New book on local and sustainable clothes

lisbethl on 9. February 2022

Explores the importance of local practices in achieving global sustainability.

This is a book about one fibre, wool, its role in the future of a more sustainable global textile industry, and a new approach to how we can organize how we use local resources in a better way.

Why is this important?

Because of the overload and pressure on land, oil reserves, chemicals, water and more for producing clothes that are thrown away after too few uses, or not used at all—must stop. A sector with such a gross over-production and over-consumption of finite resources has an enormous potential to improve its footprint. We have chosen the lens of wool, as it is the fibre we know the best and which is Indigenous to our home country, Norway.

About the book

Klepp, Ingun Grimstad and Tobiasson, Tone Skårdal (eds.): Local, Slow and Sustainable Fashion. Wool as a Fabric for Change. Palgrave Macmillan 2022

The book is available from the publisher as e-book and traditional book (springer.com).

Ingun Grimstad Klepp is Professor of Clothing and Sustainability at Consumption Research Norway (SIFO) at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway.

Tone Skårdal Tobiasson is a seasoned journalist and editor, and founder of Nordic Initiative Clean & Ethical Fashion.

Reviews

“This book is a tour de force and a heart-on-sleeve exploration of how a familiar fibre can radically change the fashion and sustainability story.”

Professor Kate Fletcher, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, UK

“The authors of this fascinating book use wool as a lens through which to see important aspects of the contemporary world: corporate capitalism, consumerism, standardisation and their opposites: localised crafts and practices, quality of life, sustainability. Readable, enlightening and engaged, this book is fuelled by a passion for wool and expertly weaves, spins, cards and knits the small and the large scale, contributing not only to our knowledge about fabrics and sustainability, but also adds depth to our understanding of globalisation.”

Professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, Norway

Make the Label Count

lisbethl on 14. October 2021

Wednesday the 13th October, Ingun Grimstad Klepp participated in the panel discussion at the launch of the Make the Label Count campaign – an international coalition of organisations that want to ensure that the EU’s new labelling system for sustainable clothing is credible and valid. They are critical of the EU commission’s proposed use of Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), because it does not account for important environmental impacts and does not correspond with the EU’s sustainability goals. The standard does not either present a complete picture of a product’s environmental footprint.

The event was opened by Livia Firth, as a keynote speaker, and the other participants in the debate were Paola Miliorini form the EU commission and Pascal Morand from the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode.

You can watch the full event here (youtube).

Dette bildet mangler alt-tekst; dets filnavn er Skjermbilde-2021-10-14-110723-1024x601.png
From the Make the Label Count campaign
Dette bildet mangler alt-tekst; dets filnavn er bilde-1024x599.png
From the Make the Label Count campaign

Click here to read more about the campaign and how to join it (maketelabelcount.org).

Design process: research tools for CHANGE

ingridha on 12. October 2021

During the first week of September 2021, CHANGE researchers collaborated with the Master Digital Design of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, in the context of its Design Processes Track. You can read about the course here (masterdigitaldesign.com).

Guided by Angella Mackey, a diverse group of 48 international students proposed 12 research tools that could be used in the fieldwork phase of CHANGE. The purpose of this design sprint was for the students to start their year rapidly producing design concepts for a real-world design challenge. The sprint guided them through collecting user data, building, and testing a prototype in 4 days. CHANGE’s researchers Ingun Klepp, Vilde Haugrønning, Ingrid Haugsrud and Irene Maldini participated in answering student queries, and acting as a jury for the most feasible and the most original solution proposed by students.

The “Most Feasible” nomination went to “Two peas on a Polaroid”.

The “Most Original” solution was awarded to “Momo”

Moreover, the jury awarded two extra mentions to:

BUDDY, for the use of automated voice communication with respondents

GARMOTIONS, for the focus on emotions as a drive for outfit choice

Product lifetime in European and Norwegian policies

lisbethl on 8. September 2021

Nina Heidenstrøm, Pål Strandbakken, Vilde Haugrønning and Kirsi Laitala

Abstract

The objective in this report is to better understand how the increased product lifetime option has been positioned in policies over
the past twenty years. By means of policy document analysis, we explore product lifetime positioning in the EU’s circular economy
policies, Norwegian political party programs and official documents, environmental NGO documents, consumer organisation policies
and product policies. Overall, we find little focus on product lifetime between 2000-2015, however, there has been a massive
increase over the past five years. There is still a long way to go in developing appropriate policy instruments to address product
lifetime.

Click here to find the full report (oda.oslomet.no).

WOOLUME: Mapping the market for acoustic and sound absorbing products made of wool

lisbethl on 9. June 2021

Anna Schytte Sigaard and Vilde Haugrønning

Abstract

This report is the first deliverable from work package 2 of the WOOLUME project. The main goal of WOOLUME is to
explore different ways of using wool from Polish Mountain Sheep to achieve better utilisation of resources and value
creation. The aim of the report has been to map the market for acoustic and sound absorbing products made of wool to
examine the potential to introduce coarse wool as a material. This has been done through desktop research and
interviews with a focus on the qualities of wool as a natural product. Findings show that though man-made materials
dominate the market for acoustic products due to lower prices, wool is preferred as a material due to its natural
properties as well as aesthetics. Producers using wool consider their products to be high-end, intended for people who
want very good quality products and who are willing to pay a higher price to achieve this. However, few producers use
coarse wool in these products, and many are made of pure Merino wool. Using Merino wool which is often considered
of very fine quality due to the low micron-count does not correspond with the ideal of good utilisation of resources.
Therefore, we are proposing to utilise coarse wool which today is discarded as a mere by-product to meat-production.
Merino could instead be used for products where fineness and softness are important factors such as for clothing. In
addition, we argue for the rawness and uniqueness of the look of coarse wool as positive in terms of aesthetics and as
something that adds to the position of acoustic products made of wool as high-end.

Click here to read the full report (oda.oslomet.no).