Osklen Makes Rio+20 Fashionable

A few weeks ago I was assigned a website brand presentation for a brand from an emerging market. I ended up profiling Osklen, a high-end Brazilian sportswear company. The brand was started in 1989 by Brazilian entrepreneur Oskar Metsavaht. Metsavaht was a mountaineer who designed his own outdoors gear after noticing a lack of gear being sold in Brazil. Soon thanks to his publicity after becoming the first Brazilian to scale Mont Blanc his brand took off. They began a “lifestyle” fashion line that was inspired by the laid back surf lifestyle of Brazil.

The brand takes the laid-back beach inspired look and makes it urban. They do an excellent job representing Brazil as a beautiful country renowned for its beaches and beautiful people, as well as one of the fastest growing nations that is increasing its global presence every year. Even I could appreciate what Metsavaht was doing with his clothes, and I know almost nothing about fashion. So I was even more surprised while exploring Osklen’s website to discover that they are also extremely committed to sustainability.

Metsavaht created Institutio e, is an institute whose mission is “transforming and positioning Brazil as ‘the country’s sustainable human development’, through the creation and management of a network that leverages synergies between different initiatives and actors in society.” It’s quite an impressive goal, but what does it mean exactly? The organization is working to create an online community of “e-brigaders” to support sustainable development in Brazil through a variety of means, but mostly through empowerment by sharing information through social media (check out their Twitter).

The biggest initiative the institute has undergone is the winter collection for 2012. COLECÃO A21 OSKLEN – INVERNO 2012 was inspired by the 20th anniversary of the Rio-92 Conference, and specifically by Agenda 21 which was signed there. The document, which established the importance of each country to seek solutions to the socio-economic and environmental problems of the world, has been one of the most influential international consensus made concerning sustainable development. The collection will be released before June when the Rio +20 United National conference on Sustainable Development will be held. The collection highlights one of the main focuses of Institutio e, to develop “e-fabrics” by “identifying sustainable raw material for use in the textile and fashion supply chain, creating a culture of conscious consumers.” The e-fabrics displayed in this collection are Arapaima and salmon skin, silk and organic cotton, and canvas eco.

I’m excited to see what Osklen will bring to Rio +20. This is the kind of initiative that Agenda 21 was created to do, to help create eco centered companies to cater to eco consumers and help solidify the triple bottom line and create a truly sustainable world. Clothes are what we live our lives in, so why not live life in a sustainable way?

What is Sustainability?

I hate to be unoriginal with my first post here, but I felt like this would be a great place to start my blog. Last semester I took a class called Green Schools and we focused on looking at sustainability the lens of what colleges and universities can and should do.  For the class we had a blog in which we had to discuss sustainability, and the following post is one of my favorite pieces that I have written. I feel like a basic definition is an excellent place to start this blog. So I hope you enjoy.

Sustainability is talked about more and more often these days, yet many people have a hard time defining what sustainability truly is. This is due to varying definitions of the term and a general lack of understanding of the complex factors that go into determining sustainability. Sustainable development, which is closely related to sustainability, is often defined as “development that meets the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs,” (Cortese 17). The common assumption is that sustainability equals “green,” and this definition is used to support that assumption. This means if you do good things today like recycling, putting up solar panels, and consuming less you will be saving more for the future. However, once you factor in the development aspect you must realize that sustainability is about building a society that can continue to function within the realm of reality and feasibility. The following video may be basic, but it does an excellent job explaining sustainability in simple terms.

The video stresses the importance of including society and the economy into sustainability, not just the environment. Currently in most people’s minds these three things are separate entities, often seen as opposing forces in constant combat. When policy makers and leaders approach issues with this mindset their view is limited, and therefore their solutions are limited as well. Limited and ineffective solutions only exacerbate the problem. To adequately address issues you must consider the health, social, economic, political, security, population, and environmental aspects associated with them, instead of only focusing on one or two (Cortese 18.)

Universities can and must play an essential role in the pursuit of sustainable development. With a rising percentage of the population in both developed and developing countries achieving higher education, the influence universities have over society is increasing (Cortese 19). However, the current academic structure only perpetuates the problem instead of tackling it. Separated academic departments in universities refuse to integrate information across disciplines and therefore retard critical thinking and problem solving. This effectively negates any attempt at effective and sustainable solutions (M’Gonigle & Starke 33). Attempting a simple solution like recycling more or building LEED certified buildings cannot produce a large enough impact to counteract the inherent failures of our society that universities perpetuate.

Over consumption is ingrained in children from a young age, and reinforced in every stage of life. This is because up until now the view of economist has been that grown will always continue and therefore the population can continue to grow and increase its standard of living without negative consequences (M’Gonigle & Starke 32). Obviously logic should prove this assumption wrong, just as science has over the past few decades. Unfortunately, universities do not attempt to address this issue by challenging students to think in an interdisciplinary and critical way. Instead they allow students to feel that they are doing “less bad” by recycling the water bottle they should have never purchased in the first place. Until people are ready to address large scale problems with an integrated and holistic view, simple solutions will continue to give solace to those who continue to live unsustainably.

Works Cited

Cortese, Anthony D. “Chapter 3: Higher Education’s Critical Role in Creating a Healthy, Just, and Sustainable Society.” The Green Campus: Meeting the Challenge of Environmental Sustainability. Alexandria, VA: APPA, 2008. 17-24. Print.

M’Gonigle, Michael, and Justine Starke. “Chapter 2: Genealogy of an Ancient Edifice.” Planet U: Sustaining the World, Reinventing the University. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society, 2006. 21-41. Print.