I'd like to take you all back to the late 1950s in Sierra Leone. My 93-year-old grandmother is about my age. She lives in Freetown. It is hot and she is beautiful. She goes to a market one day and she buys a yellow dress. It has stripes down it and an orange tie attached to the collar. It is also beautiful.
Saya mau mengajak kalian kembali ke akhir 1950-an di Sierra Leone. Nenek saya berusia 93 tahun saat itu seusia saya. Dia tinggal di Freetown. Kota yang panas dan dia cantik. Dia pergi ke pasar suatu hari dan membeli gaun kuning. Gaun bergaris-garis di bagian bawah dan ada dasi jingga di kerah. Gaun yang indah.
My grandmother Isa is married to my grandfather, Harry, and this dress is the favorite of all her dresses because it's shorter than the rest, meaning he gets to see more of her legs.
Nenek saya, Isa, menikah dengan kakek, Harry, dan gaun ini menjadi favorit dari semua gaunnya karena lebih pendek daripada gaunnya yang lain, agar kakek bisa melihat kakinya.
(Laughter)
(Tawa)
She wears it a lot for herself and for him, and she brings it with her in the 1960s when she comes to England.
DIa sering memakainya untuk dirinya dan kakek, dan dia membawanya di tahun 1960-an saat datang ke Inggris.
Flash forward six decades and I'm sitting with her in her room in the summer of 2018 and she gives this dress to me, entrusting me with its 60-year-long story. And in doing so, she teaches me an unshakable lesson about what it means to truly value what we own.
Setelah 60 tahun, saya duduk bersamanya di kamarnya saat musim panas 2018 dan dia memberikan gaun ini pada saya, menceritakan kisah panjangnya selama 60 tahun itu. Dengan cara itu, dia mengajari saya suatu prinsip keteguhan tentang menghargai apa yang kita miliki.
That lesson meant everything to me. It meant everything when I went to work at a second-hand clothes tech company and it meant everything when I left to start my own startup, SOJO, a fashion-tech solution that's revolutionizing the clothing repair and tailoring industry. And it continues to mean everything here today.
Ajaran itu sangat berarti bagi saya. Itu sangat berarti saat saya bekerja di perusahaan teknologi pakaian bekas dan juga saat memulai perusahaan rintisan saya sendiri, SOJO, sebuah solusi teknologi fesyen yang merevolusi industri permak dan jahit pakaian. Dan itu tetap berharga hingga kini.
Valuing clothes that we own is not the cultural norm. I've grown up as part of the fast fashion generation, which is all about overconsumption and hyper disposability of clothing, meaning we buy way too much and we throw it away without a second thought.
Menghargai pakaian kita bukanlah soal norma budaya. Saya dibesarkan dalam budaya fesyen cepat, yaitu konsumsi pakaian yang berlebihan dan terlalu sering dibuang, artinya kita membeli terlalu banyak dan membuangnya tanpa berpikir panjang.
Think, "Oh, I've worn that top on Instagram, so I don't want to wear it again." Or, "This shirt has ripped, so I'm going to chuck it and get a new one." Or, "I've got a date lined up on Friday, so I'm going to buy a new outfit." This is how we've been taught to engage with our clothes. This is how I used to think.
Berpikir, "Saya sudah pernah memakai atasan itu di Instagram, jadi saya tak mau memakainya lagi." Atau, “Kemeja ini sobek, jadi buang saja dan beli yang baru.” Atau, “Saya berkencan di hari Jumat, jadi saya akan membeli baju baru.” Inilah yang diajarkan ke kita soal konsumsi pakaian. Inilah cara saya dulu berpikir.
But engaging with clothing in this way has an absolutely devastating cost, a side we in the global North so rarely get to see. That top from that Instagram post that went to a charity shop instead of being reworn, it could have ended up as one of 15 million items arriving to the shores of Ghana each week. Or it could have ended up on the mountain of clothes in the Atacama Desert in Chile, a pile so big, it's now viewable from space.
Namun, cara konsumsi pakaian seperti ini memerlukan biaya besar, sisi yang jarang sekali kita temui di belahan dunia Utara. Atasan yang dipakai untuk unggahan Instagram disumbangkan ke toko amal alih-alih dipakai ulang, itu bisa saja berakhir menjadi salah satu dari 15 juta barang yang tiba di pantai Ghana tiap minggunya. Atau bisa saja berakhir di gunungan pakaian di Gurun Atacama di Chili, tumpukan yang begitu besar, bahkan bisa dilihat dari luar angkasa.
Fashion waste levels have reached 92 million metric tons. To put that into perspective, because sometimes big numbers are really hard to conceptualize, if you took every single person that lived in Europe, we're talking hundreds of millions of people, and you brought them all together and you put them all on one massive weighing scale, they still wouldn't be as heavy as the amount of clothing waste we're producing annually. And it's growing and it's unsustainable.
Tingkat limbah fesyen telah mencapai 92 juta metrik ton. Sebagai perspektif, karena terkadang angka besar sulit dikonsepkan, jika Anda menghitung tiap orang yang tinggal di Eropa, jumlahnya mencapai ratusan juta orang, dan menyatukan mereka semua dan menempatkannya pada satu timbangan besar, mereka tak akan seberat jumlah limbah pakaian yang dihasilkan tiap tahunnya. Dan itu terus bertambah dan tak berkelanjutan.
But fashion waste is only one side of the coin. We are producing so many clothes that the fashion industry's carbon emissions each year are more than all international air travel.
Namun, limbah fesyen hanyalah satu sisi sebuah koin. Kita memproduksi begitu banyak pakaian sehingga emisi karbon industri fesyen meningkat tiap tahunnya melebihi perjalanan udara internasional.
So the question is, how do we go about generating less fashion waste and in turn reduce the amount of clothes we're producing? Well, to me, the answer is simple. When we value clothes correctly, we care for them, we repair them, we alter them to fit us, even if our bodies change, we don't just throw them away and buy more.
Pertanyaannya adalah, bagaimana cara membuat sesedikit mungkin limbah fesyen sehingga bisa mengurangi jumlah pakaian yang diproduksi? Bagi saya, jawabannya sederhana. Saat kita menghargai pakaian dengan benar, kita merawatnya, memermaknya, menyesuaikannya dengan tubuh kita, meski tubuh berubah, kita tak perlu membuangnya dan membeli lebih banyak.
But how did I, and how do we all, go about changing our mindset away from one of disposability and towards one of value and longevity? Well, I'd like to take you to look at my sister's jeans. My sister loves these jeans ever since my parents bought them for her 15 years ago before a trip to Copenhagen. My sister is an artist. There's nothing she loves more than to wear these jeans when she paints. They're comfortable, durable, and she even uses them as a place to wipe her paintbrush.
Bagaimana saya dan kita semua, mengubah pola pikir sekali buang, menjadi lebih bernilai dan tahan lama? Contohnya celana jin adik saya. Adik saya suka sekali dengan jinnya. sejak orang tua saya membelikannya 15 tahun lalu sebelum perjalanan ke Kopenhagen. Adik saya seniman. Dia sangat suka memakai jin ini saat melukis. Jinnya nyaman, tahan lama, dan dia memakainya sebagai penyeka kuas.
Now these jeans are made of denim, which is a natural fabric. A lot of water, time and care has gone into making these jeans, the time and care of many garment workers. They have value, but their value has only grown over time as there are bits of paint on these jeans that match paintings around the world. Think, there's a bit of yellow over here that matches yellow in a painting in a gallery in Korea. Or a bit of red on this side that matches a painting in a home in Miami. How incredible is that?
Jin ini terbuat dari bahan denim, yang merupakan kain alami. Memerlukan banyak air, waktu dan perhatian dalam pembuatannya, waktu dan perhatian para pekerja garmen. Jin ini punya nilai, tapi hilang seiring berjalannya waktu sebab ada bekas cat di jin ini yang mirip dengan lukisan-lukisan di seluruh dunia. Pikirkanlah, ada sedikit warna kuning di sini yang cocok dengan lukisan di galeri di Korea. Atau sedikit merah di sisi ini yang cocok dengan lukisan di sebuah rumah di Miami.
My sister's worn these jeans so much
Luar biasa, bukan?
that she's had to use SOJO to get them repaired twice, making them even more hers with every patch, making them even more valued with every stitch. There is so much beauty and power in repairing and caring for our clothes.
Adik saya sering memakai jin ini sampai harus memakai SOJO untuk memermaknya dua kali, menjadikannya sebagai ciri khasnya di tiap tambalan, membuatnya lebih dihargai di tiap jahitan. Ada banyak keindahan dan kekuatan pada permak dan perawatan pakaian kita.
So often sustainability can be about the need to give something up. But for me, sustainable fashion isn't about losing anything. It's about gaining a deeper and truer happiness with the clothes that we own. More connection, more appreciation, and more intentional and personal joy.
Sering kali, keberlanjutan berarti harus merelakan sesuatu. Namun bagi saya, fesyen berkelanjutan bukanlah soal kehilangan sesuatu. Ini soal mendapat kebahagiaan lebih dalam dan sejati dari pakaian yang dimiliki. Lebih terhubung, lebih menghargai, menjadi kebiasaan dan rasa senang.
I think we can all agree that my sister should not throw these jeans away. But that's just one example.
Saya rasa semua setuju jika adik saya tak boleh membuang jin ini. Itu hanyalah satu contoh.
(Applause)
(Tepuk tangan)
But that's just one example. This pair of trousers that I've had tailored to fit that I'm now wearing on the stage at TED, they shouldn't be thrown away either. Neither should that dress that I bought a couple of summers ago with my best friend on a sunny day in a Camden charity shop. Neither should that jumper that I was wearing when my dad looked at me and said he was proud of me.
Itu hanyalah satu contoh. Celana panjang ini telah saya sesuaikan agar pas dan kini saya memakainya di panggung TED, celana ini juga tak boleh dibuang. Sama seperti gaun yang saya beli pada musim panas lalu dengan sahabat saya di hari yang cerah di toko amal Camden. Begitu pula jumper yang saya pakai saat ayah saya menatap dan barkata jika dia bangga pada saya.
Clothing can just be clothing. It can be a quick fix, a passing trend, a forgettable item that we wear once for that random date. Or it can be something thoughtful, a material, style and shape that works for us, something we want to wear over and over again and something that embodies the story and the experiences of our life.
Pakaian memang hanyalah pakaian. Itu bisa menjadi solusi cepat, tren sesaat, barang yang terlupakan saat dipakai sekali untuk tanggal tertentu. Atau bisa menjadi sesuatu yang berharga, bahan, gaya dan bentuk yang cocok untuk kita, sesuatu yang mau kita pakai berulang kali dan sesuatu yang menyiratkan cerita dan pengalaman hidup kita.
Every single one of us is wearing clothing. So I want you to stop for a second and think. That top, those trousers. Do you know which field in which country across the world grew that amazing cotton? Which woman with what family and what life sewed your seam together? Where have you worn those clothes? What experiences have you had in them? Will you still have them in 60 years' time? Why wouldn't you? Imagine if when you were giving an item away, you saw the entire creation journey of that item. And you saw all the times that you'd worn it.
Kita semua memakai pakaian. Saya mau Anda berpikir sejenak. Atasan itu, celana panjang itu. Tahukah Anda di ladang negara mana di dunia ini yang menanam kapas luar biasa itu? Wanita dari keluarga mana dan bagaimana hidupnya hingga bisa menjahit baju Anda? Di mana Anda memakai pakaian itu? Pengalaman apa yang Anda punya mengenainya? Apa Anda masih memilikinya 60 tahun ke depan? Mengapa Anda tak mau? Bayangkan saat Anda memberikan suatu barang, Anda melihat seluruh riwayat pembuatan barang itu. Dan menyadari jika Anda terus memakainya.
There is no denying that responsibility for this unsustainable system that we live in lies with governments, legislation, corporations and brands. But there's also no denying that we are the ones doing the insatiable amounts of buying and we are the ones doing the throwing away. And with that, there is so much power and opportunity for us to collectively move ourselves away from a culture in which what we buy is easily thrown away and instead move us to a culture in which what we buy is loved and valued more.
Tak bisa disangkal jika tanggung jawab atas sistem ketakberkelanjutan yang kita jalani ada pada pemerintah, undang-undang, perusahaan, dan merek. Juga tak bisa disangkal jika kitalah yang membeli dalam jumlah yang berlebihan dan kita pulalah yang membuangnya. Dengan itu, ada banyak kekuatan dan peluang bagi kita secara kolektif menjauhi suatu budaya membuang sesuatu yang dibeli dengan mudah, dan beralih ke budaya mencintai apa yang dibeli dan lebih menghargainya.
I've just been talking about clothing today, but really I could be talking about anything as our problems of overconsumption and waste go far beyond just the clothing industry. We need to buy less stuff and we need to look after what we buy. It will mean less global waste, less global production and a reduced negative impact on this planet. Valuing the things that we own is a climate solution. So next time you buy something --
Saya baru saja membahas soal pakaian hari ini, tapi saya juga bisa membahas apa pun karena masalah konsumsi berlebihan dan limbah jauh lebih besar daripada industri pakaian. Kita perlu membeli barang lebih sedikit dan perlu merawat apa yang di beli. Artinya berkurangnya limbah global, berkurangnya produksi global dan dampak negatif di planet ini. Menghargai barang yang dimiliki adalah solusi iklim. Jadi, lain kali Anda membeli sesuatu,
(Applause)
(Tepuk tangan)
So next time you buy something, maybe it's a pair of jeans for a trip to Copenhagen, or maybe you're in a market in Sierra Leone and you come across a yellow dress, I want you to think "Do I need this?" "What has it taken for this item to get here to me in my hands?" "What story can I create alongside this item?" And "Will I really, truly value it?"
Lain kali Anda membeli sesuatu, mungkin celana jin untuk ke Kopenhagen, atau mungkin saat Anda di pasar di Sierra Leone, dan Anda menemukan gaun kuning, saya mau Anda berpikir “Apa saya memerlukan ini?” "Proses apa sajakah yang dilalui hingga barang ini sampai ke tangan saya?" “Cerita apa yang bisa saya buat bersama barang ini?” Dan “Apa saya akan benar-benar menghargainya?”
Thank you.
Terima kasih.
(Cheers and applause)
(Bersorak dan tepuk tangan)