minutes at a time, letting the shirt oxidize in between. I love the pale blue that came out of the wild indigo, it ended up being stronger than I had anticipated, so that was a nice surprise. I tried dying one piece in the indigo and then in the avocado, hoping for a purple color. The color ended up being a light green instead of purple. The original shirt had a yellow tinge and the light indigo color made it green, unfortunately the avocado had little to no effect.
It was exciting to wake up and see how the shirts dried the next day to view the colors in the natural sunlight. I’m happy with the result, even though the colors didn’t all come out as vibrant as I had hoped for. If anything, it makes me want to try again with different combinations. Maybe I needed more avocado pits? What if I had tried using a mordent?
The Takeaway
It’s a rush to take something from nature, and through a few steps, revive an old garment with a new color. Like the other parts of the #HawaiiFiberProject, natural dying can be extremely time intensive. From foraging for the materials, preparing the dye bath, and the actual dye process itself, this project took me two full days. If I had done any special techniques like resist dyeing or shibori, it could have taken at least one more day. I also didn’t use any mordents in my dye process, which would add a level of complexity. Yet, because I didn’t use mordents I’m a little worried about the color fastness of the dyes. Fast fashion uses a host of synthetic dyes that are made to stay colorfast, withstand multiple washings and high heat. All these qualities come at a price though, these dyes tend to contain carcinogens that enter the waterways if left untreated, causing harm to the communities nearby.
It’s not unheard of for companies to use natural dyes in their products, but it takes a dedicated and understanding consumer for this to be successful. Natural dyes lose their vibrancy over time and require special care, something many customers have no patience for. It’s also important to question if natural dyeing is truly sustainable on a large scale. Are there better options? Maybe for smaller boutique brands, natural dyes are a viable option. But what about on a large scale? Most of todays clothing is not made in small batches, is there a way to fit sustainable dyeing practices into large scale production?
Leaders in the fashion industry are starting to emerge with answers to these problems, with reduced water dyeing, or entirely waterless dye processes. Levi’s did a study to pinpoint the best ways to incorporate sustainability along their supply chain, and concluded that the dye process was an area they wanted to focus on. Their Water<less denim line emerged from this research and is committed to using less water in the dye process. Nike and Adidas are cautiously supporting waterless dye technology, with cost being a major barrier. Either the consumer needs to demand these products, or there needs to be breakthroughs in technology to make this a cheaper endeavor. Consumer demand tends to drive innovation and new technology, if there’s money to be made off of it, they will make it.
By cleaning up this area of the garment industry, this would drastically change the game for sustainable fashion. I hope it’s something that people start to think about more when they purchase a new piece of clothing. If a shirt was dyed and finished with harmful chemicals, what does it mean if that shirt is now rubbing against your skin? Is there any impact? And if there is, should we be concerned? My instincts are telling me that we should be.
Learning Sakiori Weaving – A Look at Waste in the Fashion Industry
#HawaiiFiberProject Part II – Waste
Scraps, leftovers, rags, used clothes, our society trains us to see these as dirty, disgusting and unsuitable for new designs. Before moving to NYC I had an upcycling brand, mostly denim, but also painted tanks and one of a kind pieces. Selling my products at events I was like a broken record, telling people that the clothes were used but not dirty, repeating over and over again “yes, they’ve been washed”. This stigma is deeply rooted in our culture, but with recent advances in recycling materials and innovative design, a lot of progress has been made. Not to mention, sustainable fashion is becoming more mainstream and it’s losing the association with being a crunchy granola phenomenon. In Part II of the #HawaiiFiberProject, I take a deeper look into waste in the fashion industry and learn traditional Japanese rag weaving.
The Project
To bring attention to waste in the fashion industry, I was determined to make something completely out of scraps, and rags. I tapped my Mom’s weaving knowledge and settled on making a sakiori tote. Hours were spent cutting scrap fabric for the tote bag from garments that would otherwise be thrown in the back of a wardrobe or tossed in the garbage. Most households don’t have a closet full of scraps for projects like this, thankfully my Mom saves everything. It was like looking through an archive of moments in my life, I found jeans from summer camp, leftover fabric from the dress my mom made me for a father daughter dance, and beautiful vintage kimono. Settling on all black pieces of varying fabrics, I chose a blazer (using both it’s lining and body fabric) and a pair of cotton spandex pants for my weft.
After finding a tote with dimensions I liked, I eyeballed the size and used it as a template for my project, it was all done free hand. Back in 2011 when I lived in Japan for a year while pursuing my MA in Religion, I used to frequent fabric stores and buy yards of fabric that were unique, sometimes making up my own patterns for dresses and skirts. Sewing a garment from a store bought pattern always felt rigid to me, I’ve never been great at following directions. Creating my own patterns meant everything fit me perfectly, and I could make tweaks that suited my own aesthetic vision.
I used this method when creating the sakiori tote bag too, and I sewed everything by hand because it made more sense to me. Adding a pocket inside for convenience and taking some fabric from the blazer I cut up for the handles, everything came together piece by piece. I might be biased, but I think the outcome looks pretty good. Hopefully the used textiles don’t make it look like low quality work or dirty fabric. Granted I made some mistakes, the lining is a bit small and I should have made the bag a couple inches longer to fit my laptop better. I’ll probably add some type of closure at the top since it opens up too easily. All that considered though, I’m happy with it, and I’m proud to own something that I made completely from waste materials, and made completely by hand.
The Takeaway
It would be an interesting exercise to challenge everyone in a America to make something completely from scratch, to see the time and thought that goes into it. Asking them to make it out of recycled materials would be even more fun. I spent almost a solid week and a half to make my sakiori tote bag, and I even cheated a little with the warp threads, they just happened to be available in my Mom’s weaving studio. Processing the pineapple fibers took a couple days, cutting up the waste fabric took about a day, setting up the loom was two days, weaving the textile was three days, sewing the bag was another three days, all in all that’s 12 days. Granted, a more experienced weaver and seamstress would be faster, my guess is that it would take a week. This exercise sure worked on me. I will never throw away this bag. I will repair or repurpose it before discarding. Maybe if others had the same hands-on experience with a piece of clothing they would rethink their wasteful fast fashion habits?
As garment manufacturing moves farther and farther away from the home, clothing has become increasingly disposable in the mind of the American consumer. When women were in the home making textiles and garments for their family, no one would have thought of throwing away a shirt for losing a button or getting a small rip, now we throw away clothing just because it isn’t the right color, or you just plain get bored of it. This trend goes beyond fashion, throwaway culture spreads through all consumer goods. In my view, the problem is two-fold 1) We don’t have an appreciation for the work it takes to make beautiful and long lasting textiles and clothing 2) We need more innovative ways of making closed loop product life-cycles and breaking the take make waste model.
Japan has a strong textile traditions and is a great comparison to America’s disposable fashion culture. Sakiori weaving, sometimes called rag weaving, and mended textiles were abundant in 19th century Japan. The country has a long history of using scrap fabrics to make new textiles and fixing worn textiles. That’s not to say that fast fashion hasn’t penetrated their culture, but as a result, there is a higher respect and appreciation for hand woven, hand made, and overall well made clothing. In my experience, Americans don’t have the same attachment to their textile heritage, possibly playing a role in their preference towards cheap and disposable pieces. Craft hobbies like quilting, knitting and crocheting are discarded as pastimes for women at home, and not beautiful artisanship.
Very few people in America are taught to sew, because of this, the simple task of sewing on a button or fixing a hole in your shirt becomes a reason for discarding a garment. Also ignorance always breeds problems. I’ve met several people that think clothing is made by machines and don’t consider the human behind the sewing machine. This makes it easier to throw away clothes when you think no one is working hard to produce it for your consumption.
We’ve discussed the lack of attachment to the physical product and lack of empathy for those producing them, now let’s talk about waste itself. We sure do produce a large amount of fabric waste every year, 15 million tons to be exact. The amount of waste created from the fashion industry is astonishing, and the implications for the environment are terrifying. With athleisure trending, synthetic non-recyclable garments like spandex black leggings are in landfills everywhere. Most fashion businesses operate on the take make waste linear model, but some are slowly shifting towards a more circular product lifecycle, like cradle to cradle. But by closing the loop and using all recyclable or biodegradable materials, hopefully the fashion industry can be demoted from being the 2nd most polluting industry.
Many brands have jumped on the bandwagon to promote waste reduction solutions like taking in old garments and offering discounts in return. Eileen Fisher is a great champion of this effort with their Green Eileen program, taking in old pieces and restoring them, making one of a kind pieces for their Green Eileen line. On the other side there’s H&M, who has a similar program, except it isn’t explicitly clear what they’re doing with the used clothing once they’ve been donated. Furthermore, their business creates so much waste that these recycling programs can hardly reverse the environmental harm they’re created. This article by Lucy Siegle gives a great in depth explanation of how this is counter intuitive.
In addition to these types of recycling programs, product innovation is needed. Browsing the Cradle to Cradle website you can see the 23 Fashion and Textile products that are certified. This is a start, but there is a lot to be desired when it comes to attractive design. Although this seems to be the trend in sustainable and ethical fashion. First comes the basics and purely utilitarian products, then slowly, others will start to emerge with beautiful and engaging design. When starting my career in the sustainable fashion world, there weren’t many high-end fashion companies paying attention to environmental concerns. Now brands are behind the curve if they’re not finding ways to work this into their brand. I look forward to increasing innovations in waste management within the global fashion supply chain, hopefully in a couple years I can write an update on how far we’ve come.
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I would love if this article inspires you to make a garment or textile from scratch to reconnect with the process. If you do, please share your creations with me. It would also be wonderful to brainstorm and discuss strategies to close the loop of the product lifecycle. Feel free to leave a comment below with any ideas.
Adventures with Pineapple Leaves – A Look at Sustainable Textile Production in Hawai’i
#HawaiiFiberProject Part I – Alternative Fibers
Have you thought about what your clothing is made of? Some people commit to wearing only natural fibers, responsibly sourced materials or recycled textiles, but where exactly do these fibers come from and how are they processed? Is there room for alternative fibers?
I kicked off the #HawaiiFiberProject by exploring this question and decided to try my hand at processing pineapple fibers. Before settling on pineapple, I researched a few Hawai’i grown plants and ruled out hemp, coconut, and banana. Even though industrial hemp was just legalized in Hawai’i, it would be hard to acquire, the fiber takes a lot of energy to break down and I didn’t have access to the tools I needed. Coconut fibers are great for more rustic pieces and would be perfect for a doormat, but I wanted something a bit more refined. When looking up processes for making banana fibers, they always involved heavy machinery and just wasn’t something I had the resources to produce. Ultimately, pineapple fibers seemed like the most realistic and attainable option. My main guidance was a Youtube video by the Philippine government, it looked fairly straightforward.
The Process
A lot of you have been asking be about where exactly these fibers are coming from. Is it the fruit pulp or the rind? The fibers used for textiles actually come from the leaves at the base of the plant, not the fruit.
After collecting about 15 leaves, I re-watched my reference Youtube video and got started. Equipped with a metal spatula I began scraping away at the leaves until the white fibers were visible, and then slowly pulled them out.
There was some trial and error for the best way to pull out the fibers. You have to make sure the whole fiber is exposed to avoid breaking, but also be careful not to cut the fibers while scraping the leaves. In hindsight, I should have kept the strands neatly hanging, instead of throwing them all together, to avoid getting tangled. After extracting the fibers I spent quite a bit of time cleaning and untangling the fibers to be usable.
Since the process of scraping the leaves took longer than expected, I only used about six or seven leaves, but it produced more than enough fiber for me. I can’t imagine creating enough to make a full textile for a shirt, but if you have the right tools and experience it might not be such a taxing experience. I spent two days to make just a small basket full of fibers.
Originally, I wanted to weave a textile out of the pineapple fiber, but the process of making such a fine even thread was beyond my capabilities. After playing around with the fibers and seeing how it behaves, I thought it would work well as an accent in my sakiori tote bag. By taking a few strands of the fibers and twisting them, it was the perfect unexpected touch to the design.
The steps are pretty basic, but by far the most difficult and time intensive stage was scraping the leaves to expose the fibers. I waited a couple days after picking the leaves before starting, so they may have been a bit dried out, but my hand was unbelievably sore after just one leaf. Next time, I would try soaking the leaves, or using them right after picking.
The fiber itself was beautiful and silky. One day I’ll try this again (properly) and make something completely out of pineapple fiber. It reminds me of a linen with a slight sheen, and maybe a little bit stiffer.
Pineapples are traditionally used in the Philippines to make a refined lightweight textile. There are boutique mills that produce the fabric with artisans, but as you can see, it is a very labor intensive process for mainstream production. That being said, there are now several types of textiles made from the pineapple plant, including pineapple leather, and there seems to be a lot of room for innovation in textile production. (Le Souk is a fun site to peruse and find alternative sustainable and ethical fabrics.)
The Takeaway
Why should we consider other kinds of textiles and what’s wrong with what we’re already using? My interest in looking at alternative fibers is twofold – 1) textile production could be a positive introduction to the Hawai’ian economy, creating jobs, supplying local designers and offering a unique experience for eco-tourism, 2) the way we currently produce a majority clothing is wasteful, we should constantly be looking for better alternatives to water intensive crops and non-recyclable materials.
Although Hawai’i garment manufacturing grew rapidly during the 1920’s and reached it’s peak during WWII providing for the servicemen on the islands, the textile industry never saw the same fortune. Except for a couple textile mills that came about with the popularity of screen printing in the 1950’s (Alfred Shaheen and Van Hamm Textiles), it’s difficult to find anything on textile production in Hawai’i. Starting in the 1960’s the cost of labor drove out the garment industry, just like in many other parts of the US. Bringing back the garment industry, and starting a textile industry, would mean either transforming it into a niche, high-end market or creating innovative technologies and taking out the human element. Something I discuss in relation to Trump’s America First policies in this post from April.
There is a Made in Hawai’i movement and a few brands make ready-to-wear garments locally. Textiles, to my knowledge, are not being widely produced in Hawai’i. But with the legalization of industrial hemp it seems like an opportunity to become a hub of artisanal and sustainable textile production. The Industrial Hemp Pilot Program is underway, inching Hawai’i towards partaking in the $620 million American hemp industry, which includes not only textiles but also health, food and beauty products.
Other sustainable fibers already growing in Hawai’i, such as pineapple, coconut, and banana, do not face the same legal barriers as hemp. Yet, currently there are no government programs, machinery or skilled labor in Hawai’i to support this. We would have to turn to mills elsewhere for guidance, or create new systems to break down the materials and turn them into fabric. I would be excited to see food waste from these plants used for textiles, I haven’t worked out the operational details for this one, but I would be a really fun project to try out.
I imagine mixing the lure of a Hawai’ian getaway fantasy with the luxurious quality of artisan made sustainable textiles would make for a great niche market. There is no sense in trying to compete with large-scale fast fashion fabric mills. Take Japan for example – across many markets, including the textile industry, they have mastered the beauty and power of extremely well made, artisan crafted products. I think there’s room for Hawai’i to join in too and start making their own boutique sustainable textiles.
Responsible material sourcing, and textile science are constantly evolving and in my opinion, are at the root of sustainable and ethical fashion. Pure, non-toxic, and renewable resources are the base of any basic sustainable garment. This is my main reason for starting the #HawaiiFiberProject, I wanted to take step beyond the clothing design and look at the fibers and textiles that they are made of. Are there materials we haven’t considered? and how would this industry impact our economy and communities?
In closing I’d like to share this video from Patagonia on industrial hemp production in Kentucky. I first saw it back in October and it spurred a lot of the questions I had about how a textile mill could positively impact a community. I hope you enjoy it!