Fashion design and fashion production are hard to look in a sustainable way. Especially in the last years multinational agancies followed the trend of major fashion companies, copying high fashion products and sailing them to middel class costumers. This process created a huge market where the overproduction, combined with exploited work and the use of harmful and polluting materials, made this sector one of the less sustainable in our current economy. If fashion started in the XVII century in order to soddisfy the requests of European nobles, nowadays is one of the main faces of consumism; big companies started moving their industries from their native countries to the developing ones, taking advantage of cheap labour and of the carelessness of Governaments, capable of understand only the utility of maximize profit. Those are just some of the huge amount of data reflecting the exponential increasing of the fashion market over the last years. The world clothing and textile industry (clothing, textiles, footwear and luxury goods) reached almost $2,560 trillion in 2010. The world childrenswear market is expected to reach beyond $186 billion in 2015, marking a 15 percent increase in five years. The world menswear industry should exceed $402 billion in 2016 while the world womenswear industry is expected to pass $621 billion in 2016. A good example Pollutin Paradise is a perfect example and a good investigation on the topic made by Greenpeace, regarding the impact of fashion industries in Indonesia, precisly in the area around the Citarium river. Citarum is the longest and largest river in Indonesia, and it has an important role in the life of the people of West Java, as it supports agriculture, water supply, fishery, industry, sewerage, electricity, etc. The river is heavily polluted by human activity; about five million people live in its basin. Textile factories in Bandung and Cimahi were major toxic waste contributors. More than 2,000 industries contaminate 5,020 sq miles of the river with lead, mercury, arsenic and other toxins. In conclusion, for some the fashion industry is considered the second production sector in terms of pollution (second only to oil), a process that creates a devastating impact on the global natural system. In particoular fast fashion is become the multinational’s machine to control the market in terms of large sales, as fast foods replaced local food producers, it creates cheep clothing , flowing in an uncontrolled overproduction that destroys any natural time. In this scenario, my project in the winter semester in the Free University of Bolzano is about fashion. My task was to design a fashion brand that somehow could stand over the commune idea of fashion industry, making steps foward new sustainable practices. With the intention of looking at an existent local reality, I made contact with Quagga,a small fashion company located in Turin, Italy. In a rebranding of an identy, the idea is to highlight the principles that define a company. Quagga did not know how to communicate their values. For a rality that exist and produce in a capitalist economy, Quagga embodies new interesting values that could help the whole to look towards a sustainable alternative.
Quagga wants to be the Italian symbol of eco fashion: winter coats and jackets of high style and design eco sustainable, eco responsible, 100% made in Italy. Even the production itself is in a way more responsable than others; the company only produces winter coats, complatley made by rcicled platics. Quagga belongs to and is run by small group of individuals with a wide array of professional experiences: coats while featuring high style and Italian design, are produced in fair contexts which are respectful both to people and to the environment. The utmost attention is paid to the working conditions of manufacturing partners as well as to the quality of materials. Quagga select rigorously the materials of its jackets made 100% of recycled plastic and fiber with no toxic nor allergenic components, making the point of an healthy environment, production and wearing experience. Quagga does not use leather, fur, feather, wool, or anything else that might cause unnecessary suffering to animals. Quagga adopts the 4R’s principle (really similar to the concept of change proposed by Serge Latoche in his de-growth theory): Reduction of waste at the origin, Reusing materials, Recycling materials that are still usable, and Recuperating, both in terms of matter and energy. Vendors and their manufacturing facilities are handpicked on the basis of environment protection certifications and their willingness to identify and use materials with a low impact on the environment. Safeguarding the environment does not prevent realizing beautifully designed coats and jackets whose research of technical and aesthetic performances inspires the whole collection: waterproof, resilient, breathable and warm. Criterias for sustainibility: - mantaining the natural capital: capability of reproduction - renewable resources: process of regeneration -not renewable resources: develope new possibilities using - treatment of waste: production itself and waste In QUAGGA the concept of reproductivity is related to the use of recicable materials. Reproduction means to find a balance between the production processes and the ability of nature of reproduce. Using recicable materials, the natural reproduction system is not forced, producing less and using the right materials they are able to take steps foward a new way of prodcution. Even the local aspect is crucial for this company, they only produce in their own town, Turin, and with the creation of a connected network they are able to proviade enought production materials, collecting waste form small different realities. The sales are manly based in local scenarios, as fairs or exhibitions, where costumers are able to deeply understand the work of Quagga, speacking directly with the producers, this way of selling creats a good bond between the company and clients. In this way also the production itself is affected, Quagga does not overproduce becouse the majority of it’s clients book their clothing once they get in touch with the company; orders are taken directly from costumers creatin cothing for specific needs.
