[Music]
[Music]
clothing is one of the most
underutilized tools in the human tool
box and just like any other tool it can
be used to enact change I’m an
anthropologist by trade a very proud one
and anthropologists study humans and we
study how humans have evolved from past
apprentice present and even the future
as well and we pay attention to what has
impacted humans and the way that they
live and how humans have impacted
anything else
and part of anthropology is also
studying tools and that’s one of my
favorite parts about anthropology’s you
get a geek out about least tools our
tool is a device used to carry out a
particular function some of the oldest
tools used by humans are something as
simple as fire a stick or rock but for
today I’m going to use an example of a
hammer because that’s something very
familiar to all of us and a hammer can
be used to build something and also can
be used to dismantle something the best
tools are multifunctional now along with
being an anthropologist and also a
fashion designer in these two fields
give me a unique lens to study clothing
as a tool colon has been used for over a
hundred and seventy thousand years you
might have noticed that we still wear it
and it is still very much needed in our
world clothing is a tool that we use
daily it is something so common to our
way of living that we often don’t think
about it as something that is important
or something that is impactful to be
honest
clothing is under considered so consider
this clothing is the second biggest
polluting industry in the world second
only to agriculture because of this
twenty percent of the global industrial
water pollution comes from textiles now
in terms of some social impacts over 70
million people in our world are employed
by this industry between 1/6 and 1/7 of
all the women in our world are employed
in this industry
which arguably makes it the base
contributing factor to the gender wage
gap in terms of economic impacts if you
are a factory worker in India you earn
sixty-eight dollars a month on average
in Thailand 234 dollars a month Cambodia
128 dollars a month and Bangladesh 68
dollars a month now in Bangladesh the
specific example that’s 48 percent of a
livable wage when we factor in clothing
as something that connects us to
environments economies and communities
around the world shouldn’t we consider
it a bit more we all already participate
in this global system and this global
system presents challenges but also
incredible opportunities for example and
this is what makes me the most excited
about this system is that we have never
been more connected with the world than
we are today
not just technologically or socially but
physically as well within the garment
industry it is one of the few industries
still today that depends on human labour
for production and there is a potential
that every single garment that is made
in the industry could be touched by a
hundred different people before it ends
up in the store where you purchase it
there’s an entire story to a garment
before we even connect with it and see
it in the store this means that we are
directly tied with people throughout the
entire world do something as simple as a
garment we are tied to them and they are
tied to us as consumers we have created
and fuelled the demand where entire
populations economies depend on us for
their livelihoods there are parts of
this system the needs be supported and
sustained like the people that make up
the workforce the environments that
support it and the economies that are
affected
we as consumers have an impact on this
system our demand made it what it is
today so but if you use our demand to
make the system work for us but also the
people that grow process die-cut and so
the clothing that we wear I’m going to
give you three quick examples of
positive efforts places in the world
where these solutions are already
working number one an economic solution
is fair trade and this is as simple as
people are paid a fair amount for their
labor and they all certain liveable
wages a social effort is transparency so
transparency is where a business that is
open about how a product is made and
they want to engage you as a consumer
and they want to educate you as a
consumer about that production they want
to involve you some brands go so far
then on every tag on your garment that
says what it’s made out of and where it
was made there’s a little code that you
can go online to the website you can
type in that code and you can see
exactly where your garment has traveled
throughout the world sometimes you can
figure out who actually worked and
touched on your garment in environmental
terms there are entirely different
alternative fashion systems that exist
an example of this is a fiber shed a
fiber shed is where all resources that
you need to produce your clothing comes
from your local area so that includes
both human and natural resources this is
all sourced locally in a sustainable way
that supports your like local economy
community and environment these examples
represent Ray’s in which you can make a
positive impact when you do decide to
purchase something new in other words
when building from the ground up use the
hammer to build structures that we want
to see let’s use our purchasing power to
build and sustain the world that we want
to see but remember there are multiple
ways to use a tool we can also use it to
dismantle
and then also to rebuild again we all
already have the tools in our closets
needed to rebuild remember at any stage
we still have the capability of making
decisions that reflects who we are and
make positive impacts through our
clothing we all have clothing in our
closets that are made in this global
system so this is what we can do now
that we own them number one we can
launder lightly the footprint that you
use for laundering can be reduced eighty
two percent of energy that is tied or
eighty two percent of energy consumption
that is tied to clothing is directly
tied to use your care it’s after it’s
already made when it’s in your hands in
your home something as simple as washing
your clothes in cold water or deciding
not to use the dryer is a really simple
example of what you do for that also pay
attention to fiber content so synthetic
fibers something like nylon or polyester
so these are man-made fibers that are
chemically based in their processing
whenever an individual synthetic garment
is washed over 1900 synthetic plastic
fibers are released into our waterways
as pollutants something as simple as a
garment bag that’s specifically designed
to clasp collect those plastic fibers
can prevent that pollution from
happening also pay attention to what
what materials you do wear something as
simple as wearing natural materials or
this is my favorite is wearing materials
that need to be washed less like hemp or
wool so a second solution that we can
all do mending is minding this is my
favorite I am biased about this garments
are currently made to fall apart that’s
a part of a business plan to be honest
if if something is designed to fall
apart then you have to return and you
have to keep consuming and it becomes a
dependent cycle into which you are
dependent on that supplier once the
government falls apart you have to
return it and you have to keep returning
these are my jeans
ah they’re well-loved it’s invented over
40 times and I’m looking at two
additional holes that will be mended
later this week I’ve had these jeans for
10 years now within that time if I did
not mend these pants I should have
consumed 20 pairs of jeans not just in
my closet but 20 pairs of jeans just to
replace this one pair I originally
started mending these pants because I do
not like shopping I do not especially
like Jean shopping and I was too lazy to
go to the store now I mend them because
I spent so much time and energy
repairing and mending these pants
maintaining them they are my most loved
and favorite garments in my wardrobe a
third option dispose responsibly million
tons of garments are thrown away
annually into the landfill when you do
dispose of your clothing donated to
resources that can be so we use or sell
their waste to other industries the
perfect example is just bringing your
clothing to a secondhand store but also
pay attention to the waste that you
already have in your closet seventy
percent of garments in our wardrobe are
inactive we don’t even wear them this
means you can easily get rid of 50% of
your closet and you can dress the way
that you normally would identify what
you are not using and dispose of it in a
way that can be reused and a fourth
option recompose thoughtfully think
before you consume Americans buy 20
billion 20 billion pieces of clothing
per year to break that down that’s 68
garments per person and 7 pairs of shoes
a year when you think about buying
something ask yourself is there a way I
can meet this want or this need with
something that I already have that can
be altered or can I borrow it from
someone else
and when you do decide to invest in a
new garment think about the impacts that
you
want to make if environmental
environmental consciousness is important
to you find brands that share those same
values its social responsibility is
important that to you then find brands
that also want to support that if you
want to buy local than buy local odds
are you’re perfect environmentally
socially and economically sustainable
garment is currently not out there and
whatever style you personally like to
wear whatever size you wear an exact
shade of blue that you like to wear
that’s okay we have to remember to keep
at it and slowly through our collective
demand we might increase the
availability of a wider range from
responsible fashion designers and brands
most importantly find things that work
for you many of these pants
40-times works for me as of your jeans
will look different than my jeans find
what works for you and go for it
launder lightly mend mindfully dispose
responsibly and recompose thoughtfully
use the tool of clothing to deconstruct
in a way that fits your values so I’m
going to return to tools for a little
bit because I just like talking about
tools the creation use of tools is an
identifying characteristic of humans but
the capability to use tools is enhanced
by another unique human trait humans use
symbols and language to develop shared
systems and shared beliefs when we use
tools to the greatest potential toward
our shared values and shared beliefs we
have the power to change the world
for example fire was originally used to
keep us warm but also made it possible
for humans to eat a wider variety of
food and alter the state of physical
materials that the use of that one tool
has altered the course of history
forever
let us see clothing not only as
something to keep us warm and protect us
but a tool that is valuable and empowers
us to create change clothing won’t
change the world but the people who wear
them will every garment we own and use
as an opportunity an opportunity to
start seeing how we are tied to
communities economies and environments
around the world one size does not fit
all
but find the solutions that work for you
and that your actions reflect what you
believe any of what you want for our
world thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
clothing is one of the most
underutilized tools in the human tool
box and just like any other tool it can
be used to enact change I’m an
anthropologist by trade a very proud one
and anthropologists study humans and we
study how humans have evolved from past
apprentice present and even the future
as well and we pay attention to what has
impacted humans and the way that they
live and how humans have impacted
anything else
and part of anthropology is also
studying tools and that’s one of my
favorite parts about anthropology’s you
get a geek out about least tools our
tool is a device used to carry out a
particular function some of the oldest
tools used by humans are something as
simple as fire a stick or rock but for
today I’m going to use an example of a
hammer because that’s something very
familiar to all of us and a hammer can
be used to build something and also can
be used to dismantle something the best
tools are multifunctional now along with
being an anthropologist and also a
fashion designer in these two fields
give me a unique lens to study clothing
as a tool colon has been used for over a
hundred and seventy thousand years you
might have noticed that we still wear it
and it is still very much needed in our
world clothing is a tool that we use
daily it is something so common to our
way of living that we often don’t think
about it as something that is important
or something that is impactful to be
honest
clothing is under considered so consider
this clothing is the second biggest
polluting industry in the world second
only to agriculture because of this
twenty percent of the global industrial
water pollution comes from textiles now
in terms of some social impacts over 70
million people in our world are employed
by this industry between 1/6 and 1/7 of
all the women in our world are employed
in this industry
which arguably makes it the base
contributing factor to the gender wage
gap in terms of economic impacts if you
are a factory worker in India you earn
sixty-eight dollars a month on average
in Thailand 234 dollars a month Cambodia
128 dollars a month and Bangladesh 68
dollars a month now in Bangladesh the
specific example that’s 48 percent of a
livable wage when we factor in clothing
as something that connects us to
environments economies and communities
around the world shouldn’t we consider
it a bit more we all already participate
in this global system and this global
system presents challenges but also
incredible opportunities for example and
this is what makes me the most excited
about this system is that we have never
been more connected with the world than
we are today
not just technologically or socially but
physically as well within the garment
industry it is one of the few industries
still today that depends on human labour
for production and there is a potential
that every single garment that is made
in the industry could be touched by a
hundred different people before it ends
up in the store where you purchase it
there’s an entire story to a garment
before we even connect with it and see
it in the store this means that we are
directly tied with people throughout the
entire world do something as simple as a
garment we are tied to them and they are
tied to us as consumers we have created
and fuelled the demand where entire
populations economies depend on us for
their livelihoods there are parts of
this system the needs be supported and
sustained like the people that make up
the workforce the environments that
support it and the economies that are
affected
we as consumers have an impact on this
system our demand made it what it is
today so but if you use our demand to
make the system work for us but also the
people that grow process die-cut and so
the clothing that we wear I’m going to
give you three quick examples of
positive efforts places in the world
where these solutions are already
working number one an economic solution
is fair trade and this is as simple as
people are paid a fair amount for their
labor and they all certain liveable
wages a social effort is transparency so
transparency is where a business that is
open about how a product is made and
they want to engage you as a consumer
and they want to educate you as a
consumer about that production they want
to involve you some brands go so far
then on every tag on your garment that
says what it’s made out of and where it
was made there’s a little code that you
can go online to the website you can
type in that code and you can see
exactly where your garment has traveled
throughout the world sometimes you can
figure out who actually worked and
touched on your garment in environmental
terms there are entirely different
alternative fashion systems that exist
an example of this is a fiber shed a
fiber shed is where all resources that
you need to produce your clothing comes
from your local area so that includes
both human and natural resources this is
all sourced locally in a sustainable way
that supports your like local economy
community and environment these examples
represent Ray’s in which you can make a
positive impact when you do decide to
purchase something new in other words
when building from the ground up use the
hammer to build structures that we want
to see let’s use our purchasing power to
build and sustain the world that we want
to see but remember there are multiple
ways to use a tool we can also use it to
dismantle
and then also to rebuild again we all
already have the tools in our closets
needed to rebuild remember at any stage
we still have the capability of making
decisions that reflects who we are and
make positive impacts through our
clothing we all have clothing in our
closets that are made in this global
system so this is what we can do now
that we own them number one we can
launder lightly the footprint that you
use for laundering can be reduced eighty
two percent of energy that is tied or
eighty two percent of energy consumption
that is tied to clothing is directly
tied to use your care it’s after it’s
already made when it’s in your hands in
your home something as simple as washing
your clothes in cold water or deciding
not to use the dryer is a really simple
example of what you do for that also pay
attention to fiber content so synthetic
fibers something like nylon or polyester
so these are man-made fibers that are
chemically based in their processing
whenever an individual synthetic garment
is washed over 1900 synthetic plastic
fibers are released into our waterways
as pollutants something as simple as a
garment bag that’s specifically designed
to clasp collect those plastic fibers
can prevent that pollution from
happening also pay attention to what
what materials you do wear something as
simple as wearing natural materials or
this is my favorite is wearing materials
that need to be washed less like hemp or
wool so a second solution that we can
all do mending is minding this is my
favorite I am biased about this garments
are currently made to fall apart that’s
a part of a business plan to be honest
if if something is designed to fall
apart then you have to return and you
have to keep consuming and it becomes a
dependent cycle into which you are
dependent on that supplier once the
government falls apart you have to
return it and you have to keep returning
these are my jeans
ah they’re well-loved it’s invented over
40 times and I’m looking at two
additional holes that will be mended
later this week I’ve had these jeans for
10 years now within that time if I did
not mend these pants I should have
consumed 20 pairs of jeans not just in
my closet but 20 pairs of jeans just to
replace this one pair I originally
started mending these pants because I do
not like shopping I do not especially
like Jean shopping and I was too lazy to
go to the store now I mend them because
I spent so much time and energy
repairing and mending these pants
maintaining them they are my most loved
and favorite garments in my wardrobe a
third option dispose responsibly million
tons of garments are thrown away
annually into the landfill when you do
dispose of your clothing donated to
resources that can be so we use or sell
their waste to other industries the
perfect example is just bringing your
clothing to a secondhand store but also
pay attention to the waste that you
already have in your closet seventy
percent of garments in our wardrobe are
inactive we don’t even wear them this
means you can easily get rid of 50% of
your closet and you can dress the way
that you normally would identify what
you are not using and dispose of it in a
way that can be reused and a fourth
option recompose thoughtfully think
before you consume Americans buy 20
billion 20 billion pieces of clothing
per year to break that down that’s 68
garments per person and 7 pairs of shoes
a year when you think about buying
something ask yourself is there a way I
can meet this want or this need with
something that I already have that can
be altered or can I borrow it from
someone else
and when you do decide to invest in a
new garment think about the impacts that
you
want to make if environmental
environmental consciousness is important
to you find brands that share those same
values its social responsibility is
important that to you then find brands
that also want to support that if you
want to buy local than buy local odds
are you’re perfect environmentally
socially and economically sustainable
garment is currently not out there and
whatever style you personally like to
wear whatever size you wear an exact
shade of blue that you like to wear
that’s okay we have to remember to keep
at it and slowly through our collective
demand we might increase the
availability of a wider range from
responsible fashion designers and brands
most importantly find things that work
for you many of these pants
40-times works for me as of your jeans
will look different than my jeans find
what works for you and go for it
launder lightly mend mindfully dispose
responsibly and recompose thoughtfully
use the tool of clothing to deconstruct
in a way that fits your values so I’m
going to return to tools for a little
bit because I just like talking about
tools the creation use of tools is an
identifying characteristic of humans but
the capability to use tools is enhanced
by another unique human trait humans use
symbols and language to develop shared
systems and shared beliefs when we use
tools to the greatest potential toward
our shared values and shared beliefs we
have the power to change the world
for example fire was originally used to
keep us warm but also made it possible
for humans to eat a wider variety of
food and alter the state of physical
materials that the use of that one tool
has altered the course of history
forever
let us see clothing not only as
something to keep us warm and protect us
but a tool that is valuable and empowers
us to create change clothing won’t
change the world but the people who wear
them will every garment we own and use
as an opportunity an opportunity to
start seeing how we are tied to
communities economies and environments
around the world one size does not fit
all
but find the solutions that work for you
and that your actions reflect what you
believe any of what you want for our
world thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
Please follow and like us: