Fashion veteran Lidewij Edelkoort has written an op-ed for Business of Fashion magazine, questioning the industry’s business model of overproduction, overconsumption and mediocre products.
She calls for a realignment of the fashion industry’s business model and real change at the educational level, where the next generation of students are taught the value of fiber rather than pure marketing, the value of textiles and natural processes versus 3D rendering, and pure creation with qualitative intent.
“We believe that in order to understand fashion design, we must teach the origin of clothing, which is found on the farm and in the forest. We know that regenerative agriculture and forestry has a future where brands are involved in the manufacture of their products from the very beginning and are responsible for alternative crops, humane treatment of animals and modest cellulose and algae production. Some fashion houses are already taking on this responsibility,” explains Edelkoort.
Edelkoort, who will launch the new educational master’s program “From Farm to Fabric to Fashion” at Polimoda this fall, says that an awareness of life that “gives rights to materials as well as animals, plants and people” is essential.
In Edelkoort’s essay ‘A Declaration of Change: Radical Metamorphosis’, the Dutch forecaster argues that young people need to lead change, starting with their own education, to forge a new way of thinking about – and designing – fashion.
“Education has largely contributed to the decline of fashion by closing textile design schools, neglecting fabric knowledge, and promoting virtual sketching in place of draping and pattern making. So we need to redesign the system and introduce a radically new training model. It is based on the origins of the textiles and their affinity with fashion,” explains Edelkoort in her “Declaration”.
Fashion is a commodity
“Fashion design has become a commodity that doesn’t care about the fabrics used, as long as there is enough material volume to create money volume. This has resulted in a limited range of denim, fleece, jersey and flannel, with the occasional floral, sequin or photograph making the same look new. That’s why fashion design is obsolete, suffering from overproduction and under-creativity, resulting in a market saturated with opportunistic drops and collaborations that mask the utter lack of integrity and initiative where the sporadic use of a jacquard became an overnight TikTok sensation will. We have come to a point where we can no longer speak of fashion and simply have to label goods as clothing,” says Edelkoort in her statement.
“Education is inherently forward-looking. Our job is to lay solid foundations for the entire fashion system to grow and develop around us. Together with Lidewij Edelkoort we want to break new ground that are both ambitious and revolutionary at the same time, combining the artisanal tradition of Tuscany with an experimental and scientific approach. Fashion design must rediscover the urge for renewal, starting from research and knowledge of techniques, materials and fabrics that inspire innovation with an anthropological and cultural approach,” comments Polimoda Director Massimiliano Giornetti.
This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.uk. Translated and edited by Simone Preuss.