Shared vision - developing sustainable fashion
We are very proud to share the following update...
The University of Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership (CISL) is a globally influential Institute developing leadership and solutions for a sustainable economy. As creators of the Rewiring the Economy framework, CISL aims to demonstrate how the economy can be ‘rewired’, through focused collaboration between business, government and finance institutions, to deliver positive outcomes for people and environment, in pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
For over 30 years, CISL has set a global benchmark for sustainability leadership education for individuals and organisations, collaborating with institutions including the British Antarctic Survey to deliver impactful programmes.
Each year, CISL engages with over 1200 delegates through their programmes, working with over 250 organisations from business, government and finance sectors. This year, CISL ran a bespoke programme for the iconic French fashion house, Chanel.
What is the Climate Code shirt?
This is a product that was developed in collaboration with Andy Boothman from DressCode Shirts (DCS) and Professor Ed Hawkins, from Reading University. The Climate Code shirt features two main datasets – the stripes of the fabric represent the last 70 years of temperature records from the Arctic, with details providing the backdrop of 800,000 years of Antarctic temperature and CO2 data.
The innovative design brings together the dynamic story of the past and the worrying trends of the present in a novel visualisation that aims to inspire climate action. The DressCode approach to fashion has always been to embrace ‘slow, sustainable fashion’. For this project DCS are using Tencel, a sustainable plant based fabric and printing digitally to reduce the amount of water and heat required to print onto the weave.
What did organisations you showed the shirt to think?
"Some of the teams recognised the warming stripes immediately, to others it was totally new".
"Everyone agreed that it was a striking visual narrative to an important story, and the ‘hidden science’ that was within the design of the shirt brought depth and discussion".
"This project is bringing the science alive, taking it out of the labs and conferences and into everyday life, where people will comment and observe, before discovering the real depth and science– of the 800,000 years of data that has gone into the shirt".
Information exchange
If you'd like to know more about this project, the work that we produce and how we can help you communicate abstract information, data and other stories through shirts and clothing, contact us.