fashioning sustainability

sharing research insights

I submitted my PhD thesis just over a month ago (insert happy dance here). After working on the project full time since 2014, it's hard to believe it is over. Well, nearly. It is with three readers, various experts in their fields around the world, who will provide reports and probably some suggestions to strengthen the analysis. So you can't call me "Dr" just yet, but you can bet I'll let you know when you can!

It's an odd in-between feeling, and yet when I hit that "submit" button I did feel an incredible sense of relief and pride at having completed this research.

The cover page, featuring a gorgeous illustration by my talented
friend Natalie Boog - thanks Nat!

Now that I've had some time to breathe I'm working on an Executive Summary to share with the industry, NGO and activist research participants. To say it is a challenge to distill 300+ pages into bite size data that will be interesting and useful to others feels like the understatement of the century. But why did I do this research if it wasn't to support a transition toward sustainable fashion practices, right?

I plan on publishing the research more widely in academic journals and a book (or two!), but all that will take time. In the meantime I thought I'd also share some of the interesting tidbits that came to light during my research here on the blog. Over the next few weeks I'll share some insights into sustainable fashion in Australia including:

• consumer awareness 
• entrepreneurial leadership
• industry action and limits
• social movement progress and pitfalls
• shopping habits
• the connections among all of the above

Ultimately my thesis puts forward a new approach to sustainable fashion activism that can apply to other sectors and has ramifications for how we address the wider climate crisis.

Thanks to all of you for being on this journey with me over the past 5 years when I first published Sustainability with Style and realised just how much work needed to be done on sustainable fashion.

I look forward to sharing more info with you all on my research, but in the meantime if you have any requests for blog posts, please let me know in the comments below.

xxLisa