Let's Flatten the Curve! A Local Response to a Global Crisis

Covid-19 has exposed the extreme lack of resilience of the fashion sector at both planetary, human and economic level. Thus, this chapter will be elaborating on a quote from a line of DK trade organisations and companies that sent out a public letter to the DK Government 28th of April 2020, asking for economic support to secure DK based fashion companies from economic loss or bankruptcy. The quote was:

“If our products are not sold now, they are worthless. This is the reality in a sector that drives on seasonal change” (dmogt.dk).

At the KADK the horrific consequenses at so many levels of this quote further informed the development of an entirely new MA in fashion that is replacing the old with effect from 1st of September 2020; Fashion, Clothing and Textiles: New Landscapes for Change. The ambition has been to formulate an educational program where sustainability is completely integrated at all stages, and to do so through revitalising Danish design traditions so that they become relevant tools for tackling the challenges of our times. At the core of the program lies the sentence that is often made use of to describe the Danish welfare society, that everybody should have equal opportunities. This speaks directly into fashions’ current lack of diversity when it comes to both race and colour, gender, age and general cultural observations. With this departure that is embedded in knowledge building on planetary boundaries and climate-positive approaches to use of resources, it is the hope that we will form a new talent pool of students that can help us all ‘flatten the curve’ and create a new fashion sector that is in balance with both planet, people and economic systems through making less and better design that creates more value both at the traditional fashion market and the so-called ‘after-market’.