Matching Items (15)
Description
It is a widely accepted fact that the fashion industry is the second most unsustainable industry in the world, just behind oil (Qutab, 2016). Although some research would like to suggest that fashion is more sustainable than it actually is, it is indisputably a huge contributor to waste and something obviously needs to change (Friedman, 2018). When people hear about how unsustainable the fashion industry is, they usually think about fast fashion and how quickly clothes are being produced, purchased, and then discarded. What most people probably do not think about is that visual merchandising is also a large reason the fashion industry is considered so unsustainable. Visual merchandising is the act of displaying merchandise in a way that makes it attractive to consumers (Business Dictionary, n.d.). For example, most of the props, signage, decor, and fixturing that are used to create the whimsical window displays seen on Michigan Avenue or Rodeo Drive are simply thrown in the trash after use. This is a problem because the turnover for window displays is almost as fast as it is for merchandise. Tons of materials are trashed week after week, season after season, and year after year. As a fashion minor and someone who works in visual merchandising for two different companies, I have seen firsthand just how much waste is created from making a store look beautiful. Because of this, I wanted my creative project to highlight the issue of sustainability in the fashion industry, and more specifically, in visual merchandising. The goal of this project is to demonstrate that you can create a beautiful and captivating window display using recycled materials. To do this, I created three pieces to be used in a window display that I constructed out of discarded props, signage, and decor that I collected from different stores such as Crate & Barrel, Michael Kors, and Free People. A display that is made out of recycled materials does not need to look like a pile of garbage, but can look just as beautiful and inspiring as a display made entirely of new materials. In creating these three pieces out of recycled materials, I aim to prove that visual merchandising can be more sustainable in ways that are not as difficult as one might think, and help spark a change in the fashion industry as a whole.
ContributorsVan Horn, Olivia Rei (Author) / Sewell, Dennita (Thesis director) / Shrigley, Lisa (Committee member) / Dean, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This thesis explores the relationship between sustainability, the fashion industry, and fashion exhibitions. Sustainability has been a driving force in the fashion industry in recent years as designers attempt to combat staggering textile waste statistics in order to lessen the damage the industry has on the environment. Producers must rethink human engagement with nature based on a new ethic of ecosystem stewardship, which proposes that humans have ethical obligations to one another in their mutual relationship with non-human species and nature (Schmitz 13). Enhancing a socio-ecological perspective garners new ways of consuming and appreciating clothing design while focusing on lessening impacts on the environment through using less materials, reusing materials in new textile developments, and projecting a sustainable identity that can be followed by the public in order to be more conscious of spending habits, annual waste, and how sustainably ethical companies are. Removing natural resources or transforming landscapes to enhance human well-being paradoxically stands to diminish human well being over time (Schmitz 12), and this is something that humans face with the inevitability of climate change affecting future generations. In mapping the relationship between sustainability, fashion designer's design process, and the way curators communicate sustainable themes, an overall understanding of sustainable culture can be understood in the industry.
ContributorsLord, Nicolas K (Author) / Sewell, Dennita (Thesis director) / Mesch, Claudia (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This thesis has two goals. The first is to explore and report on the state of the fashion and fashion business industry today. And the second is to propose a degree program plan, informed by the first goal, that will adequately prepare an Arizona State University student for a career in the fashion business industry. Keeping these two goals in mind, the thesis that follows looks at the industry through an academic and innovative lens. Primary and secondary research enforces these lenses and reveals the importance of a four-year university that provides students with a comprehensive experience, one that provides students with academic and experience-based opportunities. In order to best prepare students for a career in the intended industry. In order to best prepare students for a career in the intended industry, this thesis proposes that a combination of hands-on experiences, networking/mentoring programs, and project-based courses be implemented. This can be achieved by a final degree plan that offers key courses related to business such as fashion branding and an elective portfolio focused on fashion from the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and the W.P. Carey School of Business.
ContributorsSearight, Caroline Frances (Author) / Ostrom, Amy (Thesis director) / Sewell, Dennita (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Fashion is an inherently political and reflective medium for the daily ramblings and revolutions of a society. Much of the time the influence is subtle. Silhouettes and fabrics reflect different stances on conservatism, on sex, on the degrees to which we fetishize luxury, and on infinite other attitudes of an era. Other times the influence is extremely direct, with text printed on the clothing that explicitly articulates a current societal dynamic. I began exploring fashion in 2016, as the country had reached an unprecedented and linguistically weaponized divide.
While taking a fashion technology course under the instruction of Galina Mihaleva, I developed a tracksuit incorporating concealed LED displays that are capable of scrolling customizable text on the sides of the garment. I expanded on this futuristic execution of politically charged clothes by utilizing a more realistic application of the LED technology in the Bouis Vuitton project. This project is a collection of six white vinyl bags with semi-flexible LED displays projecting revolutionary slogans through the vinyl textile.
The bags act as an appropriate housing for technology that is intended for significantly longer use, as bags have a longer lifespan in wardrobes than clothes and return to trend more frequently. The production investment in the technology is more equitable to the investment in the production of a bag and facilitates the wearer’s broadcasting of concise messages. The result is a collection of functional, utilitarian pieces with a clean, futuristic look and a mixed modern and vintage silhouette scrolling pro-revolutionary messages.
Broadcasting the knock-off name ‘BOUIS VUITTON’, I’ve inserted only my first initial into the reputable luxury company and paired it with slogans: ‘EAT THE RICH’ and ‘HEADS WILL ROLL’. The collection articulates a sense of nihilism felt by the youngest generations growing up on the outside of a very exclusive economic and political sphere. Three upcycled vintage luggage pieces evoke associations with the white American upper-class society of the 1960s. The luggage pieces were retrofitted in white vinyl and white-enameled metal fixtures. Three additional soft bags made of the same material reflect a utilitarian style of functional bags on trend with Spring/Summer 2019 streetwear. For the runway presentation of the bags, the models are dressed in navy-colored Dickies boiler suits, white retro-style Fila sneakers, and white ascots reminiscent of the historical male ruffled cravat. The contradictions of iconic silhouettes from both upper and lower-class American fashion history further the juxtaposition of anti-capitalist slogans posted on luxury goods.
Bouis Vuitton: Bags for the Revolution is intended to embody an unapologetic disregard for established wealth and political power in the most public of venues: the sidewalk, the mall, the high and the low-income neighborhoods – wherever people are wearing clothes. Fashion is the modern protest that requires no permit, and the new poster is a luxury bag.
While taking a fashion technology course under the instruction of Galina Mihaleva, I developed a tracksuit incorporating concealed LED displays that are capable of scrolling customizable text on the sides of the garment. I expanded on this futuristic execution of politically charged clothes by utilizing a more realistic application of the LED technology in the Bouis Vuitton project. This project is a collection of six white vinyl bags with semi-flexible LED displays projecting revolutionary slogans through the vinyl textile.
The bags act as an appropriate housing for technology that is intended for significantly longer use, as bags have a longer lifespan in wardrobes than clothes and return to trend more frequently. The production investment in the technology is more equitable to the investment in the production of a bag and facilitates the wearer’s broadcasting of concise messages. The result is a collection of functional, utilitarian pieces with a clean, futuristic look and a mixed modern and vintage silhouette scrolling pro-revolutionary messages.
Broadcasting the knock-off name ‘BOUIS VUITTON’, I’ve inserted only my first initial into the reputable luxury company and paired it with slogans: ‘EAT THE RICH’ and ‘HEADS WILL ROLL’. The collection articulates a sense of nihilism felt by the youngest generations growing up on the outside of a very exclusive economic and political sphere. Three upcycled vintage luggage pieces evoke associations with the white American upper-class society of the 1960s. The luggage pieces were retrofitted in white vinyl and white-enameled metal fixtures. Three additional soft bags made of the same material reflect a utilitarian style of functional bags on trend with Spring/Summer 2019 streetwear. For the runway presentation of the bags, the models are dressed in navy-colored Dickies boiler suits, white retro-style Fila sneakers, and white ascots reminiscent of the historical male ruffled cravat. The contradictions of iconic silhouettes from both upper and lower-class American fashion history further the juxtaposition of anti-capitalist slogans posted on luxury goods.
Bouis Vuitton: Bags for the Revolution is intended to embody an unapologetic disregard for established wealth and political power in the most public of venues: the sidewalk, the mall, the high and the low-income neighborhoods – wherever people are wearing clothes. Fashion is the modern protest that requires no permit, and the new poster is a luxury bag.
ContributorsViton, Benjamin Douglas (Author) / Sewell, Dennita (Thesis director) / Mihaleva, Galina (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Nike, the largest athletic apparel company in the world, has a very complex wide-reaching supply chain. As pioneers of outsourcing production and products, they have dealt with many challenges and problems since their beginning in 1964. As Nike has faced their controversial history of labor strikes, protests, boycotts, and much more, they began to restructure their business model and supply chain practices. Following this came audits, minimum age requirements, factory condition monitoring, and public disclosures of locations. With these new initiatives and growth in Nike’s supply chain, an overarching analysis of Ports of Lading, Shipment Origins, Ports of Unlading, Shippers/Suppliers, and Carriers can give a glimpse into the world-wide network of their apparel. Finally, through my data analysis and secondary source research, I will explain how Nike's supply chain emerged, adjusted, and changed given different textile regulatory environments over the years.
ContributorsCrippen, Julia (Author, Co-author) / Wiedmer, Robert (Thesis director) / Sewell, Dennita (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
Created2023-05