The Importance Of Sustainability | Marie Claire
The Importance Of Sustainability
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00:00Dr. Brown, why is it so important to embed sustainability within, you know, the fashion
00:12and design curriculum for this next generation of, you know, designers?
00:17I think what's important about all the conversation today is that we are educating and preparing
00:25the next generation of the leaders of all these companies and all these practices.
00:32And we open the conversation, but they come to the table.
00:38These young people today really have such a keen awareness.
00:44It's a different moment in history.
00:47I mean, I don't know that it's fair to say it's been slow because it's a process.
00:54You know, you see it in various ways that people have to adjust their lives.
00:59So what gives me hope is that we will take the enthusiasm and the motivation and the
01:07interest that these young people have, and we will help them to understand the various
01:14levels of business that we talked about earlier.
01:17I mean, it really does have to be all part of a whole, and it's got to be in our curriculum,
01:24and it's got to be touching on both design and business and the environment and the impact
01:30and the overall sociocultural effect of design and fashion.
01:38So we've talked about, you know, individuals and the power at the community level, Saad,
01:45how do you motivate big companies with super large platforms to get involved in this conversation
01:51around sustainability?
01:53I also tell companies a lot that whether you want to change or not, you have to, because
01:58the reality of the situation is climate change is occurring.
02:03And so there is the ability to prepare in advance and to help communities, particularly
02:09communities of color all across the world, and prevent them from suffering immense loss
02:14and damage.
02:16There is also a world in which we act retroactively.
02:20We let people die.
02:22We let land be lost.
02:24We see people suffer.
02:27And we are right now at a point where we're able to make those choices.
02:30What world do we want to enter?
02:33And so I think that companies have a need to take action now, as well as the fact that,
02:41you know, I think policies are already being implemented.
02:44They're already on the table, whether it be the Fashion Act or Fabric Act here in the
02:48United States, or the new sustainability regulations that are popping up in Europe.
02:53Companies are going to have to change.
02:54And so there either is the reality that they can do it in advance and be seen as a leader,
02:59or be struggling to catch up and become irrelevant to the new consumer dynamics and the new reality
03:05of our planet that we're facing right now.
03:08We also know, you know, speaking of climate change, that sustainability and climate change
03:13are linked.
03:14That's, you know, a fact.
03:17Sometimes these communities are not speaking with one another.
03:21How can we, you know, mentor these separate communities to come together to really forge,
03:27you know, the way forward?
03:29I think the key and the name of the game here is intersectionality.
03:33It is understanding that each of these things don't exist in silos, right?
03:37I think there's the reality that there are all these inputs into fashion that directly
03:42impact our climate, whether that be land use, whether that be agriculture, as well as the
03:47outputs of the fashion industry, including the physical waste of the whole system, as
03:52well as the carbon outputs, et cetera, that we see.
03:56So in many ways, I think that when we're talking about fashion, we're also having a conversation
04:01about climate.
04:02It's just we have been taught to think of these things as separate, and that, you know,
04:08I think a climate activist versus a fashion activist, to me, what's the difference?
04:13Probably just the outfit.
04:16And so I think that as we have these conversations about how they're related, you know, it's
04:22the reality that the fashion industry is expected to grow by about 63% by 2030.
04:29Now for a company, that sounds great.
04:31However, for a global reality of the climate crisis, where the IPCC, the Intergovernmental
04:37Panel on Climate Change, tells us that we need to reduce our emissions in half in that
04:42same timeframe, now you have a contradiction.
04:45Now you have a conversation, and now you have a need for these companies to bring real
04:50solutions to the table, so as to not compromise the reality of the planet that we're living
04:56in.
04:57Going off of that, how has, you know, education kind of evolved and changed in your years
05:04working with, you know, in the fashion sector?
05:08I keep saying you shouldn't make any decisions anywhere without a 20-something in the room.
05:13Because I really do think the thought process is different, the recognition, the awareness.
05:18And we've started a whole new area that we call biodesign, where you have the scientists
05:24and the designers, and for the most part, what they're doing is they're developing new
05:29and natural kinds of textiles.
05:34In the beauty and also, you know, the food world, there's been a call for so much transparency.
05:40I don't think fashion has really caught up so much yet.
05:44How do you, you know, empower people to ask hard questions about the clothes they're wearing
05:50or what they're consuming and purchasing, you know, as an activist and a mentor?
05:56I think that, you know, when it comes to the industries of food or beauty, it's something
06:01that I think we more directly understand as, I'm putting this on my body, I'm putting this
06:05in my body.
06:06And so there's this inherent desire to be more aware about what chemicals those things
06:12are composed of.
06:13Clothes are the same thing.
06:15And so when we are having these conversations in the fashion industry, I think it's really
06:20important that we recognize that paradigm.
06:24And when we're talking about mentorship, I think that it's so essential to have sort
06:28of intergenerational dialogues, because I think that there's so much wisdom that we
06:33stand to gain from listening to older generations.
06:36You know, I think the whole notion of mentoring and the mindset of mentoring, I mean, what
06:43is it?
06:44It's a collaboration.
06:45It's not an instruction.
06:47You know, it's a respectful relationship where everybody learns a little something from each
06:54other.
06:55And, you know, the whole notion of teamwork, you see it in successful businesses.
07:00We try and develop that in the academic models, because that's what we're sending students
07:06out into.
07:07But, you know, I think there are two things.
07:10One, I think the whole collaboration, the team, the listening respectfully and incorporating
07:18those ideas into what we put out as reflective of the times we live in and what we think
07:25will be successful.
07:26But the other thing I think I would like to say is the whole notion of the speed with
07:31which these things can happen.
07:34You know, if you think back, you know, the whole farm to table, the whole natural ingredients
07:41in food and not having additives, if you think back to beauty and the packaging and the ingredients,
07:48these things all took time.
07:50And we're talking about them now as if, you know, that it's just part of the norm.
07:54I think the same thing is happening with fashion.
07:57I think the whole awareness of the production, the use of textile, the use of water, the
08:04use of dyes, all of those things that are important to young people are happening.
08:10And they're happening at the pace that we can produce something for that informed, empowered
08:16consumer to purchase.
08:19But it's all changing, you know.
08:21I think if we have this conversation, you asked, somebody asked before about five years
08:25from now, I think it's going to be a different conversation.
08:28I have to ask you both, what makes you optimistic about the future of fashion?
08:35I think I'm someone who approaches these issues knowing that they can change because they
08:40have to, but because I know that we can make them change.
08:44You know, just the week before last week, I was with thousands of climate strikers marching
08:49through New York, taking over the Brooklyn Bridge and demanding larger, substantial structural
08:55changes.
08:56And when I see that type of energy and that type of tenacity from people to actually get
09:02out in the streets and organize and mobilize en masse, I know change can happen.
09:07I know change is coming, and we're here to deliver it.
09:11And every single institution, whether it is a company, a government, a university, I think
09:18they're all starting to understand, and some have understood for a long time, the need
09:23and ability and influence that they have.
09:26And so that's what gives me hope, is knowing that people are already on it and change is
09:31on the way.