Great to hear about other people’s work! Nick, I just read your latest chapter, and I really like the way you break down sustainable behavior. It’s very refreshing and understandable, and it reads well. Mike, can’t wait to be able to use the Sustainable Research Library – sounds like a great resource!  I also like the shortened acronym ( :

To give some updates, I’m back home in California after having spent a couple months in Europe. In July, I was in Paris taking fashion design and construction classes and doing research, and after that I went to Sweden to WWOOF on an organic farm that raised sheep and cows. Two very contrasting experiences, two different frames from which to think about sustainability, one great opportunity to learn.  Thanks so much to the Green Dorm for helping to fund my travel to Europe!

I really wanted to include photos in this post, but the upload is taking an eternity.  Perhaps it’s just my computer?  The message I keep getting is that the server is not authorized to upload the photos.  Anybody know what might be going down?  In any event, I will write…

The end goal of this project was to create a fashion design portfolio that summarizes my research on sustainable fashion techniques and what it means to have a sustainable philosophy as a fashion designer.  After hours of thinking and sketching, I found that, while non-sustainable lines can be developed from nearly any idea (say you’re inspired by lions, you then create a collection devoted to that idea), the concept for a sustainable portfolio takes a lot more time to formulate because you need to consider the practical repercussions of manufacturing that fashion idea.  I went through a number of ideas before arriving on anything final.  At first, I was inspired by Maasai fashion from Africa, and envisioned a limited collection where Maasai communities would supply or design the fabrics for the clothes.  This idea morphed into a “tribal hipster” line, which was farther-removed from these communities in Africa, but that used tribal styles and methods to increase interest in natural fibers and dyes in high-consuming, urban populations.  It was in my last week in Paris, however, that I came upon my final idea, which was completely different and which specifically addressed urban populations.  For this project, I am presenting a line of office wear that uses wasted or surplus office supplies (paper clips, staples, defected pencils, etc.) as fashion centerpieces.  Any fabrics necessary for the clothing will be organically produced, and the general message, besides being a sustainable one, is that people should begin to take a more creative approach to their careers and work, starting with what they wear to the office.

I also want to make a shameless plug, as Mike would say, for a new student group called the Sustainable Fashion Collective.  If you have any friends interested in fashion, tell them to keep their eyes open because we’re planning some cool stuff.

Two updates from Nick. I’m TAing David Schrom’s Valuescience class, which was mentioned when he came to talk to us about the Magic house project. The Valuescience Syllabus is up on the web, if you’re interested in seeing what that class is all about – it’s a work in progress, but it’s a great resource, even if you don’t take the class.

Also, I just created a blog of my own, the Positive Sustainability Book Blog on which I will post book updates, including thoughts about it, and actual chapter drafts. I’ve posted the first thirty five pages, and will post some drafted later chapters soon. I’d love your comments.

Hello all… thought I’d give out another update on the SRL (previously the SSRC). I met with Fahmida Ahmed

I couldn't think of a relevant picture for this post, so here's a view from the top of half dome I took at sunrise two weekends ago. If any of you haven't done the midnight climb, I highly recommend it!

and she’s really excited about the project. She pledged the Green Fund’s support for at least some of our operating costs for next year (we’ll still have to find funding for the social events & awareness campaign, but it will come). Also, she suggested we call it the Sustainability Research Library. This sounds more official, it encompasses faculty if they want in, it makes it more obvious of a go-to for students embarking on a research project, and it makes it very clear that we’re providing a service to, not competition with, subject-specific research groups on campus. What do you all think about this?

Finally, I met someone while selling tickets for a Stanford Summer Theater production who wants to do our dynamic web programming for free! He’s well versed in php and other languages I haven’t even heard of, and is interested in making our site generally kickass, such as making users able to upload and profile their own work with title, keyword, category, tenability (peer reviewed/academic/data only/notes), and an abstract, and then allow users to search keywords or categories and have the site dynamically create search results and pages for each article. This will change the site’s limitation from my ability to upload content to the physical limitations of the host’s hd and bandwidth size since we don’t have to maintain the content. Now, there’s nothing preventing us from going national… a few other schools have unofficially expressed an interest in participating! This can be our goal for next year (during the year)… take the site to the national stage.

So excited! Let’s get this blog moving again now that we’re all in summertime and have some room to stretch our brains!

-Mike

Hello from Paris! I’ve only been here for two weeks, and I’m loving it here. On July 1st I started summer courses at l’Ecole Superieure des Arts et Techniques de la Mode, a fashion university in the Montmartre district of Paris, and I have been lucky to meet people that are very willing to help me with my portfolio and who support sustainable fashion. In Paris, “la mode ecologique et ethique” (ecological/ethical fashion) is above all a philosophy of design. My fashion drawing and design teacher Christian Tournafol recently founded an “ethical” fashion company and has explained to me how the French see sustainable fashion: it’s a philosophy in which every step of the production process should be organic. Ideas should be organically derived from an individual designer’s interests and the fabric should be organically produced. During my drawing classes, I have been trying to work on the first of his suggestions, letting what inspires me be the main impetus for my designs and allowing a sustainable philosophy to be the overarching theme of each individual piece. I have found this way of thinking about sustainable production very freeing. Over the next month I will be working a lot with Christian on my designs and conducting some interviews with him – here is the link to his company, Les Racines du Ciel (http://www.les-racines-du-ciel.com/accueil.php).  They’ve produced some very interesting lines over the last year, using interesting fabrics like traditional Chinese mud and potato coated silk.  Below are photos of some of my preliminary sketches for my portfolio.  Some are very inspired by the kimono, a very sustainable garment because there are no curved fabric cuts and thus no scraps and waste.  The other sketches are transformations of existing garments, a very sustainable concept and a great creative exercise.  Enjoy!