Jamie Hayes, Living Wage, Sustainable Fashion, and Ethical Fashion
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2017/09/22
I am a writer and executive administrator for Trusted Clothes, which is an ethical and sustainable fashion organization. The following is a series devoted in honor of the work done in collaboration with the Schroeckers and the Trusted Clothes team. Part 3 below, and 1 here and 2 here.
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What is the importance of sustainable fashion to you?
The issues are similar. There’s overlap, but sustainability refers to the environment and issues affecting the planet. I come out of the labor movement. So, I am less educated about those issues, but even if you’re looking at it from a human perspective. Obviously, we are humans. We live on the planet. There are huge ramifications for everyone.
We are all connected. We should care about what is happening on the other side of the world. It is about human rights. We all deserve basic human rights, and beyond that, the ability to thrive and grow. From the human perspective, the pesticides that are used to grow our cotton, the petroleum that is used to create polyester, the dyes that are used to create the colors in the fabrics … all of these things affect the workers who are applying those pesticides or dyes. They go into our water supplies. It is about treating out world well. There is huge overlap between issues of sustainability and ethics.
My favorite term is slow fashion because this takes into account the quality of the product and the design. It’s coming out of and inspired by the slow food movement, the tenets of which are to know the provenance of this food or, in our case, the clothing. So, where do our clothes come from? What about the raw materials like the cotton, wool, poly, or leather? To have transparency about that, to appreciate and value the item, the experience around it, to slow down, buy less, buy higher quality. That’s important information to provide as a designer. Because, to be honest, you cannot do everything perfectly, especially as a small company. You might now know all of the labor conditions in a factory. The factory making your zippers or buttons, but you can choose the highest quality zipper. This can allow the garment to have as long a life as possible.
Sometimes, we have to think about competing issues and balance those all out. Slow fashion is the most honest way to do that as a designer in my opinion.
What was the inspiration for Production Mode – and its title?
(Laughs) Coming out of the labor movement, I have done a lot of neo-Marxist readings. I was thinking about means of production and the organization of work, and what brings people joy. I was thinking about that when I named the company.
But the inspiration goes way beyond that. At the end of the day, I am a designer. I love fashion. I think we need to make a lot of changes in the industry, but I love clothing as a means of self-expression. It brings me a lot of joy. I think it brings a lot of people on this planet a lot of joy. It’s an expression of who we are: our culture, identity, values. It doesn’t have to be a superficial, passive consumer experience. It could be tailored to fit your body exactly. That’s how it was used for generations—until recently, in fact.
Now, it is a disposable thing. It doesn’t have to be that way. One thing I always want to be a part of the company is the concept of artist collaboration. It stretches me as a designer. It makes sure there is something unique about the product and timeless.
For example, for the first line that I launched, I collaborated with an artist named Paula J. Wilson. She designed an all-over print for leather. Another artist, Nora Renick-Rinehart, executed the print and applied it to leather. It is not something seen often with leather. It is limited edition. It is designed by a well-known artist. So, there’s a whole story. I can trace the provenance of the materials, the print, the execution of the print, etc.
For the next line, which I’ll launch in the Fall of this year, the fabric is designed in collaboration with an artist named Nuria Montiel. It is executed by local weavers called the Weaving Mill in Chicago. They are located about a mile from my studio. I have two industrial dobby looms. It is a collaboration between the four of us to produce the fabric for the line. It can’t be found anywhere else. It was inspired by Nuria’s art work, influenced by the textiles of the Bauhaus movement, and Peruvian and Mexican textile traditions.
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
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