If your an Oklahoma resident who enjoys shopping at Urban Outfitters, H&M, American Apparel, or Free People I’m sure you share the same frustrations regarding the extremely limited shopping selections that our great state has to offer. An Oklahoma resident has two options: Option A is shopping online or Option B is driving to Dallas and/or other surrounding states. Try to imagine the amount of time and money you would save if all of these stores were located in Oklahoma. Many benefits are associated with localizing the production of apparel and textile products. A design concept of a sustainable future focuses on producing products locally which ultimately reinforces the concept of sustainability and further enhances the lives of consumers.
According to Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys, “the global market in textile production means that many textile products are transported several times between processors before a product reaches a user- indeed it is thought that the average T-shirt travels the equivalent distance of once around the globe during its production.” The transportation of textile products negatively impacts our environment by enlarging the size of our carbon footprint. To preserve our environment for future generations to enjoy we must eliminate the production methods that do not mimic the characteristics of nature. The author Benyus eloquently states “nature doesn’t commute to work”, thus further reinforcing the importance of incorporating the qualities of nature into the various practices of production. Globally mass producing products defies the limits of nature and results in unsustainable impacts on the environment as well as the lives of consumers. A design concept of a sustainable future is founded on the principle that advocates to diversify and cooperate to fully use the resources of our natural habitats. Focusing on this principle will significantly reduce the multitude of damages that are being posed on the environment through the global production of products. My design concept for the future would require states to produce their own products by utilizing the natural resources that are currently available. For example, the clothing outfitting the people of Oklahoma would be produced locally and the majority of products would feature materials made from cotton, seeing that cotton is largely cultivated in the southern portions of the United States. The process of cultivating cotton would be purely organic and avoid irrigation methods that require excessive amounts of water.
Another principle this design concept is largely founded upon is gathering and using energy more efficiently. Producing apparel and textile products within state lines would use less energy as opposed to producing products internationally. The specifics of this design concept would encourage states to use their natural resources as well as employing local workers to construct and produce products. States that lack an adequate supply of available natural resources have the option of using resources from other states. However, resources obtained from other states would be more costly due to a new system of taxation that’s established by the government that taxes resources that are not locally grown and produced. Under this new regulations states would buy natural resources from other states, but each resource would be heavily taxed. For example, if Washington state desired to produce products made from a natural resource that was currently unavailable in the state the state would have the option to purchase this particular resource from another state. If a state were to purchase resources from another state they would still be expected to produce the final product using local methods of production. Concentrating on local levels of production will enhance local economies as well as minimize the environmental impacts relating to the transportation of products. The taxation of resources that this design concept requires is used to encourage local producers to research potential alternatives for the future by exploring the science of biomimicry that’s described by Bradley Quinn. The science of biomimicry studies animals and plants while exploring the variety of advantages humans could have by mimicking their systems and processes. The incentive of this tax system is to motivate local producers to investigate other methods to which they could potentially utilize their available natural resources. The fashion designer, Suzanne Lee, utilizes the science of biomimicry by combining the available resources such as, green tea, sugar, a few microbes, and a little time. Combining these resources creates a bacterial cellulose that can be used to replace the use of fabrics and materials in textile and clothing products.
Localized production would essentially raise the awareness of consumers, thus further allowing consumers to become more educated relating to the concept of sustainability. Many consumers cannot fully comprehend the future implications that will inevitably result from their unsustainable actions. The concept of designing locally is invested in increasing the foresight of consumers by bringing environmentally fueled issues closer to home. Residents of a localized community each assume the social responsibility to enrich their communities by optimizing their natural resources as well as consistently striving to develop new alternatives to creatively use the resources that mother nature supplies.
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