Textile Waste and Sustainability: A Case Study†

Historically, textile production used local resources that were sustainably harvested and processed. The post-World War II strategy of planned obsolescence put an end to long-term use, repair and reuse of textiles. Today, the textile industry must assume a prominent role in the sustainability movement and find ways to stop its enormous generation of waste and pollution. This paper proposes a fresh examination of the age-old tradition of bricolage, or making creative use of whatever materials are at hand, as one way of reducing the volume of global textile waste. It uses a project initiated in 2008, called Bags Across the Globe (BAG), as a case study in 21^st century bricolage as well as a unique new pedagogical approach to textile and fashion design at the university level. BAG is a global collaborative project whose goals are to raise awareness of the environmental damage caused by plastic shopping bags, promote the use of cloth shopping bags, divert textile waste from landfills through its creative repurposing as shopping bags, and serve as a seed project for similar endeavours. It is time for the textile and fashion industry to adopt bricolage as part of a new and sustainable business model.