The IMAGINE project invites you to its end conference and exhibition!
When: December 10th – 15th 2024 Where: Litteraturhuset, Oslo
Join us to explore visions of the future through the lens of eating, dressing and moving in inspiring talks, works and conversations on December 10th.
And visit the exhibition from December 10th – 15th.
For tickets for December 10th, follow the link here.
Program December 10th
08:30 Doors open
09:00 Velkommen // Mads Bruun Høy
Nye måter å forholde seg til fremtiden på // Nina Heidenstrøm
Mellom katastrofe og utopi. Norske dagdrømmer om livet i fremtiden // Audun Kjus
Forsvinningspunkter – fortellinger om fremtider // Heidi Dahlsveen
The power of imaginaries: imagining futures of consumption // Dan Welch
Dyr i byen – En forfattersamtale om klimaromanen Dyr i byen // Marte Wulff
Future Imaginaries in Art, Policy, and Business: The Dominant and Marginal Voices // Justyna Jakubiec, Rick Dolphijn, Virginie Amilien, Lisbeth Løvbak Berg
11:30 – 12:30 LUNSJ
A story of human and technological coming togetherness // Märtha Rehnberg
Velkommen til utstilling og workshop // Marie Hebrok, Dan Lockton, Femke Coops
Authors: Katia Vladimirova, Yassie Samie, Irene Maldini, Samira Iran, Kirsi Laitala, Claudia E. Henninger, Sarah Ibrahim Alosaimi, Kelly Drennan, Hannah Lam, Ana-Luisa Teixeira, Iva Jestratijevic & Sabine Weber
Abstract
Wealthy cities are the primary hubs for excessive consumption and disposal of fashion and textiles. As such, cities have the power to support urban transitions toward more circular and sufficient consumption patterns. However, there is a lack of research and data around the topic of post-consumer textiles, which results in lagging policy and action at a city level. Here we aim to address this knowledge gap and offer a deeper understanding of what happens to clothes and textiles after consumers no longer want them, across nine Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development cities. Based on the analysis of policy documents, interviews and scientific and gray literature, the study finds similarities in terms of how the flows are managed across wealthy cities. The findings suggest that directing unwanted textiles toward exports makes the problem of growing post-consumer textile waste, a direct result of fashion overproduction and overconsumption, invisible to the public and to municipalities. This Article offers an important and timely analysis to inform action on post-consumer textiles and proposes a list of actionable policy recommendations for city governments to support the transition toward circular and sufficient urban textile systems.
The European Sociological Association’s main biennial event this year took the clothing researchers to Porto!
When: 27th – 30th August 2024 Where: University of Porto, Portugal
Set on the beautiful backdrop of Porto, the main themes of the 16th ESA conference were “Tension, Trust and Transformation”. About 20 researchers from Consumption Research Norway SIFO participated in the conference this time around, which for a long time has been a very important arena for the institute, in particular, through the Sociology of Consumption Research Network.
Between sessions, we also had time to visit the city, eat some Francesinha and get acquainted with the chickens living on campus.
Four presentations from the SIFO Clothing Researchers
Vilde presenting at ESAAnna presenting at ESA
In the session ‘Clothing consumption 1: Fashion’, Vilde Haugrønning presented the paper ‘Gender Dynamics in Clothing Consumption: Examining the Inflow and Outflow of Clothing from a Practice Oriented Perspective’ based on results from the wardrobe studies of her PhD project in the CHANGE project.
In the session ‘Clothing consumption 2: Identity’, Anna Schytte Sigaard presented her paper ‘Social Practices and Identity-Work: Life Course Changes as Drivers for Textile Disposal’ based on results from the wardrobe studies of her PhD project in the Wasted Textiles project.
Kirsi presenting at ESALisbeth Presenting ar ESA
In the session, Imaginaries of Consumption, Lisbeth Løvbak Berg presented a paper from the IMAGINE project, “Futures Literacy: Norwegian imaginaries of food and clothing consumption”, co-written with Justyna Jakubiec and Atle Wehn Hegnes. The paper explores how futures literacy of food and clothing consumption is exhibited in the material collected in the project, across the three stakeholder groups, consumers, businesses and policymakers.
In the session ‘Clothing consumption 3: Sustainability’, chaired by Anna, Kirsi presented the paper ‘Wardrobe Revelations: Rethinking Repair Practices and Clothing Consumption’. The paper is based on survey data collected in the CHANGE project.
In the same session, our research friend, Réka Tölg, PhD Candidate at Lund University, also presented the paper ‘Caring Circularities: Enacting Circular Consumption by Caring for and with Clothes’, co-authored with Christian Fuentes.
UNESCO has championed futures literacy since 2012, highlighting its importance in the context of imagining alternative futures and directing change towards desirable futures. It follows that futures literacy allows people to actively engage with the plurality of images of the future and relate them to their own choices and ideas of (un)desirable futures. While this includes understanding the role of the future also in people’s everyday consumption practices, which inevitably play a major role in the green transition, efforts are largely focused on policy planning, business innovation and higher education. We, therefore, ask what level of futures literacy Norwegian stakeholders exhibit related to food and clothing consumption. Based on stories collected from 137 Norwegian consumers, advertisements, and business strategy and policy documents, we highlight the different stakeholders’ narratives of food and clothing consumption to compare their engagement with present imaginaries of future consumption. We find that businesses and policymakers display a higher level of future literacy than consumers. In general, the narratives of food consumption are richer and more well-developed than those of clothing consumption: business and policy documents’ narratives of sustainable clothing futures are limited to the repeating narrative of ‘repair, reuse, recycle’, whereas food consumption narratives range from self-sufficiency to alternative protein sources. The latter suggests a higher level of future literacy, which may reflect a more mature discussion of food futures: adversely, the lack of attention to alternative forms of clothing consumption decreases the likelihood of a larger transformation of clothing consumption patterns.
Gender Dynamics in Clothing Consumption: Examining the Inflow and Outflow of Clothing from a Practice Oriented Perspective
Vilde Haugrønning
The present-day consumption of clothing is marked by excessive production and consumption, leading to issues of water scarcity, microplastic pollution, chemical contamination, CO2 emissions, and textile waste. In order to mitigate the environmental impact of clothing, there is an urgent need to examine the factors influencing the high volume of garments in wardrobes. This study explores the influence of gender and age on clothing consumption based on a qualitative and quantitative wardrobe study of 15 households in Norway from a practice oriented perspective. Each household had a man and a woman living together as partners to enable a gendered comparison between couples that take part in many of the same practices and share the everyday life. In the wardrobe study, the participants conducted a counting exercise of all the garments they owned, including underwear, socks and accessories. Following this, each participant was asked to register all inflow and outflow of clothing for 6 months. The analysis focus on the turnover rate of clothing and employs Evan’s (2019) six moments of consumption that focus on processes of acquiring and disposing in relation to practices. Preliminary findings show that female participants acquired a higher quantity of clothing compared to male participants. However, age also play a significant role in determining the turnover rate of clothing. The study highlights the social mechanisms and gender dynamics that shape clothing consumption patterns and challenges the prevailing studies on clothing and fashion that often overlook the nuanced practices and actions that influence clothing volumes.
Social Practices and Identity-Work: Life Course Changes as Drivers for Textile Disposal
Anna Schytte Sigaard
In this contribution, the complex interconnections between social practices and textile consumption are explored. Based on wardrobe interviews in 28 Norwegian households, investigation is carried out of the influence of two major life course changes, cohabitation, and parenthood, on disposal of clothing and other textile items. In the transition from living alone to cohabitation, it is found that the disposal of clothing and textiles emerges not only as a functional act but as a symbolic act of divestment. Spatially and temporally separated practices, such as pre-move closet purges and post-move decoration, underscore the profound identity-work involved in this transition where discarded items come to symbolize remnants of single life. Parenthood introduces a challenging balance between environmentally conscious practices and time constraints, unveiling compromises made in sustainable practices amidst the demands of parenting. The disposal of impractical gifts and inherited baby clothes reflects the negotiation of a new parental identity. In this contribution, the importance of individual reflexivity in the negotiation of identities during major life transitions is emphasized. Thereby, it contributes to expanding the understanding of clothing and textile consumption as both routinized and mundane practices at the same time as involving intentional and reflexive discursive activities.
Wardrobe Revelations: Rethinking Repair Practices and Clothing Consumption
Kirsi Laitala
Global clothing production and consumption pose significant challenges to environmental, social, and economic sustainability, particularly driven by the fast-fashion business model linking the global North and South. This study, based on a Norwegian consumer survey (N=1200), investigates factors influencing volumes of clothing consumption. Analyzing acquisition, ownership (wardrobe size), and disposal volumes, principal component analysis (PCA) factor extraction was used to identify key constructs related to respondents’ preferences and perceptions of clothing acquisition, use and repair practices. Gender and age emerge as pivotal determinants, with women reporting higher acquisition, ownership, and disposal levels than men. Those in their 50s possess the largest wardrobes, while younger individuals exhibited a higher frequency of clothing acquisition and disposal, and thus higher turnover rates of their wardrobe contents. Surprisingly, the study reveals that higher repair intentions or focus on quality do not correspond to reduced consumption. These counterintuitive results challenge conventional assumptions about the relationship between these practices and overall consumption. Similarly, factors such as the allure of sales, impulse buying, and the desire to appear well-dressed contributed to increased consumption levels, emphasizing the influence of psychological and social factors. The lack of correlation between reduced consumption and the intention to focus on buying fewer quality items and repairing more implies a need for alternative strategies that consumers can apply to address their consumption levels and related sustainability challenges in the fashion industry. This research emphasizes the urgency of reevaluating current practices and fostering a more sustainable and conscientious approach to clothing consumption.
Both the volumes of textile waste and the interest in what to do with it, are growing. Fortunately, knowledge about what textile waste consists of is also growing, as is the interest in regulating the sector.
In this webinar, we will summarize several recent reports on textile waste in Norway and other countries, as well as a report that examines whether environmental strategies take seriously the fact that if the textiles are to be used up, then less must be produced. The clothes we dispose of are often used – but far from used up.
We ask: – How can discarded textiles be used in the best possible way to ensure new use, and what kind of knowledge enables us to reduce the amount of used but not used up textiles? – How much textiles, especially synthetics, are disposed of in Norway? What do wasted textiles consist of, and why and how are they disposed of? – Which regulatory measures will can be implemented in order to reduce the volumes of textile waste?
This is a dissemination seminar under the Wasted Textiles research project at SIFO, Oslomet, funded by the Research Council of Norway and the Norwegian Retailers Environment Fund.
The webinar will be held in English.
Program
08.30–09.00 Registration and coffee for those who attend physically
09.00–09.05 Welcome! Moderator: Jens Måge, Advisor, Avfall Norge
09.05–09.15 Plastic – The elephant in the room: Who dares to talk about it? Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Professor, Oslo Metropolitan University – SIFO
09.15–09.30 Waste analysis in the Wasted Textiles project Frode Syversen, CEO, Mepex | Kristiane Rabben, Advisor, Mepex Consult AS
09.30–09.45 Method for Picking Analyses of Textiles – REdu Wasted Textiles Summer Project 2023 Saeid Sheikhi, MSc student in Information Systems and Business Analytics, Høgskolen Kristiania | Siri Vestengen, Masterstudent Economics, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet (NTNU) | Camilla Sunde, MSc in Informatics: Digital Economics and Leadership, Universitetet i Oslo (UiO) | Eva Valborg Hovda Masterstudent Material Science, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet (NTNU)
09.45–09.55 Dutch experiences with waste analyzes on textiles – reflections on the types of brands found. Hilde van Duijn, Head of Global Value Chains, Circle Economy Foundation
09:55-10.00 Experiences from picking analysis in Svalbard Henrik Lystad, CEO Norwaste
10.00–10.15 Coffee break
10.15–10.30 How can a producer responsibility scheme be set up to reduce environmental impact? Dina Lingås, Consultant, NORION Consult
Where: OsloMet, Pilestredet 35, Ellen Gleditschs hus: PH131, Anna Felbers auditorium (1st floor)
The Lasting project presents findings from 3 years of research on product lifespans and sustainability. The project led by Consumption Research Norway SIFO at Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) gathered actors from the Norwegian home appliances, textile and furniture sectors. The partners have researched the material streams, consumer and business perspectives as well as policy in the area of product lifetimes with the goal of moving towards a sustainable future where products last for a long time.
This seminar will be of particular interest to anyone working with sustainability, product design, business models or policy development.
The seminar is followed by a workshop where we move from theoretical to practical explorations, examining how we could live with our things in the future. Here we will play around with design briefs based on the project findings.
The seminar will be in English, while the workshop will be in Norwegian.
10:00 Welcome by Harald Throne-Holst, Researcher at SIFO
10:05 Consumer views on increasing product lifetimes by Kirsi Laitala, project leader and Researcher at SIFO
10:30 Let’s see the forest for the trees: industrial ecology insights into product lifetimes by Kamila Krych, PhD Candidate at NTNU
10:55 Conflicting narratives of product longevity by Lisbeth Løvbak Berg, Researcher at SIFO
11:20 Durability in product policy – The limitation of the dream of longer life by Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Professor in Clothing and Sustainability at SIFO
11:45 Lunch
12:30 Lost in sameness: plurality, clothing and durability by Kate Fletcher, Professor at the Royal Danish Academy
12:55 Discussion: overproduction and product longevity
13:25 Coffee break and room change for workshop participants: Room PI451 (4th floor)
13:45 Workshop (in Norwegian): Tingene og oss i fremtiden
15:15 End
The Lasting project is funded by the Research Council of Norway. Read more about the project at the project website (lasting.world).
Tone Skårdal Tobiasson will present the report THE PLASTIC ELEPHANT at the conference.
Natural Fibre Connect (NFC) is an alliance between leading alpaca, cashmere, mohair and wool organisations. The NFC logo represents each of these four natural fibres, woven together by their shared goals and challenges as well as their commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – as seen by its resemblance to the SDG17 icon.
The goal of NFC is a world with more Natural Fibres by 2030. Through its events, NFC enables consensus building as well as sharing and understanding of the growers’ and herders’ perspectives.
In-Person Conference in Biella, Italy
Actively participate and connect with others at the in-person main conference Natural Fibre Connect 2023 hosted in Biellay, Italy – the center for manufacturing precious animal fibres. Visit various mills, listen to live speakers and participate in workshops and panel discussions while also enjoying the beautiful surroundings, food, and drink of Northern Italy.
Online Conference
Join Natural Fibre Connect from the comfort of your home and listen to all live sessions, workshops, and panel discussions. Network with other online participants, visit the online exhibition hall and ask questions. Presentations will be translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Mongolian. Did you miss a session? No problem, all recordings will be available after the conference.
Authors: Tone Rasch, Ingrid Haugsrud, Kirsi Laitala and Atle Wehn Hegnes
Abstract
Consumer practices related to how we use and take care of products have changed throughout history. Especially within clothing consumption, the changes have accelerated in the Twentieth Century. In this paper, we use thin nylon stockings for women as an example product to see how their value, use, care, and lifetimes have evolved. The material is based on a literature review on nylon stockings from 1940 to today, accompanied by an analysis of consumers’ written narratives from 1990 where people were asked to describe their use and memories of stockings and pantyhose. Our contemporary data is based on consumer focus groups on product lifetimes and plastic materials conducted in 2021 and 2022. The tight-fitting nylon stockings for women were launched around World War II by the American company DuPont. Cheap nylon substituted luxurious silk stockings and increased their popularity throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Around 1970, synthetic substances were devalued when fashion changed from elegance to more casual styles, and the political opposition to plastic as environmental damage and a symbol of the established society permeated the growing youth culture. Consequently, nylon stockings went out of fashion. Today, thin pantyhose is seen as disposable consumables with low value. Thin stockings represent a good example of how we value and take care of delicate items has a significant contribution to their lifetimes. Looking into the historical context is beneficial for learning about the points in time when changes occurred and how they contribute to consumer practices.
Authors: Irene Maldini, Vilde Haugrønning and Lucrecia de León
Abstract
This paper introduces the relevance of volume-centric research in studies of clothing use. The global production of garments has grown dramatically in recent decades, bringing along significant environmental challenges. However, knowledge is lacking about why people deal with clothing quantities in such varied ways, and what leads some of them to overconsumption. A review of wardrobe research methods shows that there are various approaches to studying garments going in, around, and out of wardrobes. Gathering qualitative insights about specific garments, such as favorite garments, has been quite common. However, in order to advance knowledge about clothing consumption volumes, it is important to look at the wardrobe as a whole and include quantitative aspects. This paper reflects on what approaches and techniques can be used to that end. The reflections are combined with lessons learned from a pilot wardrobe study conducted in Uruguay, Portugal and Norway in 2022 with 20 respondents, concluding with recommendations for volume-centric methods in future wardrobe studies. Rigorous accounts of all garments owned should be combined with registration of items going in and out of the wardrobe over time in order to link accumulation to production and waste volumes. Methods connecting garment quantities with practices of daily use are particularly valuable. One example that has proven successful is piling exercises, a technique where participants are invited to categorize garments in groups according to specific criteria.
This paper explores narratives of product longevity expressed by businesses and consumers, with the aim of illuminating and comparing ways in which the two stakeholder groups express their engagement with products in the context of prolonging their lifespans. We base our analysis on consumer focus groups and interviews with company representatives. Our focus is on textiles (incl. clothing) and furniture. We find that technical and emotional durability are the two dominant ways of understanding product longevity by company representatives. Consumers, however, tell a different story, of living with their things, of use, of time passing, and of life events triggering change. This is a context in which social and systemic factors play a large role in determining the lifespan of a product – factors that are external to the product itself. Although all can agree on the importance of technical durability, problems connected to excessive production volumes and how products feature in everyday life are avoided in narratives produced by business actors. We argue that corporate narratives of product longevity are diverting our attention away from production toward consumption, keeping questions of volume and growth at arm’s length. These conflict with consumer narratives of product longevity that grapple with the materiality of the things within the context of lived lives in a consumer economy.
Authors: Ingun Grimstad Klepp and Kerli Kant Hvass
Abstract
Among sustainable fashion and textile themes, product durability has recently come into focus within EU policy making. The dominant understanding is that increased textile lifespan will reduce environmental impacts, but this intrinsic link is not supported by research. The volume of clothing produced poses the greatest environmental burdens. Increased clothes availability leads to longer lifespan due to reduced utilization. To reduce the environmental impact of increased textile volumes measures should be expanded to encompass not only product design, life-prolonging, and end-of-life strategies, but also the volume of products to market. This concept paper contributes to the debate on how to address the growing amount of textile waste by applying the knowledge gained from consumer research regarding clothing use and proposing a regulatory measure called Targeted Producer Responsibility (TPR). The central method of TPR is waste analyses which relies on actual use – or non-use – of products as the starting point for eco-modulated fees. TPR reverses EPR and uses waste for overproduction knowledge, thus proposing a tool that can potentially reduce the total environmental impact of textiles.
