Dissertation sources and research

 One of the biggest things I've had to work on has been gathering the resources for my dissertation. A lot of the information and sources have been media I have consumed and learned from in the past, so it took some time to go back and find all of the videos and articles I have found useful in the past. I also had to transcribe a lot of the content as I had learned quite a lot from various youtube videos. I wanted to get all of the relevant information I could so I had the ability to pick what I wanted out of the videos, so I got a bt more then I needed, but I feel this will be usefull for being able to explain my process and inspirations. 
I was also recommended to watch A netflix documentary about sanrio, which I plan to check out later today 

Remember to include 6 primary and 4 secondary sources.  

  

1: Clammy Heart clammyheart.shop  

2: Pixielocks / Jillian Vessey  

3: Baylee Jae  

4:   Sanrio // Yuko Shimizu (Hello Kitty) // Yeti (aggretsuko)  

5: Amanda Elise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnU2C3KtuxM&feature=emb_logo  

6: Best Dressed // Ashley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBEsNZQSSWs  

  

  

 1:  The Stitchess  

2:  Redbubble 

3: Kasey Golden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdGCQntx4hs 

4: 40th anniversary Hello Kitty parade in Sanrio Park. (2014, October 31). Associated Press. 

 

PRIMARY 

The Stitchess 

https://youtu.be/OG5bDuiSs8k 

“fast fashion is the biggest issue that the industry currently faces... Fast fashion is a business model that produces large quantities of garments that are usually very low quality that are designed to be discarded within a season or two. This can either be because the item is so trendy that in a couple seasons it won’t be stylish anymore and you won't like it, or it can be so low quality that it will fall apart in a couple seasons. Also, there are 52 seasons in a year. In fast fashion businesses new garments hit the shelf weekly and old garments are often sent to landfill. The speed of production is what defines this business model, and in order to convince buyers to purchase these cheap garments that are going to be thrown away quickly is by making the prices dirt cheap.” 

“All of the materials used to produce your clothing came from somewhere. They took labour to grow, assemble, dye, cut, sew and distribute. Before the Tee shirt that you just bought made it to your hands it passed through the hands of dozens of other people before you, and if you only paid $5 for it, I’m guessing those people weren't paid very much." 

“What is fast fashion? So many of us talk about boycotting or reducing the consumption of fast fashion products - but what exactly is it? Fast Fashion is a business model that exists within the greater fashion industry. It utilizes exploitative labour practices in order to quickly produce cheap garments that are meant to be viewed as disposable. This is bad for fashion, bad for our wallets, and bad for the planet. I hope you will join me in this year’s Fashion Revolution Week to educate ourselves and others, as well as take action to voice our concerns. “ 

“As much as I love fashion and clothing, I also think it's important to consider how and where clothing is made. I went fast fashion free at the start of 2019 to voice my concerns over the rapid consumerism gripping the garment industry. By no means am I perfect, but I think it's important to show that change is a process. I believe it is always important to strive to be better, even if perfection is unattainable.” 

 

CLAMMY HEART // Jordon 

CLAMMY HEART began in January 2017 with a very small, single needle embroidery machine. After the success of my first beret design in early 2019, CLAMMY HEART has evolved from a humble Etsy storefront selling small custom patches to my full time business! We now operate out of my in-home studio that is home to six embroidery machines, most of them multi-needles, and my wonderful assistant. We work hard to deliver you cute home embroidered apparel that is packaged with love and care.  

All of my designs are illustrated in Procreate, and digitized in Embird 2018 embroidery software. Patches are embroidered on a Brother Innov-is 2750D embroidery machine. I trim all of the patches, add iron on backings, etc! For all of our apparel, we use a 16-needle Bernina E16, a 10-needle Babylock Enterprise, a 6-needle Babylock EMP6, and a single needle Brother Persona... All of these machines were purchased pre-owned, local to me, so I cannot help with sourcing machines, sorry! All of the machines use .PES files. 

 

Pixielocks // Jillian Vessey 

https://www.pixielocks.ca/ 

“Today, I am shifting my channel and brand focus to more sustainable and ethical ways of living a colourful, alternative lifestyle. As I work in both the fashion and social media spheres, I look forward to learning and sharing more about ethical fashion in all that I do.” 

 

“I am a fashion design student and full time YouTube creator with a love for all things colourful and kitschy! I began my fashion blogging career over five years ago, making videos about lolita fashion, kawaii style, and essentially documented my life as a fashion weirdo. Now, I'm in design school and am on my path to chase my dream of creating happy, ethical clothing for all people to feel good in!” 

 

Hello Kitty // Sanrio // Yuko Shimizu 

https://tokyotreat.com/news/history-of-hello-kitty-kawaii 

How did it all start? 

Sanrio was founded in 1962 by Shintaro Tsuji, he was of the first people to discover the appeal of kawaii. The first items he created were rubber sandals with flowers printed on them, he noticed that the cuter his items were, the more popular! Therefore, he decided to hire cartoonists to design cute characters for his merchandise. One of these cartoonists was Yuko Shimizu who designed Hello Kitty, and the first item ever produced was a coin purse which was released in 1974! 

The Hello Kitty original coin purse featuring Hello Kitty, a bottle of milk and a fish in a bowl! 

Hello Kitty's first appearance in the United States was made only two years later in 1976 and some became a worldwide phenomenon! She was now the icon for Japanese pop culture and her worth increased from $6 billion in 2010 to $42 billion in 2018. In the beginning, Hello Kitty goods were made for a younger crowd but as she became more popular new products for teenagers and adults were released as well. You can find anything Hello Kitty these days, from stationary and plushies, to suitcases and toasters! 

 

Amanda Elise 

“making sure to keep the brush the same size all the way around, that way the image looks uniform.” 

“I feel like if you’re designing your stickers something to keep in mind is using limited colour palettes and just trying to keep your lines really simple and clear. Typically, when I’m doing stickers, I will opt for something like cell shading over a more blended painterly look just because it's easier for the eye to read when the image is shrunken down” 

“Moving onto colours one thing I should not is that this file is in CMYK, something I’m still trying to figure out with both photoshop and my laptop and the printer that I have is the differentiation between the colours especially RGB an CMYK... I’m trying to work in CMYK just to get a better idea of what its actually going to look like printed so it actually looks a little bit more desaturated on my screen but the colours will be more accurate when I print them out.” 

 

Best Dressed // Ashley  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBEsNZQSSWs 

To this day I still have trouble describing my personal style, I would say it’s very vintage and thrift store inspired. 

“They're handmade in Italy, They’re from a sustainable brand and sustainability is something the I’m really passionate about and that I’m trying to incorporate more into my wardrobe, But I also recognize it is such an elitist issue to ask somebody to pay $200 for a sustainably made reformation dress when they might be working on minimum wage... I know buying sustainable can be really expensive so that is why I love thrift shopping.  

 

I made a whole line of affordable jewellery that is inspired by vintage pieces. 

 

Baylee Jae 

https://twitter.com/Baylee_Jae/status/1176904311265062913/photo/1 

 

 

 

SECONDARY 

 

HELLO KITTY CELEBRATES 40TH ANNIVERSARY Hello Kitty celebrated her 40th anniversary with a parade surrounded by fans of all ages. Sanrio Puroland, a theme park centred around popular Sanrio characters, located in Tokyo put on one of its biggest shows yet for the cat-like character on Thursday (30 OCTOBER). Other popular Sanrio characters also joined in on the parade for the anniversary celebration. Hello Kitty was first introduced by Sanrio Co. back in 1974 in Tokyo and soon spread around the world to share the Japanese 'kawaii' (cute) culture. Over the years Hello Kitty's popularity has managed to remain intact. Kirara Jogo, from Sanrio Puroland's marketing department, thinks the furry character has been so successful because she appeals to people of all ages and genders. "People who come to Puroland range from adults to children and there's a variety of people, so we're really happy that so many people like Hello Kitty," she said. Youko Ishikawa, who grew up loving Hello Kitty, came to Sanrio Puroland with her 3-year-old daughter, Hina, who is now also a fan of the character. Hina embraced Hello Kitty during a photo shoot and wished her a happy birthday. While taking a photo with Hello Kitty, Youko said she started liking Hello Kitty "during nursery school." Sanrio Co. strives to keep Hello Kitty ahead of the curve, factoring in social and fashion trends and collaborating with other popular characters and fashion brands. Hello Kitty is featured on about 50,000 items in some 130 countries. Lady Gaga has performed in Hello Kitty costumes, and rock band Kiss produced T-shirts last year featuring Hello Kitty in its trademark-Kiss makeup and costumes. A sitting Kitty decorated with 14,000 Swarovski stones sells for 476,280 yen ($470) in Japan. Taiwan's EVA Air launched a Kitty-inspired Airbus A330-300 flight between Taipei and Sapporo in 2011, and Kitty-themed luxury spas have opened in Bangkok and Dubai. 

 

Kasey Golden- on Redbubble 

All You have to do is upload your artwork and they do the rest. They print the product, they mail it out and they also do all the communicating with whoever bought it, including any shipping problems you might have or I guess printing problems, product problems, and questions, they handle all of that.  

 Pros  

-they do all of the work, it's as simple as uploading your artwork  

-variety, your work is available on so many products   

-no commitment, you don’t have to commit to ordering 100 notebooks and 300 prints to have the risk of them not selling and end up losing money with Redbubble  

-searchability, I think it’s really easy for people to find your work on Redbubble in comparison to a shop like Storeenvy   

-quality   

 

Redbubble  

Redbubble was born in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. The dream was simple. Give independent artists a meaningful new way to sell their creations. Today, we connect over 700,000 artists and designers across the planet with millions of passionate fans. A brave (and dare we say stylish) new world of self-expression.  

https://www.redbubble.com/social-responsibility/sustainability/  

  

https://shareholders.redbubble.com/site/PDF/1903_1/rbgrouptocombateffectsofclimatechange   

Redbubble CEO Barry Newstead.   

 “This is our way of acknowledging that we as global citizens cannot afford to be silent now -- not when we can still reverse the course of destruction and prevent the worst outcomes. We know many of the artists in our community have raised their voices and created art in support of climate action. We want to follow their lead and inspire more action that can make a difference right now.”  

  

“Sustainability has been part of the Redbubble business model and corporate culture since the company’s inception. Goods purchased on Redbubble’s marketplace for print-on-demand products are produced one at a time and sourced locally in order to use less energy to reach consumers. 95 percent of packages originate from third party fulfilment facilities located within the region from which they are ordered. The company works with renewable energy specialists 3Degrees to measure the amount and impact of the carbon emissions associated with the business, reduce that impact, and offset what can’t be reduced with programs that help the environment. Redbubble is currently funding reforestation in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley and a cookstove replacement program in India that generates offsets equal to growing 41,667 trees for 10 years, or not using 5,788 barrels of oil.” 

 

 

Fast Fashion 

https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/what-is-fast-fashion 

https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-fast-fashion/