Week 10: Repaired & Shared (pg 211- 235)

SOOOOOO excited about this weeks topics and meet up. 

Please note that before our book club meetup we are visiting The Conscious Exchange. They have a business model that is all about swapping clothing. WE LOVE what they do. They are open Sunday 10-2 at 86 Maitland Road Islington. Anyone can go to this. We will be there at around 12. From there we will head to our meetup to discuss this weeks topics Repaired and Shared. 

Our "Wear Next - Fashioning the Future" book club gathering is at Goldbergs in Newcastle. RSVP is essential for this one as numbers very limited. Remember to bring something to mend and indulge in a coffee and treat while we contemplate and envision a future where repairing becomes a way of life. It's imperative that we embrace this ethos. Conducting our activities in a public setting serves to normalize and advocate for this important practice.

Please note: In respect for this cafes space, we need to all order something and limit our time for this meet up to 1 1/2 hours.

Here are the questions we will discuss at our meetup:

Topic – Repaired

First, Clare asks us to Imagine…

• It now costs less to repair than to buy a new item.
• Brands designed for longevity and can be disassembled easily for repurposing.
• Brands offer inhouse care and repair services.
• Alteration and tailoring shops are booming.
• Membership to artisan guilds has never been so high.
• Visible mending is a badge of honour.
• Very little is going into landfill. 

Q: Do you know a good alteration person or cobbler? “Why is after care so archaic?” P213 was the question asked by the owner of The Restory. Is there a repair service you could specialise in? Look up The Restory: https://www.the-restory.com/ - Do you think it is a service you would use?

 Q: What is a circular economy? And is extending the life of clothes a part of this?. For more information check out the Ellen Mcarthur Foundation - https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy-diagram .

Q: Do you know of brands doing it?

Book examples pg215:

• Nudie Jeans
• The North Face
• Patagonia

Q: Do any of you watch the Repair Shop? Or something similar on youtube?  Lets recommend some to each other 😊.

Q: In the book it states that it’s become “less of a craft and more of a quick fix… so that’s the problem”. Discuss p215?

Q: What do you think about the rise of rentable clothing such as Rent the Runway and Vestiare Collective. Would you use it? Why or why not?

Q: Will designers design with the product’s additional lives? The book suggests if they do – disassembly should be in the designers mind. Will they? How can they be encouraged to do this?

Q: Will repair be a new fashion graduates career path? Also, “It costs, it should cost. But who will pay”pg218 ?

Q: The Restory – P218 – Why did it fail? Is it a sign that this type of business isn’t viable or was it just too early for people to embrace it or was it coast?

Q: TheSneaker Laundary - https://thesneakerlaundry.com.au/ pg 220. Clare asks the owner of The Sneaker Laundary what he would like his business to manifest for, he replied "Freedom.I'd like everyone to have more of a freedom mindset, to realise they don't have to be a slave to consumerism". Discuss.

 

Topic – Shared

Here we are asked to imagine:

• People share what they don’t need to others who need it
• We share, rent, borrow and swap
• Wardrobes are split into two: A core wardrobe and fashion highlights (that we share)

Q: “Globally the fashion rental market is projected top US$6 billionby 2033” pg226.

Q: Check out the businesses highlighted in the book. Would you use these? Why or Why not?

Rent the Runway : https://www.renttherunway.com/

My wardrobe HQ: https://www.mywardrobehq.com/

Hur Collective: https://www.hurrcollective.com/

Hirestreet: https://www.hirestreetuk.com/collections/all

Rntr: https://shop.getrntr.com/

Q: “You don’t make progress by making people feel guilty. You have to entice them…..It has to be compelling, exciting, curated, something they are desperate to buy into” pg 228 . Discuss

Q: Study 2021 by LUT suggest that “ renting clothes worse for the planet than just throwing them away” pg228? Discuss this comment.  What are these businesses doing to reduce the carbon footprint?  Examples from book include – Less water and less toxic washing processes and lower emission delivery such as bikes and electric vans. See pg 229.

Q Smart Works- https://smartworks.org.uk/. Is a Charity that provides second hand suits for people looking for work. “Clothes help us be ourselves, or find ourselves, and present the version of ourselves we want to be. I think that is why we care about fashion in the end isn’t it? Pg 231. Can you think of other renting charity possibilities? Here are some of ours:

• Formal wear for socially disadvantaged.
• Clothing for refugees to help integrate.

Q: “Rental, repair, preloved and restyling will mainstream in the future” p231. How soon? Thoughts on this comment.

Q Look at By Rotation - https://byrotation.com/ .  They are a peer-to-peer fashion platform that allows users to lend and rent out their designer clothes to each other. “Kind of like Airbnb for fashion but with social content” pg231.

Q: At 2022  By Rotation had 300,000 users. “We know sustainability isn’t the main reason they come to us, but so what?” p232. What are their reasons then?

Q: The fashion waste issue ” it’s a racist system, as well as an unsustainable one” pg 233. Discuss 

Q: Imagine being able to walk down the street and love what someone is wearing and say “hey what’s your By Rotation username?”pg234. Discuss the #whatsismineisyours philosophy. How can this be done in Australia?

Q: Who has been to a clothes swap? What was successful and unsuccessful about it? Were there black Friday vibes or did politeness prevail ?

Now - Show us what your mending :)