Lucy Bowen | National College of Art and Design (original) (raw)
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Thesis Chapters by Lucy Bowen
This thesis considers the relationship between the environmental issues and gender inequality tha... more This thesis considers the relationship between the environmental issues and gender inequality that exist within garment production. Although these issues may, at first glance, appear to be unrelated, it argues that they cannot be considered independently of each other. It considers how the societal structures and processes that accept the exploitation of the environment also support the exploitation of people, and of women in particular.
There is a great lack of integration between various ‘sustainable’ production methods and initiatives within the fashion industry. The impact of garment production on people and its impact on the environment are
almost invariably dealt with as separate issues. Yet even if the assembly of a garment itself doesn’t involve unfair labour, a garment production line cannot be ethical or sustainable so long as it negatively impacts the environment, because this in turn has radical gender and class-specific implications for the communities and ecological systems it affects.
The driving force behind the increasing destruction caused by garment production is not inherent of clothes themselves, but of the consumerist nature of society today and our constant desire for new things. To solve this issue in the long run we must radically change our behaviour as a society. However, the author being a design practitioner and not a sociologist, this thesis will consider a more practical solution for the interim period between our current economic and political state and a Utopian time when we may, as a race, decide that we no longer need to consume as much as we do. This thesis focuses on issues within the production stage of clothing and not issues concerned with ‘post-production’: consumer culture, marketing, media and the use of the garment itself.
This thesis considers the relationship between the environmental issues and gender inequality tha... more This thesis considers the relationship between the environmental issues and gender inequality that exist within garment production. Although these issues may, at first glance, appear to be unrelated, it argues that they cannot be considered independently of each other. It considers how the societal structures and processes that accept the exploitation of the environment also support the exploitation of people, and of women in particular.
There is a great lack of integration between various ‘sustainable’ production methods and initiatives within the fashion industry. The impact of garment production on people and its impact on the environment are
almost invariably dealt with as separate issues. Yet even if the assembly of a garment itself doesn’t involve unfair labour, a garment production line cannot be ethical or sustainable so long as it negatively impacts the environment, because this in turn has radical gender and class-specific implications for the communities and ecological systems it affects.
The driving force behind the increasing destruction caused by garment production is not inherent of clothes themselves, but of the consumerist nature of society today and our constant desire for new things. To solve this issue in the long run we must radically change our behaviour as a society. However, the author being a design practitioner and not a sociologist, this thesis will consider a more practical solution for the interim period between our current economic and political state and a Utopian time when we may, as a race, decide that we no longer need to consume as much as we do. This thesis focuses on issues within the production stage of clothing and not issues concerned with ‘post-production’: consumer culture, marketing, media and the use of the garment itself.