Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book encompasses not only the environmental issues presented by a wasteful and fast-moving fashion cycle, but also the social impact of the global fashion industry, which employs up to 40 million people worldwide in manufacturing and agriculture. Positive in outlook, the book promotes an understanding of the complex issues surrounding modern clothing production, use and disposal, while celebrating the inherent value of fashion and the creative opportunity that the growing trend towards sustainability offers.

Sandy Black, one of the world's pioneering authorities on sustainable fashion, has assembled a remarkable range of perspectives, ranging from designers and technical experts to academics and journalists, environmental and social action campaigners, craft specialists and artists, eco-entrepreneurs and representatives of global corporations. Each chapter presents an array of illustrated articles, including essays by leading writers and thinkers, interviews and statements from designers such as Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood and Hussein Chalayan and case studies on everything from the life-cycle of jeans to smart textiles and fair trade schemes.

The book is divided into five thematic chapters covering every aspect of contemporary fashion: fashion cultures and patterns of consumption from couture house blogosphere; design and innovation; working conditions and corporate transparency; the eco-footprint of the industry; and outlooks for the future and the role of technology in greening fashion. A resources section provides comprehensive listings of leading organizations involved in campaigning, advising, certifying and promoting sustainability in fashion.

Packed with authoritative facts and inspiring images and ideas, this is an indispensable reference for design professionals, students and anyone with an interest in fashion, sustainability and innovation.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The heft of this book matches its subject: the need for producers and consumers to consider thoughtfully fashion's environmental and social impact. Essays explore case studies of sustainable fashion businesses, fair labor and trade practices, textile recycling, luxury marketing and consumer desire, product life cycles in slow and fast fashion, the global secondhand clothing market, designers' philosophies on sustainability, and energy usage by manufacturers and consumers of clothing. Accessible and highly relevant to current fashion students, this book is information-dense, authoritative, and wide-ranging enough to serve as a textbook for a class on sustainable fashion. Black (fashion & textile design, London Coll. of Fashion) wrote many of the book's essays but also brought in dozens of authors representing the fashion industry, academia, environmental organizations, and the media to contribute the rest. Hundreds of full-color images add to the text, as do detailed notes for each chapter, a bibliography, and a resource list of international companies, organizations, publications, and projects working on sustainability in fashion. VERDICT This comprehensive collection of essays serves as a guide to both fast fashion and haute couture for casual readers and serious scholars.--Lindsay King, Yale Univ. Libs., New Haven, CT (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Can fashion be sustainable? In this substantial, illustrated volume ("handbook" is a bit of a misnomer), Black (London College of Fashion) combines her own scholarship with contributions from a diverse group of scholars, theorists, designers, entrepreneurs, and activists to wrestle with this central question. The book is divided into five sections: "Self and Beauty: Culture and Consumption," "Desire and Fashion: Design and Innovation," "Craft and Industry: Transparency and Livelihood," "Speed and Distance: Ecology and Waste," and "Techno Eco: New Fashion Paradigms." A bibliography and list of relevant companies and organizations follow. The resulting text is not only thorough in its coverage of eco-friendly and ethical practices in the fashion industry, but academic in its discussion of the very nature of fashion--how it relates to people's bodies, definition of self, and connection to others. This volume presents a complex view that is more focused on solutions and innovations than on accusation of wasteful companies and practices (sections on H&M and Walmart are surprisingly kind, lauding these companies' sustainability efforts). Size and format make this book a better fit for the reference shelf than for cover-to-cover reading. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above. C. E. Berg Museum of History and Industry