Presentasjon av foreløpige funn fra Wasted Textiles PhD

tobiasson på 19. januar 2023

14. mars, 2023, kl 10-12.

Athene 1 (auditorium), Pilestredet 46, OsloMet.

Arrangementet vil være på engelsk, og i tillegg til en fysisk presentasjon, tilgjengelig via Zoom.

PhD Candidate Anna Schytte Sigaard will present preliminary findings based on data collection from 28 Norwegian households in three areas of Norway: Oslo, Vestfold and Salten. This is part of her PhD Want Not, Waste Not: A wardrobe study approach to minimizing textile waste from Norwegian households.

Each household collected textile items that they would have otherwise discarded during a period of 6 months. They participated in a start-up interview at the beginning of the collection period and two interviews about the collected textiles after 3 and 6 months. All textiles (more than 3000 pieces) were brought to SIFO for analysis where they have been registered according to different physical properties and the story for each textile, from acquisition to disposal, has been recorded.

The findings will grant insights into consumption of clothing and other textiles from households in Norway.

  • A more detailed agenda will be shared closer to the event date.
  • Snacks and coffee/tea will be provided.
  • Location: Athene 1 (auditorium), Pilestredet 46, 0170 Oslo

If you are interested in joining in person, please contact Anna Schytte Sigaard. email: annasiga@oslomet.no

It is also possible to join via Zoom, using this following link:
https://oslomet.zoom.us/j/68769021034?pwd=eEVxb1lQSW4vNkdmbDZFamNvb2x1dz09

Nytt forsknings-senter i København basert på garderobe-studier

tobiasson på 10. januar 2023

Da CHANGE mesterklasseseminaret fant sted ved Det Kongelige Danske Akademi i København 30. september 2022 var det samme dag duket for nok en interessant anledning. Dette var lanseringen av KLOTHING – Center for Apparel, Textiles & Ecology Research. Dette er det første danske forskningssenteret på mote, tekstiler og bærekraft ledet av meg, førsteamanuensis, PhD, Else Skjold, som har vært sentral i utviklingen av garderobemetoden siden starten av PhD-studiet mitt (Skjold, 2014).

Tekst: Else Skjold/KLOTHING

I CHANGE er jeg ansvarlig for arbeidspakke 5 som dreier seg om rekruttering av junior- og seniorforskere for videreutvikling og konsolidering av garderobeforskning, og formidling av ny kunnskap til både forskning, industri og beslutningstakere. Med det nyetablerte senteret vil garderobeforskningen få en sterk utpost og kunnskaps hub i Skandinavia for å støtte og styrke denne arbeidspakken, arbeidet som drives ved SIFO i Oslo, og videreutvikling av garderobeforskningen ellers.

Navnet er et resultat av dialogen mellom meg selv og professor, PhD Kate Fletcher, som også er en del av CHANGE-prosjektet, og som i dag er tilknyttet Det Kongelige Danske Akademi (blant andre). Med tittelen KLOTHING er senteret forankret i en skandinavisk kontekst, siden skrivemåten av klær (clothing) med «K» stammer fra det norrøne språket. Tittelen antyder dermed hvordan forskning med utgangspunkt i nettopp Danmark og Skandinavia kan bidra til å få til en reell endring. Derfor fokuserer senterets grunnpilarer på kjerneverdien til de skandinaviske velferdsstatene: at alle skal ha like muligheter, noe som gjenspeiles i den skandinaviske tradisjonen for inkluderende designsamarbeid som ble utviklet i det 20. århundre.

Les mer om KLOTHING senteret her på engelsk.

CHANGE: Anledning i forandring

tobiasson på 5. januar 2023

Er uformelt og formelt på vei for å smelte sammen? Dette spørsmålet dukker opp både i forskning og når man ser på forbrukertrender for klær og mote.

Som en del av CHANGE-prosjektet er et spor som utforskes en tilbakevending til klær som er mer allsidige og mindre definert av anledningen. Her utforskes en «miks og match»-tilnærming, som ser ut til å gi gjenklang med et marked i etterkant av vårt møte med Covid-19.

Hugo Boss lanserte nylig den strikkede dressen i samarbeid med Woolmark, en ny strikketeknologi med fireveis stretch som gjør dressen ekstremt allsidig og gir brukeren en bevegelsesfrihet som absolutt tillater litt fritidsaktivitet etter jobb uten å nødvendigvis måtte skifte. Samtidig blir fritidsklær mer formelle og en utendørs vindjakke har nå til og med en plass i bymiljøer, hørte vi under det nylige IWTO møtet i Nürnberg i Tyskland (mer her), hvor Francesco Magri, Woolmark, snakket om «den nye dressen». Les mer om dette på engelsk her.

Clothing Research contributes to new report on over-consumption

tobiasson på 6. desember 2022

The Clothing Research Group, SIFO at OsloMet, has contributed to the recent Hot or Cool Institute report Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable: Resizing Fashion for a Fair Consumption Space (download report here). The contribution is in the form of a critique of EU’s textile strategy which was launched in March 2022.

The report Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable: Resizing Fashion for a Fair Consumption Space goes far in mandating a “fair consumption space”, in an equity-based approach to reaching the climate target of 1,5-degrees. In sum, the authors have set a roof on how many items of clothing a person in the Global North can consume, at least on average, while allowing for an increase in consumption in the Global South.  Why? Well, while the richest 20% in the UK emit 83% above the 1.5-target, 74% of people in Indonesia live below sufficiency consumption levels of fashion, which is one of many eye-opening statistics in the report.

The report is highly relevant for the ongoing work in the project CHANGE. In the same way as this research project lifts the sight from the Global North and our overconsumption, and addresses the discussion of what constitutes a sufficient wardrobe. In CHANGE we will continue this work, however with a point of departure in clothing culture and tradition. Clothing is not only “fashion” or environmental footprint bad guys, they are also an important part of our culture and history.

It is mainly in “Box 6” that the clothing research team at Clothing Research have contributed, with a critique of the EU textile strategy. This is not related directly to a roof on consumption, but critiques the lack of policy instruments to make “fast fashion go out of fashion” in the words of Frans Timmermans.

Opportunities for improving the EU Strategy for Sustainable Textiles, as discussed in “Box 6” has one of the following more important take-aways: “Missing from the Strategy is the only real alternative to the global mass-producing industry: small-scale, local production. Textiles are very complex products, socially, aesthetically, functionally and technically. If overproduction continues, longer lifespan for textiles or other measures to increase the utilization rate for individual garments, will not substantially contribute to reduced emissions nor to lower environmental impacts. The measures mentioned in the strategy are not aimed at solving the main issue of overproduction and overconsumption, and are thus not enough for achieving the goals of sustainable and circular textiles.”

The report could, however, have stressed more concrete policy measures that actually stop the influx into the Global North market – which risks – if consumers follow the report’s advice – an abundance of un-sold goods. These are also the goods that the EU plan to forbid incinerating and maybe exporting to the Global South as “gifts”.  In the long run, however, the focus on less consumption can contribute to lower production and thereby also the environmental impact.

This is a key in the CHANGE project.

Local clothing: What is that? How an environmental policy concept is understood

ingridha på 10. april 2022

Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Vilde Haugrønning & Kirsi Laitala

The textile industry is characterized by global mass production and has an immense impact on the environment. One garment can travel around the world through an extensive value chain before reaching its final consumption destination. The consumer receives little information about how the item was produced due to a lack of policy regulation. In this article, we explore understandings of ‘local clothing’ and how the concept could be an alternative to the current clothing industry. The analysis is based on fifteen interviews with eighteen informants from Western Norway as part of the research project KRUS about Norwegian wool. Five ways of understanding local clothing were identified from the interviews: production, place-specific garments, local clothing habits, home-based production and local circulation. We lack a language with which to describe local clothing that covers local forms of production as an alternative to current clothing production. As such, the article highlights an important obstacle to reorganization: local clothing needs a vocabulary among the public, in politics and in the public sector in general, with which to describe the diverse production processes behind clothing and textiles and their material properties.

Klikk her for å se artikkelen (ingentaconnect.com)

Global differences in consumer practices affect clothing lifespans

ingridha på 24. november 2020

Kirsi Laitala & Ingun Grimstad Klepp

Abstract

Most studies of clothing and related habits are carried out within a country. However, apparel production and sales are a highly globalized industry, with many of the same large chains operating worldwide. It is thus quite possible that the use of the same mass-produced clothing differs between various geographical areas. Based on a practice theoretical approach, we have studied differences in consumption, use and disposal of clothes in different countries that may affect the lifespan of apparel.

The paper is based on an international survey in five countries with large apparel markets: China, Germany, Japan, UK and the USA. 200 respondents from each country answered to a comprehensive web-based survey on their wardrobe content. We found differences in practices that could affect the lifespans of clothing in these five countries. At the same time, we find many similarities. For clothing acquisition, buying new items dominates in all the five markets, and washing machines contribute to the main chore of keeping clothes clean. Home production and second-hand clothes constitute a very small part of clothing consumption in all five countries. Many respondents showed low sewing skills, and repair activities were done irregularly. Thus, many of the challenges to increasing the lifespans of clothing are similar for all the five countries. At the same time, there are significant differences. These differences open up for the possibility to learn «best practice» by studying the countries and transferring knowledge between regions. When defining use phase in LCA and other sustainability tools, it must be taken into account that despite the fact that clothing is a global industry, consumption is part of local practice.

Click here to read the full article (researchgate.com)

Uniformity Without Uniforms: Dressing School Children in Norway

lisbethl på 12. mai 2019

Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Kirsi Laitala and Silje Elisabeth Skuland

Abstract

This chapter discusses the relationship between Norwegian schools’ ideals of equality and the way in which school clothes are regulated. Interviews with a teacher in a transitional language learning group for newly arrived immigrant children, as well as with children and parents in immigrant families, are used to discuss whether school clothes inhibit or promote integration. The material shows great willingness of children to dress like the others, as well as understanding that clothing consumption is essential for integration in school, and thus society. At the same time, this is not easily achievable either economically, culturally or practically. Little is done to make Norwegian schools inclusive in this field of consumption.

This article is from the book Inclusive Consumption: Immigrants’ Access to and Use of Public and Private Goods and Services, edited by Anita Borch, Ivan Harsløf, Ingun Grimstad Klepp and Kirsi Laitala.

Click here to read the full article (idunn.no).

Clothing Reuse: The Potential in Informal Exchange

lisbethl på 1. mars 2017

Kirsi Laitala and Ingun Grimstad Klepp

Abstract

Reuse organised by non-profit and commercial actors is a strategy that recently received a lot of attention. This article discusses the question: what do we know about the amount of clothes that circulate outside the pecuniary markets? And is this amount increasing or declining? The questions are answered based on quantitative material from Norway. Almost twice as many had received used clothing as those who had bought used clothing, and our material do not indicate that this are declining. At the same time 59 per cent of Norwegian adults had neither received nor bought used clothing for themselves during the past two years. For children, inheritance is very common and the younger the children are, the more they inherit. The amount of the private clothing exchange is greater than the formal market in Norway. Therefore, when the goal is a more sustainable clothing consumption we need to include the parts of consumption that are not only related to money.

Click here to read the full article (oda.oslomet.no).