Course info

This course is an immersion into the philosophy and practice of slow and green fashion. Slow and Green fashion emerged as a reaction against fast fashion: the excessive production of inexpensive clothes fueled by rapid trend cycles that makes the fashion industry one of the leading threats to the environment (with 85% of its supply chain material ending up in landfills, for instance). In contrast, slow and green fashion advocates for sustainable practices like minimal production cycles and textile recycling, transparent manufacturing, the use of natural dyes and fabrics, and, in general, a more deliberate and intentional relationship to clothes. In this course, students will be asked to think deeply about—perhaps completely rethink—the act of getting dressed. In addition to studying and critically assessing models of sustainable fashion, students will learn hands-on skills related to slow and green fashion such as natural dyeing, fabric identification, basic mending, upcycling and transforming old clothes into new items with opportunities for creative play influenced by exposure to textile artists.