To start with, fast fashion is the terminology for cheap and trendy clothes that makes part of one of the most contaminant industries. This industry is the fashion industry, that is the 2nd most contaminant industry in the world, causing a lot of damage to the natural surroundings. To add on, lately an incredible amount of people have been interested in causes for a more sustainable consumerism of the fashion industry. For this, I decided that for my personal project I needed to combine two goals, the first one was being able to create my own company, using upcycling (helping the planet) and give a part of my earnings to ambiental causes and the second one was creating consciousness about fast fashion (“cheap, trendy clothing, that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at breakneck speed to meet consumer demand”(Rauturier)) and ways to stop it. This project was challenging for me because making a complete company, with structure, takes time, work and knowledge that I had, I got (by making the project) and that I'm still getting . My personal project has a SMART goal because it counts with a specific goal, that is, to create a presentation where I explain how my project will help the environment and create consciousness in people , and also create my own friendly environment brand of clothing. A measurable goal, that was, to create my own brand for January and make a 15 min presentation on how my brand works and helps the environment. An attainable goal, that was to have 50 upcycling pieces of clothes to sell and start having clients, also, talk with the creator of Verde Permuta (upcycling brand). A relevant goal, that was, to give a presentation on how my brand will help the environment, and in the brand's social media, publish some information on how to help the environment with clothes, and other environmental information. And a timely goal, that was that the brand will have a complete structure and will start working the 20th of December of 2020.
To add on, the global context that made more sense with my project is Globalization and Sustainability because that global context talked about the bond between humans and man made, with the environment. My project was actually of all the clothes we buy (man made) and how that impacts the environment. So my purpose was actually, to create consciousness of how we can help this cause.
Some of the knowledge I already had that helped the creation of my project were the courses that I took to create pieces of upcycling and the Intagram, and Youtube videos I followed for ideas of what to do with my clothes. The instagram and youtube tutorials gave me a lot of ideas to develop new clothes. All the projects that I have made, contributed to my knowledge on how I could make people conscious of how they are affecting the world. On the other hand, I took previous knowledge for the creation of my company/brand, from the MYP subjects, such as statistics for my business (math), the creation of a website (design), and how to create digital advertisements (design.) Statistics helped me know how my business was going and how I could improve it (to get more earnings), the advertisement helped me with growing my business with digital publicity using social media, (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,etc.) and the web page helped me by having a platform were the public/shoppers could see what I had and what my project was about.
As my initial research I searched what Upcycling was and why it was invented ( A new and creative way to recycle things (including clothes ) that you no longer use, to make something new and innovative. It is the art of prolonging the life of objects.This idea over the years became more powerful and became an alternative for the exploitation of workers and natural resources, that is, the dark side of the fashion industry.) On the other hand, I searched about fast fashion and its impact on the environment, “fast fashion: cheap, trendy clothing, that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at breakneck speed to meet consumer demand. The idea is to get the newest styles on the market as fast as possible, so shoppers can snap them up while they are still at the height of their popularity, and then, sadly, discard them after a few wears”(Rauturier)”. To finish, I researched examples of upcycling brands (Verde Permuta.) All this information helped me realize where I was and how my project was going to work.