Chats for the Goals: Fashion Forward

This talk explores fashion’s connections to climate change and the SDGs more broadly. Australians are now the highest per capita consumers of clothes, with an urgent need to radically reduce fashion consumption. What if we do this and at the same time position fashion as life enhancing, as a source of joy? What becomes possible then? This talk explores some of the exciting work that is already underway, including at UTS.

About your presenter Timo Rissanen

Associate Professor Timo Rissanen is a fashion and textiles researcher and the UTS academic lead of the UTS/TAFE NSW Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion and Textiles. He investigates the interconnection between sustainability and social justice as they relate to the contemporary fashion industry.

Timo’s practice-based research sits firmly within the UTS School of Design’s Material Ecologies theme. He has a growing interest in soil-to-soil fibre systems and Earth Logic, a research framework developed by Kate Fletcher and Mathilda Tham that puts natural systems at the forefront of fashion and textiles practice, as well as in the development of systems-level solutions to solving the challenges of fashion manufacturing waste.

He played a key role in establishing the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion and Textiles, which was launched in July 2021. A collaboration between UTS and TAFE NSW, the Centre will deliver education offerings and brand-based industry research partnerships with an emphasis on sustainability and Industry 4.0.