Intangible Waste In Fashion

Design culture has evolved through out periods. Either to fulfill humans’ needs or producing sensational design to be installed in exhibitions, design comes with a purpose. At the moment, design is shifting from individualism to collectivism ideology. Society has taken a part in design practice. Victor Papanek argued in his book Design for the Real World, “All men are designers. All that we do almost all the time is design, for design is basic to all human activity.” (3)1. In this case, he argued that design has come into the mass creativity periods, whereby consumers start to resist being bystanders and only consuming designers’ goods. Another theory about design is mentioned by Guy Julier. He argued, “The development of new processes and

The first one, which is intangible waste, is produced due to fast changing ideas and innovations. Although it is described as waste, excess creativity can be considered as nourishment for future design culture. In this case, the work of fashion cycle can be illustrated as a wheel. Previous style always being reinvented and introduced as a new trend by future designers. This process will always move in a circular motion through out periods.

Meanwhile, the main issue in the fashion industry lies in the tangible waste, which produced through the manufacturing process. For example, massive clothes consumption and excess materials of productions are the example of tangible waste. Therefore, how does society respond towards the issue, as they become the main target of its impact?

Role of professionals and amateurs in redefining the waste

Although the issue of waste started years ago, only a handful of designers tried to solve it. In this case, based on Gilles Lopvetsky opinion, Paula Dunlop (2012) believes that fashion designers are celebrating their position as iconic visionary individuals and cultural arbiter (195)5. These heavy connotations made designers adopt individualism practices. Therefore, designers are losing their connection with society and not aware with the issue of waste within their

Design as activism is a sign of collectivism ideology, whereby designers and amateurs are collaborating together in order to solve certain issues. Design as activism is a new idea of design culture. Although, it will become controversial, professional designers use ethical thinking to create acceptable and appropriate outcome for society. Redefining waste in fashion industry is an appropriate example of how designers suppose to be aware with issue within his or her field of