Hidden Threads is an immersive experience inviting you to confront the problems within the textile world and to explore the behavioral changes and innovative solutions we can utilize to build a more sustainable future.
Led by student Mary Bibbey from the Design for America Brown University/RISD chapter, Hidden Threads, took visitors on an immersive journey into the world of fast fashion and its myriad problems. Visitors entered by pushing their way through a deep tunnel of excess clothing and emerged into a room showcasing the intimate ties between petroleum, plastic pollution and our clothing. The exhibit continued into augmented reality displays, areas for writing out commitments to reduce fast fashion pollution and the central showpieces--an ATW80Fabrics garden of biodiverse natural material alternatives to today’s plastic soaked acrylics, polyesters and nylon. More than 800 people attended and all exhibit materials were reused.
Hidden Threads included a public Panel Discussion at Brown University with ATW80Fabrics cofounders Tierney Thys and Carroll Dunham, internationally recognized artist, and RISD Professor Charlotte McCurdy, and; Acumen Fellow, Natalie F. Grillon, Executive Director of Open Apparel Registry (OAR).
PANEL DISCUSSION, Hidden Threads: exploring the Impact Our Wardrobes Have on the Environment and Human Health. RISD/Brown Design For America, May 1, 2022.
This panel discussion event has been organized by RISD/Brown Design For America Hidden Threads project lead Mary Bibbey in collaboration with Around the World in 80 Fabrics and Fashion at Brown.
Panelists include: Cofounders of the nonprofit Around the World in 80 Fabrics Marine Biologist and National Geographic Explorer, Dr. Tierney Thys and Anthropologist and National Geographic Explorer Carroll Dunham; Internationally recognized designer, textile artist, and RISD Professor Charlotte McCurdy, and; Acumen Fellow, Natalie F. Grillon, the Executive Director of Open Apparel Registry (OAR), a platform established to facilitate collaboration and transparency in the apparel industry.
