Living Science
“WHAT if we were all angels and this was heaven?”— Reader’s Digest

If this were the case, then surely we are due a wake up call in terms of the caretaking of the world around us. Our track record in part, seems to be somewhat lacking in substance, honour and credibility. Climatic changes related to pollution within the atmosphere, are causing disaster after disaster. Direct human action such as use of pesticides, chemicals and gases released into the atmosphere and the soil, deforestation and over-fishing, to name but a few, are having a devastating effect.

The polar ice cap is melting, droughts, flooding and land slides seem to be globally, a daily occurrence. The Aaral Sea, in Central Asia is now a toxic desert due to gross economic mismanagement and lack of care for the environment.

In 1998 Spain, mining waste poisoned the Guadimar River with 40,000 tonnes of arsenic sunk into the riverbed, and all wildlife eliminated maybe for ever. We are it appears, choosing to continue to make huge ecological and ethical mistakes, hell bent on the destruction of the planet and all who live on it!

We are warned by the experts. Al Gore, recent Nobel prize winner, has been campaigning loudly over the last decade, insisting we are running out of time, but the majority of us don’t seem to heed the message. We continue to pollute the planet, stamping our carbon footprints and demanding more.

This consumerism gone mad, with all its potential for environmental damage, is never more evident than in the fashion industry. Frightening figures tell how consumption of clothing in UK between 2001-2005 rose by 30 percent. This penchant for fast and ultra cheap fashion has not only an ecological knock-on effect but also an ethical one.

Demand for cheap goods has brought about the use of a child workforce in some parts of China. Copycat designer bags are made at night by children and the real thing made by day and sold in markets all over the world. Cheap goods, ultimately mean cheap labour and cheap labour means low wages and poor working conditions.

“We are, each of us Angels with only one wing and we can only fly by embracing each other,” according to Luciano de Crescenzo.

We are surely in need of working out some kind of symbiotic relationship, taking into account the welfare of mankind and the world, as well as the demands of the consumer. The fashion industry as a whole needs to become more socially and morally responsible, ensuring ethical trade, ‘slow clothes’, (fashion not ‘time-based’), promoting environmentally friendly practices and natural and sustainable fabrics.

Malaysia most recently took a strong stance, focusing on the importance of an environmental consciousness in fashion and design. In conjunction with Earth Pledge and Tourism Malaysia, it staged the first ever EcoStyle Award ceremony in KL. The event was supported by the industries of the media, entertainment, fashion and style.

A host of stars interested in green issues, such as Ling Tan and Hana Soukupova, super models and MTV’s, Denise Keller, attended the gala evening. Tunku Dato’ Seri Utama Naquiyuddin ibni Tuanku Ja’afar Al Haj was the royal guest of honour. Eco friendly fashion by local, international designers such as Bernard Chandran and Melinda Looi took to the stage joined by fashion famous, Oscar de la Renta, Diane von Furstenber and Halston. They created special outfits for the event, using environmentally sustainable and recycled fabrics and textiles.

The occasion was all about educating and highlighting the need for socially responsible clothing. Hopefully with education comes enlightenment.

Earth Pledge’s executive director admits ‘Perfect doesn’t exist…’ We all make compromises every day. Making them with your eyes open instead of arbitrarily is the best piece of advice I could give.’

So there could be light at the end of the tunnel! We have the technology to produce more advanced, fashion conscious fabrics made from organically produced natural fibres such as bamboo, hemp, seaweed, pineapple and cotton. We do not need to use pesticides and fertilisers. There is another kinder, friendlier, environmental way.

In America the Council of Fashion Designers reports that the demand for organic cotton has grown 300 per cent in the last three years. The organic cotton ‘boll’ is rolling in UK too; sustainability was a hit recently at London Fashion Week. It appears what has been bubbling under for the last few years is now coming to the forefront. Big industry players, as well as the smaller, individually concerned designer, are taking phrases like ‘conflict free’ and ‘ fair trade’ to heart.

Top Shop, Marks and Spencers and Monsoon are now bowing to the demand for ‘green’ clothing. It is becoming a point of interest for customer’s to know that their garments were not created at someone else’s expense, and did not cause damage to the environment.

Estethica is a growing group of ‘green’ designers’ directly sponsored by Monsoon. Their fashion is ‘up to the minute’, young and vibrant and does not adhere to the pre-concept that sustainable fashion is all about hemp sacks and ‘hippy’ fashion. It is also good to note that at the famous St. Martin’s, London’s top college of fashion, ten per cent of graduates are now showing eco-friendly collections.

These are the designers of the future and hopefully will take up the banner that the ‘likes’ of designer Katharine Hamnett, founding mother of politicised fashion, has been carrying for years. Her organic range of cotton T-shirts carry the words ‘World Peace Now’. She has chosen to join forces with the new, young designers and ‘beef up’ the campaign for a commitment to sustainable fabrics within the fashion industry.

This promise of ecological awareness goes hand in glove with the notion of a ‘fair and proper’, ethical approach to the production of goods. It means that the ‘end’ receiver should know, and should care, where and how the goods were made. The process at every stage should be transparent and should adhere to a set of morals that we can all live with.

Monsoon has shown us this is possible. In 2007, ‘the Turquoise Mountain Project’ came into being. Afghan embroidery graced the catwalks of the world. Workshops manned by female Afghan embroiderers, were set up and supported in Kabul, in conjunction with Iranian-American fashion designer Sarah Takesh. ‘Fair trade’ was seen to be working and producing ‘top notch’ designer goods.

We can then but pray that all these good moves make a difference. Communicating, and considering collectively and globally, must be a choice. We need to take responsibility and follow the moral lead of the few. We have the technology and the heart, all we need now is the will!

Linda Cecilia Hurley is the Associate Dean from the Faculty of Music, Social Science and Design of UCSI and she can reached via email:lindahurley@ucsi.edu.my