Consciously Circular
For centuries, clothing has been made the same way: design a garment, source the fabric, cut and sew, discard what’s left over. Today’s designers, however, are doing things differently — and Katherine Jacobson is no exception.
“I source the fabric first,” Katherine explained, “and from there I’m able to pattern it with little to no waste.” By working backwards, Katherine has re-engineered the entire design process. While relatively simple in concept, this process is completely antithetical to fashion as we know it. The old-school model of designing a piece, and then searching for the fabric, leads to enormous amounts of waste. Reversing this model allows designers to create based on what they already have access to.
For Katherine, working with deadstock materials (aka existing and unused textiles) is a stepping stone towards her larger vision for sustainability. “There’s always going to be a need for utilizing what’s leftover, and I’m super happy to be sourcing that for now, but I want to go even further,” she exclaimed. “Ten years from now, the future of fashion will be closed-loop systems and integrating materials that are climate positive,” Katherine said of the potential she sees on the horizon. “It’s not even a dream anymore. We’re already seeing people making huge strides in this space,” she added.
Circularity is no simple feat. It requires not only the use of existing materials, but also pressure to produce zero additional waste. No cut-offs, no trimmings. Nothing new goes in and nothing old comes out. To be truly closed-loop is to ensure that each and every square inch of fabric is used effectively.
While Taiyo is still working towards becoming 100% circular, Katherine is eager to face the challenge head on as she continues developing her sustainability standards. The first of which is a commitment to single-piece drops. Taiyo creates one look at a time, and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. “We’re focusing on making that one piece your favorite, the one you love so much that you wear over and over again,” she added.
The world of fast fashion, by definition, doesn’t want you to wear the same thing forever. It is designed to ensure that you continuously buy more. But at what cost? Aside from the thousands of pounds destined for a landfill each fashion season, another aspect of the supply chain that’s being exploited is the labor itself. For Taiyo, the second layer of their commitment to sustainability is how they treat their employees. “We pay our workers not only fairly, but well. Someone that’s sewing your garments is just as important as someone like me who is designing it,” Katherine said of her commitment to paying fair wages.
It’s no secret that the fast fashion formula is to scale to such an extreme that retail prices are kept seductively low, keeping the consumer on such a shopping high that they remain ignorant to the fact that the people behind the garment are not paid a living wage. This has been an area of contention for Katherine, and many other sustainable designers, who have taken it upon themselves to inform their customers about why their products cost more than what they’ll find at their nearest fast fashion store. “Sometimes customers look at the prices and ask why it’s ‘expensive’,” Jacobson explained. “There’s an educational aspect we’re trying to integrate into the brand.” This level of transparency is the third principal behind Taiyo’s sustainability practices.
As customers start understanding why it’s crucial to support the sustainable fashion movement and the designers leading the way, they will begin to see the positive impact fashion can have if done correctly. The path towards circularity isn’t simple, but it’s a gentle reminder that good things take time (and are worth waiting for).