Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys brings together for the first time information about lifecycle sustainability impacts of fashion and textiles, practical alternatives, design concepts and social innovation. It challenges existing ideas about the scope and potential of sustainability issues in fashion and textiles, and sets out a more pluralistic, engaging and forward-looking picture, drawing on ideas of systems thinking, human needs, local products, slow fashion and participatory design, as well as knowledge of materials.The book not only defines the field, it also challenges it, and uses design ideas to help shape more sustainable products and promote social change. Arranged in two sections, the first four chapters represent key stages of the lifecycle: material cultivation/extraction, production, use and disposal. The remaining four chapters explore design approaches for altering the scale and nature of consumption, including service design, localism, speed and user involvement. While each of these chapters is complete in and of itself, their real value comes from what they represent together: innovative ways of thinking about textiles and garments based on sustainability values and an interconnected approach to design.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this update to her 2008 book, Fletcher (London College of Fashion) accurately observes that the topics of sustainability and eco-design have moved from the margins to a central area of focus in the six years between editions. Multinational corporations, NGOs, and celebrities (think Clean Clothes Campaign and Green Carpet Challenge) have turned their attention to green matters. "Brand promotion" seems to be the gateway drug, but corporations can also become more efficient in areas such as resource management and sourcing, crop efficiency, and transportation and packaging costs. This book strikes a healthy balance between the subjective questions of fashion and taste and the more objective analysis of the role that resources play, using data culled from a number of sources. This eminently browsable volume offers much food for thought; topics include "zero waste pattern cutting," "emotionally durable design," bleaching and dyeing, and fair trade and labor, including child labor. All libraries supporting fashion and green design study and research should acquire this volume. The many general readers who are interested in fashion will find it useful, though its high cost is a barrier. --Corinne L. Stevens, Lake Forest College