Issy Spurway

Issy Spurway's exhibit

Textiles and Fashion Specialism

I focused my research onto fast fashion, particularly the ‘throw away culture’ it encourages. My inspiration for this was my housemates asking me to fix or alter their clothes. They made me realise sewing is a skill that has become uncommon amongst my peers, especially compared to our grandparent’s generation. It’s now considered normal to throw away damaged or unwanted clothes, when 30 years ago they would be repaired or passed on. However, in a survey I created about fast fashion, 58% of participants said they would attempt to fix damaged clothing, then donate them if they could not. These responses motivated me to research what happens to unsold donated clothing. Whilst a lot is recycled in developing countries, the vast quantity of textile waste that Western countries send there has ruined chances for smaller textile businesses to grow. The work of Collingwood Norris Design uses darning as a technique to repair and add features to clothes. Consequently, I explored darning and patches to mend clothes with socks and plastic bags. This lead me to research into sustainable alternatives to synthetic materials and companies that recycle plastics, such as And Again, We Are Tala and Franka UK. I focused on the manipulation of plastics to form different textures and combined the physical plastic samples I generated with a political statement that highlights Trump’s harmful attitude towards climate change.