Nike, NASA and the Unsustainable Future of Fabric

We talk often about what the world might do when we run out of coal or gas or oil or trees. But what would happen if our fabric supplies were to come to an end? Not only would we be rather cold, we might be subjected to more nakedness than even the most liberated nudist convention could handle. And even if champions of the birthday suit were to view such a crisis as some sort of glorious triumph, fashionistas would almost certainly be left lamenting their years of excess on the high street.

These are the issues that inspired the LAUNCH 2020 Summit, which was held recently at Nike HQ in Portland, Oregon. Naturism wasn’t exactly one of the topics up for discussion, but confronting the global ramifications of maintaining an unsustainable fabric industry was.

LAUNCH formed in 2010, when Nike, NASA, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Department of State decided that they should put more time into encouraging and supporting sustainability-oriented projects. So far they’ve run Carbon For Water (which provided 4.5 million Kenyans with clean water), Gram Power (which brought affordable renewable energy to India) and Bioneedle (which aims to rid the world of the waste created by vaccinations through the distribution of biodegradable, dissolvable needles).

This year, however, LAUNCH has turned its attention to the frightening yet realistic prediction that, by 2015, the planet will be producing 4oo billion square metres of material annually. The Summit saw 150 experts, specialists, designers, entrepreneurs, producers and organisations gather together to discuss ideas for increasing the fabric industry’s hope of sustainability.

Images: Nike

[Via PSFK]