Sustainable Fashion

NATURE|Vol 459|18 June 2009 OPINION

Vertical gardens likewise provide insulation, soundproofing and physical protection to the Sustainable fashion building’s fabric, and they can shade windows, further reducing the need for energy-hungry The sign beside the thick, soft, creamy wool climate control. They are, however, more rug says, “Please do not touch.” Naturally, complex to build and design than green roofs. I want to roll on the rug and wrap myself Growing plants on a wall, as opposed to trail- in it. Each of its 11 patterned hexagonal ing them over it, requires a hydroponic system. panels was knitted from the wool of a The plants are rooted in plastic or plant fibres Panama sheep that had grazed on pasture rather than soil, and water and nutrients are untainted by pesticides at Lava Lake Ranch, pumped into the medium. Although his Urban Idaho. Made by Dutch designer Christien Agriculture Curtain uses this technology, archi- Meindertsma using extra-large needles, the tect André Viljoen questions the environmen- certified-organic rug forms part of Design tal benefits of hydroponic and indoor-grown for a Living World, an exhibition now on food. “I’m sceptical about the amount of chem- show at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, icals and energy used in hydroponic systems,” National Design Museum in New York. he says. “And once you start heating or lighting Organized with The Nature Conserv- these things, the environmental benefit goes ancy, a global conservation group based in out of the window.” Arlington, Virginia, the exhibition aims to A better option, says Viljoen, is to weave raise awareness of “the impact and prom- organic farming into the fabric of a city, insert- ise of sustainable sourcing”. Ten prominent ing market gardens into their patchwork of designers were invited to create an object — a Second skin: Isaac Mizrahi used discs of salmon industrial, residential, recreational and empty chair, a dress, a necklace — using sustainably leather to adorn a dress. land. He has studied Cuba’s use of such methods grown and harvested materials from some of to feed its people after the collapse of Soviet aid. the world’s most beautiful and fragile places. Less functional are the odd objects shaped The government encouraged private and com- The sale of such objects could help to provide a by Dutch designer Hella Jongerius out of munal vegetable growing in cities, and devel- livelihood for local communities in these areas chicle latex, extracted from the chicozapote tree M. STROH oped a growing system dubbed organopónico, — many of which face threats from over-devel- in the Mayan rainforest on Mexico’s Yucatán which replaced petrochemical fertilizers with opment and deforestation — and also empha- Peninsula. Once the basis for chewing gum, the organic ones such as sewage sludge. In 1997, sizes how designers influence what we buy. elastic, viscous goo refuses to lend itself to any Havana’s system produced almost 21,000 tonnes Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi created a obvious purpose. Jongerius refers to it affection- of vegetables; in 2005, that had risen to 272,000 dress covered in creamy-white, sequin-like ately as “an alien in the house”, and sticks strings tonnes, and the project has become a flagship leather paillettes made from the skin of wild- or blobs of it around the necks of vases. for similar efforts worldwide. Viljoen believes caught salmon from southwest Alaska. Jewel- Jongerius’s whimsical project raises ques- that, in the temperate developed world, 30% lery designer Ted Muehling fashioned bracelets tions as to the practical significance of the of a city’s fruit and vegetables could be grown and delicate flowers out of exhibits and whether they within its borders. By reducing food miles, this ‘vegetable ivory’ extracted Design for a Living World can translate into long- could yield big cuts in carbon emissions. But for from the seeds of the ivory Cooper-Hewitt, National term, widespread and larger reductions, he adds, you would also need nut palm tree on the Micro- Design Museum, New York City commercially viable uses changes in diet, as most of the emissions due to nesian island of Pohnpei in Until 4 January 2010 for sustainable materials food come from the meat industry. the western Pacific Ocean. and practices. It is hard to What is needed now, say both Hunt and And Maya Lin — famous for designing the imagine the average shopper investing in Lin’s Viljoen, are pilot projects to test the large-scale powerful Vietnam Veterans Memorial in graceful bench. But Mizrahi believes that big potential of green buildings and urban agricul- Washington DC — crafted a simple bench opportunities await fashion designers who rec- ture, which also take into account the health, from a single red maple. The tree was harvested ognize that protecting the environment makes amenity and aesthetic benefits provided. “Any from woods certified by the Forest Steward- economic sense. one argument looked at on its own tends not ship Council around the Upper St John River Salmon skin, for example, is normally dis- to be strong enough,” says Viljoen. “But col- in Maine. carded as a waste product, yet it is a valuable lectively you can make a very strong case.” Some items are both elegant and useful. and resilient material that can be turned into Such schemes are more likely to come from Israeli designer Ezri Tarazi constructed “a bam- shoes, belts and bikinis. It requires less-toxic the retro fitting of existing spaces and buildings boo forest inside your living room” — towering chemicals for tanning than mammal hides than from high-tech, high-concept projects, bamboo stems fitted with clothes hooks, com- because fish scales are easier to remove than says Hunt, as people green their own environ- pact-disc racks, wine-bottle holders and lights hair. “People think of salmon skin as something ments and pressurize local government to do that glow through ping-pong balls slotted in you peel off your food; in fact it’s this beautiful the same. “There’s a groundswell of interest in holes in the stalk. The bamboo, harvested from substance,” Mizrahi says in a video accompany- the subject, but developers are very conserva- China’s Yunnan Province, can grow a metre a ing his exhibit. He adds, “The fashion business tive by nature,” he says. “If it’s going to happen day and requires little water to flourish in its is crazily competitive. All of a sudden it’s going it’s going to be community-driven.” ■ natural habitat; although, a caption warns, to occur to these greedy people that they can John Whitfield is a writer based in London and exploding demand threatens some established make a lot of money if they conserve.” ■ author of In The Beat of a Heart. forests that are being cleared to make way for Josie Glausiusz is a writer based in New York. e-mail: [email protected] bamboo plantations. e-mail: [email protected]