Sustainable Fashion: From Trend to Paradigm?

Abstract

The fashion industry is one of today’s most unsustainable global businesses. This thesis asks the question of how fashion designers can contribute to change the current paradigm. To answer this question I have studied the most recent research on sustainable fashion design and business. In addition, I have interviewed a broad range of successful sustainable fashion designers in order to get their perspectives on the trends that are occurring, their potential for contributing to radical change, and their views for the future. I first conclude that these small design-driven practices are insufficient for the radical change that the literature says must occur. I also conclude that the basis for a more extensive change to occur starts with fashion design education and consciousness. I add a proposal for a fashion design syllabus as an example of how education could become a pivotal marker for a paradigm shift. In sum, my research shows that society must change radically and collectively, with educators, fashion designers and business leaders working in unison to become part of the solution and not continue to be part of the problem.