Tim Flemming
Founder
Flatland OK
Age 38

Ultimate style icon; Clint Eastwood in his earlier films, perfect balance being between being dressed up while dusty (like a carpenter).

Fredrik Jönsson
Fashion Designer
Age: 33

“Keep it simple stupid”

Emma Telfer
Marketing Manager
State of Design
Age 30

Ultimate on-line shopper always looking for that $2 000 item discounted. Hello Rick Owen.

Swensk, in collaboration with RMIT present – Slow Fashion: Concepts of Sustainability, an investigation of the process of customising a four piece collection for four Swensk customers by deconstructing high quality garments by Swedish designers Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, Filippa K, J.Lindeberg and Whyred. Each collection has been designed and delivered by 3rd year RMIT fashion students as part of the RMIT studio: Concept of Sustainability – A Piece of Cloth.  This is a film of the student’s journey through the concept of sustainability in fashion, the research process.

Documentation by Alison Cosson and Tristan Sinclair

Swensk, in collaboration with RMIT present – Slow Fashion: Concepts of Sustainability, an investigation of the process of customising a four piece collection for four Swensk customers by deconstructing high quality garments by Swedish designers Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, Filippa K, J.Lindeberg and Whyred. Each collection has been designed and delivered by 3rd year RMIT fashion students as part of the RMIT studio: Concept of Sustainability – A Piece of Cloth.  This is a film of the student’s journey through the concept of sustainability in fashion, the research process.

Documentation by Carolina Barua and  Remie Cibis

Designers has a fine line to walk in regards to whom they design. Do they design for themself or for the customer or both. I guess the answer is easy for or brands but it is not so easy if you view it from the buyers perspective. I am so bold to say that as soon the piece hits the store its no longer about the designer. It’s only about the consumer. The Personality Collection theory is based on the following Slow fashion values; reuse, redesign, limited editions, quality fabrics, customizing, craftsmanship, limited editions and target group understanding.

There are many sayings in life that makes sense. If you try to figure out their origin and reasons for theirs existence it sometimes give you answers to questions that normally could feel impossible to solve. Our philosophy is built on the idea that our consumer is not being blamed for consuming. They should not even be supplied with products that have a negative impact on society.

So, what does that leave Swensk?

The manifest is Swensks project to explore new ways for retailers to take responsibility for consumerism, rather than being the reason for over-consumption. Don’t get us wrong, spending should be fun for the end-consumer and it’s Swensks responsibility to make it sustainable.

This text would not exist if we had endless resources and selling 10 products while producing 1 000 would not have any negative environmental impact. What we want to achieve is defining Swensks responsibility for the excess of 990 unnecessary pieces. And as a retailer find the balance between growth and responsibility without reducing the value of good design and costs of resources. This is plain common sense.

At Swensk we sell pieces that we believe have a timeless approach and in combination with quality it will last for a long time. Adding the belief that our customers use and love our products produced by a supplier with a clean conscious, it leaves fewer areas for us to be in control off. With that in mind, we had to set up some objectives.

Slow fashion for Swensk is not only about providing sophisticated designs made by quality fabrics. The concept is built on the premises we, as a retailer, should maximize the possibility for products to lasts and take responsibility for those that doesn’t. Conclusion – don’t create more landfill.

Welcome to The Slow Fashion Manifest and a homage to consumer values.

Women
Lines and shadows of the body act as a starting point in Whyred’s SS10 collection where cuts and prints clearly put anatomy into focus. Inspired by the films of Peter Greenway with his unique aesthetics and morbid stories; Whyred uses bones, blood veins and magnified skin structure to emphasize the raw aesthetics of life and death while looser slinky materials sensually bring out the shape of the body.

The look is neo-minimalistic with a clean and modern impression striking a chord to the 90’s fashion and pop culture. A minimized amount of cuts – only employed to emphasize specific body parts or shapes – hidden buttons and simple details contribute to the clean look.

The revival of the 90’s is also evident in the blazer inspired dresses, distinct silver zips and transparent details. The silhouette continues to play with contrasts; narrow bottom/wide top or vice versa were the fluidity of the fabric often causes the garments to drape around the body. A spacious transparent vein print dress is perfectly paired with a tight cat suit for late cocktail hours. Whilst an oversized blouse under a collarless solid wool mix jacket offer a characteristic Whyred girl everyday look when matched together with a pair of three-colour block striped denims.

A slight carrot shape also makes its way into the collection presenting a round shape coat with dolman sleeves which sits nicely over an emerald green blazer-dress in soft cupro and tights covered with a large number of small silver squares. Vaguely rotund trousers teamedwith a semi tailored couture blazer with super sharp shoulders and corset craft toaccentuate the waist and hips unmistakably flirts with the powerful outfits in the Greenway signature film “The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover”.

Shoes and accessories
The shoe collection offers sexy high heels with shiny silver details and three cm platforms, either covered or in solid wood. Attention is especially drawn to high heels in emerald green plexiglass and knee-high boots with detachable legs. Super slim flat sandals in leather or nylon are perfect for the summer heat while a modern brogue shoe and a desert boot in nubuck find inspiration from men’s classics. The bags are small and elaborated, and come with embossed vein patterns, skin structure prints and sharp silver details. A black and white skin structure printed scarf complete the accessories collection.

Materials
The materials show a living or shimmering surface achieved through different treatments, weaving or printing techniques, such as pigment dyeing and devoré printing. Natural and man-made materials are given equal attention: chiffon, viscose and cupro for a truly fluid look as well as nylon, wool blends and cotton amongst other.

Colours
The colour palette is composed and monochrome dominated by black, light hues of grey and beige, and different whites ranging from optical white to marshmallow-white. A subtle colour injection is given by the sophisticated accents emerald green, violet navy and silver.

Men
Lines and shadows of the body act as a starting point in Whyred’s SS10 collection where cuts and prints clearly put anatomy into focus. Inspired by the films of Peter Greenway with his unique aesthetics and morbid stories; Whyred uses collar-bone cuts, blood veins and magnified skin structure prints to emphasize the raw aesthetics of life and death while looser flaccid materials bring out the shape of the body in an out of focus way.

The look is neo-minimalistic with a clean and modern impression striking a chord to the 90’s fashion and pop culture bringing Whyred back to its roots. A minimized amount of cuts – only employed to emphasize specific body parts or shapes – hidden buttons and simple details contribute to the clean look. The revival of the 90’s is also evident in the slick silhouette featuring boxy square top with narrow bottom.
Coats are shorter with high collars and trousers are slim in stretch material. A clean cut nylon coat together with tight two-colour trousers exemplify this look and come in pigment dyed materials – a mottled surface evident throughout the collection. Skinny stretch trousers sit perfectly together with boxy biker inspired nylon jackets and long cardigans were the emerald green paper fiber version give a futuristic injection. Swap the cardigan for a stained jacquard jersey shirt and the jacket for a leather/nylon blazer and the indie-cool Whyred look is complete.

A key styling option is the from-top-to-toe white outfit clearly flirting with the Greenway signature film “The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover” with its bold monochrome spatial images. Mixing different kinds of white offer a more interesting look: a marshmallowwhite slinky cupro blazer with matching trousers together with an optical white shirt.
For late cocktail hours the collection offers a black smoking inspired blazer in cool wool mix looking like two blazers put together with double lapels and cuff details. This is matched with a white shirt and Jodhpur inspired trousers – loose by the thighs and slim by the calves.
Shoes and accessories
The materials used are leather, nylon, canvas and nubuck; often mixed together, yet in a monochrome colour combination. The shoe collection ranges from minimalistic laced shoes and classic desert boots to slick trainers and high-tops. A general feature in all outfits is shoes without socks. Bags are practical offering computer bags and a typical 90’s pannier as well as a set of skin structure printed leathers such as a slim computer brief and
different kinds of wallets.

Materials
The materials show a living and shimmering surface achieved through different treatments such as pigment dyeing, weaving or printing techniques. Nylon and other man-made fabrics are widely used in the collection for a more hi-tech look and feel but natural materials such as wool blends, cotton and leather are still important players.

Colours
The colour palette is composed and monochrome dominated by black, light hues of grey and beige, and different whites ranging from optical white to marshmallow-white. A subtle colour injection is given by the sophisticated accents emerald green, violet navy and silver.

Bianca Wiegard
Retail Mentor
Age 40

I go swimming  to clear my head and make room for fresh creative ideas and we started Fat for $6,000. Favorite label is Romance Was Born.