Katia Dayan Vladimirova on The Hot Or Cool Institute's new report, what a 1.5 degree wardrobe could look like & questioning how much is enough

<p>In episode 282, Kestrel welcomes Katia Dayan Vladimirova, a senior researcher at the University of Geneva, to the show. In addition to her research on fashion consumption, sustainability, and degrowth, Katia is the founder and coordinator at the <a href= "http://www.sustainablefashionconsumption.org" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Sustainable Fashion Consumption Network</a>, and recently contributed to the Hot or Cool Institute’s Report – Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable.</p> <p><strong>“Sufficiency is part of —very much interlinked with degrowth conversations today — it’s about abandoning economic growth in favor of wellbeing and enoughness as a positive vision of the future, in which we are content with enough and are not looking for more all the time.” -Katia</strong></p> <p class="">I’ve been thinking a lot about the sustainable fashion narrative (over the last decade or so) and as I see it, we’ve seen a few big stages in the conversation – mind you, there are so many more nuanced narratives that have been out there, but these are the narratives I’ve heard the most noise around:</p> <p class=""><strong>Stage 1</strong> – A focus on redirecting your consumption habits. The idea that you can be more sustainable with your wardrobe if you buy differently. The narrative was very much interconnected with capitalism and focused on the notion of BUY THIS, NOT THAT.</p> <p class=""><strong>Stage 2</strong> – A basic understanding that massive corporations are the biggest culprits of carbon emissions and human rights violations in fashion. The narrative shifted a bit away from *blaming the consumer* and a bit toward highlighting the need for brands to change. This also involved an acknowledgement of the important role that legislation can play in transforming the industry. This was when we saw the rise of the fashion activist.</p> <p class=""><strong>Stage 3</strong> – (This is the stage I believe we are currently amidst.) It’s a combination of the previous stages, with greater context and more specific recommendations