Future-focused Sustainable Fashion Design Thinking in Education

Is design the biggest enabler of un-sustainable consumerism? Should design outcome and design action not be the biggest contributor to change? As a fashion design educator and researcher in sustainable fashion praxis, I am concerned that current sustainable thinking remains on the surface and does not necessarily induce changed action. This chapter forms part of a larger research project that considers the trajectory of environmental and social sustainability as a focus in fashion design education and research. The unit reports a reflection on postgraduate studies in environmental sustainability over the past seven years at identified institutions of higher education in South Africa. The framework used is an interpretation of the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) suggested by (Armstrong & LeHew, 2011, Sustainable Product Development: in search of a new dominant social paradigm for the field using a sustainable approach. Fashion Practice, 3/1, pp. 29-62), in order to position environmental and social sustainable thinking. An analysis of the findings of each study considers how the research studies align to an interpretation of the DSP. This allows for mapping a trajectory of sustainable thinking, and highlights gaps in knowledge, considers new research foci, and suggests future-focused thinking in relation to environmental and social sustainability fashion design education, encouraging design graduates to become active agents of change, as suggested by (Fletcher & Grose, 2012, Fashion & Sustainability. Design for change. London: Laurence King Publishing; Fry, 2017, Design after design. Design Philosophy Papers, 15/2, pp. 99-102).