Unit 8 (Level 2): Fashion Systems, Circular Design, Ethics, and Innovation

Length (2 weeks)

2 weeks. Overlaps with Unit 7 by design (see the Level 2 overview): students develop their surface and collection work while they build the systems thinking behind it, then bring both into the capstone.

Builds On (Level 1)

In Level 1 (Unit 8: Sustainability, Ethics, Repair, and Cultural Respect) students learned to map a garment's life cycle, repair or redesign one item, make cost- and waste-aware choices, and discuss appreciation versus appropriation with care. That was *awareness* applied to a single object.

Level 2 moves from one garment to the system, and from awareness to practice:

No new sewing is required this unit. The product is a professional concept document, not a garment — but it must be specific enough to actually make in Unit 9.

Unit Description

Students step back from the needle and look at fashion as a system: how brands are structured, how clothes move from fibre to landfill or back into use, and who pays the true cost. They study business models (fast, slow, direct-to-consumer, resale, rental, made-to-order), circular-design strategies (design for disassembly, mono-material, repairability, durability, take-back), and innovations in materials and technology (recycled and bio-based fibres, 3D/virtual design, AI). They build greenwashing literacy and learn to ask for supply-chain transparency. Centrally, they advance their Level 1 appropriation awareness into practice: ownership, credit, compensation, working *with* communities and protocols in the Stó:lō context, and articulating their own positionality and sources. The unit ends with each student producing a brand or collection concept with a written circular-design strategy and an ethics/positionality statement, presented as a concise pitch.

Historic Notes

For most of human history cloth was expensive and clothing circular by necessity: garments were mended, resized, handed down, unpicked, and finally turned into rags and paper. The industrial revolution, synthetic fibres (mid-20th century), and globalised supply chains made clothing cheap and fast. By the 2000s "fast fashion" compressed design-to-shelf timelines to weeks and normalised disposable clothing; the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, which killed over 1,100 garment workers, became a turning point for the labour-transparency movement. Long before any of this, Stó:lō and other Coast Salish peoples worked fibre (including mountain-goat and dog wool, plant fibres, and cedar bark) into textiles through knowledge held by families and communities — an enduring example of materials, skill, and protocol bound to land and relationship.

Contemporary Uses

The industry is now visibly splitting. On one side, ultra-fast online brands push volume and speed. On the other, a growing set of models try to keep clothes in use and out of landfill: slow/made-to-order labels, direct-to-consumer brands, resale platforms (consignment, thrift, peer-to-peer), rental and subscription, repair services, and take-back/recycling programmes. Designers build collections from deadstock and upcycled garments; brands publish supplier lists and material LCAs; software like CLO 3D lets designers prototype virtually before cutting cloth. Regulators in several regions are starting to police "greenwashing" claims. Indigenous designers and Nations increasingly set the terms for collaboration, licensing, and credit, and consumers expect brands to source and label honestly.

Learning Targets

• I can compare fashion business models (fast, slow, DTC, resale, rental, made-to-order) and their impacts.
• I can apply circular-design strategies (disassembly, mono-material, repairability, durability, take-back) to a concept.
• I can use life-cycle (LCA) thinking to reason about a material or product choice.
• I can evaluate materials and technology innovations, including the ethics of AI in fashion.
• I can detect greenwashing and ask the right supply-chain transparency questions.
• I can articulate my own positionality and sources, and plan ethical collaboration, credit, and compensation in a Stó:lō context.
• I can present a brand/collection concept with a circular-design strategy and an ethics/positionality statement.

Key Notes

Industry Structure and Business Models

Every model trades off speed, cost, volume, and impact.

Key idea: a model is only as good as its execution. Made-to-order with a durable mono-material garment is strongly circular; rental of fragile fast-fashion shipped overnight may not be.

Circular Design Strategies

Circularity is designed in at the sketch stage, not added later. Core strategies:

• Design for disassembly — use stitching, not glue/fusing, so parts can be separated for repair or recycling.
• Mono-material design — make the garment from one fibre (e.g. 100% polyester *or* 100% wool, including thread and trims) so it can actually be recycled. Blends are very hard to recycle.
• Repairability — visible seams, replaceable parts, spare buttons, and reinforcement at stress points.
• Durability — strong construction, quality fibres, classic silhouettes that stay wanted.
• Take-back / recycling — a plan for the garment's end of life: resale, repair, return, or fibre recycling.

Life-Cycle (LCA) Thinking

Level 1 mapped the stages (raw material, farming/extraction, processing/dyeing, labour/manufacture, shipping/packaging, use/washing/repair, disposal/reuse/recycling). Level 2 adds judgement: a full life-cycle assessment estimates impacts (water, carbon, chemicals, waste) across all stages, not just one.

• The biggest impact is often the *use* phase (washing/drying), or fibre production — not the part shoppers notice.
• "Recycled" or "natural" at one stage does not make a product low-impact overall; you must look across the whole life.
• Durability multiplies everything: impact "per wear" drops as the number of wears rises.

Materials and Technology Innovation

• Recycled materials — e.g. recycled polyester (rPET) from bottles or textiles; saves virgin resources but can shed microplastics and is hard to recycle again from blends.
• Bio-based materials — fibres or leather alternatives grown from plants, agricultural waste, or microbes. Promising, but verify whether they are durable, compostable, and produced fairly; "natural" is not automatically better.
• 3D / virtual design — software such as CLO 3D lets you drape and fit a garment digitally before cutting fabric, cutting sampling waste and travel. Useful for tech packs and pitch visuals.
• AI in fashion — used for trend prediction, pattern grading, marketing imagery, and design ideation. Ethical questions: Was the training data (designs, photos, artists' work) used with consent? Does it replace paid creative or garment-worker jobs? Could it be used to fake "diverse" models or fabricate sustainability claims? Disclose AI use; never pass AI-generated work off as fully your own or someone else's.

Marketing Ethics and Greenwashing Literacy

Greenwashing is marketing that makes a product look more ethical or sustainable than it is. Red flags:

• Vague words with no proof: "eco", "conscious", "green", "natural", "responsible".
• A tiny "sustainable" line used to make the whole brand look clean.
• Claims about one stage (e.g. recycled packaging) hiding the rest of the impact.
• No data, no third-party check, no named supplier.

Honest marketing names specifics: which fibre, what percentage, which factory, which certification, and what it does *not* yet solve.

Supply-Chain Transparency and Labour

A transparent brand can answer: Who made this, where, and were they paid and treated fairly? Look for published supplier lists, audits, living-wage commitments, and traceability from fibre to finish. Low prices often hide costs pushed onto workers and the environment. Transparency is the floor for any sustainability claim — you cannot trust a green claim from a brand that hides its factories.

Ethical Collaboration and Indigenous Knowledge

Chilliwack is in Stó:lō territory. Level 1 taught the difference between appreciation and appropriation. Level 2 turns that into *practice*: how to actually work with communities and knowledge, and how to credit and compensate.

Ownership, credit, and compensation. Textile and design knowledge belongs to people, families, and Nations — not to whoever finds an image online. If a community shares knowledge, design, or teaching, that contribution is named, credited, and compensated (honoraria, licensing, fair pay), following school and district protocols. Students never reproduce protected, sacred, ceremonial, or Nation-specific designs, and never present Indigenous-inspired work as their own identity or invention.

Working WITH, not borrowing FROM. Ethical collaboration means a relationship with consent and shared decision-making, on the community's terms and timeline — not lifting a motif and adding a credit line after. If a Stó:lō knowledge keeper or artist is involved, follow protocol, let local guidance shape the work, and compensate guests where possible.

Positionality and sources. Positionality means being honest about *who you are* in relation to the work: your background, what you do and do not have the right to make, and where every idea, image, and technique came from. A positionality statement is now an expected part of professional design documentation. State your sources; if an idea is inspired by a culture that is not yours, say so, explain what you did to engage respectfully, and stay within general principles rather than specific protected designs.

This connects to the First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL):

• Learning is embedded in memory, history, and practice — knowledge is passed through relationship, not copied from an image.
• Learning takes patience and time — relationships and consent are built slowly.
• Learning is relational and connected to place — design relates to land, community, and protocol.
• Learning recognises the role of Indigenous knowledge — owned by people and communities and shared on their terms.

See https://www.fnesc.ca/first-peoples-principles-of-learning/.

Hands-On Assignment: Brand / Collection Concept + Ethics Statement

Task

Develop a brand or small collection concept (2-3 looks, linking to your Unit 9 capstone) and present it as a concise concept document or pitch (about 4-6 pages or 6-8 slides). It must include:

1. Concept — the idea, customer, and what makes it original. State the business model you have chosen (fast/slow/DTC/resale/rental/made-to-order) and why.
2. Circular-design strategy — name and apply at least three strategies (disassembly, mono-material, repairability, durability, take-back). Explain the planned end-of-life for the garments.
3. Materials and innovation — your key fibres/materials with brief LCA reasoning, and at least one innovation (recycled/bio-based material, 3D/virtual design, or a disclosed, ethical use of AI). Note any tradeoffs.
4. Ethics and positionality statement — sourcing, labour and supply-chain transparency, cultural respect, and your positionality and sources. If any influence relates to a culture not your own (Stó:lō or other), explain how you engaged respectfully, what you credited, and what you deliberately did not make.
5. Honest marketing — one truthful tagline or claim and a note on how you avoided greenwashing.

Cost

Very low. Target cost: $0-$5 CAD. This is a research/design task. Use the school's free CLO 3D / digital tools or hand sketches; print only the final pitch (or present on screen). All material costs belong to Unit 9, not here.

Deliverables

• Concept document or pitch deck (digital or printed).
• A one-page circular-design strategy (strategies named and applied + end-of-life plan).
• A signed ethics/positionality statement with a sources list (cite every image, technique, and influence).
• A short verbal pitch (2-3 minutes) to a critique panel or small group.

Worksheet

1. Pick two business models from the unit. For each, give one strength and one impact.
2. Choose a garment idea. List three circular-design strategies you could build into it and how.
3. What is a mono-material garment, and why is it easier to recycle than a blend?
4. Name one stage of a garment's life cycle that usually has a *bigger* impact than people expect.
5. Choose one innovation (recycled fibre, bio-based material, 3D design, or AI). Give one benefit and one ethical concern.
6. Find or invent a marketing line. Decide if it is honest or greenwashing, and say how you can tell.
7. What two questions would you ask a brand to test its supply-chain transparency?
8. Write two sentences of your own positionality statement for your concept: who you are in relation to the work, and where your main influences come from.
9. Distinguish "borrowing from" a community and "working with" a community, with one example of each.

Quiz/Test

1. Define greenwashing and give one warning sign.
2. Name three circular-design strategies and explain one.
3. What is a life-cycle assessment (LCA), and why look at the whole life rather than one stage?
4. Compare made-to-order/on-demand with fast fashion on overproduction.
5. Give one benefit and one ethical concern of using AI in fashion design.
6. Why is supply-chain transparency the foundation for any sustainability claim?
7. What does positionality mean, and why include it in a design document?
8. In ethical collaboration with a Stó:lō knowledge keeper, name three responsibilities of the designer.
9. Scenario: A brand labels a polyester-cotton blend hoodie "100% recyclable, eco-conscious" with no factory list. Identify two problems.

Answer key (model answers; accept accurate equivalents):

1. Greenwashing is marketing that makes a product seem more sustainable/ethical than it is. Warning sign: vague claims ("eco", "green", "conscious") with no data, certification, or named supplier; or a small green feature used to imply the whole brand is clean.
2. Any three of: design for disassembly, mono-material design, repairability, durability, take-back/recycling. Example — mono-material: making the garment (including thread and trims) from one fibre so it can actually be recycled instead of going to landfill.
3. An LCA estimates a product's impacts (water, carbon, chemicals, waste) across all life stages from raw material to end of life. You look at the whole life because a product can be "green" at one stage but high-impact overall; the biggest impacts (fibre production or the wash/use phase) are often not the obvious ones.
4. Made-to-order produces a garment only after it is ordered, so there is little or no unsold stock or overproduction. Fast fashion makes large volumes up front to predict demand, which leads to overstock, markdowns, and waste. The tradeoff is that made-to-order is slower and usually costs more per item.
5. Benefit: AI can speed up trend analysis, grading, or visual prototyping and reduce sampling. Ethical concern (any one): training data may use artists' or workers' designs without consent; it can replace paid creative or garment jobs; it can fake models or fabricate sustainability claims. AI use should be disclosed.
6. Because you cannot verify any green claim from a brand that hides who made its clothes and where; transparency lets you check labour conditions, wages, and material claims. Without it, "sustainable" is just marketing.
7. Positionality is being honest about who you are in relation to the work — your background and what you do/do not have the right to make — and where your ideas and influences come from. It is included so credit and consent are clear, appropriation is avoided, and the work can be judged honestly.
8. Any three of: follow school/district protocols; obtain consent and work on the community's terms and timeline; credit the knowledge and the person; compensate (honoraria/licensing/fair pay); never reproduce protected, sacred, ceremonial, or Nation-specific designs; let local guidance shape the work.
9. Problems (any two): (a) greenwashing — vague "eco-conscious" with no proof; (b) a poly-cotton blend is not realistically recyclable, so "100% recyclable" is false; (c) no supplier/factory list means no supply-chain transparency, so the labour and impact claims cannot be trusted.

Rubric

References and Further Learning

Watch

• How can we redesign the future of fashion? — Circular-design strategy applied to real garments through the Jeans Redesign project (Ellen MacArthur Foundation).

Read

• Circular Fashion: a circular economy for the fashion industry — The systems and business-model thinking behind this unit (Ellen MacArthur Foundation).
• First Peoples Principles of Learning — Grounds the unit's work on ethics, ownership, and respectful collaboration (FNESC).

Explore

• Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto — A profile of Coco Chanel and the house she built (Victoria and Albert Museum).
• Inside the Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition — The work and legacy of Christian Dior (Victoria and Albert Museum).
• Virgil Abloh: "Figures of Speech" — The genre-crossing designer who reshaped fashion, branding, and questions of credit (Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago).

_Links were verified at publication; if one moves, search the title._