2nd Bachelor Product Design
Luca School Of Arts (Campus C-mine)
2019-2020
This prototype, made from apple leather, is my vision of a future where individual identity is expressed by clothing that serves nature when it is no longer needed. It shows that a shift towards alternative and sustainable lifestyles is possible and the continuous stream of consumption cannot keep going on.
Consumers are being seduced by cheap and polluting fast-fashion brands. They buy mass consumer goods with a short lifespan. I asked myself why and Kirsi Niinimaki provided an answer. She states that consumers buy products in order to achieve a certain lifestyle. A product alone cannot embody this lifestyle, thus the consumer stays unsatisfied and keeps consuming. This leads to a spiralling consumption.
If someone is aspiring a certain lifestyle, why can’t it be one that is organically built and with respect for our planet? My prototype introduces the idea that we temporarily use resources from our planet and return it afterwards. Raw materials are no private property of the consumer but a common resource we share with the planet. A shared fortune of our community, the planet and the people around us, based on an honest and sustainable cycle.
This boot is made from apple leather. It is a self-produced material made from an apple waste stream. The alternative textile is made by a long process of drying an apple mixture. In this research, I experimented with the colour of the material, texture and strength. The best results were made with a mixture of hemp and apple.
The material of the boot and the thread are made from peeled apples, the heel is made from cork and covered with a mixture of hemp and peeled apples.
