Local Fashionalities: Växbo Lin and WomenWeave

Abstract: Global Fashion, via the logic of high-speed, large-scale industrial production and anachronistic high-volume consumption habits, causes significant social and environmental damage. Local Fashion is understood as part of the Slow Fashion movement that aims to change the functions of fashion so that they support or lead the quest to flourish within known human and planetary boundaries. This Licentiate thesis examines, through an exploratory narrative based on new and existing research, two Local Fashionalities. Växbo Lin is a small linen manufacturer/brand in Hälsingland, Sweden, producing new heritage home textiles. WomenWeave is a handloom social enterprise in Madhya Pradesh, India, making naya khadi. Their approaches and practices are presented and discussed vis-à-vis notions of “globality”, “locality”, design management, and the quest for sustainability. The narrative aims to improve understandings of what Local Fashion is, and contribute to the effort to design new fashion systems grounded in logic relevant to contemporary human needs and aspirations.