Abstract
Clothes consumerism is increasing every year, which is a huge challenge for sustainability. Educa-tional Design research have shown that the challenge cannot be solved unless we have critical literate consumers. By making the question of sustainable clothing a matter for critical design lit-eracy, the aim of this case study is to examine the meaning making of an educational material produced for teachers in design and craft education. The educational material, entitled Sustaina-ble Fashion, consists of 17 design projects and the analysis is made with the aid of practical epis-temological analysis with a specific focus on aesthetic experience. Two ways of becoming a sus-tainable consumer of fashion have been identified – to have fun and to feel clever – and these two meaning making activities incorporate certain actions of what it means to be a sustainable consumer. From a critical design literacy perspective, these ways of becoming a sustainable con-sumer are crucial to acknowledge, as they include (and exclude other) specific sustainability ac-tions.
Keywords
critical design literacy, sustainable clothing, fashion, teaching, aesthetic judgments
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs_lxd2021.01.243
Citation
Hofverberg, H.,and Maivorsdotter, N.(2021) Experiencing sustainable fashion: Have fun and feel clever – a case study for critical design literacy, in Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Pan, L., Börekçi, N.A.G.Z., Zhang, Y. (eds.), Learn X Design 2021: Engaging with challenges in design education, 24-26 September, Shandong University of Art & Design, Jinan, China. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs_lxd2021.01.243
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
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Experiencing sustainable fashion: Have fun and feel clever – a case study for critical design literacy
Clothes consumerism is increasing every year, which is a huge challenge for sustainability. Educa-tional Design research have shown that the challenge cannot be solved unless we have critical literate consumers. By making the question of sustainable clothing a matter for critical design lit-eracy, the aim of this case study is to examine the meaning making of an educational material produced for teachers in design and craft education. The educational material, entitled Sustaina-ble Fashion, consists of 17 design projects and the analysis is made with the aid of practical epis-temological analysis with a specific focus on aesthetic experience. Two ways of becoming a sus-tainable consumer of fashion have been identified – to have fun and to feel clever – and these two meaning making activities incorporate certain actions of what it means to be a sustainable consumer. From a critical design literacy perspective, these ways of becoming a sustainable con-sumer are crucial to acknowledge, as they include (and exclude other) specific sustainability ac-tions.