The Human Touch
Design for
makers, Social change, sustainable fashion
Year
2019-2020
Visualising the human touch in garment manufacturing
Many people don’t realize that clothing is made by people (the majority of which are women). In contrast to the narrative of tech-solutions and tech-futures, clothing manufacturing is actually still quite far away from technologies of full automation. The technique of paint-sewing visualizes the amount of human input – energy, care and handling – that goes into the making of basically any garment. For this, the sewing operator covers their hands in paint whilst sewing. The human touch becomes directly imprinted on the garment.
INSIGHT
Did your project evolve in unexpected ways?
What started as an artful experiment within my Master’s thesis developed into a small business. I am currently producing a range of The Human Touch garments for a store in Hamburg, Germany and sell made-to-order items via my website and Instagram. I have been invited to present my project at several webinars and am delighted to contribute to a public debate on sustainable fashion. I did not at all see this coming when struggling to narrow down the topic of my thesis!
How did this project impact you as a designer moving forward?
This project and the positive feedback I received showed me that small-scale artful projects can have an impact and contribute to positive change. Previously, I had struggled with the notion of “what difference does it make?” when conducting projects targeted at sustainable development, as this field is so complex and diverse. The Human Touch project showed me that it is worth pursuing what truly interests you and to use the resulting energy and ambition.
Do you think this project can be scaled up?
The difficulty in scaling this project lies in a fundamental contradiction between fashion and sustainability. Here, scaling-up would mean to produce more items and by this adding to the masses of clothing items. The question of whether this is desirable and for whom is one that I often ask myself in my role as fashion designer. Potentially, it would be more suitable to expand the informative, educational aspect of the project, i.e. the acknowledgement and respect for the inherent human and material resources.
