Existing Graphic Design for Sustainable Fashion

Netflix Documentary - 'The True Cost'

This documentary about fast fashion changes the way you look at clothes forever. It tells the story behind the clothing we put on our bodies and spend our days in. The garment industry has rapidly transformed in the past few decades, from having 95 percent of US clothing made in America in the mid-60s to only 3 percent made there today. While the price of clothing has been decreasing, the cost to the environment and vulnerable populations abroad has been increasing in horrific ways. In the interest of big company profits, a ruthless shift has taken place, unbeknownst to consumers who unwittingly flock to retailers for factory-made, mass-produced garments.

Recalling the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, when the eight-story commercial building succumbed to a structural failure that resulted in killing 1,130 people and injuring 2,500. Considered the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, the building’s owners could have easily avoided the tragedy if they had heeded warnings and not ordered garment workers to return to work.

Branding:

- Bright, bold, colloquial tone of voice

- Feminine, vibrant more colloquial toned colour

Existing Sustainable Brands explored in the essay research: design visual

Vetements

Logotype:

- simple, bold, uppercase, san-serif, minimalistic tone of voice, adjustable, clean

Stella Mcartney

Logotype:

- use of dots / pattern - referencing stitching?

Imagery:

- colourful

- collab with highstreet populist brands - thus appeals to wider mass audience 

- more youthful, contemporary styled imagery / design - surrealism / use of collage 

Vivienne Westwood

Logotype:

- Formal connotations in a modernised translation

- pastiche / parody 

- Gold heightens regal connotations 

- imagery is patriotic to britain

Imagery & Tone of Voice:

- relaxed / informal / grafitti 

- protestful

- 'cool'

- possibly more conceptual rather than mass audience TA

Findings:

• Playful - use informal qualities accompanied with a strong logotype - taken seriously depending on its context but also advocating freedom of expression / environmentalism in a friendly and inviting way
• Colourful - Vivienne Westwood's simple approach works really well and was particularly successful in her Sex Pistols spunk series of the 70s (was popular aesthetic of the era) so exploration of current popular aesthetic could help this progression 
• Artistic approach - collaborations? Build a brand that is sustainable (thus alternative in outs outputs) yet is accepted in the mainstream