Abstract
In recent years there has been a growing interest in fish skin – a by-product of the food industry – as an alternative sustainable raw material for fashion. Global production of fish has steadily increased over the last decade, and more than 50% of the total remaining material from fish capture results in 32 million tonnes of waste. A substantial amount of this waste is the skin of the fish; only a small percentage of this skin is processed into leather. While, to date, the European Environment Agency allows seafood processors to dispose of fish skins in marine waters, this is expected to change as the decomposing organic waste can suck up available oxygen from marine species and introduce disease into the local ecosystem. Fish skin leather processing could prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution and sustainably protect marine ecosystems in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans. This paper describes the conditions necessary for the development of fish skin craftsmanship within a Fashion Higher Education sustainable curriculum. In order to enhance the innovation and sustainable design of fish leather products, the author has developed an impactful capacity-building approach connecting fashion students with the Icelandic fish leather industry, which is renowned for sustainable sourcing from Nordic fish farms, promoting the sustainable use of ocean-based resources.
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Acknowledgements
Professor Dilys Williams, Director Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion, and Simon Thorogood, Senior Research Fellow Digital Anthropology Lab at London College of Fashion, provided overall guidance for this research.
The research has been funded by AHRC LDoc London Doctoral Design Centre Award.The research has been funded by the EU Horizon 2020-MSCA-RISE-2018. Research and Innovation Staff Exchange Marie Sklodowska Curie GRANT NUMBER 823943: FishSkin: Developing Fish Skin as a Sustainable Raw Material for the Fashion Industry.
In addition, this project could not have been completed without support from the Nordic Culture Fund, OPSTART and the Society of Dyers and Colourists’ grants to deliver the Nordic Fish Leather craft workshop at the Atlantic Leather tannery.
The author would like to express their gratitude to the research assistant Joseph Boon for his vast contribution to the publication, to the Swedish fish skin craftsperson Lotta Rahme, to Katrin Karadottir, Programme Director in Fashion Design at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, to the Icelandic tannery Atlantic Leather and to the Icelandic Textile Centre. The author would also like to thank all the student participants in the study case workshop and the photographer.
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Palomino, E. (2020). SDG 14 Life Below Water. In: Franco, I., Chatterji, T., Derbyshire, E., Tracey, J. (eds) Actioning the Global Goals for Local Impact. Science for Sustainable Societies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9927-6_15
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