Design for Sustainability in Fashion and Textiles

This chapter focuses on the framework and practice of design for sustainability in fashion. It describes sustainability as a critical shaping force for the sector and as a major opportunity for the development of fashion in the future. The chapter describes the recent evolution of design thinking with respect to sustainability issues and explores associated core themes and terminology; such as lifecycle thinking, and delineates differences between the language of sustainability in the fashion sector. It goes on to set design for sustainability in a historical context and explore key themes, critiques and areas of development. These themes are then examined in the context of fashion and the chapter sets out design for sustainability innovation across the product lifecycle and at the level of the fashion system. Both levels offer different opportunities for improvement, involve different actors and bring with them different costs and timeframes. When viewed together these opportunities help contextualize a wide range of approaches for improving environmental and social quality of the sector. The chapter draws on examples from large- and small-scale industry in order to demonstrate both the evolution of thinking in design for sustainability and the broad range of opportunities and challenges it brings to the fashion sector. The chapter’s goal is to offer a framework with which the reader can contextualize and better understand sustainability issues in the fashion and which also offers a springboard for future innovation as designers look to focus not only on the creation and production of material products, but also on new business models and next-practice platforms.