Convo No. 6
Prof. Kirsi Niinimäki is an associate professor in Design, with a focus on Fashion Research, at Aalto University, Helsinki. In her research she focuses on sustainability, systems thinking, linking design-manufacturing-consumption studies together, co-designing, green business models, collaborative methods, and innovation studies.
What is your personal relationship to sustainability & fashion?
I'm a very "bad" consumer as I hate to shop, and do not get any satisfaction or kick out of consumption or purchasing as some do. So I try to be a sustainable consumer and make wise decisions with what/when I need to buy. This attitude originates from my childhood, having a mother and father who were do-it-yourself people and made everything themselves. I remember admiring their level of skill and everyday creativity.
I started to research fashion consumption and it was so interesting to dive into the consumers' reality and the meaning of fashion. On the other hand all the stories behind fast fashion and the emotional side of fashion consumption (the crazy side of it!) was super interesting to study. That led me to research how you bridge the gap between this reality and design strategies, and then from that how to challenge the business case of it. Academically I think it's important to provide deep knowledge, which then practitioners (for example designers) can use. Also in education it's important to have the latest and newest information build the foundation of your teaching.
Any interesting findings to share?
System thinking is the way to approach sustainable development, we need to include all stakeholders and partners in this change making. In circular economy there is a risk that we just keep the same crazy consumption rate going. If we only concentrate on developing effective recycling systems we don't bother with the current consumption practices. I think that we should include the time aspect much more in sustainable design strategies. Also critical thinking is needed!
At Fashion/Textiles Futures, a research group exploring new perspectives on human-centered design research, we have so many different approaches to research which builds a quite rich picture on research in textiles and fashion. There are many ways to do design research (from practice-led to very theoretical). While all my researchers have a design background, it is really important to harness design skills and creativity to do interesting and engaging research to produce knowledge which has some real life implication. I also believe in strong and brave design experimentation, and if we want to influence the fashion industry we have to collaborate with the designers.
Design skills are highly appreciated from other disciplines, which means that we get a lot of invitations to take part in different kinds of multidisciplinary projects. Especially now that the development of different types of innovation in a multidisciplinary collaboration is very popular and designers are seen to have capabilities to run, facilitate or even lead these kind of projects. That is an interesting phenomena. Perhaps we need to ourselves better understand the power of creative skills and begin to use them in better and more varied ways. And then use creative skills to create a transformation. Designers can use their skills for so many other things than simply designing products.
Do you consider yourself an optimist or pessimist when it comes to the current and future state of the fashion industry?
Optimist. The situation is bad but designers/researchers can have an affect on change making. Of course the transformation process is slow and needs open collaboration with different stakeholders. On the other hand creative thinking offers opportunities to do things differently.
Any tips/advice for people who want to contribute to making fashion more sustainable?
Connect with others, collaborate openly, find alternative ways to use your creativity, be curious, be interested, be critical, be positive!
