PhD student joins industry leaders on COP26 panel
A GCU student was invited to be an official panellist at a virtual COP26 event which addressed sustainability goals in the fashion industry.
PhD research student Greg Paton, was part of a panel of experts at the ‘Addressing Sustainable Goals in the Fashion Industry’ event at this year’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Greg accompanied Creative Director at Harris Tweed Hebrides, Mark Hogarth, Director of Customer Engagement and Communications at Zero Waste Scotland, Jill Farrell amongst other industry professionals to discuss how best to put sustainability at the heart of the fashion industry and embed new educational models.
From the beginning of his GCU journey in 2018, Greg has always had an interest in sustainability and textile waste.
He said; “My undergrad dissertation was based on textile waste and what luxury fashion brands can do with it instead of letting it going to landfill.
So that’s always been an interest of mine and it’s stuck with me throughout my studies - from my undergrad, to Masters, and now on to my PhD”.
Showing a strong interest for this subject throughout his studies is what led to one of Greg’s academic supervisors asking him to be part of the panel.
Greg explained how it felt to be given the opportunity to be part of the biggest climate conference to ever take place in Glasgow.
He said; “It was honestly such a great experience and I was quite surprised that I got asked to be part of the panel.
It was such a great mix of academics and industry professionals that I was almost trying to figure out where my voice would sit.
My supervisor reassured me that it would make sense for me to get on board and discuss my thoughts on the topic of fashion waste due to the nature of my PhD research.”
Greg explained how important it was for the voice of a student to be heard at this particular event – so that employers can take future graduates into consideration when making changes within their organisations.
He said; “As much as big businesses need to make the changes to be more sustainable – the changes will happen from people who are actively trying to put new practices into place – like graduates perhaps.
And hopefully we can encourage graduates to go out into the industry and make the changes that need to happen.”
He added; “This discussion was about employability skills relating to sustainability and what graduates really need to know and what we need to equip them with to go into the industry, and get a job and make a difference.”
Fast fashion was a hot topic circulating conversation throughout COP26 and Greg hopes his research will raise awareness of the problematic attitudes society currently has towards fashion.
He said; “We’re living in an Instagram-era where young millennials don’t want to be seen in the same outfit twice.
Fast fashion retailers are also facilitating this behaviour by making clothes so cheap.
They’re making these clothes for younger consumers to go out and buy a dress at, say ten pounds, they then don’t feel like they’re losing much for it, so if they only wear it once they don’t mind because it’s cheap”.
Greg also discussed the improvements that are being made in universities and expressed his hope that things are getting better.
He said; “We’re definitely getting there – universities all over the country are trying to introduce sustainability modules across the board and there’s a lot of research being carried out on it.”
For students studying in the field of fashion, Greg advised how the industry can be perceived in order to make sustainable choices and changes.
He said; “It’s important that fashion graduates really embrace sustainability and develop a strong sense of circular thinking so that resources within the fashion industry are circulated.
With a thorough understanding of the circular economy, combined with the right skills to implement this knowledge, future fashion graduates have the ability to make a significant contribution towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, textile waste and pollution.”
By Rebecca Meechan
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