A few years ago, I found myself looking for the most cost-effective way to be stylish. So naturally, I wound up at my local thrift store, a wonderland of other people's trash that was ripe to be plucked to become my treasure. Now, I wasn't just looking for your average off-the-secondhand-rack vintage T-shirt to wear. For me, real style lives at the intersection of design and individuality. So to make sure that I was getting the most out of the things I was finding, I bought a sewing machine so I could tailor the 90's-style garments that I was finding, to fit a more contemporary aesthetic. I've been tailoring and making my own clothes from scratch ever since, so everything in my closet is uniquely my own.
幾年前,我發現我自己 在尋找最有成本效益的方式來變時髦。 很自然的,我最後就到了 一間當地的二手商店, 由別人的垃圾構成的仙境, 等著我去裡頭挖寶。 我並不只是在找一般的 二手古老風格成衣T恤來穿。 對我來說,真正的時髦 會出現在設計與個性的交會點。 為了確保我能夠把我 發現的東西發揮到極至, 我帶了一台縫紉機, 我就可以去裁製 我找到的九十年代風格服飾, 讓它更符合當代的美學。 此後,我就都是自己從頭 開始裁製和製作我的衣服, 我衣櫃中的所有東西都獨一無二。
But as I was sorting through the endless racks of clothes at these thrift stores, I started to ask myself, what happens to all the clothes that I don't buy? The stuff that isn't really cool or trendy but kind of just sits there and rots away at these secondhand stores. I work in the fashion industry on the wholesale side, and I started to see some of the products that we sell end up on the racks of these thrift stores. So the question started to work its way into my work life, as well. I did some research and I pretty quickly found a very scary supply chain that led me to some pretty troubling realities.
但當我在這些二手商店中 從無數的架上挑選東西時, 我開始自問: 沒被我買走的衣服會有什麼下場? 不是很酷或流行的東西, 就待在這些二手商店中,漸漸凋落。 在時尚業中, 我在批發的這一塊工作, 我開始發現,我們販售的一些產品 最後淪落到這些二手商店的架上。 所以,這個問題也開始 進入到我的工作生活中。 我做了一些研究, 我很快發現了一個 非常駭人的供應鏈, 引導我看到了很讓人不舒服的現實。
It turned out that the clothes I was sorting though at these thrift stores represented only a small fraction of the total amount of garments that we dispose of each year. In the US, only 15 percent of the total textile and garment waste that's generated each year ends up being donated or recycled in some way, which means that the other 85 percent of textile and garment waste end up in landfills every year. Now, I want to put this into perspective, because I don't quite think that the 85 percent does the problem justice. This means that almost 13 million tons of clothing and textile waste end up in landfills every year in just the United States alone. This averages out to be roughly 200 T-shirts per person ending up in the garbage.
結果發現,我在二手商店 挑選的那些衣服, 只是我們每年所丟棄的 所有服飾中的冰山一角。 在美國,每年所產生的 所有廢棄織物和衣服當中, 只有 15% 最後會被捐贈 或以某種方式回收, 那就表示,每年剩下的 85% 廢棄織物和衣服最後會被掩埋。 我想要釐清這點, 因為我並不認為 85% 對於這個問題是公平的。 這表示,光是美國, 每年就有近 1300 萬噸的 廢棄織物和衣服最後被掩埋掉。 這代表平均大約每個人兩百件T恤 最後被當垃圾丟掉。
In Canada, we throw away enough clothing to fill the largest stadium in my home town of Toronto, one that seats 60,000 people, with a mountain of clothes three times the size of that stadium. Now, even with this, I still think that Canadians are the more polite North Americans, so don't hold it against us.
在加拿大,我們丟棄的衣服量 足以裝滿我的家鄉 多倫多最大的體育場, 那個體育場有六萬個座位, 衣服堆積起來, 會是體育場容量的三倍。 即便如此, 我仍然認為加拿大人 是比較有禮貌的北美人, 所以不要因此貶低我們。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
What was even more surprising was seeing that the fashion industry is the second-largest polluter in the world behind the oil and gas industry. This is an important comparison to make. I don't want to defend the oil and gas industry but I'd be lying if I said I was surprised to hear they were the number one polluter. I just assumed, fairly or not, that that's an industry that doesn't really mind sticking to the status quo. One where the technology doesn't really change and the focus is more so on driving profitability at the expense of a sustainable future. But I was really surprised to see that the fashion industry was number two. Because maintaining that status quo is the opposite of what the fashion industry stands for.
更另人驚訝的是看到時尚業 竟是世界上污染排名第二的產業, 只輸給石油天然氣業。 做這個比較是很重要的。 我並不想為石油天然氣業辯護, 但如果說我聽到他們污染排名第一 而訝異,那我就是在說謊。 我只是假設,不論這假設是否公平, 這個產業並不介意保持現狀。 在這個產業,技術不會改變, 焦點比較多放在提高獲利性上, 即使代價是永續的未來。 但時尚業會是第二名, 真的讓我很意外。 因為維持現狀 和時尚業擁護的主張完全相反。
The unfortunate reality is, not only do we waste a lot of the things we do consume, but we also use a lot to produce the clothes that we buy each year. On average, a household's purchase of clothing per year requires 1,000 bathtubs of water to produce. A thousand bathtubs of water per household, per year. That's a lot of water. It seems that the industry that always has been and probably always will be on the forefront of design, creates products that are designed to be comfortable, designed to be trendy and designed to be expressive but aren't really designed to be sustainable or recyclable for that matter. But I think that can change. I think the fashion industry's aptitude for change is the exact thing that should make it patient zero for sustainable business practices. And I think to get started, all we have to do is start to design clothes to be recyclable at the end of their life.
不幸的現實是, 我們不但浪費掉了 許多我們消費的東西, 每年我們還用了很多資源 來生產我們購買的衣服。 平均而言,每年每個家庭購買的衣服 需要一千個澡盆的水才能生產出來。 每年,每個家庭一千個澡盆的水。 那是相當多的水。 似乎這個產業一直都是, 且很可能將來也都會是, 設計的最前線, 這個產業創造的產品, 要設計得舒適、流行, 且能表現自我, 但設計的目標並不包括永續 或是具有可回收性。 但我認為那是可改變的。 我認為,時尚業喜歡改變的習性, 就可以讓它成為 永續商業做法的「零號病人」。 我認為,若要開始進行,我們只要 開始設計在要丟棄時 可以回收的衣服即可。
Now, designing recyclable clothing is definitely something to leave to the professionals. But as a 24-year-old thrift store aficionado armed with a sewing machine, if I were to very humbly posit one perspective, it would be to approach clothing design kind of like building with Lego. When we put together a brick of Lego, it's very strong but very easily manipulated. It's modular in its nature. Clothing design as it stands today is very rarely modular.
設計可回收的衣服, 肯定是要留給專業人士去做的。 但身為二十四歲的二手商店愛好者, 隨身帶著縫紉機, 如果我要很謙遜地假設一個觀點, 那就是,用類似堆樂高 積木的方式來做服裝設計。 當我們把樂高積木組裝起來, 它非常堅固,但很容易再做調整。 它在本質上是組合式的。 現今的服裝設計很少是組裝式的。
Take this motorcycle jacket as an example. It's a pretty standard jacket with its buttons, zippers and trim. But in order for us to efficiently recycle a jacket like this, we need to be able to easily remove these items and quickly get down to just the fabric. Once we have just the fabric, we're able to break it down by shredding it and getting back to thread level, make new thread that then gets made into new fabric and ultimately new clothing, whether it be a new jacket or new T-shirts, for example. But the complexity lies with all of these extra items, the buttons, the zippers and the trim. Because in reality, these items are actually quite difficult to remove. So in many cases it requires more time or more money to disassemble a jacket like this. In some cases, it's just more cost-effective to throw it away rather than recycle it. But I think this can change if we design clothes in a modular way to be easily disassembled at the end of their lives.
用這件摩托車夾克當例子。 它是很標準的夾克, 有釦子、有拉鏈、有鑲邊。 但若要能很有效地回收這種夾克, 這些物件需要能很容易移除, 只留下織物的部分。 一旦只剩下織物, 我們就能把它切碎處理, 回到線狀的層級, 做成新的線,再做成新的織物, 最終做成新的服裝, 不論是新夾克或新T恤。 但困難的就是這些額外的物件, 釦子、拉鏈、鑲邊。 在現實中,這些物件都很難移除。 在許多情況下,拆解像這樣的夾克 會需要更多的時間金錢。 在某些情況下,直接丟棄會比回收 更有成本效益。 但我認為這點能夠改變, 我們可以用組裝方式來設計衣服, 讓衣服在不穿之後很容易能拆解。
We could redesign this jacket to have a hidden wireframe, kind of like the skeleton of a fish, that holds all important items together. This invisible fish-bone structure can have all of these extra items, the zippers and the buttons and the trim, sewn into it and then attached to the fabric. So at the end of the jacket's life, all you have to do is remove its fish bone and the fabric comes with it a lot quicker and a lot easier than before.
我們可以重新設計這件夾克, 用隱藏式的線框, 有點像是魚骨架,把所有 重要的物件都連結在一起。 這種隱形的魚骨結構 就能讓所有額外物件, 釦子、拉鏈、鑲邊, 都縫在上面,然後再和織物結合。 當不要這件夾克時, 你只需要移除它的魚骨以及 附在其上的織物即可, 這比以前要更快速、更簡易。
Now, recycling clothing is definitely one piece of the puzzle. But if we want to take fixing the environmental impact that the fashion industry has more seriously, then we need to take this to the next step and start to design clothes to also be compostable at the end of their lives. For most of the types of clothes we have in our closet the average lifespan is about three years. Now, I'm sure there's many of us that have gems in our drawers that are much older than that, which is great. Because being able to extend the life of a garment by even only nine months reduces the waste and water impact that that garment has by 20 to 30 percent. But fashion is fashion. Which means that styles are always going to change and you're probably going to be wearing something different than you were today eight seasons from now, no matter how environmentally friendly you want to be.
回收服裝絕對是拼圖的其中一片。 但如果我們想要 更嚴肅看待修復時尚業所造成的 環境衝擊, 那麼我們就得採取下一步, 開始設計在丟棄時 也能夠被製成堆肥的衣服。 我們衣櫃中大部分類型的衣服, 平圴壽命是大約三年。 我相信許多人在抽屜中都有珍寶 放了遠超過三年,那很好。 因為若能把衣服的壽命延長, 即使只延長九個月, 就能把那件衣服 在廢棄物與水方面造成的 衝擊減少 20~30%, 但時尚就是時尚。 也就是說,風格一直在改變, 你今天穿的和你在八季之後穿的, 可能會不一樣。 不論你有多想要做好環保。
But lucky for us, there are some items that never go out of style. I'm talking about your basics -- your socks, underwear, even your pajamas. We're all guilty of wearing these items right down to the bone, and in many cases throwing them in the garbage because it's really difficult to donate your old ratty socks that have holes in them to your local thrift store. But what if we were able to compost these items rather than throw them in the trash bin? The environmental savings could be huge, and all we would have to do is start to shift more of our resources to start to produce more of these items using more natural fibers, like 100 percent organic cotton.
但我們很幸運,有些東西 是永遠不會退流行的。 我在說的是基本用品—— 你的襪子、內褲、甚至睡衣。 我們都會把這些東西 穿到不能穿為止, 通常,就把它們當垃圾丟棄, 因為其實很難 把你那破洞的老舊爛襪子捐贈給 當地的二手商店。 但若能把這些東西製成堆肥, 而不是丟到垃圾筒呢? 環境節約會很大, 你所需要做的事只有 把我們更多的資源做轉移, 用更多的天然纖維 開始生產更多這類物品, 比如 100% 有機棉。
Now, recycling and composting are two critical priorities. But one other thing that we have to rethink is the way that we dye our clothes. Currently, 10 to 20 percent of the harsh chemical dye that we use end up in water bodies that neighbor production hubs in developing nations. The tricky thing is that these harsh chemicals are really effective at keeping a garment a specific color for a long period of time. It's these harsh chemicals that keep that bright red dress bright red for so many years.
回收和製成堆肥, 是兩件重要的優先工作。 但我們還要重新思考一件事, 就是把衣服染色的方式。 目前,我們所使用的刺激性 化學染料中有 10~20% 最後是跑到發展中國家的 製造中心附近的水中。 棘手之處在於,這些刺激性化學物 能夠非常有效地讓 衣服保有特定的顏色, 且保持極長的時間。 是這些刺激性化學物讓亮紅色的洋裝 多年來都能維持亮紅色。
But what if we were able to use something different? What if we were able to use something that we all have in our kitchen cabinets at home to dye our clothes? What if we were able to use spices and herbs to dye our clothes? There's countless food options that would allow for us to stain material, but these stains change color over time. This would be pretty different than the clothes that were dyed harshly with chemicals that we're used to. But dyeing clothes naturally this way would allow for us to make sure they're more unique and environmentally friendlier. Let's think about it.
但若我們能用不同的東西呢? 若我們能使用大家在 家中廚房櫃子裡都有的東西 來染色衣服呢? 如果我們能使用香料 和藥草來染色衣服呢? 有數不清的食物可以選用 來將織物材料給染色, 但這些染色會隨時間而變色。 這和我們習慣用的 刺激性化學物染色方式 有很不同的結果。 但用天然方式來染色, 可確保它們更獨一無二且環保。 咱們來想想看。
Fashion today is all about individuality. It's about managing your own personal appearance to be just unique enough to be cool. These days, everybody has the ability to showcase their brand their personal style, across the world, through social media. The pocket-sized billboards that we flick through on our Instagram feeds are chock-full of models and taste-makers that are showcasing their individuality through their personal microbrands. But what could be more personalized, more unique, than clothes that change color over time? Clothes that with each wash and with each wear become more and more one of a kind. People have been buying and wearing ripped jeans for years. So this would just be another example of clothes that exist in our wardrobe that evolve with us over our lives.
現今的時尚講究個性。 重點是要創造出你自己的個人外觀, 要夠獨特才酷。 現今,每個人都有能力 能夠展現他們的品牌、 他們的個人風格, 透過社交媒體,可向全世界展示。 口袋大小的廣告牌, 我們在看 Instagram 時滑過的那些, 都滿是模特兒和引領時尚者 在透過他們的個人微品牌 來展示他們的個性。 但有什麼能比隨時間改變顏色的 衣服更個人化、更獨一無二? 每洗一次、每穿一次這些衣服, 它們就會變得更獨特。 多年來,人們都在購買 磨損和破洞的牛仔褲。 所以,這只是另外一種 會在衣櫥中隨著我們的 人生和我們一起演化的衣服。
This shirt, for example, is one that, much to the dismay of my mother and the state of her kitchen, I dyed at home, using turmeric, before coming here today. This shirt is something that none of my friends are going to have on their Instagram feed. So it's unique, but more importantly, it's naturally dyed. Now, I'm not suggesting that everybody dye their clothes in their kitchen sink at home. But if we were able to apply this or a similar process on a commercial scale, then our need to rely on these harsh chemical dyes for our clothes could be easily reduced.
比如,這件上衣就是。 令我媽媽感到驚愕的是, 我在今天來這裡之前, 用她廚房裏的薑黃 把這件上衣染色。 我這件上衣也成了 在我朋友的 Instagram 貼文上都不會出現的東西。 它是獨一無二的, 更重要的是,它是天然染色的。 我並不是在建議 大家都在自家廚房將衣服染色。 但,若能應用這個方法, 或類似的流程,做到商業的規模, 我們依賴刺激性化學染劑 來將衣服染色的需求 就很容易降低。
The 2.4-trillion-dollar fashion industry is fiercely competitive. So the business that can provide a product at scale while also promising its customers that each and every garment will become more unique over time will have a serious competitive advantage. Brands have been playing with customization for years. The rise of e-commerce services, like Indochino, a bespoke suiting platform, and Tinker Tailor, a bespoke dress-making platform, have made customization possible from your couch. Nike and Adidas have been mastering their online shoe customization platforms for years. Providing individuality at scale is a challenge that most consumer-facing businesses encounter.
在價值 2.4 兆美元的時尚業, 競爭非常劇烈。 所以,若企業能提供大規模的產品, 同時向客人承諾 每一件服飾都會隨時間變得更獨特, 這企業就會有很強的競爭優勢。 多年來,各品牌都在玩客製化。 電子商務服務的興起, 像訂製西服的平台 Indochino, 以及洋裝訂製平台 Tinker Tailor, 讓你坐在沙發上就能享受訂製服務。 耐吉和愛迪達都投入發展 其線上鞋子客製化平台, 已有數年時間。 大規模提供個性化服務, 是大部分要面對消費者的 企業會遇到的挑戰。
So being able to tackle this while also providing an environmentally friendly product could lead to a pretty seismic industry shift. And at that point, it's not just about doing what's best for our environment but also what's best for the bottom line.
所以若能處理這個議題, 同時還能提供環保產品, 就有可能造成很巨大的產業轉變。 在那個時點, 就不只是在做對環境最好的事了, 同時也是做對結果最好的事。
There's no fix-all, and there's no one-step solution. But we can get started by designing clothes with their death in mind. The fashion industry is the perfect industry to experiment with and embrace change that can one day get us to the sustainable future we so desperately need.
沒有萬靈丹,沒有一步登天。 但我們能開始行動, 設計衣服時要思考它們的廢棄問題。 若要在一個產業中實驗和擁抱改變, 時尚業是完美的選擇, 有一天,這改變能帶給我們 迫切需要的永續未來。 謝謝。
Thank you.
(Applause)
(掌聲)