How Textiles Can Be Powerful Mediums for Communication
CFC Member Spotlight: Sara Wynn
Author and interviewer: Stella Hertantyo
Sara Wynn is a designer and communicator with a passion for sustainability and ethics in the textile industry. She is constantly learning, growing, and advocating for ethical advancements within fashion. Sara believes that textiles are a powerful and underrated tool of communication and that we can learn so much from our history with textiles, and from the communities that create and uphold this industry.
I interviewed Sara in the Conscious Fashion Collective Membership as part of our Member Spotlight interview series.
Below are some of the highlights from the conversation, including:
How communication skills can strengthen the sustainable fashion movement,
The power of textiles as a form of communication and expression,
What lessons we can learn from our rich and vast textile histories.
How did you become curious about the intersection of fashion and sustainability?
I’ve been studying textiles for the past ten years. I'm an active weaver and I have a degree in fibers and textile design. I've also worked as a textile designer, creating home textiles and fabrics in New York City.
It was when I was working as a textile designer that I got to see behind the curtain of the industry, and became overwhelmed by both sustainable and ethical problems that I witnessed every day.
I love fabric, I love textiles, and I love this industry. But it was hard for me to accept that something I love so much could cause so much damage to people and the environment. I decided that I couldn’t be complacent and I wanted to contribute to positive change. Yet I didn’t know where to start.
There was a point at which I was sitting at my desk, at the top of some high rise in New York City, surrounded by unused fabric, and my mind started wondering about what a sustainable textile industry could look like — and what it would take to make this happen. From there I quit my job and moved to Paris to pursue a Master’s degree in Global Communications and Fashion.
This is where I learned to think critically about how we use fashion as a form of communication. In all my university projects, I’ve focused on how we communicate sustainability in fashion.
How has weaving become a part of your sustainable textile practice?
I started weaving while pursuing my undergraduate degree in textile design. As part of my program, I had to learn to weave on four to five different types of looms, but also off-loom weaving. It was intense. It opened my eyes to how humans have been producing fabric for over 2000 years.
It also showed me how we have become so disconnected from our clothing and the process of fabric production.
We’re unwilling to pay more than $5 or $10 for a t-shirt. It’s this fast fashion-oriented supply chain that has disconnected us from how our clothing and fabrics are made. We rarely take a step back to ask: How is this fabric made?
Every fabric that we have in this world is either woven or knitted — every single one. These processes are some of the only ones in the world that can’t be automated by machines or by AI. This production, this industry, needs human hands.
There are mechanized looms, but we still need people to dress the loom and get it ready to produce — this can’t be replaced.
Weaving is one of the oldest human activities of all time. It has centered me and grounded me, and it's brought me back to a slower way of production and consumption. Being able to look at a fabric and tell you how it’s made, and what the weave structure is, makes me feel connected to fabric makers — past and present.
If everyone learned about the time and effort that's needed to make fabric, we’d all reevaluate the way we consume and interact with it. Now, when I see a woven t-shirt for $5, I can’t look at it without thinking that the price doesn’t match the effort it took to make it.
Weaving is a visual representation of humanity’s history of textiles. Weaving is slow. It demands a lot from a person and we can learn a lot from this practice.
What are your weaving tips for beginners?
If you’re not in an educational setting, you can try weaving at home. I’d recommend looking into getting a weaving frame or making one yourself. This will allow you to create a tapestry kind of weave. You’ll be able to do the basic under-over weaving and learn how woven fabric is produced.
You can also look into off-loom weaving. With off-loom weaving, you weave around blocks of wood or found objects. There’s a company called Lark & Bower that teaches off-loom weaving. They offer courses and materials and they make the process accessible for people who want to learn to weave using things you can find around your house.
Why do you believe that textiles are a powerful, and underrated, tool of communication?
For the past thousand years, we have used textiles as a way to tell stories and record history. There are so many ways to tell stories through textiles using colors, motifs, woven patterns, and embroidery.
Clothing and fabric are one of the few things in the world that touches everybody — across borders and cultures. We all clothe ourselves. We put fabric on our bodies to cover, but also to communicate.
For example, for centuries there have been societal codes that have been placed on clothing, colors, and embellishments. Throughout history, sumptuary laws were seen to regulate dress.
Vestimental activism — the use of clothing and fashion as a deliberate tool for expressing social, political, and environmental messages — is a great example of how motifs or colors can be used as part of a movement. On the other hand, uniforms create a sense of homogeneity and a united front.
So looking at these examples, we can see that many of the regulations put in place to regulate dress codes are because people have realized that fabric can be a powerful visual communicator. Fabric unites us, and our communities and movements.
Even today there are cultural expectations placed on clothing. For example, in the Western world, we wear a white wedding dress and black at funerals. But, in China, red is for weddings and white is for funerals in Africa. And, in Islam, it’s customary for women to cover their hair with a scarf in certain spaces. And in many cultures, the length of a woman’s dress is up for interpretation.
So clothing has always been stirring up thoughts and feelings and ideas since the beginning of time, even if we haven't realized it.
We wake up in the morning, put on clothes, and in doing that we decide to say something. Whether you know it or not, it’s a way of presenting yourself to the world. Instead of asking people where they got a certain garment, I like to ask: Why are you wearing that? It’s a peek into that person's mind, their personality, how they see themselves, and how they see the world.
Clothing as a communications tool is underrated, because of this idea of disconnection. Throughout history, clothing has proved itself to be an extremely powerful tool.
These days, I feel as though the world is in a phase of transformation and we’re using a lot of words while forgetting that fabric can say just as much, if not more than words can.
And one very sustainable thing that we can all do is to have an intimate relationship with our wardrobes. Know your clothing inside and out, and invest time and emotion into your garments through mending and rewearing. We need to preserve our wardrobes and reduce consumption. Seeing my wardrobe as an extension of myself has made my lifestyle more sustainable.
How can communication skills be used to strengthen the sustainable fashion movement?
Communication is at the heart of the sustainable fashion movement. We're trying to communicate our frustrations to governments, corporations, and brands. We're trying to bring down fast fashion, advocate for ethical work policies, and give a voice to garment workers. All of this is about communicating.
There is so much we can say on these topics, but I can only do things one step at a time. That’s my advice for communicating as well. When in doubt, start with what you know. Communicate with your local community, start a small local group around a subject you are interested in, and reach out to local brands — just start working as a communicator.
You can’t say everything all at once. You can’t sum up the history, the problems, and the solutions in one sentence. My advice would be to pick one area of sustainable fashion that you deeply care about or have a lot to say about. This makes the problem more approachable and digestible.
I often feel like I need to be doing everything all at once and helping everybody. But that’s not possible. This community, this movement, is a team effort. It requires us to all work together. We all have different strengths, which makes our collective voice louder.
So with my one voice, I choose one thing or a couple of things that I want to say. I make sure that these short messages are powerful and succinct.
What advice would you give someone who works in communications and wants to pivot into the sustainability communications space?
I’d advise people to join a community like this one. The CFC Membership has lots of resources, opportunities, and people with similar interests. You’re exposed to so many different voices and opinions.
Being exposed to all of these different perspectives can help you determine what you want to communicate about and what you're good at communicating about. This is important, because the field of communications is vast and holds a lot of overlapping skills and disciplines.
Also, you shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to people via email or on LinkedIn. If you invite people to talk about what they’re passionate about and interested in, most times, people are generous with their time and knowledge and are open to helping you. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people that inspire you.
What are the biggest lessons you have learned from our history with textiles, and from the communities that create and uphold this industry?
This is a huge question with so many different answers. But with such a big question, I’m going to try to find a small answer since I can’t address everything. When you asked me this question, the first word that came to mind was “resilience”.
From the very first people who had the idea to intertwine fibers and put them on their bodies, to the people who push the limits of fabric and fashion, to the garment workers who uphold this industry — resilience is the common thread.
This is a tough industry — it has never been forgiving. But everyone I meet, and everyone I learn about, is so passionate, hardworking, and inspiring. You have to be resilient to keep going and that’s what I think of when I think about the history of textiles.
How have you found ways to advocate for sustainable fashion, when not directly working in the industry?
I want to come back to this idea of a local community. I’ve found a lot of opportunities and resources by trying to get involved, whenever I could, in my spare time.
I’m also a Remake Ambassador, which allows me to meet people, have access to opportunities, access resources, and participate in and host events.
I also connect with people through platforms such as the CFC Membership.
I’m also still connected and active in the world of academia. This has allowed me to be a co-organizer of sustainable fashion conferences over the past couple of years, which has been enlightening and rewarding.
It’s sometimes hard to feel involved if you aren’t working in the sustainable fashion world every day, but every small step counts. Finding a community where you can counts. Start small and start local.
***
To connect with Sara and get featured in one of our Member Spotlights join the Conscious Fashion Collective Membership, the online community for sustainable fashion professionals. You'll also get access to live events, workshop recordings, career resources, extra job posts, and more.