Pursuing Your Values with Sustainable Design Solutions
I became a costume designer because I love stories, history, and crafting. I looked around me and saw passionate, driven artists who made strong ethical choices in their personal lives, but did not/could not extend that to their production choices. I wanted a way to research solutions and empower costume professionals to make choices that help them design in harmony with people and the planet, but when I started working, there were no resources specific to costume professionals
I founded Conscious Costume because I could not live with the knowledge that my designs created pollution, harm, degradation, and exploitation. We couldn't wait any longer for someone else to do it.
Every artistic decision is an opportunity to consider the ethical and environmental impact; even the option to ignore that impact, is still a choice. At this point, fast fashion, climate change, and microplastics are common knowledge, so making the choice to use something that is harmful or produced by underpaid workers, is a choice you should make with full knowledge. Consciously.
The choices that I make as a designer are all bound by the each show’s unique circumstances, such as:
Budget
Resources
Quick changes
Cast body types
Storage
Build time
Obviously, you must pursue the solutions you need to execute the design. However, when you choose to do design in a conscious way then you are choosing to say “I am going to prioritize the impact of my choices on others.” It is my goal that the ethical and environmental impact of the design choices is just another lens through which everyone views a design,
As costume professionals, we would never knowingly give a wool suit to an actor with a wool allergy because that impact is tangible. Just as we would not prioritize our artistic ideas over the health and comfort of our cast, we can (and should) consider that by choosing polyester, fast fashion, and excess, we are choosing poisoned water, polluted air, poverty wages, dangerous factories, and overflowing landfills.
This may sound very doom and gloom, or like I’m shaming you. That’s not my intent. Sometimes I buy plastic or polyester because it’s the best (or only) solution to something I’m trying to solve, and I know many of us strive to make the best choices possible. We should not feel responsible for decisions outside our control such as systems built to exploit many for the benefit of a few. However, systems are built on people who are making decisions. That includes ours.
I don’t know how many costumes are made every year between theatre, opera, dance, performance art, festivals, theme parks, TV, and films, but I do know that it all adds up to millions of decisions made by designers and craftspeople, and every one of those is an opportunity to make an active, informed, and deliberate choice through a lens of sustainability. So, I'm just asking that when you're designing a show, building a costume, or striking a production, to pause and consider the impact that that choice will have.
Here are 3 small ways to make conscious choices even if you are not the designer:
When purchasing notions or supplies, shop at a local business instead of a big box store.
Buying from a small business has greater money velocity than when you shop at a national chain, which means that that the cost of your purchase is going to change hands more times within your community paying for a rent or taxes or the babysitter or sandwiches or whatever it is then if you buy it at a national brand where it is most likely going into shareholder revenue which is not going to help your community. Usually the cost is about the same for you, if not cheaper.
Choose your cleaning products wisely!
Pods and sheets are the latest trend in laundry detergent, but BEWARE of PVA! Polyvinyl Alcohol is the clear “plastic” on the outside of pods and is used as a binding agent in the laundry sheets, while it does “break down” in the wash, it is a microplastic that persists in the environment. These pods and sheets are broadly an improvement on bottled detergent, which is heavy and thus carbon intensive to ship since it’s mostly water, plus we know that plastic recycling doesn’t really work.
The best option right now are powder detergent or concentrated detergent, these are lightweight to ship, no microplastics, and frequently natural cleaning solvents that are gentle on fabrics and skin. (Do you want me to do a deep dive on this topic? Let me know!)
Advocate for improving recycling of textiles, scraps, and garments on your production.
Did you know that only 16% of the clothes that are donated to thrift stores actually make it to the sales floor? Limiting new purchases for the production is one step, but carefully considering what happens at strike/wrap is equally important. Find local charities that will actually use the clothing, host a clothing or costume swap in your community, find a vintage seller in your area, or other creative options rather than just dumping unwanted items at a thrift store.
Pay-to-recycle services which will process your textiles for you.
I know, no one wants to add something else to the show costs, but waste management has costs whether we pay for them directly or indirectly through taxes, when we pay directly, we get to choose a method that aligns with our values.
Here's a bonus treat for reading all the way through: A little inspiration from Earth Day, Outrage and Optimism shared their full conversation with climate activist Xiye Bastida, it was full of wonderful ideas and inspirational wisdom. I highly recommend giving it a listen.
