A Fashion Odyssey

Sustainability
Environmental responsibility has long been a focus of interest in fashion. More and more brands are putting out sustainable lines and outlining on their websites how and where their clothes are produced. Yet the production chain, from fibre to sewing, is so complex that it is not yet possible to define “sustainable” precisely. The industry’s rapid cycle means “sustainable fashion” is an irreconcilable paradox. If clothing production is to become responsible in every respect, fashion as a consumer good must be assessed from a cultural-philosophical angle.

Symposium in 2011
Speakers on the symposium A Fashion Odyssey on 16 April 2011 included André Veneman, AkzoNobel’s director of sustainability; Carlos Teixeira of the design department at Parsons The New School for Design; and Catarina Midby, a trend coordinator and sustainability spokesperson for H&M. David Shah, a trendwatcher and the director of Metropolitan Publishing BV, acted as moderator. The symposium was a production of the dAcapo supplementary events programme and the fashion design professorship at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, the certification specialists Control Union World Group, and the Arnhem Mode Biennale.