Reflecting
Reflecting on the project
In this chapter, the project team reflects on the Localizing Global Garment Biographies project, of which Tales of a T-shirt (this website and the e-book) is a main outcome. We begin by revisiting the initial questions and goals we set out to explore. Following that, we’ll delve into the experimental methods used, particularly those centered around the design and production of the project T-shirt. Finally, we’ll review the project outcomes and share the lessons we’ve learned along the way.
Leading questions
The garment industry operates through globalized value networks, with garments accruing values as they move through the various stages. Yet there’s often a disconnect: cotton farmers and factory workers who produce clothing rarely know who will eventually buy and wear their creations. Similarly, consumers have little awareness of the people and processes behind the clothes they purchase.
- Can bridging this gap and creating transparency within these value networks help consumers value their clothes more and be willing to pay a bit extra for them?
- Conversely, could knowing who wears their clothes lead to greater dignity and better returns for the farmers and the workers involved?
These questions inspired the collaboration between Zadkine College, in Rotterdam, and the Erode College of Arts and Sciences, in Erode. Together they engaged in workshops, co-designed the project T-shirt and personalized it, exploring these ideas first hand.
To delve into these questions, we emphasized the heritage value of garments. Not long ago, clothing was typically made locally, even in a country like the Netherlands. It was valued and often worn for many years. However, from the 1980s onward, the near-total globalization of garment production led to a ‘race to the bottom’ fostering highly polluting and exploitative industries, particularly in the economically more vulnerable areas of the world. These industries produce clothing with increasingly short lifespans, a phenomenon now known as ’fast fashion’.
This unsustainable and unequitable production model thrives on the spatial, economic and cultural disconnection between the users and producers of garments. By focusing on the heritage value of clothing, we have explored how revealing the connections between these typically disconnected groups can inspire meaningful change. This approach can potentially drive the behavioral transformations needed to shift towards a more equitable and sustainable global garment value network.
Visualizaton of the project T-shirt’s value network, drawn at an early stage of the project. Image: Joey Lageschaar.
Experimenting with methods
This project has centered on the experiences of students from Zadkine College and Erode College of Arts and Sciences. By working with Museum Rotterdam’s extensive collection of historical and contemporary everyday garments, we explored the rich stories these garments can tell – their biographies. With support from Raddis Cotton, the students co-designed a T-shirt, giving them a hands-on role in shaping its story.
To trace the origins of the T-shirt, we partnered with tex.tracer, a company specializing in block-chain garment tracking. We also developed an app, accessible via QR code on the T-shirt’s sleeve, which provides insights into each stage of production and links to this project website, GarmentConnections.com.
Scan this QR code to access the tex.tracer app, which allows you to follow the journey of the project T-shirt. Image: LGGB team.
While this website offers an overview of the T-shirt’s co-creative design process, we also developed a tex.tracer app, that provides the wearer with an overview of the T-shirt’s value network.
This is the link to the tex.tracer app we developed:
The tex.tracer app provides the wearer with an overview of the T-shirt’s value network. Image: Erik de Maaker.
Outcomes and lessons learned
The co-creation of the project T-shirt and its detailed biography has shown how storytelling can help challenge and reshape the unequal and unsustainable practices in global garment value networks. This approach has the potential to resonate with new audiences and contexts. The experimental tools we’ve developed aim to empower both users and producers, which is essential for achieving fairer and more sustainable global garment production. However, creating the digital tools proved more complex than anticipated, and we haven’t yet gathered significant user feedback. Nevertheless, we’ve ensured that these tools will remain available online for some time to come, allowing us to collect valuable input in the near future.
José, Alisetty, Larisa, Rasigapriya and Jaswantee (from left to right). Photo: Erik de Maaker.
READ staff and LGGB project team, 2023. Photo: LGGB team.
The project has highlighted the experiences and creativity of students from Zadkine College and Erode College of Arts and Sciences, while also involving students from Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology and Leiden University. Collaborating closely with partners in different parts of the world helped us develop more intimate and personal perspectives on the global garment value network. The students benefited from the hands-on, experiential learning the project offered, which we hope to communicate with this publication. By giving voice to cotton farmers and other stakeholders throughout the value chain, the project explored new ways to address global inequalities. Examining the origins and technical aspects opens up possibilities for reimagining global commodity chains, aiming for more sustainable production and consumption practices.
COHERENT
This website, Tales of a T-shirt, is one of the outcomes of the NWA-funded project COHERENT. It aligns with the NWA route Living History and also contributes to the route Sustainable Development Goals for Inclusive Global Development (SDGs 10, 11, and 12). The project uses heritage as a tool to create connections that help people identify themselves both culturally and socio-economically.
Specifically, LGGB has addressed NWA cluster questions 044 (“Can globalization and development be reimagined to eventually reduce prosperity gaps between world regions?”) and 068 (“How can we promote and harness creativity and innovation?”). By engaging with these questions, our project has encouraged future stakeholders in the fashion industry to enhance their role within global production chains. LGGB has made this effort tangible by developing interactive digital tools that empower participants and foster dialogue, challenging both the historical and contemporary dimensions of structural inequalities.
The Localizing Global Garment Biographies Team in Erode, 2023. Photo: Erik de Maaker.
Leonie, Mayke and Ellen (from left to right) at ECAS, 2024. Photo: Leonie Sterenborg.