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.
我想帶大家回到 1950 年代末的獅子山。 那時,我九十三歲的祖母 大約是我現在的年齡。 她住在自由城。 天氣很熱,而她很美麗。 有一天,她去市場 買了一件黃色的洋裝。 洋裝上有條紋,領子上 有個橘色的領帶。 它也很美麗。
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.
我的祖母艾莎嫁給了我的祖父哈利, 這件洋裝是她最愛的洋裝, 因為它比其他洋裝都更短, 這意味著她會露出 更多腿給他看。(笑聲)
(Laughter)
她為了他和自己,經常穿這件洋裝,
She wears it a lot for herself and for him, and she brings it with her in the 1960s when she comes to England.
1960 年代,她來到英國時也帶著它。
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.
快轉六十年, 2018 年夏天,我和她 坐在她的房間裡, 她把這件衣服給了我, 把它背後六十年的 漫長故事託付給我。 透過這麼做,她教了我 牢不可破的一課, 她教了我「珍惜擁有事物」的真締。
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.
那一課對我意義非凡。 當我去二手服裝科技公司 工作時,它對我意義非凡, 當我離開去創立自己的新創公司 SOJO 時,這課對我也意義非凡, SOJO 提供時尚科技解決方案, 改革服裝修補和裁縫產業。 它非凡的意義持續到今天這裡。
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.
珍視我們擁有的衣服 並不是現今的文化規範。 成長過程中,我屬於快時尚的世代, 這個世代的特性是 過度消費服裝和超高廢棄率。 意思就是我們買太多了, 且想都不想就把它們丟棄。
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.
比如:「喔,我已經在 IG 上 穿過那件上衣了,不想再穿了。」 或:「這件襯衫已經破了, 我打算扔掉它再買件新的。」 或:「我星期五安排了約會, 所以我要去買一件新衣服。」 我們被教導這樣子處理我們的衣服。 我以前就是這樣想的。
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.
但,用這種方式處理衣服, 要付出的代價極高, 這是我們在北方世界 很難看見的面向。 出現在 IG 貼文中的那件上衣 沒有被再穿一次, 而是被送去慈善商店, 它的下場可能 和每週漂到迦納海岸的 一千五百萬件物品一樣。 它也可能淪落到 智利阿他加馬沙漠的衣服山上, 這衣服堆已經大到 從太空都可以看見了。
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.
時尚產生的廢棄物 已經達到九千兩百萬公噸。 用個比喻讓大家有點概念, 畢竟那麼大的數字有時很難想像: 如果你把住在歐洲的每一個人, 也就是數億人, 把他們通通放在一個巨大的秤上, 他們的重量仍然比不上 我們每年產生的時尚廢棄物。 這類廢棄物還在增加,且很不永續。
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.
但時尚廢棄物只是整件事的一個面向。 我們製造的衣服已經多到 讓時尚產業每年的碳排放 超越所有的國際航空旅行。
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.
所以,問題是, 我們要如何著手減少 我們產生的時尚廢棄物, 從而減少我們製造的的衣服? 嗯,對我來說,答案很簡單。 當我們用正確的方式珍視衣服, 我們就會照料、修補衣物, 即使體型改變, 也會把衣服改到合身, 我們不會把衣服扔掉,又去買更多。
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.
我以前如何做到的, 可以給大家參考: 我改變了我的心態, 脫離了用完即丟的心態, 轉向珍惜和長久使用的心態。 我想讓大家看看我姐姐的牛仔褲。 我姐姐很愛這條牛仔褲, 那是十五年前我父母 在哥本哈根之旅前買給她的。 我姐姐是藝術家,她最愛 在畫畫時穿這條牛仔褲。 這條牛仔褲很舒服、耐穿, 她甚至用它來擦她的畫筆。
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?
這條牛仔褲是用丹寧布做的, 那是種天然布料。 製造這條牛仔褲需要投入 大量的水、時間,和照料, 許多服裝工人的時間和照料。 這條牛仔褲有價值, 但這價值是隨時間成長的, 因為牛仔褲上有沾到一些顏料, 顏色和世界各地的畫作很搭。 想想看,這裡有一點黃色, 和韓國一間畫廊裡的一幅畫作相符。 或者這裡有點紅色,和邁阿密 一間房子裡的一幅畫作相符。 那有多妙啊?
My sister's worn these jeans so much 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.
我姐姐太常穿這條牛仔褲了, 以致於她得用 SOJO 修補它兩次。 每一塊補丁都讓 這條牛仔褲更個人化, 每一針都讓這條牛仔褲更有價值。 在修補和照料我們的衣服當中, 蘊含有如此強大的美麗和力量。
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.
通常,永續代表著 必須要放棄些什麼。 但對我而言,永續時尚的 重點不是失去什麼, 而是從我們擁有的衣服中 得到更深刻更真實的快樂、 更多連結、更多欣賞, 以及更刻意和更個人化的喜悅。
I think we can all agree that my sister should not throw these jeans away. But that's just one example.
我想大家都認同我姐姐 不應該把這條牛仔褲丟掉。 但這只是一個例子。(掌聲)
(Applause)
但這只是一個例子。
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.
這條褲子我得拿去修改 才能穿得合身, 我現在把它穿上 TED 的舞台, 它也不該被丟掉。 幾年前夏天一個豔陽高照的 日子,我和我最好的朋友 去肯頓的慈善商店購買的 那件洋裝也不該被丟掉。 我爸爸看著我說他為我感到驕傲時, 我身上穿的那件工作服 也不該被丟掉。
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.
衣服可以只是衣服, 可以是快速解決方案、一時的潮流、 某次約會穿過一次就忘記的衣物。 或者,它們也可能是很體貼的東西、 適合我們的某種材質、風格,和外形, 讓我們想一穿再穿, 且能夠具體呈現 我們人生的故事和經歷。
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.
我們每個人都要穿衣服。 所以我想請大家停下來想一下。 那件上衣,那些褲子。 你們知道那麼好的棉花 是世界上哪個國家、 哪塊田種植出來的嗎? 接合處又是哪名女子親手縫合的? 她擁有什麼樣的家庭和生活? 你在哪些地方穿過那些衣服? 穿著它們時發生了那些經歷呢? 六十年後你仍然會保有它們嗎? 為什麼不呢? 想像一下,當你要把一項物品送人時, 你知道那個物品的整個創造旅程, 你也記得你穿著它的所有時刻。
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.
我們生活在不永續的系統內, 要為此負責的無可否認就是 政府、立法、企業,和品牌。 但無可否認, 貪得無厭、不斷購買的人就是我們, 丟棄物品的人也是我們。 因此,我們有很大的力量 和機會,可以同心協力 遠離輕易丟棄購買物品的文化, 邁向另一種文化, 讓我們購買的東西更被愛惜, 更被珍視。
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 --
今天我一直在談衣服, 但主題可以換成任何東西, 因為過度消費和浪費的問題 遠遠不只服裝產業。 我們需要少買些東西, 並且需要照料我們買的東西。 這就意味著,全球浪費 和全球生產會減少, 對地球的負面影響也會減少。 珍視我們擁有的東西 就是一種氣候解決方案。 所以下次你買東西的時候——
(Applause)
(掌聲)
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?"
所以下次你買東西的時候, 也許是為了哥本哈根的旅行 而買的一條牛仔褲, 或者是在獅子山的市場裡 碰巧看見的一件黃色洋裝, 這時候我希望你能想想: 「我需要這個嗎?」 「為了讓這件物品到這裡到我手裡, 背後的代價是什麼?」 「帶著這件物品, 我能創造出什麼故事?」 以及「我會真正好好珍視它嗎?」
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Cheers and applause)
(歡呼聲及掌聲)