Doughnuts for fashion! Semester 1 2022

Offer solutions to the social and environmental problems of merchandising garments

Posted by Ben Stranieri May, 16, 2022 3 likes

RMIT University. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Students undertaking The Global Impacts of Fashion Merchandise course (part of The Associate Degree of Fashion & Textile Merchandising AD013) at RMIT University, were asked to identify problems throughout the product life cycle of a garment that contributed to people living outside the "Safe and Just space for Humanity" (Raworth) and also affecting the Planetary Boundaries ( Rockström et al).

The course was run as six, all day intensive workshops facilitated by Inna Konopov and myself.

The workshops were divided into three distinct phases;

1. CONTEXT

The activities of the fashion industry were contextualised within the three human created pressure points of ;

The desire for affluence (Consumer society)

Global population (Rapidly growing)

The “Two worlds” (Developed and developing)

2. FRAMEWORKS

The Planetary Boundaries (‎Rockström et al), Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations) and The Doughnut Economy (Raworth) were offered as the frameworks through which solutions for the fashion industry could be proffered.

3. SOLUTIONS

Students mapped the impact of activities of various fashion brands against elements of the frameworks.

As part of the students preparation for a series of “Fashion solution” essay’s, they were required to create an infographic that represented one stage in the product life cycle of a garment, highlighting a particular problem and offering possible solutions.
These are the results below: