Synergy

Honey bees going extinct, toxics polluting our environment, bazar working conditions that scar the life of many- this is just a brief list of factors currently related to the production practices of the fashion industry. But what can we do to solve these problems and live happily ever after (in a sustainable environment). How can we produce for a sustainable environment? What defines sustainable products?

This week I learned that in order to make a change we must first get educated about the subject. This does not mean that we should become experts on sustainability, but knowing the basic terminology could really make a difference. As consumers we have the right to make educated purchases that will not only satisfy our needs, but also will in someway benefit the world we live in. Whether it benefits society by helping those in need, or simply making purchases that will benefit the environment in the long run.

After conducting research and interacting with my peers, something that caught my attention was the false conception that every “natural” product is sustainable. For instance cotton, the fact that Mother Nature gives us the cotton plant does not mean that its fibers are not as damaging as man-made fibers. In fact, it has been found that the cultivation of cotton can be extremely harmful to the environment. From the massive waste of water used to grow the plant, to the toxic pesticides used to increase production, cotton can be identified as a pollutant. This thought me that both “natural” and “synthetic” fibers have their pros and cons on the environment. Knowing this will have a huge influence in any of my future purchases. 

So how can we achieve sustainability? One solution in particular that fascinated me is the idea of different professional fields collaborating together and synergizing their knowledge. For example, a person in the fashion industry might be a brilliant designer but might not know a single thing about chemistry or the composition of fabrics. However, if a designer and a chemist partner together and share ideas, they might be able to come up with a genius product design. This concept really interests me, and I plan to conduct further research on it because I agree that by working together we can produce a result not independently obtainable.