John-Paul Flintoff is a London-based writer who counts documentary filmmaker Michael Moore and late Nobel winner Harold Pinter among his fans.
He regularly writes for a number of British magazines and newspapers, and occasionally fancies himself a filmmaker, broadcaster and public speaker. His claim-to-fame is the book he published in 2009, Through the eye of a needle, with the somewhat off-beat subtitle of, “The true story of a man who went searching for meaning and ended up making his Y-fronts”. It’s about his journey to finding meaning, learning to make his own clothes and modern society’s desperate need for a return to a “mend-and-make-do” culture.
“I have become increasingly frustrated by my dependence on other people to do the simplest things”, Flintoff writes in his book. He also accounts how he taught himself to do things like catch rats and put up shelves. Flintoff’s reasoning is that if we can grow our own food, should we not be learning to clothe ourselves too? With the added bonus that people and resources will not be exploited in the process.
In 2010 Flintoff’s book was republished as Sew Your Own. The book is an exploration, but its more than just some writer’s existential quest and is also about more than just making your own clothes. It reconsiders consumer culture in a meaningful and proactive way.
Flintoff’s ideas about simplicity, resourcefulness and environmental consideration are fast gaining popularity in the UK. He shares some of his thoughts on sustainable fashion, human greed and really making a difference with Design Indaba.
What does "sustainability" mean to you?
Ordinarily, it means reducing impact, but ideally it means putting things back into reuse, turning rubbish into a valuable resource, just as water goes through a cycle from cloud to stream to river to ocean to cloud.
How do we (ecologists, journalists, politicians etc) get people to take climate change seriously when it feels like a far-off, intangible problem?
I've come to the conclusion that there is no point lecturing because it makes people stop listening. If you can't think of an interesting and compelling way to make people change their habits they won't. I started making clothes because it's actually fun to do it, and the more I do it the more I learn about how to do it sustainably and I know that others, if they try it, will learn similar lessons. But I can't make them do it except by offering a positive example!
What's the biggest obstacle hampering sustainable fashion?
A lot of people think it's about price. I'm not convinced. In the UK, I fear that too much emphasis is placed on getting "ethical" or "sustainable" fashion that is made by people far away. I'm all for helping Nepalese knitters and West African weavers, but I think it's crucial for people in every country to re-learn clothes-making themselves, at least a little bit. I know that it would be great for the elderly people in British care homes to do knitting. It would give them something to invest themselves in, rather than sitting idle and feeling useless. I suspect there are many others, too.
In your opinion, is there a link between crisis (environmental/financial etc) and innovation? In the sense of "necessity is the mother of invention"?
Absolutely. I'm increasingly convinced that people won't really do much to change their ways (see above) until it becomes necessary. When cheap oil runs out, all other commodities will become expensive too, and people won't waste them.
What do you think are our most pressing environmental concerns: on a micro level?
We don't need to have as much as we yearn for, and we don't need to travel as far either. It's quite possible to be happy just where you are, without very much!
Do design solutions (across a variety of disciplines) have the potential to save/change the world?
I'm a very big fan of permaculture, which is essentially a programme of design that tries to emulate nature rather than impose upon it. A typical example of this is to use companion planting: crops that benefit each other. But it extends much more widely than that. Every designer I know who has looked into it has become excited and taken it on.
The perception of home-made being less worthy (especially with clothing) is still quite pervasive, how do we set about changing this? Is it a mind shift that needs to take place?
Again, I think the only way it works is if a person tries it for themselves. Even the tiniest attempt to customise or repair a garment gives you a greater stake in it. You just love it a bit more. It may not look much different to anybody else, but it will feel different to you. (This won't necessarily apply to everyone. Some people are utterly wedded to the idea of new branded goods.) I have met many people who were bowled over by the experience of making something themselves. My own wife has been very helpful in this respect: she won't let me out of the house in my home-made clothes unless they look as good as the things available in shops. This kind of quality control means that people won't even know they're home-made, unless I tell them.
Is it as simple as blaming human greed and lust for the environmental crisis in which we find ourselves today?
Well it probably is that simple, but we're all guilty of greed and lust. We're human. Best not get into the blaming game.
What's the most interesting, useful or insightful thing you've learnt on your sustainable journey?
That it's impossible to get something cheap unless somebody, or something, was exploited. I asked myself why it was considered acceptable to export work from the UK and pay people in distant countries far less than we would pay our family, friends or neighbours. I couldn't think of an answer. At the same time, I felt distressed that by exporting the work we also let down our family, friends and neighbours by taking away opportunities to earn a livelihood. The best way to tackle all this injustice, I think, is for each country to aim for as much self-sufficiency as possible and only to trade the special things. Somebody told me that "Britain used to make its cakes and import only the icing. Now we make the icing but have to import the cakes, as it were". I think that's true. And I don't think it helps anybody. But I wouldn't tackle it by imposing laws and tariffs. I'd hope that each individual will make careful choices.
What's the easiest way that ordinary people can make a real difference?
By loving their neighbours, in the widest possible sense, but also quite literally the people who live next door.
How did your mend-and-make-do attitude come about?
I met people who worked in a sweat shop in Manhattan. I had no idea there were sweatshops in the richest cities of the west. Also, I paid more than I should have done to have somebody else fit the elastic to my daughter's ballet shoes, and resolved to save money by doing jobs like that myself. Then I learned how soon resource shortages will hit us, and wanted to see how the world will work when international trade becomes too costly, and things we currently take for granted become immensely valuable.
We all have to become more self-sufficient but how do we really set about doing this when it seems that the rest of the world is creating pre-packaged solutions to just about everything?
Don't worry too much about what other people are doing, you can't hope to control everybody and nor would it be a nice world if you could. Set a good example and be ready to explain what you're doing with a cheerful smile.
How green is your own home?
It wasn't built to save energy and leaks heat rather badly in winter. We grow quite a lot of our own food, which saves emissions, and also I work at home which saves travel emissions...
Where should education about sustainability start?
In the nursery. Actually, it does. My young daughter is taught a lot about recycling in a practical sense, and about food growing. I'd be glad if more emphasis were put on practical skills at school with young children learning to make clothes and soon after learning to do DIY.
John-Paul Flintoff is a London-based writer who counts documentary filmmaker Michael Moore and late Nobel prize-winner Harold Pinter among his fans.
He regularly writes for a number of British magazines and newspapers, and occasionally fancies himself a filmmaker, broadcaster and public speaker. His claim-to-fame is the book he published in 2009, Through the Eye of a Needle, with the somewhat off-beat subtitle of, “The true story of a man who went searching for meaning and ended up making his Y-fronts”. It’s about his journey to finding meaning, learning to make his own clothes and modern society’s desperate need for a return to a “mend-and-make-do” culture.
“I have become increasingly frustrated by my dependence on other people to do the simplest things”, Flintoff writes in his book. He also accounts how he taught himself to do things like catch rats and put up shelves. Flintoff’s reasoning is that if we can grow our own food, should we not be learning to clothe ourselves too? With the added bonus that people and resources will not be exploited in the process.
In 2010 Flintoff’s book was republished as Sew Your Own. The book is an exploration, but its more than just some writer’s existential quest and is also about more than just making your own clothes. It reconsiders consumer culture in a meaningful and proactive way.
Flintoff’s ideas about simplicity, resourcefulness and environmental consideration are fast gaining popularity in the UK. He shares some of his thoughts on sustainable fashion, human greed and really making a difference with Design Indaba.
What does "sustainability" mean to you?
Ordinarily, it means reducing impact, but ideally it means putting things back into reuse, turning rubbish into a valuable resource, just as water goes through a cycle from cloud to stream to river to ocean to cloud.
How do we (ecologists, journalists, politicians etc) get people to take climate change seriously when it feels like a far-off, intangible problem?
I've come to the conclusion that there is no point lecturing because it makes people stop listening. If you can't think of an interesting and compelling way to make people change their habits they won't. I started making clothes because it's actually fun to do it, and the more I do it the more I learn about how to do it sustainably – and I know that others, if they try it, will learn similar lessons. But I can't make them do it except by offering a positive example!
What's the biggest obstacle hampering sustainable fashion?
A lot of people think it's about price. I'm not convinced. In the UK, I fear that too much emphasis is placed on getting "ethical" or "sustainable" fashion that is made by people far away. I'm all for helping Nepalese knitters and West African weavers, but I think it's crucial for people in every country to re-learn clothes-making themselves, at least a little bit. I know that it would be great for the elderly people in British care homes to do knitting. It would give them something to invest themselves in, rather than sitting idle and feeling useless. I suspect there are many others, too.
In your opinion, is there a link between crisis (environmental/financial etc) and innovation? In the sense of "necessity is the mother of invention"?
Absolutely. I'm increasingly convinced that people won't really do much to change their ways (see above) until it becomes necessary. When cheap oil runs out, all other commodities will become expensive too, and people won't waste them.
What do you think are our most pressing environmental concerns – on a micro level?
We don't need to have as much as we yearn for, and we don't need to travel as far either. It's quite possible to be happy just where you are, without very much!
Do design solutions (across a variety of disciplines) have the potential to save/change the world?
I'm a very big fan of permaculture, which is essentially a programme of design that tries to emulate nature rather than impose upon it. A typical example of this is to use companion planting – crops that benefit each other. But it extends much more widely than that. Every designer I know who has looked into it has become excited and taken it on.
The perception of homemade being less worthy (especially with clothing) is still quite pervasive, how do we set about changing this? Is it a mind shift that needs to take place?
Again, I think the only way it works is if a person tries it for themselves. Even the tiniest attempt to customise or repair a garment gives you a greater stake in it. You just love it a bit more. It may not look much different to anybody else, but it will feel different to you. (This won't necessarily apply to everyone. Some people are utterly wedded to the idea of new branded goods.) I have met many people who were bowled over by the experience of making something themselves. My own wife has been very helpful in this respect – she won't let me out of the house in my homemade clothes unless they look as good as the things available in shops. This kind of quality control means that people won't even know they're homemade, unless I tell them.
Is it as simple as blaming human greed and lust for the environmental crisis in which we find ourselves today?
Well it probably is that simple, but we're all guilty of greed and lust. We're human. Best not get into the blaming game.
What's the most interesting, useful or insightful thing you've learnt on your sustainable journey?
That it's impossible to get something cheap unless somebody, or something, was exploited. I asked myself why it was considered acceptable to export work from the UK and pay people in distant countries far less than we would pay our family, friends or neighbours. I couldn't think of an answer. At the same time, I felt distressed that by exporting the work we also let down our family, friends and neighbours by taking away opportunities to earn a livelihood. The best way to tackle all this injustice, I think, is for each country to aim for as much self-sufficiency as possible and only to trade the special things. Somebody told me that "Britain used to make its cakes and import only the icing. Now we make the icing but have to import the cakes, as it were". I think that's true. And I don't think it helps anybody. But I wouldn't tackle it by imposing laws and tariffs. I'd hope that each individual will make careful choices.
What's the easiest way that ordinary people can make a real difference?
By loving their neighbours, in the widest possible sense, but also quite literally the people who live next door.
How did your mend-and-make-do attitude come about?
I met people who worked in a sweat shop in Manhattan. I had no idea there were sweatshops in the richest cities of the West. Also, I paid more than I should have done to have somebody else fit the elastic to my daughter's ballet shoes, and resolved to save money by doing jobs like that myself. Then I learned how soon resource shortages will hit us, and wanted to see how the world will work when international trade becomes too costly, and things we currently take for granted become immensely valuable.
We all have to become more self-sufficient but how do we really set about doing this when it seems that the rest of the world is creating pre-packaged solutions to just about everything?
Don't worry too much about what other people are doing – you can't hope to control everybody and nor would it be a nice world if you could. Set a good example and be ready to explain what you're doing with a cheerful smile.
How green is your own home?
It wasn't built to save energy and leaks heat rather badly in winter. We grow quite a lot of our own food, which saves emissions, and also I work at home which saves travel emissions...
Where should education about sustainability start?
In the nursery. Actually, it does. My young daughter is taught a lot about recycling in a practical sense, and about food growing. I'd be glad if more emphasis were put on practical skills at school – with young children learning to make clothes and soon after learning to do DIY.
