Other System: Between Waste and Appropriation. An Analysis of a Different Scenario for the Fashion System

Fashion industry is one of the sectors that has the highest environmental impact, furthermore, because of its supply chain, the increase of textile and clothing waste production has become a huge global concern. The fashion system must play an important role in the path towards sustainability giving the waste a bigger value than the one it has today. Luckily, new ways of production are spreading out, giving life to the “Other system”: a different, circular path that encourages an innovative eye on fashion wastes. Waste has been commonly considered as an unwanted or unusable material. Following the attempt to highlight the value of waste, this study investigates three research questions: Are there any different ways of fashion production? What are the links between them? What are the differences between the “Other system” and the traditional fashion system? For this research seventeen case studies have been considered, including textile producers and vendors, fashion brands and textile artists.