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Beyond the labels

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Beyond the labels

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Content BEYOND THE LABELS
Mara Pometti
Master of Arts in Specialized Journalism
University of Southern California
August 2018

Table of Contents

Beyond the Labels. The journey of clothing toward innovation ................................... 1
The Fashion Industry. How we got to this point and where are we now? .................... 2
Following the Thread. The environmental impact caused by our garments ................. 5
Redesigning Fashion. The innovative side of the fashion sector .................................. 7
Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 11
References ................................................................................................................... 12
Interview transcripts .................................................................................................... 15
Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 27

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Beyond the Labels. The journey of clothing toward innovation

Link to the project: https://uscstoryspace.com/2017-2018/pometti/beyondthelabels/

Total consumer spending in clothing and footwear in the United States reached the threshold
of $418,376 million in 2017: an increase of 30% since 2009, the first year of recession. The U.S.
Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that in 2016 Americans spent an average of $1,218 on
clothing and footwear.

What may be more significant than how much consumers spend is the increase in how many
items each person buys. The lower price of clothing, faster production time, and trends that change
quickly, encourage people to shop more and more. According to statistics by McKinsey &
Company, from 2000 to 2014, the number of garments purchased each year by the average consumer
increased by 60 percent. The World Resources Institute estimates that 20 garments are manufactured
per person each year and consumers worldwide buy more than 80 billion items of clothing yearly. The
more consumers buy garments, the more clothing producers increase their output to keep up with
customers’ demand.

The data reflects our passion for clothing. But the increase in the number of garments we buy,
and soon throw away and replace with new ones, has huge consequences for the environment,
business, labor and culture. How much we spend on clothes, how long they last in our wardrobes,
and the type of fabrics we wear reveal a complex picture that extends beyond the world of design,
runways and trends to include overconsumption, waste, and pollution.

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The fashion industry is the cause of a myriad of environmental problems: the growing
amount of CO
2
emissions contributing to global warming; fresh water pollution from the dye
process and other chemicals used to produce fabrics; fertilizers used to grow cotton; and,
microfibers leaking into rivers and oceans. But there is also an important shift underway among
apparel producers, and many companies today are committed to developing new strategies and
technologies that change the way we think about our clothing, as well as how they are produced and
how they interact with the environment. Reading the world through the lens of clothing, and telling
the stories that lie behind what we wear, can give us insight into the economic, environmental and
cultural forces that affect our daily lives.

The Fashion Industry. How we got to this point and where are we now?

The GCNYC Fashion Center reports that almost 150 million lives are affected by the global
apparel industry daily, whether it’s people designing and manufacturing clothing, workers
employed in the production and sales of clothing, advertisers and marketers selling clothing to the
public, or consumers buying the merchandise. All of them act together in a circular system where
the fashion industry shapes consumers’ desires, tastes and habits, and consumers influence
production by wanting to stay up-to-date with new trends and purchase more clothes at lower
prices. At the same time, clothing retailers, such as Zara and Benetton, contributed to the higher
demand with the development of the “today style” of cheaper clothes that can be easily discarded
and replaced with new ones, a trend known as “fast fashion.”

Professor Greys Sosic, who teaches supply chain at the University of Southern California’s
Marshall School of Business, concluded that “fashion was not so bad when we used a lot of actual
materials, when we used to buy garments every five years... But then we came up with what we call
3
fast fashion.” Brands labeled under this category “are selling things at a relatively low price, and so
you can buy something, wear it two times and then throw it away,” said Sosic.

During the late 1980s, the Spanish company Zara, owned by the Inditex group, was one of
the first companies to develop a new strategy to reduce the length of time between when new
designs debuted on the runway to when they appeared on Zara’s store shelves. Zara, then H&M
were soon joined by other fast fashion brands such as Primark and Topshop. And, as Business
Insider reported in 2017, fast fashion may become eclipsed by ultrafast fashion, from online
retailers like ASOS and boohoo.com, that can bring garments to market in as little as a week or two.

The increase in the production cycle was coupled with a decrease in the cost of fast fashion
clothing, which makes it more affordable for a greater number of people. Since 2000, clothing and
footwear sales in the U.S. increased dramatically: 51.8% from 2000 to 2017. What is more
alarming, though, is that over the last 20 years, the Consumer Price Index for all items has increased
by 63.5% while the price of clothing measured by the CPI for apparel has fallen by 3.3%. What this
means is that clothing that would have cost $100 in 1993 would cost $59.10 in today’s dollars,
according to the American Enterprise Institute.

The decrease in clothing prices has a direct correlation to the increase in how many items
we buy. A report by the environmental organization, Greenpeace, using data from institutions such
as McKinsey & Company, Textile World, Environment Agency and the International Trade
Association, Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), concludes that: “people in developed
countries today own many more items of clothing than they can actually wear.” In 2017, as shown
in the graph, each person in North America bought an average of 96.6 pieces, compared to Europe,
where people bought 50.3 pieces each, and Asia at 16.4 pieces per person.

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Here is a snapshot of how the clothing sales increased between 2000 and 2017 in the U.S.
(Source: Federal Reserve Economic Data, Clothing and Clothing Accessory, Millions of Dollars,
Annual, Seasonally Adjusted.)

The graph shows the number of items purchased per person in 2017. As shown in the graph,
consumers in the United States buy more, an average value of 96.6 items. (Source: Statista, June
2017. Average Volume per Capita in pieces)

Graph: bar chart showing number of items purchased by each person in the United States,
Europe and Asia. Hover over the images below to see which kind of items people buy the most. The
percentages refer to the number of items purchased per capita shown above. (Source: Statista, June
2017.)

Interactive: percentages of the type of clothing purchased by each person in the U.S., Europe
and Asia.

The incremental growth in apparel production directly impacts the environmental resources
used during the manufacturing process, and the increase in the amount of cast-off clothing presents
problems in waste and recycling. The Circular Fibers Initiative and Euromonitor International
Apparel & Footwear 2016 Edition reports that the number of times clothes are worn before they
cease to be used decreased 36% between 2002 and 2016; clothes are discarded after people have
worn them less than ten times.

Some companies have started to develop new business models and new technologies to
reinvent the way garments are produced and the materials from which they are made. As fashion
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designer Stella McCartney stated: “fashion isn’t modern [...] The way things are done, the fabrics
used – they haven’t changed in a century.”

Following the Thread. The environmental impact caused by our garments

We carefully choose our clothes every day because they reflect who we are. Yet, the
majority of people have very little knowledge of their consequences on the environment.

The World Economic Forum estimates that the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of
the world’s total solid waste. In fact, the Fair Fashion Center (FFC) -- an institute that provides new
solutions to rethink the business of fashion at each stage in its supply chain -- reports that every
year 85% of textiles worldwide (about 21 billion tons per year) are sent to landfills and, as
highlighted by the report The Pulse of Fashion Industry, only 20% of the cast-off clothes are
recycled or reused.

“We can do things to help, Nike and Levi’s, for example, along with other companies, are
trying to do things following environmental sustainable practices,” said Professor Sosic. “But the
big thing is that we just generate too much waste, and it is not just fashion, it’s everywhere.”

In 2015, the United Nations set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved
by the end of 2030, including “affordable and clean energy,” “climate action” and “responsible
consumption and production.” As shown by a theory called Quantum Redesign of Fashion,
developed by the Fair Fashion Center of the Glasgow Caledonian New York College (FFC), the
$2.5 trillion dollar fashion industry could have an impact on many of the 17 SDGs.
6

According to the Fair Fashion Center’s website: “When considering the influence the
fashion supply chain has on other industries – from farming and manufacturing to transportation,
real estate and waste management—there are many distinct but entangled elements that must evolve
in order to create an industry that is a respectful and regenerative ecosystem that supports people,
planet and profits.”

The theory shows how companies within the fashion industry should address each of the
SDGs by rethinking their businesses at each stage of the supply chain, especially the dramatic
growth in textile production that has raised alarms among organizations like the United Nations.

Graph: the line chart shows the increase in worldwide textile production. From 1975 to 2016
it registered an increase of almost 300%. (Source: Statista, June 2017. Increasing textile production:
1985-2017.)

Elevated textile production increases the quantity of resources needed to create fabrics and
the pollution resulting from both their production and disposal. Additionally, the fabrics that
dominate the textile market, found in the majority of the garments we wear, are the same ones that
have a detrimental effect on the environment.

Do you know which fabrics are found in the garments you commonly wear? Make your
guess and sort the fabrics listed below from the most produced ones to the less produced.

Interactive: quiz.

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In order for consumers to make choices on buying sustainable and responsible clothing, it’s
important to realize the production numbers hidden behind the most produced fabrics. Fibers are
made in a variety of ways and the downsides generated from their production differ. By knowing
which fabrics are produced the most, and their quantity, producers can estimate the overall impact
of textile production and consumers can better orient their choices and pay attention to what, and
how much, to buy.

For example, cotton is one of the most common fabrics used in clothing, either by itself or in
combination with other varieties. According to the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), it takes more
than 20,000 liters of water to produce 1kg of cotton, the equivalent of a single t-shirt and one pair of
jeans.

Another material commonly found in jeans, shirts, dresses, trousers and underwear is man-
made cellulosic fibers, such as viscose, which is made from tree pulp. These cellulosic fibers
contribute to deforestation and use toxic chemicals during production -- chemicals that are released
into the environment. Last but not least, the most used synthetic fabric, polyester, is a main player
in causing pollution, not just because it’s an oil-based material, but also because it is responsible for
the dispersion of microfibers into the ocean that are shed when clothing is washed.

Redesigning Fashion. The innovative side of the fashion sector

In the last few years, major institutions, such as the TextileExchange, the Sustainable
Apparel Coalition, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Fair Fashion Center and the United
Nations, have attempted to incentivize efforts for a more sustainable fashion industry and help
8
companies, as well as their customers, achieve a better understanding of the downsides of apparel
production. These institutions have developed tools and sponsored new initiatives to share
information and increase awareness among companies of sustainable techniques and methods to
encourage them to re-think textile and garment production.

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition, an institution that promotes environmental sustainability
in the apparel, footwear and textile fields, has developed a tool called the Higg Material
Sustainability Index (HMSI) that assesses the sustainability level of materials used in garment
manufacturing. The index assigns a score, based on production data collected from more than 200
firms, which enables us to measure a product’s sustainability performance and reveals a huge
amount of detailed information about the impact of fabrics on the environment. The HMSI shows
that the fibers used most to make garments are also the ones that have the greatest impact on the
environment.

Pollution resulting from textile production involves the consumption of freshwater, a rapid
depletion of other natural resources -- such as oil -- the rise of the global warming, as well as an
excess of plants and algae in the water, a phenomenon known as eutrophication. By combining the
data from the HMSI tool with the conclusions found in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Report, A
new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future, consumers can understand how much the most
common fabrics they wear impact the environment.

Do you know how much the fabrics you commonly wear impact the environment? Click on
the different type of environmental issues caused by clothing production, and discover which
fabrics contribute to it most.

Interactive: different ways the most common fabrics impact the environment.
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Knowing how fabrics are produced and the effects they have on the environment at an early
stage is one of the first steps in taking action against the fast fashion culture and the issues caused
by it. The data shown in the interactive above, from the HMSI tool, can offer consumers insight into
the sustainability of hundreds of thousands of materials used to produce garments by allowing them
to compare fabrics in a standardized way.

The HMSI tool offers trustworthy data that can help consumers make sustainable choices
when they shop for apparel, If people know that cotton, as shown above, has a big impact on water
consumption; that silk, wool and nylon production contributes to global warming; and that bast
fibers (fibers that pollute water by increasing eutrophication), they might think twice before buying
ten expensive items as opposed to a single, though maybe more expensive, item and keeping it
longer. Buying fewer items would decrease fiber production and have less of a negative impact on
the environment.

An article in Forbes points out that in 1930 the average woman owned nine outfits
compared with women today who own 30. Making fewer and more responsible purchases could
make the difference. Instead of buying items made of fabric blends that are difficult to recycle, we
can choose to buy items made of pure fabrics that are easily recyclable once thrown away. Cotton is
a good example: it is hard to recycle when it is combined with other fibers and requires a new kind
of machinery that few companies have. Another strategy that consumers can use to be more eco-
friendly is to buy clothing from companies that adopt sustainable strategies to produce them. There
are many brands today that rely on the HMSI data to empower their production. One of them is
Patagonia, which uses data to carefully choose the materials for its garments and estimate their
impacts on the environment. As stated by the SAC, “materials play a significant role in a product’s
lifetime sustainability impact. Selecting which materials to use is one of the first steps in a product’s
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development. Making informed choices at this early stage can have dramatic benefits, especially
when that product is produced at industrial scale.”

The huge changes that are reshaping apparel production are mostly driven by companies
that, in collaboration with universities or research centers, are experimenting with new ways to
create materials, business models and technologies that are going to change the fashion industry’s
supply chain.

In fall 2017, TextileExchange released a report called Preferred Fiber & Materials Market
where it collected compelling stories of companies in the fashion industry that have been deemed
remarkable innovators. The report presents six different areas: strategy, synthetics, plant-based,
man-made cellulosic, animal fibers, and leather alternatives. It shows the range of initiatives and
alternatives being developed by the industry and offers options for consumers who want to buy
brands that are more sustainable and responsible. Each company is listed under the area on which
it has focused its innovation efforts. Hover on the bar chart to discover the company’s name.

Interactive: innovation types and companies’ information.

One of the most incredible examples of innovation featured in the TextileExchange report is
represented by a dress that was part of the exhibition, Items: Is Fashion Modern? held at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York between October 2017 and January 2018. The dress, designed
by Stella McCartney, was made of silk entirely created in a lab. The company that developed this
fabric, Bolt Thread, has collaborated with Fiorenzo Omenetto, a Professor of Engineering and
Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University, who was the first to pioneer and develop the study of
how to replicate silk’s proteins for creating silk entirely in a lab without using spiders. His research
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is focused on multidisciplinary studies intersecting technology, biologically inspired materials and
the natural sciences.

Another feature in the Preferred Fiber & Materials Market report concerns new ways to
produce leather. Vegea makes leather by using vinaccia, the byproduct of crushed grapes, and the
company Modern Meadow found a new way to produce animal-friendly leather by growing strains
of yeast engineered to produce collagen – the protein found in skin - that keeps the traditional
qualities of leather while adding new functionalities, such as flexibility. Another area where
companies and scientists are experimenting with innovative solutions is for fabric dyes; a new
method developed by the company Faber Futures employs bacteria-secreted pigments to dye
fabrics, preventing pollution of fresh water caused by the conventional coloration process.
Professor Omenetto says that producing fibers in the lab will completely change the supply chain
behind clothes and textile production, along with the manufacturing skills and tools needed to make
them which will affect the workers who make them as well as consumers.

Consumers will have more choices available if they want to purchase sustainable garments,
and if consumers respond, hopefully the apparel industry will keep producing clothing made with
sustainable manufacturing processes. Beyond our clothing labels is an important story about the
garments we wear and how they impact our environment. But there is also another hopeful story of
how business, scientific and technology experts are working together to make our garments more
sustainable for the future health of Mother Earth.
Conclusion

When I first started researching sustainable and eco-friendly fabrics for this Masters thesis, I
had the chance to interview many people and ask them how much attention they pay to the
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materials used to make their garments. Many of them knew about problems in the garment industry
relating to human conditions, such as safety problems in factories, low wages and child labor. But
the majority of them had very little knowledge about the fabrics themselves -- how they are
produced, how they impact the environment and how cast-off garments are producing a waste
problem.

I researched this topic by analyzing data and reports from fashion companies, environmental
and sustainable fashion organizations, and research institutions. My research revealed a complex
and entangled web of issues within the fashion industry that most of us don’t realize affect our
choices when we go shopping or decide to get rid of our garments. What garments we buy, what we
do with them, and how long they remain in our closets, are actions that inevitably affect the
environment.

Yet, along with all the downsides related to fashion manufacturing, I also discovered a
plethora of innovations and new avenues available to the fashion industry that could make it more
environmentally friendly. The main goal of this project was to reveal useful data and information to
consumers in order to empower them to make better choices in their clothing purchases as well as
what they do with their clothes after they buy them. But I also want readers to be left with a sense
of hope that some sectors of the fashion industry are committed to innovation to make apparel
production more sustainable.

References

Bary, Ian. Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles.Nike Store at The Grove. December
16, 2017.
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Biswas, Joyta. Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles.Nike Store at The Grove.
December 18, 2017.
Del Nero, Serena. Mezzadra, Marco. Pazzaglia, Claudia. Riva, Alessandro. Zotta, Alessandro. 2017,
Density Design. Accessed January17, 2017.
Ethical, Sustainable and slow: Changing fashion’s priorities. Panel at the Annenberg School for
Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. November 2, 2017.
Flynn, Stacy. 2017. “Shapeshifting Materials With Three Beakers And a Dream.” Podcast. Material
is Your Business, November 15, 2017. https://materialisyourbusiness.com/page/2/
GCNYC The Fair Fashion Center. “The Fashion Industry by Number.” Accessed March 10, 2018.
https://www.gcufairfashioncenter.org/index
Global Fashion Agenda & The Boston Consulting Group. “The Pulse of The Fashion Industry.” May
2017. Accessed March 10, 2018. http://www.globalfashionagenda.com/pulse/
Harwod, Maddy. Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles.Nike Store at The Grove.
December 16, 2017.
Higg Materials Sustainability Index. “Welcome to the Higg MSI. Why should you use this tool?”
Sustainable Apparel Coalition. Accessed November 10, 2017. https://msi.higg.org/page/msi-
home
Hobson, Aron. Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles. University of Southern
California. November 25, 2017.
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Omenetto, Fiorenzo. 2011. “Silk, the ancient material of the future.” TED Ideas worth spreading
March 2011. Accessed November 17, 2017.
https://www.ted.com/talks/fiorenzo_omenetto_silk_the_ancient_material_of_the_future
Omenetto, Fiorenzo. Interview by Mara Pometti. Phone interview. Los Angeles - Boston. January
10, 2018.
Red, Diane. Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles. University of Southern California.
November 25, 2017.
Reverse Resources. “How Much Does Garment Industry Actually Waste?” August 31, 2016.
Accessed March. http://reverseresources.net/news/how-much-does-garment-industry-
actually-waste
Rogers, Simon. 2017. Personal Website. Web. Accessed March 12, 2018.
https://simonrogers.net/about/
Sosic, Greys. Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles. Marshall Business School at the
University of Southern California. November 30, 2017.
Statista, The Statistics Portal. Apparel section. Accessed November 2, 2017.
https://www.statista.com/outlook/90000000/102/apparel/europe#market-revenue
TextileExchange. “Preferred Fiber & Materials. Insider Series.” November 2017. Accessed March
10, 2018. http://textileexchange.org/pfm-benchmark/pfm/
The Museum of Modern Art. “Items: is fashion modern?” Exhibition. New York (NY). October,1
2017 – January 31 2018: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1638.
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The Museum of Modern Art. 2017. “Fashion Is Kale: A One-Day Event Celebrating Fashion’s
Hidden Heroes.” MoMA YouTube Channel, October 19, 2017. Accessed November 24,
2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKLegAjO1z8

Interview transcripts

Greys Sosic, Associate Professor of Data Sciences and Operations at Marshall Business
School at the University of Southern California. She has been teaching courses on supply chain
management, sustainability, and sourcing.

Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles. Marshall Business School at the
University of Southern California. November 30, 2017.

I: I want to know better which are the main constraints and challenges that fashion industry
has to deal with nowadays, since you are an expert. What differentiates the fashion supply chain
from that of food, for example, what are the main differences? Why is fashion so complex and so
difficult to change?

Prof: All supply chains are complex because of globalization; a long time ago you were
making things close to where you lived and it was very simple, we then created information
technologies and we were able to communicate this with other locations that are far away so we
discovered that making something in Asia is much easier to control what is happening over there
and communicate it than making elsewhere. So if I can make it cheaper there, I can get cheaper
transportation, and so forth and so, why not do it? Fashion was not so bad when we used a lot of
actual materials, when we used to buy a coat every five years, and then we came up with what we
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call fast fashion, and in my supply chain class I can see how fast fashion is great in how to optimize
its supply chain: they are able to do things fast, they are able to replace things, they are able to
replace things twice a week. But the problem with fast fashion is that they are doing all this things
and people are coming to bring new designs every few weeks, they are selling things at a relatively
low price, and so you can buy something, wear it two times and then throw it away, you can buy
something else till you will get there another time, a lot of materials are not natural materials, they
have a lot of different oil products in terms of different items in plastic that is part of a different
group. And even if it is or there is a natural, or they are combined with natural, and even if a part is
natural it not that easy, is very difficult to recycle it or doing fomenting about it. You mentioned
Patagonia, for instance. Patagonia itself is doing some bad products and they are aware of that. But
they say that they do not want to sacrifice its performance because they need something that is
water resistance, or has this feature or that feature, they have to keep some particular ingredients
which make much more difficult to recycle the products, to do something with it.

So, what do we do with all these items? We wear them like two months and then we throw it
away, we try to recycle them, to take them somewhere. There are companies that try to take these
things and bring them to Africa to help, you know, people who do not have it, so my favorite
example is when you have…let’s say you have a final, of basketball, Lakers play with, I do not
know, let’s say Chicago Bulls, what do they do? They print a lot of t-shirts that say the Lakers are
champions and a lot saying that the Bulls are champions. Only one of them will be champion and
they will bring to Africa the ones of the non-champion, where are people who do not have much
things to wear: So you have to be ready to react fast, which means creating a lot of products that do
not really serve anything, they are just creating a lot of waste.

I: What about the idea to democratize fashion and make it affordable for many people?

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Prof: It’s not just that: it’s consumerism, it’s just we want to buy things. I have a lot of
clothes I don’t need, it is not just democratizing it, and making it more affordable, things can be
affordable, but what makes it interest is this fast fashion trend: the other thing to make things
cheaper is create different sets of products, that creates unsafe factories, in Bangladeshis were
people are dying…. (6.46)

I: Can you design a new business model, I mean, I read a lot of stuff about new materials
that are being created, but the problem is consumerism, so these are basically luxury groups, so I
am wondering: which kind of changes we might need to make fast fashion sustainable. Is it
possible?

Prof: Not quite. Because we are just producing too much, there is too much, the output is too
big. We can do things to help, so some of the bad negative environmental impacts come from using
dye, so Nike, for example in Switzerland has developed a way which you can use to dye without
using water. So, it generates, much less pollution in the process of dyeing, and reduce very dirty
water, so companies are trying to, Levis for instance is trying to look at how to …. The ingredients
that they put into jeans material, they have a process to make use of plastic bottles, to recycle them,
for making paints, they are trying to use some of the waste to create inputs for their products, to
limit dice and chemicals used in the production process to make things safer, for people who work
with them, who wear their products. Different companies are trying to do things with this
environment sustainable, is going to make thing environmentally different, but the big thing is that
we just generate too much waste, and it is not just fashion is everywhere, it is said that like every
day every American generates like 4 pounds of waste, so you can imagine how much a city as LA
with millions of people can generate. You mentioned the grocery industry: just look at food, you
can use a lot of composting things, but still there is packaging that is bad, we but too many things so
we produce too much waste. It is not like to change very fast.
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I: But eventually?

Prof: It’s everywhere it’s not in USA, Europe is not better... Is everywhere. When I often
talk to my mom she said that it was much better 30 years ago. But If you look at now, how we live
now, we have one TV, one car, one cellphone and you can’t complain. We are used to have many
things, many things that we don’t need because are cheap. You have here in US you don’t repair
things, because it is cheaper to buy a new thing than repair the old one, so things about all phones
coming up every year: you can’t not upgrade your apps anymore, you do not have any more space
because it takes too many photos an movies, so you buy a new one, industry is kind of making a ..
to make you buy more, buy new things.

I: When did fast fashion start?

Prof: Zara is the bigger example, the first company linked to the phrase fast fashion. It was
the first to figure out that is cheapest to make things in Asia, but then there is this thing that you
have to think at things months in advance, at least 6, you have an order of products, a number of
products coming in a certain quantity, quality and style, if let’s say that Beyoncé coming with an
orange sweatshirt, and people start wearing orange, and you have already made other sweatshirt in
other colors, you can’t sell them. So Zara figured out that it cost us more to make things locally, but
we do not have to make things for the entire season, we make things according to what people want
to buy, to what will be worn by celebrities, every week we have to make new things in the market,
and this makes customers want to new things, every time you go to a Zara store you see new things,
and this make you buy more often, and then you have H&M and Mango and the other companies
like those…

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I: H&M Zara are starting to take stand toward sustainability. Is it hypocrisies or is it too
late?

Prof: Something is linked to that customers are demanding more sustainability. H&M was
doing recycling couture, you can go and get cup on to buy more thing at H&M, they are doing a
good thing but at the same time they are making sure that you will come back and buy again,
increasing their revenue. It’s kind to similar to Fiji claims that is good to environment, you are
trying to reduce but the whole business model is environmentally unfriendly. I said all these
companies in order to optimize their supply chains are doing great things, their supply chain are
very smooth, very fast, they are increasing profitability and doing very good job in term of supply
but not in environmental. One expensive thing every year or take some to change every month. Not
environmentally good, but at least, being expensive, they create less waste. You can buy a
Valentino dress and wear it all the year and buy 15 dresses from Zara and change them. But you
will get rid because you wear the same dress, it’s our culture, we like change, cheaper they are the
better it is.

My grandma mended everything and kept one sweater for years. If things get so bad, we
have to do something by restraint how we behave. We like change things, it makes us more
interesting, is more fun, we created this culture, and, just not doing good things in this.

Diane Red: Student at USC. Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles. University
of Southern California. November 25, 2017.

I: What’s you program here?

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S: Industrial Engineering

I: Have you ever heard about sustainable fashion? How much do you know about it?

S: I do not know a lot, but I know certain companies, like emphasizing sustainable fashion
like Patagonia, using organic fabrics and things like that.

I: Do you usually pay attention to the fabric when you buy your clothes?

S: Sometimes I try to because I know fast fashion is really bad for the environment, so,
yeah, I try to.

I: Tell me the two first materials you read in the label of one of the garments you are
wearing: My tee is polyester and cotton.

Aron Hobson: Student at USC. Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles.
University of Southern California. November 25, 2017.

I: Have you ever heard about sustainable fashion? How much do you know about it?

S: Honestly, I do not know very much, I know a few surf brands as like few outdoors
brands, that use sustainable materials such as Billabong and Patagonia.

I: Why do you like those brands? Because they use sustainable materials or because you like
their style and designs?

21
S: Definitely a combination of the two. I would never, I haven’t ever bought clothes because
are sustainable, usually is a combination of being sustainable made with recycle material and I like
it.

I: What’s your program here?

S: Industrial sustainable engineer

I: Tell me the two first materials you read in the label of one of the garments you are
wearing.

S: T-shirt, cotton, polyester. USC t-shirt, I got it for free.

I: What are your surfing clothes are made of?

S: Usually they are made of recycled plastic.

I: How they are for performance?

Equally good as another not sustainable brand, I did not see any differences.

Maddy Harwod, communication staff at GAP. Inc
Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles. Nike Store at The Grove. December 16,
2017.

I: Have you ever heard about sustainable fashion? How much do you know about it?
22

M: Yeah, there is a lot on sustainability, we come both from the industry of clothes, so we
use, by buying, cheap cloths that then you throw away, you can be very sustainable, but also it
concerns retailers and the way they actually produce the cloths, so…
I: First material on the label:

M: It should be chaneil. not good… It’s polyester. Yes, I am a visitor, I live in New York
and actually I work for GAP. We got the t-shirt last night and he is wearing it a lot… (I am making
it worth it).

IAN BARY, accounting at GAP. Inc. Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles.
Nike Store at The Grove. December 16, 2017.

I: Have you ever heard about sustainable fashion? How much do you know about it?

I: I know there are sustainable ways to do the clothes using less water, with attempts to use
different type of materials, more environmental friendly.

I: First material on the label:

I: Polyester, cotton

I: Particular story related to your garment?

I: I bought it yesterday, in a brewery downtown LA.

23
Joyeeta Biswas, journalist. Interview by Mara Pometti. In person. Los Angeles. Nike Store
at The Grove. December 18, 2017.

I: Have you ever heard about sustainable fashion? How much do you know about it?

J: Ah.. I don’t know that much,

I: First material on the label:

J:Coat- Polyester

I: When did you buy it and where?

J: I bought it from India, yah, it’s from a store near my place,

I: What’s the story behind it?

J: Actually, I have two clothes, two winter clothes. The other one it looks exactly like this
but it’s so thin, you know, that I never feel warm, I shiver all the time, so, when I bought this I felt
like those characters like, you know, because it’s warm and I feel like those characters in English
movies, when they wear this coat and then they walk out synchronized and that’s my story.

Fiorenzo Omenetto, Professor of Engineering, and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at
Tufts University. He also holds appointments in the Department of Physics and the Department of
Electrical Engineering. Interview by Mara Pometti. Phone interview. Los Angeles - Boston. January
10, 2018.
24

O: So... I think. In my mind, you know, It's a very interesting question because, there are
two aspects of this topic in contrast to one another, because on one side you have the emotion of
passion, of a craft of a product of something that has a sort of connection in everybody'd life, on the
other side there is technology that is something that is an evolving presence, on one side you have
this things that have always been evolving always getting better, updating, always genetically
modifying, so you have two wheels that really are trying . I think it's interesting because I think that
the opportunities there but also, I think the challenge and the emotional challenge because you have
two objects that you are engineering that you have to accompany also the human element to it, it's a
new manufacturing method, it's a new challenge that has not established yet with the user, with
people.

I: Do you think that this new material could lead us to redesign or change the way we
conceive them right now and transform them in a way that we can't even imagine now?

O: Inevitably they do, because the premise and the promise of being able to have a synthetic
biology for example, entering the world of natural fibers means that: either you can replicate what
nature does and then you have the equivalent product and you don't change anything, and I don't
think this is the interesting point, I think you want to really want to do it to improve the
functionalities of things you do.

I: I see a lot of beauty and a lot of effort behind that to try to create something from scratch
in a lab. Process behind how replicate

O: In the Bolt Thread case the problem was very simple: There was the idea that if you look
at spider silk it has a very unique property as a fiber, you know, very tough, very resistant, the thing
25
that cartoon does, like Spiderman. But spider is not friendly in the way you can't ad domesticate
them to have the material. So, the option was if we can make that material making the constituent
proteins to make it, we can reproduce it. So, you can have a lot of quantity of it, and sure, it was a
lot of work to have it works. So, the particular talented people that were able to do it and now they
are making fibers, that are effectively fibers that now are grown in ferment like, much like the
eremophobia, and it's a very different supply chain for something that is still familiar to what we
conceive textile in a traditional way.

The ability to replicate, engineering approach to fibers means that now you your system
don't rely anymore on agriculture for example, but on the laboratory equipment, so is a very
different design principle in a way you know, that brings natural fibers very close to synthetic
fibers, you know, like the nylon and viscose that were very successful in the textile, maybe the
fashion doesn't like them, but they are very practice. They are made in the lab as well, but they have
not the same process of the bio fibers. What happens if you have a chemical process is not just
mechanical but there are functions that you can hide inside the fabrics very different supply chain
for something that is still familiar to what we conceive textile in a traditional way.

The ability to replicate, engineering approach to fibers means that now you your system
don't rely anymore on agriculture for example, but on the laboratory equipment, so is a very
different design principle in a way you know, that brings natural fibers very close to synthetic
fibers, you know, like the nylon and viscose that were very successful in the textile, maybe the
fashion doesn't like them, but they are very practice. They are made in the lab as well, but they have
not the same process of the bio fibers.

What happens if you have a chemical process is not just mechanical, you can augment the
functionalities, you can start to design materials. but there are functions that you can hide inside the
26
fabrics you have a response to you sweat with a change of color, or a fabric that can do electricity,
this is where the emotions can effect differently what your wear and the effects are dramatically
when you start thinking about it, and the changes are huge in the manufactory because it changes
the way you think about supply chain this new methods of manufactories, new possibilities that
means that the product you think about are going to be multifunctional, and this is exciting and
what I like of it.

I: How long will it take to scale up this process and what are the challenges behind it?

O: Probably decades, what has always forgot when you raise a lot of money is that this
things that are happening now but really what is happening now has been the idea of genetic
engineering, studying synthesis, student mechanism, mechanical angering combing with biology, it
requires a lot of skills to put things together, and I think that challenge is more or less likely much
easier for companies. In the next decades synthetic biology and chemistry will create a goal in
manufactories that will create great alternatives in the way we manufactory.

I: How do you see the future?

O: Of course, you have to have a posited view. I think that people will change, the way we
interact one another will change. The negative side of technology, everything has two aspects. I
think there will be a lot of materials, and they are going to be, the gap between technology and
human is going to become thinner and thinner, and I am not too afraid to think that human will
always win in a way, I really do think that, and I am not scary to think that, and you know, so allay
the scary idea of the future and how I think that instead that is going to be that there will be new we
are going to have new sides of expression of the way that we are as human being.

27

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Abstract (if available)

Abstract Beyond the Labels seeks to push the boundaries of data journalism in two ways: first, it aims to bring data journalism into fields, such as fashion, where it has never used before

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Asset Metadata

Creator Pometti, Mara (author)

Core Title Beyond the labels

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism

Publication Date 07/13/2018

Defense Date 07/13/2018

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag clothing,data,data journalism,data-driven,environment,fashion industry,fashion, sustainable fashion,fast fashion,impact,OAI-PMH Harvest,supply chain

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Bustamante, Peggy (committee chair), Seidenberg, Willa (committee member), Trope, Alison (committee member)

Creator Email pometti.91@gmail.com,pometti@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-16766

Unique identifier UC11672488

Identifier etd-PomettiMar-6396.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-16766 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-PomettiMar-6396.pdf

Dmrecord 16766

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Pometti, Mara

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA