What do young people think about skills? As the largest generation of young people in history begins to enter the labour market, this question has never been more important. And yet, while there is growing momentum in the public and private sector around the need to strengthen skills provision, young people are often not at the table. The global momentum for public-private partnership around upskilling is hugely positive, but this is something that needs to be done with young people, not just for them.
As we mark World Youth Skills Day, we asked a global sample of 5,506 people aged 18-24 who are active in the labour market. The results, which are part of the Global Workforce Hopes and Fears survey, suggest a generation divided in their capabilities but united in their high expectations of employers.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/youth-workers-skills-access-business?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social_video&utm_term=1_1&utm_content=27379_skills_kids_future&utm_campaign=social_video_2022
London Design Festival 2022
London Design Festival celebrates and promotes the city as a design capital on the global stage.
Shinique Smith and the Politics of Fabric
“It is undeniable and inescapable,” she said recently. “It is a mirror image of what is happening with clothing now and who the clothing is going to…There are whole cultures existing off of our used things. It’s even more complicated now. Now there are so many different people who are oppressed. Fast fashion goes right into a ditch and into another bale.”2 In the physical act of gathering colorful found materials for her work, Smith enfolds layers of dark history into beautiful untidiness, conjuring pasts and presents of labor and toil.
https://sculpturemagazine.art/shinique-smith-and-the-politics-of-fabric/
How fast fashion can cut its staggering environmental impact
‘Fast fashion’ is so called partly because the fashion industry now releases new lines every week, when historically this happened four times a year. Today, fashion brands produce almost twice the amount of clothing that they did in 2000, most of it made in China and other middle-income countries such as Turkey, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Worldwide, 300 million people are employed by the industry.
But incredibly, more than 50 billion garments are discarded within a year of being made, according to a report from an expert workshop convened by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), published in May.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02914-2?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=nature&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1663357413
The real cost of fast fashion
Buying cheap clothing has never been easier. But is there a greater price to pay?
https://theweek.com/feature/briefing/1016752/the-real-cost-of-fast-fashion
IDSA Idea Gallery
This collection holds over 3,000 past Gold, Silver and Bronze winners, as well as Featured Finalists. It stands as an everlasting celebration of brilliance and is a comprehensive reference tool for designers around the world. The winners within this collection are responsible for billions of dollars in sales, have saved lives and have forever changed how people live, work and play. Apple’s original iPhone (Gold, 2008), Tesla’s Model S (Gold, 2013) and the Oculus Rift (Bronze, 2016) are just three recent examples of IDEA winners that have completely disrupted industry and society. This gallery displays the tremendous significance design has in business and beyond. Proving that great results can happen when design is leveraged to its fullest power.
https://www.idsa.org/IDEAgallery?combine=&term_node_tid_depth=383&field_year_value=All&field_idea_award_level_value=All&field_award_special_value=All
What It Will Take to Inspire Hope for a Better Tomorrow
FUTURES, the Smithsonian’s first major building-wide exploration of what lies ahead, sought to address this gap. For eight months between November and July 2022, more than 650,000 people immersed themselves in the exhibition’s 32,000-square feet packed with groundbreaking ideas, contemporary art commissions, prototypes, immersive experiences and historic objects—all, explicitly, focusing on hopeful solutions to navigate the world to come.
First, and perhaps most powerful: Hope drives action. We know that awareness of a problem in and of itself doesn’t often lead to change. When faced with huge challenges like climate change and social division, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless. And yet today common wisdom seems to be that that you have to scare people into taking action on a particular issue or problem. You need to focus on what could go wrong, the disastrous implications and dire consequences that might happen if we are not sufficiently vigilant or motivated.
The People’s Republic of Shein
Circular value chains in fashion: Strengthening trust in second hand markets
The World Economic Forum, Ralph Lauren, Bain & Company, Vestiaire Collective and EVRYTHNG have launched a global alliance of manufacturers, suppliers, consumers and regulators that leverages digital traceability to drive circularity and sustainability.
https://www.weforum.org/impact/strengthening-trust-in-second-hand-markets/
Dress Code: The Future of Fashion in the Metaverse
But what will you buy in this brave new mall? Well, if you and your avatar are going to be seamlessly flitting between work meetings and VR concerts, shopping trips and hanging out with friends, then you can’t be expected to do it all in the same outfit. If the metaverse is about being seen—and it is about being seen—then fashion should be one of its killer apps. Currently, Meta gives users a limited selection of free clothes, all with a plasticky, toylike aesthetic that has presumably been chosen to be as inoffensive as it is easy to render. In June, Meta announced its plan to change that, at least in terms of choice, with the arrival of the Meta Avatars Store and digital outfits from powerhouse fashion brands like Balenciaga, Prada, and Thom Browne.
https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a40803280/metaverse-fashion/
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 