When did all our Clothes Become Plastic?

80% of our clothes contain plastic, this three way conversation will explore why it's almost impossible to avoid wearing synthetic materials and how we got here. The reasons run deep into history, back to the First World War and the years afterwards, when chemical companies DuPont and ICI developed synthetics in response to wartime supply chain shortages and Britain's control of the wool industry. Join us, as we discuss the implications of this today - from fast fashion to the role of the fossil fuel lobby and the future of natural materials like cotton, linen, silk and wool.

Bios:

• Lucianne Tonti is the fashion editor of the Saturday Paper, the sustainability-editor-at-large for Elle Australia and a regular contributor to The Guardian. She is the author of Sundressed: Natural fibres and the future of fashion.
  
• Trish FitzSimons is a social historian, a documentary filmmaker and adjunct professor at the Griffith Film School, Griffith University in Brisbane. She and Madelyn Shaw wrote Fleeced: Unraveling the History of Wool and War, which is one of the first global accounts of where synthetic textiles came from.
  
• Dr Alice Payne is Professor and Dean of the School of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT. Her research focuses on environmental and social sustainability issues throughout the life cycle of clothing. She is author of the book Designing Fashion’s Future and is an award-winning designer and teacher.
  
  

Author / Creator: Newton, Helmut, 1920-2004, photographer
Date:[ca. 1952-ca. 1958]
Identifier(s): H2006.47/680
Source: State Library Victoria - http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/119106

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

RMIT University - Swanston Academic Building, City Campus, Building 80, Level 1, Room 2 (Lecture Theatre) /, Melbourne, Australia