Past Event

Ishi Vest: Where Fashion meets Sustainability

Harishi Patel, co-founder of Ishi Vest, will be joining us as our guest speaker. 

From Chicago Grid: “Can An Urban Planning Grad Student Change The Fashion Industry?” by Matt Lindner

“An urban planning graduate student at UIC with no background in the fashion industry is hoping to change the way your clothes are made by showing it can be done with Indian-inspired vests that don’t have collars. Come again?…“People are really changing their mind about how consumption happens,” he says. “Folks want to know where everything happens.” So Harishi Patel is partnering with a factory near his hometown in Gujarat, India, to produce organic, hand-spun cotton vests that are part fashion, part eco-friendliness. He says the factory uses herbal dyes instead of chemicals and provides its workers a livable wage and hospitable working conditions..”
Questions For Consideration:
Why might it be important to think about where our clothes come from? How can sustainability and fashion work together to create products that are better for the planet? What is the human cost of our current fashion industry? If workers are to be paid a living wage, are we prepared to pay more for clothes? What stories do you hear in the media about garment workers and what stories are missing?
Want to learn more?

