In celebration of Science Week, Decoding Fashion – An Evening of Fashion, Design and Technology was held in Trinity’s Science Gallery yesterday. The venue has come to be known for their insightful and open discussions on topics that we don’t question enough, and this event was no exception. This year’s Science Week marked a noteworthy change, where they made the move to branch out into various other sectors (the Fashion Industry for example), with a more inclusive attitude to the discussion of technology and science. Despite this, there was still plenty going on across all the usual british science week workshops that spring up year on year.
When you think of Trinity and fashion, Sinéad Burke – aka Minnie Mélange – is almost inextricably linked. So, for the purposes of the panel discussion, she was a perfect fit as the host of the event. Not to mention her impressive ability to facilitate an in depth discussion while also putting her guests and the audience at ease – encouraging the participation and engagement of ticket holders where possible. Burke was joined on the panel by some of Ireland’s start-ups and established fashion companies, that were varied in their areas of expertise. Burke began the evening by asking the panel to introduce themselves, from left to right the panel comprised: Kate Nolan from Made and We Are Islanders, Cormac O’Conaire founder of Design Partners, Aoibh O’Daly of Love and Robots and Simon O’Regan from Zalando. The two men modestly asserted their definitive lacking in knowledge about sometimes-inaccessible world of fashion, but contributed to the conversation as easily as the women did.
The discussion focused mostly on the relationship between fashion and technology. Nolan spoke about the initial conception of the design house We Are Islanders. It was founded as a form of rebellion against the speed at which people are purchasing clothes – a phenomenon commonly known as “fast fashion” and a topic that dominates the fashion industry today. The demand for clothing has become instant, she asserted. Clothing that has to be individually crafted by hand. “Even a €1 garment has to be made by someone’s hand”, Nolan stated, adding that the garment has a greater cost in time being made than you paid for it. This is the perspective that We Are Islanders come at the fashion industry, with a view to minimise waste while creating beautifully crafted and ethically sourced garments. O’Regan battles with this same issue of the “dirty side of the fashion industry”, as he called it, by giving consumers the information to make decisions themselves on products, where they came from, who made them and what they are made from.
O’Conaire argued that from his experience of his business – a “strategic, product and interaction design consultancy” according to their website – what people want is something meaningful. A shift in customer behaviour away from mindless consumption. It is this leaning towards meaningful individual products that is also the basis of O’Daly’s company, Love and Robots. The company uses the cutting-edge of 3D printing technology to create jewellery that is personal, with all items hand finished in their studio. This creates a harmonious meeting of technology and fashion, and a perfect example of what the future of the two industries might look like. 3D technology can help bring industries flying into the advanced technological future. There are apps now for fashion, home, consumer products that can utilize a 3d viewer to showcase how it can look inside your house, how it will fit, etc. giving the customer a real insight into what is being offered. Technology keeps propelling forward and businesses can feel the benefit of this.
Just as We Are Islanders uses technologies to create more effective craft techniques, aiming towards a system which leaves zero waste. Nolan acknowledges the utility of 3D printing for this purpose, but also added that the technology simply hasn’t reached a point yet where they could made use of it to create garments, as the materials needed are not available.
Towards the end of the event, questions directed at the panel came from the floor. While the use of technology in this way sounds efficient and waste effective, demonstrating the potential end to the more disagreeable sides of fashion, one audience member asked what would happen to the workers in developing countries if 3D printers began to make people’s clothes. This is an important consequence to the system if this ever did materialise. The significance of this served to highlight Nolan’s statement that up to 100 million people (mostly women) in developing countries work in the fashion industry, people whose livelihood depends on the manufacturing of clothes in this way.
Nolan also argued, however, that technology offers the answer to this question. Technology would allow for the production of clothing and other products to become more cost-effective due to reduced overhead costs. This would expand the profit margin for companies and create greater capital with which can be used to pay these workers a living wage. The only problem how is the system itself is flawed – at every level of large conglomerate fashion companies, this margin would be swallowed up as people ask for a larger cut.
O’Conaire returned to this point, later saying: “The power is in the consumer’s hands and also the small start-ups.” A few people getting together in a basement can incite greater change than big businesses that are less flexible less able to adapt, he argues. There is a need to put greater pressure on brands to put an end to corruption in the industry. Perhaps the use of technology could make this possible.
