‘Half and Half‘ is an explorative project that reports on the importance of sustainable thinking and practice in fashion design through recycling and the usage of natural raw materials from Iceland. This project fosters social quality through products, practices the value of waste and relationships in the hope of engaging people into a more authentic view of fashion. A fashion that is meaningful that engages people, connects people to each other to ourselves and to our world.
A considerable amount of resources is being depleted for the textile and apparel industry to process raw fiber into a finished product including labour, energy and water. Supporting fashion trends and global based production has complicated sustainability issues with poor working conditions, cheap labour, low quality fabrics and poor workmanship, excessive consumption and a lot of unnecessary waste. To combat these issues, a total shift is needed in the evaluation of values and ideas of fashion and clothing design to ensure that sustainability becomes a standard ‘frame of mind’. As designers, we can affect this change by controlling how clothing functions, how it is used, where it is used, what it is used for, and in turn influence the user/the consumer. These decisions in turn can influence and inspire economic, local and social change in Iceland and afar.
This design project brings sustainability to the forefront, considering how designers can create apparel that provides a longer, eco-friendly lifespan. Its purpose is to promote awareness about what it means for fashion to be sustainable and to launch ideas about how design can help that process by working together to create. This results in action research and reflective practice, working with locals, mixing traditional craft techniques and a whole lot of time and effort. Can this become a way to inform consumers that there are other possibilities to express style, value and creativity in our clothing rather than buying the latest disposable garment?