Automake Fashion Accessories!

A technical nutrient is the idea of a product of service expanding from the providing of accommodation and activities for the present public to a continuous experience of new offerings or accommodations for future generations.  As the Cradle to Cradle article written by McDonough & Braungart states, technical nutrient is consciously made with the intention of returning to the industrial metabolism.  In the Rhoener Textiles video, the two rethought the notion of waste and how to formulate aesthetically unique fabric with environmental friendliness.  Their main concerns were safety for people and the environment.  I propose merging the world of automobiles, artful fashion, and environmental-awareness into a design concept that turns auto parts into ‘green’ forward fashion accessories. 

I was inspired by the technical metabolism due to the repetitive pattern of the same textile that eliminates the concept of waste, while providing significant savings for manufacturers and nourishing our planet in thoughtful, creative way.  Technical metabolism is about having longevity, along with the capability of use for multipurpose functions, beyond the original creation of an object.

In the Cradle to Cradle article, the authors mentioned the reusability of car parts, such as steel, being dismantled in an appropriate manner to recapture and transform previously used material into a new product.  Breaking down the interior of an automobile and using its complex materials as food for new fashion product extends the life cycle.  Retrieving parts of service products prevents these items from resting in ever-piling landfills and potentially, remove non-biodegradable car material presently in there, since upcycling causes the parts to be worth more than previously before.  After such non –hazardous material has been used to create jewelry pieces such as necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, these things can then be recycled (by Lexus or any other company) and designed into shoes, trench coats, or even fashionable head wear.

In this scenario, there is a mutually-beneficial relationship created amongst the automotive company, the fashion designer that created the master piece from the disassembled car, and the customer.  Through the understanding of the article, Lexus would be enhancing the customers’ quality of life for many decades and enriching the industry through expanding the perception of car-branded jewelry, or perhaps, reaping some of the profits from a fashion designer’s line, if they choose to license out their brand name or brand equipment.  Remember, the car material could still be circulated back into the industry, if the innovative fashion design was deemed unsuccessful, for salvaging of valuable technical nutrients.

(photos from Lexus Unveils The Lexus Fashion Workshop with Four Original Designs Made of Recyclable Lexus CT Hybrid Parts article; used parts from dismantled Lexus CT hybrid vehicle w/ 90 percent recyclable)

What Did We Do?

The time has come to accept our responsibility for not supplying the environment with nutrients and nourishment for continual prosperity, and own up to hurting our beautiful planet called Earth.  These are the two principles that helped me come up with my design concept.  In the apparel industry, I propose that we start using vegetable dye as a popular fabric dyeing technique.  In this process, fabric is bleached by sunlight and block printed by hand with natural dyes.  The ground soil can be made richer, which is extracting sustainably.  For example, indigo dye is from the legume family; this type of dye can repair the nitrogen level in the soil as it grows. Thus, the soil is left richer without its quality being diminished by harmful properties.  Garment finishes like wrinkle-free, stain resistant, flame retardant, anti-fungal, permanent-press and other easy care treatments applied to new clothing can be really harmful for people involved in production.  This is a safer method of dyeing for garment makers as well.  The truth is that we are causing the Earth harm with manufacturing processes and hard industries.  Let’s get back to appreciating our land, not disrespecting our home and trampling over growing treasures.

According to Industrial Ecology by T. Gradel & B. Allenby, the concept of industrial ecology is the willingness to conform to nature’s law of efficiency, to give up our mentality of tampering with things to make them more suitable to our ideals.  There is desperate need for understanding the significance of industrial ecology.  As humans, we have to learn to leave things as they are, to comply with nature’s rule now and back away from making unchangeable damaging decisions that affect our livelihood.  This world of toxic waste, heighten greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and deadly diseases is shouting that our ingrained Industrial Revolutionary thinking gets an update fast.   

Humanity must learn that we cannot enforce activity that is not compatible to the land, without experiencing atmospheric changes that have the potential to lead to devastations.  Land is being dug up, built up, and removed all for the likings of human desires and wants.  This invasion of privacy on natural resources and for animals is causing us to incur major environmental problems.  Denial is a defense mechanism used to resist the recognition of a problem because it’s too unbearable to accept.  The statement of truth has been shoved in the corner and not given any attention.  We have refused to acknowledge our impactful ways in modernized society.  Granted, not every single action was deliberate, or were they?  Down the line somewhere, we stopped caring about the renewal pace of extracted natural resources.  Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature by J. Benyus states that the farther removed we became from nature in our attitudes, lifestyles, and spirituality, the more dependant we became on the products.  Humans are no longer fixated on the wonders of the world, but obsessed with what the world could materialistically produce.