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Introduction To Design Education Theory Research And Practical Applications For Educators Steven Faerm
Introduction To Design Education Theory Research And Practical Applications For Educators Steven Faerm
Introduction to Design Education
This practical, engaging book offers design educators a comprehensive,
hands-on introduction to design education and pedagogy in higher edu-
cation. Featuring instructional strategies and case studies from diverse
design disciplines, including fashion design, architecture, and industrial
design, from both the US and abroad, award-winning author Steven
Faerm contextualizes design pedagogy with student development—a
critical component to fostering successful teaching, optimal learning,
and student success in this ever-evolving industry. Features include the
following:
• Advanced pedagogical methods and strategies to improve design stu-
dents’ learning, holistic development, and design school experience.
• Insights into the changing nature of the design industries and future
challenges faced by design educators within higher education, and
how design programs can be strengthened to better respond to these
challenges.
• A range of practical, flexible teaching methods and pedagogical tech-
niques that design educators can easily adapt to their own settings.
• Diverse international case studies and interviews with thought lead-
ers in design, design education, and higher education.
Written by a leading educator in fashion design, Faerm offers educators,
school leaders, and administrators the context and skills to understand
the evolving nature of the design industry and design education, and to
improve design students’ learning and design school experience.
Steven Faerm is an Associate Professor of Fashion at Parsons School of
Design.A Parsons alumnus and Designer of the Year Nominee, he has been
teaching for over twenty years and is the author of Fashion Design Course:
Principles, Practices, and Techniques (3rd edition, 2022) and Creating a
Successful Fashion Collection (2012). His work has been translated into
nine languages and his scholarly research has been published in leading
academic journals and other publications.
Introduction To Design Education Theory Research And Practical Applications For Educators Steven Faerm
Steven Faerm
Introduction to Design
Education
Theory, Research, and Practical
Applications for Educators
Cover image: Nathalie du Pasquier, Cut out, 2015
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2023 Steven Faerm
The right of Steven Faerm to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
ISBN: 978-0-367-50230-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-50007-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-04916-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003049166
Typeset in Sabon
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
To Kelly
Introduction To Design Education Theory Research And Practical Applications For Educators Steven Faerm
Contents
List of Figures and Tablesx
About the Authorxii
Contributorsxiii
Acknowledgmentsxvii
Prefacexviii
SECTION I
Design Industries 1
1 Introduction to Design Industries: Growth,
Responsibility, and Uncertainty3
2 A Study of the Fashion Industry as a Model
of Widespread Systemic Change11
3 The New Design Entrepreneurs27
4 The Future of the Design Industries44
INTERVIEW WITH MATTHEW KRESSY
SECTION II
Design Education 53
5 Introduction to Design Education: The Historical
and Contemporary Contexts of US Higher
Education55
6 The Design School Experience68
viii Contents
7 Speculations on the Future Design School Structure78
BENJAMIN STOPHER AND TOBIAS REVELL
8 The Future of Design Education85
INTERVIEW WITH TIM MARSHALL
9 Global Directions: Unique Approaches
to Design Education93
VERÓNICA FIORINI, SUSAN ORR, BENJAMIN STOPHER,
ARTURO TEDESCHI, AND CHRISTINE TSUI
SECTION III
Design Pedagogy 115
10 Introduction to Design Pedagogy117
11 Young Adult Development124
12 Students’ Transition from High School
to Design School140
13 Developing Competent Pedagogy:
A Web of Practices152
SECTION IV
Design Classrooms 185
14 Introduction to Design Classrooms: A Workbook
of Effective and Strategic Teaching Methods for
Design Educators187
15 A Practical Guide to Teaching the New Design
Undergraduates192
16 Teaching as Performance206
17 Classroom Dynamics: Trust and Conflict217
18 Motivation and Design Students229
19 The Inclusive Design Classroom243
20 Designing the Learning Experience:
The Syllabus253
Contents ix
21 Assessment as Learning267
MARIAH DOREN
22 Faculty Mentorship277
		
Conclusion290
Index 293
Figures
1.1 A lab technician tests nanofibers on an electrospinning
machine8
2.1 A garment sweatshop in 190513
2.2 Number of employees in the US apparel manufacturing
industry, 1990–2019 (in 1,000s)15
2.3 Clothing and clothing accessories store sales in the US,
1992–2019 (in billion USD)19
3.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs32
3.2 Mycelium “leather” is a bio-based sustainable and
bio-degradable material made of mushroom spores
and plant fibers35
3.3 Designer Kenneth Cole’s “Tied with Pride” advertising
campaign is one of many the company has developed to
support social issues37
5.1 Number of US degree-granting postsecondary institutions
and their total fall enrollment, 1974–202058
5.2 Average undergraduate tuition and fees and room
and board rates charged for full-time students in
degree-granting postsecondary institutions, 1969–2020
(in constant 2019/2020 USD)59
6.1 The Bauhaus at Dessau71
6.2 Gropius’ curriculum schema displaying students’
sequence of learning, from the outer ring (the Vorkurs)
to the centralized areas of disciplinary study73
9.1 The Fiat 500 (1957)102
9.2 Prototype for a solar balloon that floats above a city
by day and lights its streets by night110
10.1 The studio critique121
11.1 Emotional well-being, by hours per week using social
media (% indicating “frequently”)129
11.2 Percentage of twelfth-grade students who have a driver’s
license, who have ever tried alcohol, and who have a paid
job, 1989–2020 134
List of Figures and Tables
List of Figures and Tables xi
12.1 Perry’s Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development142
13.1 The studio classroom154
14.1 The Pedagogical Ecosystem189
16.1 Interpersonal distances214
16.2 Seating positions215
18.1 Flow model230
18.2 The Zone of Proximal Development232
21.1 Bloom’s Taxonomy Pyramid272
22.1 The Model of Effective Mentoring279
Tables
9.1 The four phases of growth in the Chinese design
industries99
9.2 Public and private design schools in Italy105
12.1 Initiatives to support design students’ transition into
design school149
15.1 Practical teaching strategies for the new generation of
design school undergraduates193
22.1 Examples of specific responsibilities and activities
commonly practiced in faculty mentorship281
Steven Faerm is an Associate Professor of Fashion at Parsons School
of Design. A Parsons alumnus and Designer of the Year nominee, he
began teaching at Parsons in 1998 while simultaneously working as a
professional fashion designer and illustrator. He has been recognized for
his teaching by receiving both his University’s “Distinguished Teaching
Award” and his School’s “Faculty Award.”
Steven has taught and lectured at over 40 institutions on five conti-
nents for students spanning all educational levels, from pre-college- to
undergraduate- to graduate-level and beyond. He has created college-
and pre-college programs and workshops at Parsons and other leading
international institutions, and has served on academic advisory boards
for numerous colleges of art and design. He is the author of Fashion
Design Course: Principles Practices, and Techniques and Creating
a Successful Fashion Collection: Everything You Need to Develop a
Great Line and Portfolio, and his scholarship has been widely featured
in academic journals. His research examines design education, teaching
and learning, young adult development, and the complex connections
between these subject areas.
Steven holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design, an MSEd from
Bank Street College of Education, and an EdM from Harvard University.
www.StevenFaerm.com
About the Author
Katherine C. Boles taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
for twenty-five years, serving as a Senior Lecturer on Education and
Director of the Learning and Teaching Master’s Program. She retired
in 2018. A classroom teacher for over twenty years before teaching at
Harvard, Boles, along with her colleague, Vivian Troen, has written
and taught about school reform, teacher education, and new forms
of teacher leadership. Boles is co-author with Vivian Troen of Who’s
Teaching Your Children: Why the Teaching Crisis Is Worse Than
You Think and What Can Be Done About It; The Power of Teacher
Teams: With Cases, Analyses, and Strategies for Success; and The
Power of Teacher Rounds: A Guide for Facilitators, Principals, and
Department Chairs. Boles wishes to thank Barney Brawer, Nneamaka
Eziukwu, Amy Kiser-Schemper, Katherine Merseth, Barbara Neufeld,
Rulan Tangen, Vivian Troen, and Michael Sy Uy for their gracious
and invaluable assistance with this essay.
Mariah Doren has a Doctorate in College Teaching of Art and Design from
Columbia University, an MFA in Photography from Pratt Institute, and
a BA in Growth and Structure of Cities from Bryn Mawr College. She
is Director of Academic Programs, Continuing Education, at Rhode
Island School of Design. Her work is a mix of studio practice, writing,
andteaching, carefullywovenandintermixedsuchthateachcomponent
feeds and supports the others. Mariah has a studio practice based
on photography that includes collage work combining printmaking,
drawing, and photographs included in exhibitions at the Monmouth
Museum, New Britain Museum of American Art, and Northern
Kentucky University. Mariah’s writing centers on teaching: projects
include a book titled Do We Have to Call It Critique? Reimagining the
Tradition: More Inclusive, More Fulfilling, and Maybe a Little more
Fun (Intellect Press) and articles include “Working Collaboratively-
Teaching Collaboration” in Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive
Scholarship and Pedagogy.
Contributors
xiv Contributors
Verónica Fiorini is an Associate Professor of Accessories design in the
Fashion and Industrial Design Program at the University of Buenos
Aires (UBA), Argentina. She began teaching at UBA in 1999 and served
as Coordinator of the Fashion and Textiles Design Program between
2001 and 2006. Her research centers on the intersections between
design education, innovation, identity, and the communication of
design. She is the co-author of “Fashion Collection as a Discourse” in
Thinking About Design (Ediciones Infinito, 2021). Her research has
also been featured in the academic journal Cuadernos de Estudios en
Diseño y Comunicación (Cuaderno 53, 64, and 78), a collaborative
publication between the University of Palermo, Buenos Aires, and
Parsons School of Design, New York.
Matthew Kressy is the founding Director of the MIT Integrated Design
 Management (IDM) master’s degree program and founding Trustee
of the New England Innovation Academy, the first middle and high
school that prepares innovators to shape the world through human-
centered design. He is an expert in product design and development.
As an entrepreneur and founder of Designturn, he has designed,
invented, engineered, and manufactured products for startups,
Fortune 500 companies, and everything in between. Kressy believes
in interdisciplinary, design-driven product development derived from
deep user research, creative concept generation, and rapid prototyping.
He is passionate about teaching this approach to the design process.
Since 1999, Kressy has co-taught collaborative courses in product
design and development at top design and business schools, including
the MIT Sloan School of Management, the Rhode Island School of
Design (RISD), and Harvard Business School. As IDM director, Kressy
leads curriculum development and co-teaches the track’s primary and
required courses. He holds a BFA in Industrial Design from RISD.
Tim Marshall is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Design and Social
Context, and Vice-President at the Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology University. Prior, Tim spent sixteen years at The New
School in New York City, first as Dean of Parsons School of Design
(2006–2009) and then as Provost and Executive Vice President of
Academic Affairs at The New School (2009–2016). As Parsons’
Dean, he led a major restructuring based on a visionary academic
plan that established the formation of five thematic schools and a
more integrated and comprehensive suite of undergraduate and
graduate degrees. As Provost, he championed innovative approaches
to curricula development and pedagogy, including work in creating a
trans-disciplinary approach to the integration of design studies with
the humanistic disciplines of the liberal arts, social sciences, and
performing arts. Prior to moving to the US, Tim spent ten years in
Contributors xv
academic roles at the University of Western Sydney, predominantly in
the School of Design.
Susan Orr is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor: Education at De Montfort University.
Previously, she was a Pro-Vice-Chancellor at York St John University.
Before her PVC roles, Susan was the Dean of Learning  Teaching
Enhancement at the University of the Arts (UAL) in London, UK, a post
she held for seven years. In this role, she led the University’s Teaching
and Learning Strategy. Susan chairs the European League of Institutes
of the Arts’ Teachers Academy and has published extensively on creative
education. Susan co-authored the book Art and Design Pedagogy in
Higher Education: Knowledge, Values and Ambiguity in the Creative
Curriculum and she edits the international journal Art, Design and
Communication in Higher Education.
Tobias Revell is a digital artist and designer from London. He is the
Design Futures Lead at Arup Foresight, co-founder of design research
consultancyStrangeTelemetry,andapproximately47.6%oftheresearch
and curatorial project Haunted Machines. He lectures and exhibits
internationally on design, technology, imagination, and speculation,
and works with clients to imagine alternative futures.
Benjamin Stopher is the founding Dean of the UAL Creative Computing
Institute, University of the Arts, London, UK. His research interests
center on the intersection of design and computation and he is the
co-author of the book Design and Digital Interfaces: Designing with
Aesthetic and Ethical Awareness.
Arturo Tedeschi is an architect and computational design specialist
with more than ten years of experience in the avant-garde segment of
architecture and industrial design. He works as a consultant for leading
companies, providing services and training related to algorithmic
modeling, complex geometry, digital fabrication, and data-driven
design. He is the author of the books Parametric Architecture with
Grasshopper and AAD Algorithms-Aided Design. He taught and was
an invited speaker at the Architectural Association School (London),
Politecnico di Milano, IUAV (Venice), The University of Sydney, Dubai
Institute of Design and Innovation, University of Edinburgh, and
Universidad Europea (Madrid). His personal work has been featured in
international magazines and exhibited worldwide. He has collaborated
with major architecture and design firms, including Zaha Hadid
Architects and Ross Lovegrove Studio. info@arturotedeschi.com
Christine Tsui is a researcher, commentator, writer, and consultant. With
nearly fifteen years of professional experience in the fashion industry,
Tsui has worked in operations, sales, retailing, product management,
and general management. Her clients have included Nike and Li
xvi Contributors
Fung Group, and she has been widely interviewed by the leading
fashion/financial media in China. Her scholarly work includes a
comparative study between Western and Chinese fashion systems that
was conducted when she was a Fulbright Scholar at Parsons School
of Design. Tsui’s publications include China Fashion: Conversations
with Designers (Bloomsbury, 2009; Hong Kong University Press,
2013; China Textile Press, 2014), Work Book for Fashion Buyers
(China Textile Press, 2011; 3rd edition, 2020), and Advanced
Buying and Merchandising (2020). Tsui has also contributed to
The Encyclopedia of Asian Dress (2020) and is a section editor of
Economics and Business of Routledge Encyclopedia of Chinese
Studies (forthcoming). Dr. Tsui earned her MA from London College
of Fashion and her PhD from The University of Hong Kong.
I give profuse thanks to Simon Jacobs, Senior Editor at Routledge. His
warm support and confidence in this book and my abilities, from the
very beginning, have been a vivid beacon for me throughout the project.
I’m extremely appreciative for being given the opportunity to share my
ideas that aim to strengthen design education.
I offer endless gratitude to Kelly Quinn for her outstanding help in
editing this manuscript during its development. Her ability to deftly pol-
ish and strengthen each chapter’s numerous iterations, all while helping
to elevate and amplify key ideas, is a very special gift. Our partnership
and collaborative processes were profoundly rewarding and inspiring.
I am forever grateful to my “dream mentor” Dr. Katherine Boles. It is
through her teaching and our rewarding friendship that has grown over
the years that I came to understand what qualifies as a Master Educator.
Katherine embodies this awesome role in every conceivable way. It is from
her, and the many other faculty members and classmates I met at Harvard,
that I learned more deeply what the goals and responsibilities of higher
education must always be for our students, faculty, and future world.
I’m honored to feature in this book the remarkable contributions of
Katherine Boles, Mariah Doren, Verónica Fiorini, Matthew Kressy, Tim
Marshall, Susan Orr, Tobias Revell, Benjamin Stopher, Arturo Tedeschi,
and Christine Tsui. Their formidable insights are invaluable to this book,
and they will undoubtedly benefit readers and the field. To my research
assistants Cheryl, May, and Weijing, I am indebted. Their enthusiasm,
curiosity, and perseverance during many sleepless nights contributed
greatly to this endeavor.
Finally, I thank my parents, whose great esteem for and prioritization
of education sparked in me a lifelong passion for learning, educating
students, and working with fellow educators.
Acknowledgments
“Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out.”
In the late 1990s, when I first entered the design classroom as an edu-
cator, my hiring director assured me I’d soon “figure out” how to teach.
Like many of us, I had vast professional experiences as a designer, so it
was assumed I could teach design. With little ceremony, I was placed in
a classroom with essentially no pedagogical training or any professorial
insight into student development. Through trial and error, course after
course, and semester after semester, I was left to “figure it out.”
What is “good teaching?” Over two decades after teaching that first
course, I still don’t have a precise definition of what “teaching” is;
rather, as the adage goes, “The more you know, the more you know
you don’t know.” My decades of experience working with thousands
of students from across academic levels, holding diverse roles in aca-
demic leadership and advisorship positions, lecturing across five con-
tinents at over forty institutions, completing two advanced degrees in
education—and then making sense of it all—has made me think more
critically about what constitutes “great teaching” and what being an
“educator” really means.
The meanings of these terms are far more complex than I ever imagined
prior to setting out on my journey as a design educator. My experiences
and reflections on this journey have awakened me to the fact that we,
as design educators, must give far greater priority to advancing and
strengthening our teaching practices than we have before. There is just
too much at stake if we don’t. Thus, I ardently hope that Introduction
to Design Education: Theory, Research, and Practical Applications for
Educators provides design educators with the knowledge, insights, and
skills they need to advance their pedagogical practices.
This book, the first of its kind, provides readers—including design
educators, directors, and scholars—with an understanding of the shift-
ing design industries as well as how and why design education in the US
is responding. Through the presentation of extensive research, theory,
and practical instructional strategies, the text contextualizes design ped-
agogy with student development. I strongly believe this contextualization
Preface
Preface xix
is a critical component of fostering successful teaching, optimal learn-
ing, and student success.
Design education in the US is responding to the dramatically chang-
ing design industries by evolving curricula. Traditionally, these curricula
have emphasized vocational skills, but they are now being replaced with
those that prioritize the development of students’ conceptual thinking,
interdisciplinarity, and innovative design processes. Program structures,
coursework, and degree offerings are being reimagined to meet the new
demands of an increasingly tenuous, accelerated industry so that grad-
uates and young professionals may flourish as their professional design
practices and their design thinking evolve.
Concurrently, a new student population is entering design school cam-
puses. This growing population of design undergraduates—the largest
ever—exhibits markedly different learning styles, personal and profes-
sional goals, views of higher education, and developmental needs than
the preceding cohorts. Their unique attributes, coupled with the shifts
in design industries and education, make it essential for educators to
advance and strategize their pedagogy so that their design students,
institutions, alumni, and industries can flourish.
For many US design educators, these sudden and ever-increasing
shifts have been challenging. Often with little or no support for faculty
development from their institutions, they must self-create new teaching
methods and strategies that address both the widespread institutional
changes and the unique attributes of the new student generation. These
design teachers, typically trained as design practitioners and not as edu-
cators, are asked to rewrite long-standing mission statements, curricula,
syllabi, and design briefs to meet the new requirements. This book pro-
vides teachers and others with the guidance they need to work success-
fully with this particular demographic.
With US higher education’s increasing prioritization of student reten-
tion, colleges and universities must aggressively focus on faculty develop-
ment so their faculty may better support these students and thus improve
retention rates. Design students are at particularly higher risk when it
comes to retention, with many dropping out of college. By some statis-
tics, approximately 40% of art and design students drop out of college,
and, among the general undergraduate population in the US, fewer than
half graduate within six years.
Research shows the impact high-quality teaching makes on students’
well-being and academic success. For example, students who receive
three ineffective teachers in a row may achieve at levels that are as much
as 50 percentile points lower than students who receive three highly
effective teachers in a row. This book presents contemporary research in
design education, student development, and pedagogy to contextualize
these challenges and provide readers with practical solutions for their
students and institutions.
xx Preface
Moreover, the spikes of enrollment in design programs will prompt
design schools to hire more design educators, many of whom will be
new to the teaching profession. These faculty will need additional peda-
gogical support due to the reasons outlined above and due to the hiring
process itself: my professional observations and experiences show that
design educators are typically hired for their design experience, not their
teaching experience. In the hiring process, school leadership assesses the
candidate’s design experience and upon hire, places the beginner teacher
in a classroom without any (or remarkably limited) form of pedagogical
training or support. Consequently, these teachers must experiment with
teaching methods through “trial and error,” learn as they go, and ulti-
mately “sink or swim” at their students’ and institutions’ expense.
Although the examination of the design Academy in this book is
articulated from a US-centric perspective, I strongly believe that the key
dynamics impacting US design higher education are affecting teachers
and students in all parts of the world, from student retention to student
mental health. These dynamics, along with the many others presented
throughout this book, will require international design educators and
institutions to evolve and adopt new practices.
It is my sincere desire that this book helps prioritize and advance
design pedagogy across design schools and, in doing so, reaches beyond
design school classroom walls.
The Structure of This Book
This book contains four sections:
Section I: Design Industries examines how and why the US design
industries are experiencing unprecedented shifts. These changes are
subsequently radicalizing the traditional role of the designer, emergent
business models and strategies, consumer behavior, and even the very
aims and purposes of design. This section intertwines historical and
contemporary contexts with speculations about the likely future of the
US design industries. It looks at the changes that will directly impact the
ways design schools educate and prepare future students.
In Section II: Design Education, US design education is contextualized
by first summarizing how the nation’s Academy formed into its present
model. Chapters in this section discuss the broader, holistic landscape
and circumstances of US higher education along with the more nuanced
approaches that are specific to design higher education. Following these
discussions, theories are articulated with regard to the tenuous futures
of both the design Academy and the design classroom experience. This
section concludes with descriptions of unique approaches to design edu-
cation practiced in Argentina, China, Italy, and the UK, all of which have
the potential to educate and advance US design programs and educators.
Preface xxi
Section III: Design Pedagogy focuses on design pedagogy through
diverse lenses. Chapters discuss a range of topics that include the distinct
elements of design pedagogy; the nuances of the emergent generation
of undergraduates; the cognitive and emotional developmental needs of
design students; the newly expanded role of the design educator; meth-
ods to employ strategically and successfully diverse pedagogical methods
in the design classroom; the adoption of a critically reflective teaching
practice to strengthen teaching quality; and the key attributes commonly
found among highly effective educators.
Section IV: Design Classrooms, which builds upon the previous three
sections, offers a wide variety of research-based pedagogical techniques
that will support design educators in the evolving design classroom.
Chapters in this section present and examine a broad swath of key con-
cepts, including teaching strategies that target the key attributes and
learning styles of the emergent design student generation; interpersonal
methods that build trust and manage conflict effectively; guides to craft-
ing well-designed syllabi; practices that foster dynamic pedagogy and
class sessions; techniques that bolster student motivation and subsequent
success; and ways to cultivate an inclusive learning environment. When
synthesized together and utilized in the classroom, these pedagogical
techniques can help engender an optimal student experience.
Steven Faerm
June 2022
New York City
Introduction To Design Education Theory Research And Practical Applications For Educators Steven Faerm
Section I
Design Industries
Introduction To Design Education Theory Research And Practical Applications For Educators Steven Faerm
DOI: 10.4324/9781003049166-2
John Dewey (1916/2008), the venerated education reformer and phi-
losopher, famously observed, “we live not in a settled and finished
world, but in one which is going on and where our main task is pro-
spective” (p. 134). It is precisely this sentiment that has long governed
the direction of the design industries—in the past, in the present, and,
most importantly, in the future. In no other time in recent history has
there been a greater urgency for the design industries to understand
and address the interconnectedness of our complex social, economic,
political, and natural systems (Davis, 2018a). It is vital that designers
and their practices demonstrate contextual intelligence if they are to
engage successfully and strategically with informed iterative specula-
tions about our future design industries—and the wider systems they
affect (Davis, 2018c).
The Growing Design Industries
Annually, the US arts industries, which contain the design industries as
a subset, contribute approximately $763.3 billion US to the US economy,
employ nearly 4.9 million workers, and, in 2015, exported $20 billion
US more than was imported into the US (National Endowment for the
Arts [NEA], 2018a). Their economic growth frequently surpasses the
national average of 2.4%; for instance, between 2014 and 2015, it was
4.9% in inflation-adjusted dollars (NEA, 2018a). Within this sector’s
growth, the nation’s design industries exhibit markedly strong economic
performance, especially in particular design disciplines and US states.
For example, in 2015:
• graphic design in Illinois grew 69% above the national rate (adding
$589.5 million US to the state’s revenues);
• architectural design services in Massachusetts grew 73% greater
than the national rate (adding $804.6 million US to Massachusetts’
economy);
Introduction to Design
Industries
Growth, Responsibility,
and Uncertainty
1
4 Design Industries
• industrial design in Michigan grew nine times the national rate
(adding $429 million US to Michigan’s coffers); and
• jewelry manufacturing in Rhode Island grew thirty-three times
the national rate (adding $224 million US to the state’s economy)
(NEA, 2018a, 2018b).
More recently, between 2017 and 2019, the value added to GDP from
arts and cultural production increased at a pace of 3%—faster than the
overall growth rate of the US economy that was 2.5% for the same time
period, and, in 2019, arts and cultural goods and services produced in
the US added 4.3% to GDP (NEA, 2021; The World Bank, 2022). The
US arts and design industries are so important to the US economy they
have generated a widening trade surplus that has increased ten-fold from
2006 to 2019, totaling more than $33 billion US today (NEA, 2021).
Accordingly, employment has risen in many of the US design indus-
tries. For example, between 1999 and 2020, there was an increase of
graphic designers (up 68%), interior designers (up 100%), set and exhibit
designers (up 32%), commercial and industrial designers (up 22%), land-
scape architects (up 50%), fashion designers (up 119%), and art directors
(up 113%) (US Bureau of Labor Statistics [USBLS], 2021a).
Contributing to this growth is the rapid surge of non-design industry
companies that are now hiring designers in order to integrate “design
thinking” into their organizations. These companies recognize the unique
ways of thinking and problem-solving that designers possess; companies
are leveraging these designers to innovate new approaches to staid cor-
porate systems and customer experiences. For instance, at IBM, there
are more than 2,500 user-experience (UX) designers and researchers
embedded across the organization’s nearly sixty global studios (IBM,
2022; Miller, 2019). Other companies are following suit due, in part, to
the emergent consumer generation’s demands for more personalized, cus-
tomized products and experiences across all aspects of their lives—both
in-person and online (see Chapter 3).
Subsequently, there has been a pronounced shift in the hiring ratios of
designers-to-developers: between 2012 and 2017, the average increase in
designer-to-developer ratio grew 2.5 times, with notable changes occur-
ring at LinkedIn (from 1:11 to 1:8), Dropbox (from 1:10 to 1:6), Atlassian
(from 1:25 to 1:9), and IBM (from 1:72 to 1:8) (DeAmicis, 2019). In fact,
research shows the general demand in the US economy for employees
trained in design and emerging technologies grew 250% in just ten years
(2009–2019) (Kett, 2019). Rosanne Somerson, President Emerita of the
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), has spoken publicly about this
growing proliferation of designers across diverse corporate sectors. For
example, while RISD’s annual career day always draws the standard
design companies seeking new hires (e.g. architects, graphic designers,
and interior designers), over the last several years, the scope of attendees
Introduction to Design Industries 5
has been expanding to include employers from venture capital firms,
the insurance, finance, and healthcare industries, and other sectors that
“want the creativity of people that can spot trends, that can think about
what’s coming, what’s important, what’s well designed,” and can “con-
ceive ideas for new things that aren’t evident” (Somerson, as quoted in
Vartanian, 2019, n.p.).
The future bodes well for many employees in the diverse design indus-
tries. Between 2020 and 2030, total US employment is projected to grow
by 7.7% (USBLS, 2021b). (This percentage reflects recovery growth
from the low 2020 base-year employment following the emergence of
COVID-19 in 2019.) The design industries are anticipated to experi-
ence varying levels of economic growth during this ten-year period. Job
growth is predicted for architects (3%), graphic designers (3%), indus-
trial designers (6%), set and exhibit designers (9%), art directors (11%),
and web developers and digital designers (13%) (USBLS, 2021b).
A Bigger Role and Responsibility
The ever-growing scale and ubiquity of design and the design indus-
tries in nearly every area of our lives require that corporations and their
designers assume far greater responsibilities than ever before for the
impact of their products and services on numerous areas, including the
environment and critical social issues. One factor that impacts this sig-
nificantly is the fact that there is rapidly increasing adoption of designers
in non-traditional “design” environments, such as companies that offer
technologies across vertical markets—as seen above with enterprises
such as IBM. These roles require additional levels of interdisciplinary
understanding of design and society. Fortunately, in the US, there is a
growing number of designers who increasingly engage in inter-, multi-,
and trans-disciplinary practices.
While designers of the 20th century primarily focused on object-driven
outcomes (e.g. those that improved products and environments), design-
ers of the 21st century will be focused on knowledge- and service-driven
outcomes. This shift in focus has consequently “spawned audience-
centered theories of interpretation; raised concern for how complex
information systems are planned, produced, and distributed; and high-
lighted the social, political, and economic consequences of design”
(Davis, 2018b, p. 4).
As a result, the design industry has expanded its foci from the tech-
nical skills of “drafting” and “styling” to include strategic skills such
as “design strategy/thinking” and “problem-solving.” Although the
demand for “traditional” designers is constant within the design indus-
tries, “[our] society today demands a new generation of designers who
can design not only products and communications, but systems for liv-
ing as well” (Muratovski, 2016, p. 19). This transformation—from an
6 Design Industries
industrialized system that is concerned with commerce (“product cre-
ation”) to one that also acknowledges its place in and responsibility to
a more complex and challenged world (“process creation”)—requires
designers to assume a bigger role and more responsibility in our global
society (Muratovski, 2016). Design practitioners must now ask more
meaningful and probative questions about their respective industries,
their work, and their customers.
It is through this heightened awareness and engagement in systems con-
struction that designers can understand better that every single decision
they and/or their corporations make has consequences. As Chochinov
(2007) incisively notes, “We have to remember that…design equals mass
production, and that every move, every decision, every curve we specify
is multiplied—sometimes by the thousands and often by the millions.
And that every one of those everys has a price. We think that we’re in
the artifact business, but we’re not; we’re in the consequence business”
(n.p.). These consequences are vast and include sustainable sourcing
and manufacturing, ecosafe disposal methods, attention to biodiversity
and ecology, and social responsibility. Additionally, as applications and
implementations of automation and robotization increase across indus-
tries, designers must also consider the ramifications of adopting these
technologies throughout global systems—and the impact these systems
will have on people’s livelihoods.
For some designers, these responsibilities may seem daunting at first.
Yet each obstacle can be mitigated or eliminated if, at the educational
level, design teachers work hard to lead students to understanding and
contemplating the esoteric potentials, opportunities, and obligations
of design, rather than merely teaching the pragmatic process of churn-
ing out more and more “pretty things” (Chochinov, 2007). As design
educators and as design professionals, everything we choose to discuss,
espouse, spotlight, advance, and ultimately produce brings us that much
closer to or farther from a sustainable and symbiotic world.
Systems-Oriented Design
What, then, is the raison d’être of the design industries in the years
ahead? Numerous scholars (e.g. Davis, 2018c; Dubberly, 2008) assert
the design industries must assume an advanced role—as a sort of “sys-
tems steward.” In this role, designers are afforded the necessary time
and support to analyze a system’s patterns and apply theories of change
at the advent of every new venture, no matter its scale. This “sys-
tems-before-artifacts” design process affords ample benefits, includ-
ing a more sustainable practice whereby every element of the design
system is quantified—“metrics before magic”—prior to proposals
being approved for advancement (Chochinov, 2007). Naturally, this
underscores the imperative of interdisciplinary design practice. When
Introduction to Design Industries 7
designers eschew siloed approaches and build connections across rele-
vant but diverse practices, they ensure design initiatives address what
previously had been unforeseen psychological, ecological, social, or
other challenges and consequences—within both the system and the
final product. By reorienting the designer’s focus, the design industries
can now recognize the difference between systems-oriented work and
simply producing “stuff.”
Accordingly, this systems-oriented design process radically alters
the traditional designer-consumer relationship. In that relationship, the
traditional designer-auteur works independently and creates saleable
products for a passive, receptive audience. By prioritizing systems first—
which includes considering all constituents involved throughout the
development of the product, from start to finish—the traditional product-
oriented framework that is top-down, planned, rigid, sequential, and
“expert-driven” is replaced by a service-oriented framework that is
more organic, adaptable, and is co-created with customers and members
of the supply chain (Dubberly, 2008; Evenson, 2006). In systems-first
design, the designer is the facilitator, and the customer is a contributor.
The designer-collaborator designs with rather than for people (Davis,
2018b). When developing systems-oriented frameworks, designers must
ask themselves, “How can I increase my consumer’s engagement as a
partner, as a stakeholder, across all areas of a product’s planning, devel-
opment, experience, and subsequent evolution?” As a result of this shift
in focus toward viewing the consumer as a collaborator, an ongoing feed-
back loop emerges between designers and consumers, one that allows a
brand to gain greater meaning and an industry to gain greater relevance.
A Great Uncertainty
Over a decade ago, Linda Darling-Hammond (2010), Professor of
Education Emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Education,
noted the top ten in-demand jobs projected for 2010 did not exist in
2004. Shortly before 2004, in the span of just three years (1999–2002),
“[t]he amount of new information produced nearly equaled the amount
produced in the entire history of the world previously” (Varian 
Lyman, 2003, as cited in Darling-Hammond, 2010, p 4). In today’s
world, advanced technology and information resources have enabled
an even greater acceleration of information creation and consumption,
which is subsequently opening up opportunities for new job functions
and careers in our society, both now and in the future. Design teachers
must therefore “prepare students to work at jobs that do not yet exist,
creating ideas and solutions for products and problems that have not
yet been identified, using technologies that have not yet been invented”
(Darling-Hammond, 2010, p. 2). Ultimately, the only certainty—in
design industries and education alike—is uncertainty.
8 Design Industries
While the rapid growth of information and advancements in technology
will impact all industries, in many ways the US design industries will expe-
rience higher levels of acceleration and uncertainty than other industries
(Figure 1.1). The quickening lifecycles of designed products and services,
spikes in global competition, growing urgency for sustainable practice and
attendant policies, and an emerging consumer generation that increas-
ingly demands change across corporate and federal sectors are just some
of the factors that will amplify the speed of these changes (Davis, 2018c).
Resultantly, the designer’s core attributes of nimbleness, versatility, respon-
sive, and flexibility must remain at the center of their practice; we do not
yet know what the needed technical skillsets and creative practices will be
in the years ahead. Additionally, we do not know how the design indus-
tries themselves will evolve. This uncertainty will drive not only the afore-
mentioned attributes of the designer, but also how they should approach
each venture—namely, how they conceive of, hone, and ultimately present
their designs to the market. Rather than completing a design until it is
nearly “perfect”—which is the traditional approach—designers should, as
Meredith Davis (2018b, 2018c) argues, adopt an ability to recognize when
the effort input is surpassing the benefit to be gained. They must develop
an attitude that enables them to stop short of perfection and adopt a “good
enough for now” attitude, since new versions quickly replace preceding
products and services. It is the uncertainty and volatility of the design mar-
ketplace, the expansiveness of designers’ roles and responsibilities, and the
Figure 1.1 A lab technician tests nanofibers on an electrospinning machine.
Source: MAOIKO/Shutterstock.com.
Introduction to Design Industries 9
unrelenting acceleration of technology and information that will chart the
course for the 21st century’s design industries.
Section I: Design Industries
This section examines the past, present, and future states of the design
industries that, in turn, directly impact the evolution of US design edu-
cation. The following chapters discuss:
• the systemic changes occurring in the US design industries and mar-
ketplace as seen through the lens of the nation’s fashion industry;
• the evolving role of the design entrepreneur, people’s changing rela-
tionships with design and associated consumer behaviors, and a
model for advanced changes in what the new role of the “designer”
looks like; and
• key qualitative assessments into the future design industries and how
these sectors may best prepare themselves and grow successfully.
Together, these chapters establish a foundation for understanding how
and why US design education is undergoing an evolution, a topic that
is fully discussed in Section II. This development in academia is largely
attributed to the design industries’ unprecedented acceleration, growth,
and ever-expanding scope in shaping our world, a world that is growing
more fragile and in dire need of innovative designers who operate beyond
the conventional modus operandi to solve the seemingly impossible and
insurmountable problems we as a society face, both today and tomorrow.
In 1969, the acclaimed designer Charles Eames was asked, “What are
the boundaries of design?” In response, he famously quipped, “What
are the boundaries of problems?” Today, the question of boundaries is
more salient than ever before. The boundaries of the design industries
and their workforces will become more porous, with more designers fol-
lowing careers that differ from the “traditional” design career track. In
turn, the design industries will continue to exert strong influences on the
future direction of US design education. It is by examining and contex-
tualizing these complex shifts and speculations of the design industries
that we, as design educators, can strengthen our Academy’s programs,
curricula, and pedagogy in order to prepare students for success in the
evolving design practices.
References
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Core 77. https://www.core77.com/posts/40586/1000-Words-A-Manifesto-for-
Sustainability-in-Design
Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). The flat world and education: How America’s
commitment to equity will determine our future. Teachers College Press.
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Davis, M. (2018a). Design futures trends: Core values matter. AIGA. https://
www.aiga.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/Core%20Values%20Matter.pdf
Davis, M. (2018b). Design futures trends: Introduction. AIGA. https://www.aiga.
org/sites/default/files/2021-02/introduction-to-design-futures.pdf
Davis, M. (2018c). Design futures trends: Resilient organizations. AIGA. https://
www.aiga.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/Resilient%20Organizations.pdf
DeAmicis, C. (2019, December 16). The decade of design: How the last 10 years
transformed design’s role in tech. Figma. https://www.figma.com/blog/the-rise-
of-ux-ui-design-a-decade-in-reflection/
Dewey, J. (2008). Democracy and education. Wilder Publications. (Original work
published 1916).
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dubberly.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/ddo_article_ageofbiology.pdf
Evenson, S. (2006, September). Experience strategy: product/service systems
[Presentation]. CMU’s Emergence Conference, Detroit.
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Kett, R. (2019, June 25). College of Engineering and College of Environmental
Design launch new Master of Design program. University of California, Berkeley.
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college-of-environmental-design-launch-new-master-of-design-program/
Miller, M. (2019, October 21). Are traditional design degrees still relevant? Fast
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contribute-more-760-billion-us-economy
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BEA_2018_State_Highlights5.pdf
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DOI: 10.4324/9781003049166-3
Introduction
Over the last century, the American design industries have undergone
radical changes. Local manufacturing-focused design practices have
been transformed into highly globalized systems that prioritize “design
thinking” for its innovation. Offering more than mere products, today’s
American designers—including those in packaging, furniture, textile,
graphic, and industrial design—engage across design platforms that
incorporate diverse systems, technologies, and user experiences. As the
US design industries evolve due to these widespread changes, it is use-
ful for us to approach the nation’s fashion industry as a case study to
understand the multinational dynamics and events that have shaped
and changed US design industries across all media. In doing so, we will
gain an understanding of how and why design education has responded
to these shifts while enabling speculations into the future of the design
industries and design education.
The histories of the nation’s fashion design industry and fashion
design education are intrinsically intertwined. At the turn of the 20th
century, the nascent US apparel industry was rooted in manufacturing,
which grew steadily in the US in the first seventy years of that century.
By 1973, New York City’s garment manufacturing industry employed
400,000 people at its peak (Karimzadeh, 2013). However, due to factors
that include reduced importation tariffs with other nations, rising man-
ufacturing costs in the US, and increased access to expanding interna-
tional garment factories, the US manufacturing aspect of this industry
was largely displaced overseas by the end of the 20th century. As manu-
facturing was phased out of the US, the design aspect of fashion, rather
than the manufacturing aspect, became the focus of the US fashion
industry. With New York City as its epicenter, this industry has evolved
over the past four decades by focusing on new, high-value endeavors
that focus on design, research and development, technology, marketing,
entertainment, and other creative practices. Fashion design education
has responded by placing greater emphasis now on conceptual thinking,
A Study of the Fashion
Industry as a Model of
Widespread Systemic Change
2
12 Design Industries
design innovation, and interdisciplinary practice than it ever did in the
20th century.
The futures of both the fashion design industry and fashion design
education will continue to be closely intertwined, with each sector
informing, advancing, and challenging one another. The past two dec-
ades have been hallmarked by growing concerns around sustainability
in an economy that is becoming increasingly “disposable.” Additional
issues around environmental degradation and ethical labor practices
compound the untenable position of historical fashion design practices.
To address these and other concerns, national and international initi-
atives are growing. These efforts aim to elevate consumers’ awareness
of these issues, promote legislation, sustain fragile resources, reshore/
nearshore US manufacturing, and more. As one of the world’s largest
industries, the direction the fashion industry takes on these issues will
play a significant role in our planet’s future. Subsequently, design educa-
tion must understand this unique industry’s past, the trends shaping its
present, and future critical issues it may face so that it can play a positive
role in our holistic futures.
The Rise of the US Apparel Industry
The mass production of apparel in the US emerged at the beginning of
the 20th century. The invention of the sewing machine in the mid-1800s
and the introduction of a standardized body-size measurement system
necessitated by the demand for Civil War military uniforms gave rise
to industrialized production and consumers’ reliance on ready-made,
fashionable clothing. After 1900, the number of US garment makers
increased dramatically, particularly in New York City, where the num-
ber of women’s apparel companies grew 246% (from 1,850 to 6,392)
between 1900 and 1917 (Selekman et al., 1925) (Figure 2.1). It was dur-
ing this time that factory owners, located in the Lower East Side, began
to relocate to Seventh Avenue between 30th and 42nd Streets, where
they established larger production centers. By 1920, the vast influx of
large-scaled apparel manufacturers in that location led the US to become
the major producer of clothing for American women.
Although New York City’s early 20th century fashion industry flour-
ished, the city itself was not recognized as a design center. Historically,
Paris was seen as the pinnacle of fashion creation; by 1925, there were
approximately 300,000 couturiers in France (Wolf, 2017). To acquire
designs, American manufacturers commonly paid fees to attended
seasonal Paris shows and receive the rights to adapt the haute couture
(made-to-measure) garments into inexpensive (mass-producible) ver-
sions. American manufacturers often promoted their laudable adapting
skills and, in the case of the Simon Crawford Company, “displayed in
their store window an original Drecoll imported gown costing $485,
A Study of the Fashion Industry 13
reproduced in every detail by their dressmakers for sale at $24.75”—a
retail price reduction of 95% (Marcketti  Parsons, 2007, p. 4). For
decades, New York City’s industry focused on producing affordable
fashions; one 1940s stylist noted the city’s manufacturers were “not
so interested in making something good, as in making it cheap—and
cheaper” (Rantisi, 2004, p. 96). These practices continued until WWII
when the Nazi’s occupation of Paris isolated the city’s fashion industry.
Following the war, New York City became an international fashion
capitol due, in part, to Manhattan’s rising status as a cultural center and
hotspot for high society (Municipal Art Society of New York [MASNY],
2011). Although Parisian couturiers remained authorities of “high” fash-
ion, a growing number of entrepreneurial American “ready-to-wear”
fashion designers emerged during the 1950s and 1960s. These designers
targeted American women’s growing need for fashionable clothing that
did not require custom-fittings and addressed their more active lifestyles.
New York designers, including Claire McCardell, Bonnie Cashin, and
Norman Norell, drew global attention for their comfortable, uncompli-
cated designs, which became a hallmark of American fashion for decades
to come. Igniting designers’ success were the nation’s growing middle
Figure 2.1 A garment sweatshop in 1905.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News collection/Chicago History Museum/Getty
Images.
14 Design Industries
class, rising wages that strengthened consumers’ purchasing power, and
escalating apparel sales. Resultantly, the US fashion industry’s work-
force doubled between the 1950s and 1973 (Karimzadeh, 2013).
Offshore Manufacturing and Apparel Importation
The US fashion industry’s exponential growth during the second half
of the 20th century concurrently experienced increases in globally
outsourced garment manufacturing and importation. The mass out-
sourcing of apparel began in earnest when, during the 1950s, the US
“directly subsidized the building and re-building of modern textile and
apparel industries in [countries, such as] Singapore, the Philippines, and
India” (Rosen, 2002, p. 47). By 1960, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Pakistan,
India, and the Philippines had established highly productive apparel
manufacturing complexes that were well prepared to become large-
scale suppliers (Rosen, 2002). Moreover, reduced import tariffs led
outsourced apparel to compete directly with higher priced American-
made garments. Later, additional legislation increased offshore manu-
facturing and importation, particularly with the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 and the Agreement on Textiles
and Clothing (ATC) in 1995. NAFTA reduced or eliminated barriers
to trade and investment among the US, Canada, and Mexico, thus ena-
bling non-US goods (made by a cheaper workforce) to compete with
American-made goods. Between 1994 and 2000, Mexico’s exportation
of textiles and apparel to the US increased 335%, from approximately
$2.4 million US to nearly $10.2 million US (World Integrated Trade
Solution [WITS], 2020). The ATC further impacted US manufacturing
through its four-stage plan that increased import limits from 16% in
1995 to no limits by 2005. In 2020, NAFTA was rescinded by the par-
ticipating nations and replaced with the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA).
Federal legislation, coupled with escalating labor costs in the US that
increased manufacturing costs, devastated America’s apparel manufac-
turing infrastructure and workforce. Between 1960 and 2015, the amount
of American-made clothing purchased domestically dropped from 95%
to 3% (Morgan, 2015). In just twenty-nine years (1990–2019), the sec-
tor’s workforce dropped by approximately 89%—while globally, apparel
and textile jobs spiked from 34.2 million to 58.8 million (Thomas, 2019;
US Bureau of Labor Statistics [USBLS], 2021) (Figure 2.2). For their
goods to remain competitive, apparel manufacturers have shifted pro-
duction from the US (where factory workers make around $1,600 US a
month) to more affordable nations such as Bangladesh ($95 US a month)
and China ($326 US a month) (McCarthy, 2019).
The resultant increase of apparel importation into the US is equally
unprecedented. Apparel importation reached new heights during the
A Study of the Fashion Industry 15
presidency of Ronald Reagan, when, between 1981 and 1988, the value
of imported apparel nearly tripled from $7.7 billion US to $22.4 billion
US (Rosen, 2002). Throughout the proceeding decades, companies con-
tinued to outsource their manufacturing—particularly to China, where,
from 2000 to 2018, textiles and apparel exported to the US increased
430% (WITS, 2020). By 2018, Chinese-manufactured products accounted
for over one-third of all US apparel imports (WITS, 2020). Apparel impor-
tation is so high in the US that today, approximately 97% of clothes sold
nationally are imported, making the US the global leader of imported
textile apparel articles (Reagan, 2018). The exorbitantly high levels of
reliance on foreign manufacturing continue to contribute to the nation’s
trade deficit of $80.2 billion US as of November 2021 (US Census Bureau
[USCB], 2022).
Reshoring and Nearshoring Apparel Manufacturing
Against this backdrop of the tradition of offshoring, there are indications
the fashion industry may increase “reshoring” (return manufacturing
to the US) and/or “nearshoring” (moving physical production geograph-
ically closer to the US). Researchers speculate this shift will occur due to
Figure 2.2 
Number of employees in the US apparel manufacturing industry,
1990–2019 (in 1,000s).
Source: USBLS, 2021.
16 Design Industries
several reasons. The first reason is the escalating manufacturing costs in
most of the top twenty-five exporting countries. Once considered inex-
pensive manufacturing locations, the cost of operations within those
countries has become comparable to those in the US. For instance, in
recent history, labor costs in China were “one-tenth of those in the US;
today, they are about one-third. Across Asia, labor costs are increasing
more than the rest of the world and in some markets the gap to offshore
labor costs has even disappeared …” (Andersson et al., 2018, p. 10).
The second reason is geographic proximity to the US. Closer geo-
graphic proximity reduces the typical shipping time to the US of thirty-
days from Asia to approximately two days from Central America
(Andersson et al., 2018). The reduction in duration and costs enables
fashion companies to respond faster to trends while simultaneously test-
ing and scaling styles. This helps reduce the physical waste that results
from unpopular, unsold merchandise. Additional environmental sus-
tainability is promoted through this improved proximity; environmental
damage from shipping is reduced as the accompanying carbon footprint
is reduced. Given consumers’ growing concerns over sustainability—
more than 50% report they would choose a more sustainable brand
over non-sustainable alternatives—fashion companies are progressively
including sustainability as an integral part of their businesses and brands
(Andersson et al., 2018; Martinez-Pardo et al., 2020).
The recent rise of geopolitical tensions may also encourage reshoring/
nearshoring activities due to volatile trade agreements and duties—both
of which factor heavily into the costs of materials and manufacturing.
Rather than relying on offshore production, US-based designers may
scrutinize the economic differences among offshoring, reshoring, and
nearshoring in order to determine which model yields the best finan-
cial outcome. These decisions will be increasingly influenced by emer-
gent technologies and automated machinery. For example, automated
garment assembly via “sewbots” (robotic sewing machines) will offset
higher labor costs and increase productivity, thus making nearshoring/
reshoring a more compelling economic model. The future growth
of automation is a certainty: 82% of surveyed fashion professionals
believe simple garments will be fully automated by 2025 (Andersson
et al., 2018).
Support for reshoring apparel manufacturing has gained momentum,
particularly since the “Save the Garment Center” campaign was founded
in 2008. This ongoing campaign raises awareness of New York City’s
dwindling manufacturing facilities. Proponents cite the Center’s historic
significance, opportunities for employment growth, and its benefit to
fashion designers who need rapid turnaround of their prototypes and
immediate input from production and manufacturing teams (MASNY,
2011). The location is also “a critical resource for emerging designers
who cannot afford to export production and rely on their interactions
A Study of the Fashion Industry 17
with manufacturers to shape the product” (MASNY, 2011, p. 48). The
area’s resources equally benefit the small- and mid-scale fashion com-
panies that are often unable to meet the high production minimums
required by overseas factories. These local fashion companies rely heav-
ily on the approximately 164 facilities in New York City that specialize in
sewn goods (e.g. cutting, sample making, and pattern making)—a sub-
set of the city’s 1,500 garment manufacturing firms (Council of Fashion
Designers of America [CFDA], n.d.; New York Economic Development
Corporation [NYCEDC], 2017).
The industry has received additional support through an unparalleled
$51.3 million US support package from the New York City Economic
Development Corporation, in collaboration with the Council of Fashion
Designers of America (CFDA). Announced in 2017, this ten-year support
package is designed to help stabilize and strengthen the City’s garment
manufacturing industry. It includes grants for investment in advanced
technology to improve competitiveness globally, workforce develop-
ment, overall business development, and relocation assistance to help
companies from the Garment Center move to Sunset Park in Brooklyn
(NYCEDC, 2017). Furthermore, The Fashion Manufacturing Initiative,
a $14 million US partnership, offers New York City-based contract man-
ufacturing facilities grants to grow their businesses.
These and other initiatives are helping transform the US fashion indus-
try. Between 2010 and 2017, apparel became the third-largest reshoring
industry in the US manufacturing sector, with nearly 600 companies and
40,000 jobs returning to the US (Reshoring Initiative, 2019). In 2016,
American workers produced 10% of the nation’s fashion goods—a con-
siderable leap from 3% in 2013, at a compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 49% (Thomas, 2019). In a recent survey, 60% of apparel
procurement executives expect that over 20% of their sourcing volume
will be from nearshore facilities by 2025. The same survey revealed 63%
of respondents believe that by 2025, fabric production will likely move
to nearshore manufacturing options to support regional supply chains
better (Andersson et al., 2018).
The Contemporary US Fashion Industry
Amid these developments, the US fashion industry remains an interna-
tional leader. The industry contributes to the national economy and spe-
cific sectors that include finance, marketing, advertising, entertainment,
photography, education, and tourism. In 2017 alone, New York City’s
fashion industry employed approximately 4.6% of the city’s private-
sector workforce and generated more than $11 billion in wages and
$3.2 billion in tax revenue (Joint Economic Committee [JEC], 2019).
The industry’s semiannual New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is a par-
ticularly important event that both promotes design innovation and creates
18 Design Industries
opportunities for substantial economic development. Attracting more than
230,000 attendees annually, NYFW generates over $530 million US per
year in direct visitor spending, leading to a total economic impact of nearly
$900 million US (CFDA, 2016). In fact, among the fashion weeks of the
international fashion capitals of Paris, Milan, London, and New York
City, NYFW accounts for more than half of the total number of shows
presented and generates more income than the other three cities’ fashion
weeks combined (JEC, 2019).
Fashion design has become an especially strong focus for artistic
and economic growth. Between 1999 and 2019, there was a 129.5%
increase (9,600–22,030) of fashion designers in the US, with the high-
est density of 8,460 fashion designers (38% of all US designers) work-
ing in New York City (USBLS, 2020). Additional key areas of the
workforce are located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland,
Oregon. These cities have the next-highest densities to New York City
of approximately 6,010, 510, and 490 fashion designers each, respec-
tively (USBLS, 2020).
The Imperative of a Sustainable Fashion Practice
The fashion industry’s growth and the extreme levels of demand from
consumers for rapid apparel production and consumption have resulted
in substantial environmental damage. The industry’s growth has been
particularly high in “fast fashion,” an apparel sector that prioritizes
making fashion trends quickly and inexpensively for consumers. This
category of companies includes such international mass-retailers as
Hennes  Mauritz (HM), Zara, and Uniqlo. The sector’s accelerated
growth is evidenced by the nearly 4,400 stores HM opened globally
between 2000 and 2019 and the over 6,300 stores the Inditex Group
(which contains Zara) opened globally during the same period (HM,
2020; Inditex, 2020).
To fill their stores and ensure they meet consumers’ demands, fash-
ion companies worldwide currently manufacture an unprecedented
amounts of goods. Between 2000 and 2014, the number of garments
produced globally doubled from 50 billion to 100 billion annually
(Thomas, 2019). Recently, Americans’ apparel consumption reached
an all-time high, with clothing and clothing accessories store sales leap-
ing by more than 123% from 1992 to 2019 (USCB, 2021) (Figure 2.3).
This rapidly increasing rate of consumption leads some to speculate
that, “If the global population swells to 8.5 billion by 2030, and GDP
per capita rises by 2% in developed nations and 4% in developing
economies each of those intervening years…and we don’t change our
consumption habits, we will buy 63% more fashion—from 62 million
tons to 102 million tons [per year]” (Kerr  Landry, 2017, as cited in
Thomas, 2019, p. 3).
A Study of the Fashion Industry 19
The accelerated growth of fast fashion has led the sector to develop
new systems that offer unparalleled levels of speed and scale. For
instance, Zara employs 300 designers, develops 24,000 products each
year, and produces approximately 450 million items for 2,264 stores in
ninety-six countries annually (Hanbury, 2018; Inditex, n.d.; Lee, 2019;
Thomas, 2019). Zara’s supply chain is so well organized that it typically
takes only three weeks from initial product concept to in-store product
launch, thus allowing the brand to deliver new styles twice per week
(Inditex, n.d.). The HM Group (consisting of eight brands) operates
5,076 stores in seventy-four countries and employees over 120,000 peo-
ple (HM, 2020). In 2019 alone, the Group opened a gross total of 281
new stores (net new 108) (HM, 2020).
These increased rates of apparel consumption have led to significant
environmental damage. Currently, the world consumes 400% more gar-
ments on an annual basis than it did just two decades ago (Morgan,
2015). Consumers keep these garments roughly half as long as they
did fifteen years ago—typically wearing a garment seven or eight times
before it is discarded (Remy et al., 2016). In the US, clothes are only
worn for one quarter of the amount of times of the global average, and
the national rate of garment discard has doubled in the past twenty years,
Figure 2.3 
Clothing and clothing accessories store sales in the US, 1992–2019
(in billion USD).
Source: USCB, 2021.
20 Design Industries
from 7 million to 14 million tons per year (Ellen MacArthur Foundation
[EMF], 2017; Wicker, 2016, as cited in Thomas, 2019, p. 7). Beyond the
material waste lies tremendous financial loss: globally, consumers miss
out on $460 billion US worth of product each year due to the apparel
they prematurely discard (EMF, 2017). Ultimately, three-fifths of all
produced apparel is lost to incinerators or landfills, with less than 1%
of material recycled into new clothing (Remy et al., 2016; EMF, 2017).
Not surprisingly, these and other fashion industry practices are
causing unrelenting environmental damage by putting increasing pres-
sure on natural resources, polluting the environment, and disrupting
the global ecosystem. These practices include cotton production that
requires exorbitant amounts of water; if fashion manufacturing main-
tains its current pace and demand for cotton products, the demand
for water will surpass global supply by 40% by 2030 (Kerr  Landry,
2017, cited by Thomas, 2019, p. 71). Additionally, a recent study found
that greenhouse gas emissions from textile production surpassed all
greenhouse emissions produced by international flights and global mar-
itime shipping combined (International Energy Agency, 2016). Some
estimates anticipate that by 2050, the fashion industry alone will be
responsible for approximately one-fourth of the earth’s total climate
cost (Amed et al., 2017).
A Future Paradigm
Efforts to address the fashion industry’s unsustainable practices are
escalating across diverse platforms. For instance, The United Nations’
Alliance for Sustainable Fashion was launched in 2019. Later in that year,
more than 7.6 million people participated in the worldwide 2019 Global
Climate Strike (Amed et al., 2019). Initiatives like these are significantly
raising awareness about sustainability: for example, internet searches for
“sustainable fashion” tripled between 2016 and 2019 (Berg et al., 2019).
In a recent survey, fashion professionals cited sustainability as both
the biggest challenge facing their industry and the biggest opportunity
(Amed et al., 2019). Of those surveyed, 78% of sourcing managers agreed
sustainability will be a “somewhat likely” or “highly likely” key pur-
chasing factor for mass-market consumers by 2025 (Amed et al., 2018).
Consumers—such as Millennial (born between the early 1980s and mid-
1990s) and Generation Z (born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s)
shoppers—increasingly scrutinize their brands’ integrity, social engage-
ment, and environmental impact. Over 70% of both generations make
purchases based on personal, social, and environmental values, with 45%
of Generation Z shoppers researching background information before
making purchases (Amed et al., 2018; First Insight, 2020).
Concurrently, companies are increasingly addressing issues relating
to ethical manufacturing, sustainability, environmental wellness, and
A Study of the Fashion Industry 21
brand transparency. Of course, some fashion brands have maintained a
sustainable ethos from their beginnings. The US-based brand Alabama
Chanin, launched by Natalie Chanin in 2000, exemplifies sustainable
practice through the use of local manufacturing, organic cotton, and
repurposed/reclaimed materials. Among certain fast fashion compa-
nies, sustainability efforts have been more recent and evolutionary. For
instance, by 2025, HM’s plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable,
or compostable; by 2030, all their products will be made from recycled
or other sustainably sourced materials; and by 2040, the company will
be “climate positive” by developing sustainable ways to make, transport,
and package its products (HM, 2020). Zara has pledged to use 100%
sustainable fabrics by 2025, and Adidas has committed to only using
recycled plastic in footwear by 2024 (Conlon, 2019; Cooper, 2018). The
future expansion of sustainability is suggested by the 67% of sourcing
executives who believe the use of sustainable materials will be important
for their companies (Amed et al., 2019).
Sustainable initiatives are also developing in laboratories. Bio-fabricated
and reengineered materials include threads created from discarded cof-
fee grounds, lotus stems, milk, and algae, along with “leathers” made
from mushrooms, collagen proteins, tea leaves, and apple waste. Material
waste is also being used to develop both molecularly engineered fibers
made from discarded clothing and regenerated nylon made from dis-
carded industrial plastics. Scientists are even experimenting with growing
near-complete items without the need for factory assembly. The envi-
ronmental benefits of these materials (in particular their biodegradabil-
ity) include the ability to make or grow the precise amount of material
needed, thus eliminating waste.
Additionally, digital technology is spawning “smart textiles” that con-
nect users with web applications, change color, guard against radiation,
release medications, kill bacteria, and conduct electricity. Developments
have been swift: in just five years (2012–2017) the revenues in the smart
textile industry grew at a CAGR of 20%, from $700 million US to
$1.76 billion US (QYResearch, 2017, as cited in International Labour
Organization, 2019, p. 5). Between 2018 and 2025, the smart textile
industry is expected to increase 30% every year, for a total increase
of 525.78%, from $878.9 million US to $5.5 billion US (Grand View
Research, 2019).
Innovations in manufacturing technologies enhance sustainability.
For example, the Jeanologia manufacturing company uses a range of
tools that support environmental wellness. These include using lasers,
rather than water and chemicals, to treat and distress denim; “e-flow”
technology that treats fabric and saves up to 95% of water, 40% of
energy, and 90% of chemicals typically used in manufacturing; and
“G2” technology, which is the first ozone treatment for continuous fab-
ric and provides savings in water, energy, and chemicals that are similar
22 Design Industries
to those found with “e-flow” technology. Jeanologia’s services make a
significant impact on both the fashion industry and the environment:
its technologies are used to make 35% of the five billion jeans annually
produced worldwide (Jeanologia, 2020).
Waste reduction is also found in the growing accessibility to technol-
ogies such as body scanning, made-to-order apparel, and 3D printing.
Body scanning technology utilized for the apparel industry gained sig-
nificant attention when, in 2005, Levi’s adopted the Intellifit System of
electronic body scanners at the retail level to produce made-to-measure
jeans for individual customers. More recently, Adidas launched a tem-
porary pop-up store in Berlin that provided customers with 3D body
scans to create sweaters that were ready within four hours. Similarly, the
company Unmade produces on-demand knitwear that can be delivered
in mere days rather than the weeks it used to take to fulfill such orders.
This technology leads many to speculate clothing sizes eventually will
become obsolete, particularly given the accessibility of body scanners in
smartphone technology. Combined with the increasing accessibility of
3D printing due to its decreasing costs, future apparel production may be
as simple as customers scanning their personal measurements, purchas-
ing a link for the desired garment, and printing it themselves at home
(Thomas, 2019). The impact on sustainability is high: deadstock from
untested, unsold merchandise is eliminated; textile waste from cutting
patterns from yardage is decreased; and the impact of these new tech-
nologies and reshoring/nearshoring options means a mitigation of envi-
ronmental harm that has previously arisen due to manufacturing and
the supply chain. Moreover, the addition of design customization and
personalization may increase garments’ lifespans due to the heightened
emotional connection consumers will have toward their “co-designed”
purchases (see Chapter 3 for more detail).
Automated sewing machines (“sewbots”) will further support on-
demand and made-to-measure apparel. Akin to the expansive growth
of robotic technologies that transformed automotive assembly lines and
now perform surgeries, the increase of sewbots will decrease the require-
ment for human labor, increase efficiency, and possibly help reshore US
apparel manufacturing (Thomas, 2019). Proponents of sewbots antic-
ipate an uptick of purchasing of products that have the “Made in the
USA” label (albeit by sewbots) and are produced by companies that have
reduced their carbon footprints, decreased volumes of unsold goods, and
the more competitive costs of merchandise. Opponents cite the possible
explosion in volume of products produced and the accompanying costs
to the environment due to that volume of production. For example, a
sewbot in the US can produce as many shirts per hour as approximately
seventeen human beings can, and at a cost of approximately $0.33 US
each—a cost so low that most low-labor-cost countries cannot compete
A Study of the Fashion Industry 23
(Bain, 2017). Concerns for the destabilization of human welfare owing
to automated sewing technologies must also be considered, given vast
populations of garment workers will lose their jobs as these technologies
become increasingly ubiquitous.
Conclusion
The widespread systemic changes occurring across US design indus-
tries are exemplified by those that have occurred in the nation’s fash-
ion industry. As a manufacturing-turned-design leader, the US fashion
industry will continue to drive innovation for knowledge-based econo-
mies. The fashion industry’s trajectory has deeply informed and helped
shape fashion design education. As discussed in Chapter 6, the design
school’s former curricular emphases that prioritized the process of
making in response to the nation’s manufacturing industries’ demand
for labor have given way to sophisticated pedagogies that increasingly
prioritize innovation, conceptual thinking, interdisciplinary practice,
sustainability, inclusivity, societal impacts, and more. This shift, which
started in the industry, is leading design schools to alter design edu-
cational aims in order to better prepare students so they may address
successfully the design industries’ challenges of the future. Indeed, the
design industries’—and particularly the fashion industry’s—future “self-
disruption,” facilitated by design school graduates, will play a crucial
role in impacting our planet’s long-term future.
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63_TextCloth
DOI: 10.4324/9781003049166-4
Introduction
As the contemporary design marketplace reaches unprecedented levels of
abundance, saturation, and consumption, consumers’ needs and desires
for design move well beyond the material realm. No longer is object crea-
tion, which offers traditional forms of value (e.g. material worth, aesthet-
ics, and function), the sole goal of designers. Now, their creations must
carry an “emotional value” that targets consumers’ unique practical and
emotional needs. Subsequently, the traditional role of the designer is no
longer relevant or sustainable.
This new form of design practice requires the designer’s long-held posi-
tion in the creative economies to shift. The conventional notion of the
“designer-as-auteur” whose personal proclivities and dictates are blindly
followed by devotees has become obsolete. It has been replaced by design-
ers who, through their use of new design and research processes grounded
in the social sciences, craft emotionally compelling products that pro-
vide “emotional value” to their customers (Faerm, 2021). By doing so,
the designer transforms the creative process itself; rather than creating
design from myopic, personal biases, the designer must begin their work
by rigorously researching their consumers’ psychographics and emotional
needs. This research grounds and substantiates all proceeding stages of
design development—from concept to final product to marketing pres-
entation format—and, consequently, enables designers to accurately
identify, create, and deliver the “emotional value” increasingly sought by
consumers. Designs become more meaningful and desirable to consumers
who, due to this heightened “emotional value” and sentiment, may cher-
ish and retain the products longer, thus contributing to global sustaina-
bility. Moreover, this approach to the creative process enables designers
to stand out in the oversaturated marketplace and businesses to increase
consumer loyalty and resultant sales by offering only those products that
are truly desired by their target audience.
Presented in three parts, this chapter examines the emerging new role
of the design entrepreneur: namely, the “Designer-As-Social Scientist.”
The New Design Entrepreneurs
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Strife of
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Title: The Strife of the Sea
Author: T. Jenkins Hains
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W. J. Aylward
Release date: October 20, 2017 [eBook #55780]
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRIFE OF
THE SEA ***
IN THE WAKE OF THE WEATHER CLOTH.—See Pages 305–320.
T H E S T R I F E
O F T H E S E A
T. J E N K I N S H A I N S
AUTHOR OF “THE WIND-JAMMERS,” ETC.
N E W Y O R K
THE BAKER  TAYLOR CO.
33–37 East Seventeenth St., Union Sq., North
Copyright, 1903, by THE BAKER  TAYLOR CO.
Copyright, 1901 and 1902, by Harper  Bros.
Copyright, 1902 and 1903, by The Success Co.
Copyright, 1902 and 1903, by The Independent.
Copyright, 1903, by The Butterick Pub. Co. (Ltd.)
Published October, 1903.
TO
ROBERT MACKAY
CONTENTS
PAGE
The Old Man of Sand Key, 11
The Outcast, 37
The Sea Dog, 77
The Cape Horners, 101
The Loggerhead, 135
The White Follower, 165
King Albicore, 199
The Nibblers, 227
Johnny Shark, 251
A Tragedy of the South Atlantic, 277
In the Wake of the Weather-Cloth, 313
ILLUSTRATIONS
Clawing off the Cape, Frontispiece
Facing Page
The Great Shape Sailed for the Top of the
Buoy, 44
Full into the Center King Albicore Tore
His Way, 214
The Line Was Whizzing Out, 300
THE STRIFE OF THE SEA
THE OLD MAN OF SAND KEY
H
THE OLD MAN OF SAND
KEY
e was an old man when he first made his appearance on the
reef at the Sand Key Light. This was years ago, but one
could tell it even then by the way he drew in his chin, or
rather pouch, in a dignified manner as he soared in short circles over
the outlying coral ledges which shone vari-colored in the sunshine
beneath the blue waters of the Gulf Stream. He had fished alone for
many seasons without joining the smaller and more social birds, and
the keepers had grown to know him. He was a dignified and silent
bird, and his stately flight and ponderous waddle over the dry reef
had made it quite evident that he was a bird with a past. Sandy
Shackford, the head keeper, knew him well and relied implicitly upon
his judgment as to the location of certain denizens of the warm
Stream. He had come back again after a month’s absence, and was
circling majestically over the coral banks not a hundred fathoms
from the light.
The day was beautiful and the sunshine was hot. The warm
current of the Gulf flowed silently now with the gentle southwest
wind, and the white sails of the spongers from Havana and Key West
began to dot the horizon. Here and there a large barracouta or
albicore would dart like a streak of shimmering silver through the
liquid, and the old man would cast his glance in the direction of the
vanishing point with a ready pinion to sweep headlong at the mullet
or sailor’s-choice which were being pursued.
His gray head was streaked with penciled feathers which grew
longer as they reached his neck, and his breast was colored a dull,
mottled lead. His back and wings gave a general impression of gray
and black, the long pinions of the latter being furnished with stiff
quills which tapered with a lighter shade to the tips. His beak and
pouch were of more than ordinary proportions, for the former was
heavy and hooked at the end and the latter was large and elastic,
capable of holding a three-pound mullet.
He soared slowly over the reef for some time, and the keeper
watched him, sitting upon the rail of the lantern smoking his pipe,
while his assistant filled the body of the huge lamp and trimmed its
several wicks.
To the westward a slight ripple showed upon the surface of the
quiet sea. The pelican sighted it and stood away toward it, for it
looked like a mackerel that had come to the surface to take in the
sunshine and general beauty of the day. In a moment the old man
had swung over the spot at a height of about a hundred feet; then
suddenly folding his wings, he straightened out his body, opened his
beak, and shot straight downwards upon the doomed fish. It was
literally a bolt from heaven from out of a clear sky. The lower beak
expanded as it hit the water and opened the pouch into a dipper
which scooped up the mackerel, while the weight of the heavy body
falling from the great height carried everything below the surface
with a resounding splash that could be heard distinctly upon the
light. Then up he came from the dive with the fish struggling
frantically in his tough leathern sack. He rested a moment to get his
breath and then stretched forth his pinions again and rose in a great
circle into the clear blue air.
“The old man’s fishin’ mackerel this mornin’,” said Sandy, “an’ I
reckon I’ll get the dory an’ try a squid over along the edge o’ the
Stream as soon as the breeze makes.”
“Well, take care you don’t lose nothin’,” said Bill with a grin.
“Whatcher mean?” snarled the older keeper.
“Nothin’,” answered the assistant.
“Then don’t say it,” said Sandy, and he walked down the steps of
the spider-like structure, muttering ominously, until he reached the
reef a hundred feet below, where, hauled high and dry, lay his boat.
Sandy was an old man, and had depended upon false teeth for some
years. The last time he had gone fishing he had lost them from his
boat, and as he could not leave the light he had nearly starved to
death. In desperation at last he had set the ensign union down and
signaled for assistance, the second keeper Bill being ashore on
leave, and after the U.S.S. Ohio had come all the way from Key West
to find out the cause of the trouble he had been forced to explain to
the officer his humiliating disaster. As the danger of landing in the
surf had been great and the services of the man-of-war had been
required for a whole day, he had been forced to listen to a lecture
upon the absurdity of his behavior that did little to encourage him,
and it was only his emaciated appearance and unfeigned weakness
from loss of food that saved him his position as keeper.
He shoved his small boat off and sprang into her. Then he
stepped the mast, and hauling aft the sheet swung her head around
and stood off the reef, riding easily over the low swell. High above
him was the lantern, and he looked up to see Bill gazing down at
him and pointing toward the southward, where a ripple showed the
breaching fish. His lines were in the after locker, and he soon had
them out, one of them with a wooden squid trolling over the stern
as the little craft gathered headway.
The memory of his former disaster now came upon him, and he
took out his teeth, which were new, and examined the plates upon
which they were fastened. A small hole in either side showed, and
through these he rove a piece of line. Then he placed the teeth back
in his mouth and fastened the ends of the line back of his ear.
“Let ’em drop an’ be danged to it, they’ll git back mighty quick
this time,” he muttered. “I wonder where that old pelican left the
school of fish?”
The old bird had satisfied his present needs and had flown away
to a distant part of the outlying bank, where he was now proceeding
to enjoy his catch at leisure. Far away to the northward, where Key
West showed above the horizon, a long line of black specks were
rapidly approaching through the air. They were the regular fishermen
of the reef, and they were bound out to sea this morning for their
daily meal. On they came in single file like a line of soldiers, their
distance apart remaining regular and the motions of their leader
followed with military precision. Every time he would strike the air
several sharp strokes with his wings, the motion would be instantly
taken up by the long line of followers flapping their own in unison.
The “old man” heeded them very little indeed as he quietly ate
his fish, and they knew enough not to bother him. They sailed
majestically past and swung in huge circles over the blue Gulf to
locate the passing school.
The old man mused as he ate, and wondered at their stupidity.
Even the light-keeper knew as much as they. There was the
breaching school a mile away to windward, and the stupid birds
were still watching him.
He saw his wives go past in line. There was old Top-knot, a wise
and ugly companion of former days, her penciled feathers on her
neck rubbed the wrong way. Behind her came a young son, an
ingrate, who even now would try to steal the fish from him did he
but leave it for a moment to dive for another. He glanced at him and
ate steadily on. He would finish his fish first and look out for his
ungrateful son afterwards.
Further behind came his youngest companion, one who had
hatched forth twelve stout birds during the past few years and who
was still supple and vigorous, her smooth feathers still showing a
gloss very pretty to look at. But she gave him no notice, and he ate
in silence until they all passed far beyond and sighted at last the
breaching mackerel.
When he had finished he sat stately and dignified upon the sand
of the reef, all alone. Far away to the southward, where the high
mountains of the Cuban shore rose above the line of water when he
soared aloft, a thin smoke rose from some passing steamer. To the
northward the spars of the shipping at Key West stuck above the
calm sea. All about was peaceful, bright, and beautiful daylight, and
the ugly spider-like tower of the Sand Key Light stood like a huge
sentinel as though to guard the scene.
The day was so quiet that the sullen splashes of the fisher birds
sounded over the smooth surface of the sea, and the breeze scarcely
rippled the blue water. The deep Gulf rolled and heaved in the
sunshine, and the drone of the small breakers that fell upon the reef
sounded low and had a sleepy effect upon the old fellow who had
finished his fish.
He sat with his pouch drawn in and his long, heavy beak resting
upon his neck, which he bent well into the shape of a letter S. Now
and then he would close an eye as the glare from the white coral in
the sunshine became too bright. The man in the boat was trolling
back and forth through the school of fish with hardly enough way on
his craft to make them strike, but every now and then he saw him
haul aboard a shimmering object that struggled and fought for
freedom. Above, and at a little distance, soared the pelicans. Every
now and then one would suddenly fold its wings and make a straight
dive from the height of a hundred feet or more, striking the sea with
a splash that sent up a little jet of foam.
The sun rose higher and the scorching reef glared in the fierce
light. The old man shifted his feet on the burning sand and looked
about him for a spot where he might bring another fish and lie quiet
for the afternoon. He turned his head toward the westward, where
Mangrove Key rose like a dark green bush a few feet above the
water of the reef. Two small specks were in the blue void above it,
and his eyes instantly detected them and remained staring at them
with unwinking gaze.
The specks grew larger rapidly, but they were a long way off yet,
and he might be mistaken as to what they were. He had seen them
rise above the blue line before, and if they were what he took them
to be there would be trouble on the reef before long. Yes, he was
not mistaken. They rose steadily, coming on a straight line for him,
and now they were only a mile distant. Then he noticed one of the
objects swerve slightly to the eastward and he saw they were,
indeed, a pair of the great bald eagles from the Everglades of
Florida.
He was an old man, and he gazed steadily at them without much
concern, although he knew they meant death to all who opposed
their path. They were pirates. They were the cruelest of killers and
as implacable and certain in their purpose as the Grim Destroyer
himself. The pelicans fishing for their living over the reef were good
and easy prey. A sudden dash among them, with beak and talons
cutting and slashing right and left, and there would be some full
pouches of fish to empty. It was much better to let the stupid birds
fill up first and then sweep among them. Then, after despoiling them
of their hard-gotten catch, they would carry as much of the plunder
as they cared for to some sheltering key to devour at leisure.
The white head of the leading pirate shone in the sunshine and
his fierce eyes were fixed upon the fishermen. The old man was
apparently unnoticed, although there was little within the sweep of
that savage gaze that was left unmarked. Those eyes could see the
slightest object on land or sea far beyond the reach of ordinary
vision. They had even this morning, probably, been watching the
fishermen from some distant key miles away to the northward.
The old man was a huge, tough old fellow, and he dreaded
nothing. He gazed at the fishermen and a feeling of disdain for their
weakness came upon him. He thought of his old scolding mate, Top-
knot. What a scared old bird she would be in a moment with that
great eagle sailing straight as a bullet for her, his beak agape, and
his hoarse scream sounding in her wake. How she would make for
the open sea, only to be caught in a few moments and torn until she
disgorged her fish. His eldest son would make a show of fight,
perhaps, and in a very few minutes would be a badly used up
pelican. As for the rest, how they would wildly and silently strike for
the open ocean, going in single file as was their custom, only to be
overtaken one by one, until they were all ripped and torn by the
fierce fighters, who would follow leisurely along behind, striking and
clutching, screaming and calling to increase their fright and dismay.
He was almost amused at the prospect, for the pirate birds
seemed to know him instinctively for a barren prize and swept with
the speed of the wind past him and over the reef to the blue waters
of the Gulf beyond, where the fishermen were still unaware of their
approach. He would watch and see the skirmish, for no harm could
come to him even though all the rest were killed and wounded. He
swung himself around and gazed seaward again, and suddenly the
thought of his uselessness came upon him.
Why should he sit there and see this thing done—he, an old
man? He had led the flock for many years. Should he, the father of
many and the companion of all in former days, see them cut up by
two enemies? What if they no longer cared for him? What if the
younger birds were ungrateful and would steal his fish? Was he not
the old leader, the one they all had looked to in the years gone by?
Did not even the men in the tower treat his knowledge with respect?
And here a couple of fierce marauders from the forests of the land
had passed him to wreak their will upon the timid birds whose leader
had grown old. Memories of former days came to him, and
something made him raise his head very straight and draw his pouch
close in.
He sat gazing for a few moments longer. The eagles now had
closed up half the distance, for they were going with a rush. A
pelican saw them and headed straight out to sea, striking the air
wildly with outstretched pinions. Then in they dashed with hoarse
cries that caused the keeper in the boat to luff into the wind to
witness the struggle.
The old man launched his weight into the air, and with a few
sudden strokes rose to the height of a couple of fathoms above the
sea, bearing down toward the screaming birds with the rapidity of an
express train.
Above Sandy Shackford a very mixed affair was taking place.
The two eagles had dashed into the pelicans without warning and
were within striking distance before many of them could even turn
to flee. Old Top-knot had just caught a fine fish and was in the act of
rising with it when the leading eagle swooped down upon her with a
shrill scream. She was an old and nervous bird and a touch from any
other creature she dreaded at all times. Now, right behind her came
a giant shape, with glaring eyes and gaping beak, a very death’s-
head, white and grisly, while beneath were a pair of powerful feet,
armed with sharp talons, ready to seize her in a deadly grip. She
gave a desperate leap to clear the sea and stretch her wings, but the
sight was too much for her, and she sank back upon the surface.
The great eagle was too terrifying for her old nerves, and she sat
helpless.
In an instant the eagle was upon her. He seized her fiercely in
his talons and struck her savagely in the back, and the poor old bird
instantly disgorged her newly caught fish. Her savage assailant
hesitated a moment before striking her down for good and all, while
he watched the fish swim away into the depths below. Then he
turned to finish her.
At that instant there was a tremendous rush through the air, and
a huge body struck him full in the breast, knocking him floundering
upon the sea. The old man had come at him as straight as a bullet
from a gun, and, with the full force of his fifteen pounds sailing
through the air, had struck him with his tough old body, that had
been hardened by many a high dive from above.
The eagle was taken completely aback, and struggled quickly
into the air to get out of that vicinity, while the old man, carried
along by the impetus of his rush, soared around in a great circle and
came slowly back to renew the attack. In a moment the eagle had
recovered, and, with true game spirit, swung about to meet this new
defender of the fishermen. They met in mid-air, about two fathoms
above the sea, and Sandy Shackford cheered wildly for his old
acquaintance as he landed a heavy blow with his long, hooked bill.
“Go it, old man!” he cried. “Give it to him. Oh, if I had my gun,
wouldn’t I soak him for ye!”
The other birds had fled seaward, and were now almost out of
sight, being pursued by the second eagle. One limp form floated on
the sea to mark the course of the marauder. Old Top-knot had
recovered from the shock, and was now making a line for Cuba. The
old man was the only one left, and he was detaining the great bald
eagle for his last fight, the fight of his life.
Around and around they soared. The eagle was wary and did not
wish to rush matters with the determined old man, who, with beak
drawn back, sailed about ready for a stroke. Then, disdaining the
clumsy old fellow, the bald eagle made a sudden rush as though he
would end the matter right there. The old man met him, and there
was a short scrimmage in the air which resulted in both dropping to
the sea. Here the old man had the advantage. The eagle could not
swim, his powerful talons not being made for propelling him over the
water. The old man managed to hold his own, although he received
a savage cut from the other’s strong beak. This round was a draw.
During this time the second eagle had seen that his companion was
not following the startled game, and he returned just in time to see
him disengage from a whirlwind of wings and beaks and wait a
moment to decide just how he would finish off the old fellow who
had the hardihood to dispute his way. Then he joined the fight, and
together they swooped down upon the old man for the finish.
He met them with his head well up and wings outstretched, and
gave them so much to do that they were entirely taken up with the
affair and failed to notice Sandy Shackford, who was creeping up,
paddling with all his strength with an oar-blade.
The encounter could not last long. The old fellow was rapidly
succumbing to the attacks of his powerful antagonists, and although
he still kept the mix-up in a whirl of foam with his desperate
struggles, he could not hope to last against two such pirates as were
now pitted against him. One of them struck him fiercely and tore his
throat open, ripping his pouch from end to end. He was weakening
fast and knew the struggle must end in another rush. Both eagles
came at him at once, uttering hoarse cries, and drawing back his
head he made one last, desperate stroke with his hooked beak.
Then something seemed to crash down upon his foes from above.
An oar-blade whirled in the sunshine and struck the leading eagle
upon the head, knocking him lifeless upon the sea. Then the other
rose quickly and started off to the northward as the form of the
keeper towered above in the bow of the approaching boat.
Sandy Shackford picked the great white-headed bird from the
water and dropped him into the boat and the old man looked on
wondering. He had known the keeper for a long time, but had never
been at close quarters.
“Poor old man,” said Sandy. “Ye look mighty badly used up.” And
then he made a motion toward him.
But the old pelican wanted no sympathy. His was the soul of the
leader, and he scorned help. Stretching forth his wings with a mighty
effort, he arose from the sea. The reef lay but a short distance away,
and he would get ashore to rest. The pain in his throat was choking
him, but he would sit quiet a while and get well. He would not go
far, but he would be alone. The whole sea shimmered dizzily in the
sunshine, but a little rest and the old bones would be right again. He
would be quiet and alone.
“Poor old man,” said Sandy, as he watched him sail away. “He’s a
dead pelican, but he made a game fight.”
Then he hauled in his lines, and, squaring away before the wind,
ran down to the light with the eagle and a dozen fine fish in the
bottom of his dory.
The next day the old man was not fishing on the reef. The other
birds came back—all except one. But the old man failed to show up
during the whole day.
The next day and the next came and went, and Sandy, who
looked carefully every morning for the old fellow, began to give up
all hope of seeing him again. Then, in the late afternoon when the
other birds were away, the old man came sailing slowly over the
water and landed stiffly upon the coral of a point just awash at the
end of the key.
As the sun was setting, the old man swung himself slowly
around to face it. He drew his head well back and held himself
dignified and stately as he walked to the edge of the surf. There he
stopped, and as the flaming orb sank beneath the western sea, the
old man still stood watching it as it disappeared.
Sandy Shackford lit the lantern, and the sudden tropic night fell
upon the quiet ocean.
In the morning the keeper looked out, and the old man was
sitting silent and stationary as before. When the day wore on and he
did not start out fishing Sandy took the dory and rowed to the
jutting reef. He walked slowly toward the old man, not wishing to
disturb him, but to help him if he could. He drew near, and the old
bird made no motion. He reached slowly down, and the head he
touched was cold.
Sitting there, with the setting sun shining over the southern sea,
the old man had died. He was now cold and stiff, but even in death
he sat straight and dignified. He had died as a leader should.
“Poor old man,” said Sandy. “His pouch was cut open an’ he jest
naterally starved to death—couldn’t hold no fish, an’ as fast as he’d
catch ’em they’d get away. It was a mean way to kill a fine old bird.
Ye have my sympathy, old man. I came nigh goin’ the same way
once myself.”
And then, as if not to disturb him, the keeper walked on his toes
to his boat and shoved off.
THE OUTCAST
THE OUTCAST
T
he day was bright and the sunshine glistened upon the
smooth water of Cumberland Sound. The sand beach glared
in the fierce rays and the heat was stifling. What little breeze
there was merely ruffled the surface of the water, streaking it out
into fantastic shapes upon the oily swell which heaved slowly in from
the sea. Far away the lighthouse stood out white and glinting, the
trees about the tall tower looking inviting with their shade. The swell
snored low and sullenly upon the bar, where it broke into a line of
whiteness, and the buoys rode the tide silently, making hardly a
ripple as it rushed past.
Riley, the keeper of the light, was fishing. His canoe was
anchored close to the shore in three fathoms of water, and he was
pulling up whiting in spite of the ebb, which now went so fast that it
was with difficulty he kept his line upon the bottom. When he landed
his fiftieth fish they suddenly stopped biting. He changed his bait,
but to no purpose. Then he pulled up his line and spat upon his
hook for luck.
Even this remedy for wooing the goddess of fortune failed him,
and he mopped his face and wondered. Then he looked over the
side.
For some minutes he could see nothing but the glint of the
current hurrying past. The sunshine dazzled him. Then he shaded
his eyes and tried to pierce the depths beneath the boat.
The water was as crystal, and gradually the outlines of the soft
bottom began to take form. He could follow the anchor rope clear
down until a cross showed where the hook took the ground.
Suddenly he gave a start. In spite of the heat he had a chill run
up his spine. Then he gazed fixedly down, straight down beneath
the small boat’s bottom.
A huge pair of eyes were looking up at him with a fixed stare. At
first they seemed to be in the mud of the bottom, two unwinking
glassy eyes about a foot apart, with slightly raised sockets. They
were almost perfectly round, and although he knew they must
belong to a creature lying either to or against the current, he could
not tell which side the body must lie. Gradually a movement forward
of the orbs attracted his attention, and he made out an irregular
outline surrounding a section of undulating mud. This showed the
expanse of the creature’s body, lying flat as it was, and covering an
area of several yards. It showed the proportions of the sea-devil, the
huge ray whose shark-like propensities made it the most dreaded of
the inhabitants of the Sound. There he lay looking serenely up at the
bottom of the boat with his glassy eyes fixed in that grisly stare, and
it was little wonder he was called the devil-fish.
Riley spat overboard in disgust, and drew in his line. There was
no use trying to fish with that horrible thing lying beneath. He got
out the oars and then took hold of the anchor line and began to haul
it in, determined to seek a fishing drop elsewhere or go home. As he
hauled the line, the great creature below noticed the boat move
ahead. He watched it for some seconds, and then slid along the
bottom, where the hook was buried in the mud.
It was easy to move his huge bulk. The side flukes had but to be
ruffled a little, and the great form would move along like a shadow.
He could see the man in the boat when he bent over the side, and
he wondered several times whether he should take the risk of a
jump aboard. He was a scavenger, and not hard to please in the
matter of diet. Anything that was alive was game to his maw. He
had watched for more than an hour before the light-keeper had
noticed it, and now the boat was drawing away. His brain was very
small, and he could not overcome a peculiar feeling that danger was
always near the little creature above. He kept his eyes fixed on the
boat’s bottom, and slid along under her until his head brought up
against the anchor line, now taut as Riley hove it short to break out
the hook. This was provoking, and he opened a wicked mouth
armed with rows of shark-like teeth. Then the anchor broke clear
and was started upward, and the boat began to drift away in the
current.
The spirit of badness took possession of him. He was annoyed.
The boat would soon go away if the anchor was withdrawn, so he
made a grab for it and seized the hook, or fluke, in his mouth, and
started out to sea. Riley felt the sudden tug from below. He almost
guessed what it was, and quick as lightning took a turn with the line
about the forward seat. Then, as the boat’s headway increased
rapidly, he took the bight of the line aft and seated himself so as to
keep her head up and not bury in the rush. His knife was at hand
ready for a sudden slash at the line in case of emergency.
“If he’ll let go abreast o’ the p’int, all right,” said Riley. “I seen
lots harder ways o’ getting about than this.”
The tide was rushing out with great rapidity, and going along
with it the boat fairly flew. Riley watched the shore slip past, and
looked anxiously toward the lighthouse for the head keeper to see
him. It would give the old man a turn, he thought, to see a boat
flying through the water with the occupant sitting calmly aft taking it
easy. It made him laugh outright to imagine the head keeper’s look
of astonishment. Then he saw the figure of the old man standing
upon the platform of the tower gazing out to sea. He roared out at
the top of his voice, hoping to attract attention, but the distance was
too great.
Meanwhile the sea-devil was sliding along the bottom, heading
for the line of white where the surf fell over the bank of the outer
bar. The hook, or fluke, of the anchor was held securely in his
powerful jaws, and the force necessary to tow the following craft
was felt very little. The great side fins, or flukes, merely moved with
a motion which caused no exertion to such a frame, and the long
tail, armed with its deadly spear of poisoned barbs, slewed slightly
from right to left, steering the creature with accuracy. And while he
went his mind was working, trying to think how he could get the
man from the boat after he had taken him out to sea beyond any
help from the shore. A sea-devil he was, and rightly named. This he
very well knew, and the thought made him fearless. He had rushed
many schools of mullet and other small fish, who fled in frantic
terror at his approach. He had slid into a school of large porpoises,
the fishermen who seldom gave way for anything, and he sent them
plunging in fear for the deep water. Once he had, in sheer devilry,
leaped upon a huge logger-head turtle weighing half a ton, just to
see if he could take a nip of his neck before the frightened fellow
could draw in his head behind the safe shelter of his shell. He could
stand to the heaviest shark that had ever entered the Sound, and
had once driven his spear through the jaws of a monster who had
sneaked up behind him unawares and tried to get a grip upon his
flukes. All had shown a wholesale respect for his powers, and he had
grown more and more malignant as he grew in size and strength.
Even his own family had at last sought other waters on account of
his peculiarly ferocious temper.
Now he would try the new game in the craft above, and he felt
little doubt as to the outcome. A sudden dash and twist might
demoralize the floating tow, and as he neared the black can buoy
which marked the channel, he gave a tremendous rush ahead, then
a sudden sheer to the right, and with a quick slew he was heading
back again in the opposite direction.
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Introduction To Design Education Theory Research And Practical Applications For Educators Steven Faerm

  • 1. Introduction To Design Education Theory Research And Practical Applications For Educators Steven Faerm download https://ebookbell.com/product/introduction-to-design-education- theory-research-and-practical-applications-for-educators-steven- faerm-46490136 Explore and download more ebooks at ebookbell.com
  • 2. Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be interested in. You can click the link to download. Introduction To Curriculum Design In Gifted Education 1st Edition Kristen R Stephens https://ebookbell.com/product/introduction-to-curriculum-design-in- gifted-education-1st-edition-kristen-r-stephens-7219332 Introduction To The Design And Analysis Of Algorithms R C T Lee https://ebookbell.com/product/introduction-to-the-design-and-analysis- of-algorithms-r-c-t-lee-10954582 Introduction To The Design And Analysis Of Algorithms 2nd Edition Anany Levitin https://ebookbell.com/product/introduction-to-the-design-and-analysis- of-algorithms-2nd-edition-anany-levitin-2209914 Introduction To Mechatronic Design 1st Edition J Edward Carryer https://ebookbell.com/product/introduction-to-mechatronic-design-1st- edition-j-edward-carryer-38167344
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  • 6. Introduction to Design Education This practical, engaging book offers design educators a comprehensive, hands-on introduction to design education and pedagogy in higher edu- cation. Featuring instructional strategies and case studies from diverse design disciplines, including fashion design, architecture, and industrial design, from both the US and abroad, award-winning author Steven Faerm contextualizes design pedagogy with student development—a critical component to fostering successful teaching, optimal learning, and student success in this ever-evolving industry. Features include the following: • Advanced pedagogical methods and strategies to improve design stu- dents’ learning, holistic development, and design school experience. • Insights into the changing nature of the design industries and future challenges faced by design educators within higher education, and how design programs can be strengthened to better respond to these challenges. • A range of practical, flexible teaching methods and pedagogical tech- niques that design educators can easily adapt to their own settings. • Diverse international case studies and interviews with thought lead- ers in design, design education, and higher education. Written by a leading educator in fashion design, Faerm offers educators, school leaders, and administrators the context and skills to understand the evolving nature of the design industry and design education, and to improve design students’ learning and design school experience. Steven Faerm is an Associate Professor of Fashion at Parsons School of Design.A Parsons alumnus and Designer of the Year Nominee, he has been teaching for over twenty years and is the author of Fashion Design Course: Principles, Practices, and Techniques (3rd edition, 2022) and Creating a Successful Fashion Collection (2012). His work has been translated into nine languages and his scholarly research has been published in leading academic journals and other publications.
  • 8. Steven Faerm Introduction to Design Education Theory, Research, and Practical Applications for Educators
  • 9. Cover image: Nathalie du Pasquier, Cut out, 2015 First published 2023 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Steven Faerm The right of Steven Faerm to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. ISBN: 978-0-367-50230-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-50007-8 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-04916-6 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003049166 Typeset in Sabon by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
  • 12. Contents List of Figures and Tablesx About the Authorxii Contributorsxiii Acknowledgmentsxvii Prefacexviii SECTION I Design Industries 1 1 Introduction to Design Industries: Growth, Responsibility, and Uncertainty3 2 A Study of the Fashion Industry as a Model of Widespread Systemic Change11 3 The New Design Entrepreneurs27 4 The Future of the Design Industries44 INTERVIEW WITH MATTHEW KRESSY SECTION II Design Education 53 5 Introduction to Design Education: The Historical and Contemporary Contexts of US Higher Education55 6 The Design School Experience68
  • 13. viii Contents 7 Speculations on the Future Design School Structure78 BENJAMIN STOPHER AND TOBIAS REVELL 8 The Future of Design Education85 INTERVIEW WITH TIM MARSHALL 9 Global Directions: Unique Approaches to Design Education93 VERÓNICA FIORINI, SUSAN ORR, BENJAMIN STOPHER, ARTURO TEDESCHI, AND CHRISTINE TSUI SECTION III Design Pedagogy 115 10 Introduction to Design Pedagogy117 11 Young Adult Development124 12 Students’ Transition from High School to Design School140 13 Developing Competent Pedagogy: A Web of Practices152 SECTION IV Design Classrooms 185 14 Introduction to Design Classrooms: A Workbook of Effective and Strategic Teaching Methods for Design Educators187 15 A Practical Guide to Teaching the New Design Undergraduates192 16 Teaching as Performance206 17 Classroom Dynamics: Trust and Conflict217 18 Motivation and Design Students229 19 The Inclusive Design Classroom243 20 Designing the Learning Experience: The Syllabus253
  • 14. Contents ix 21 Assessment as Learning267 MARIAH DOREN 22 Faculty Mentorship277 Conclusion290 Index 293
  • 15. Figures 1.1 A lab technician tests nanofibers on an electrospinning machine8 2.1 A garment sweatshop in 190513 2.2 Number of employees in the US apparel manufacturing industry, 1990–2019 (in 1,000s)15 2.3 Clothing and clothing accessories store sales in the US, 1992–2019 (in billion USD)19 3.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs32 3.2 Mycelium “leather” is a bio-based sustainable and bio-degradable material made of mushroom spores and plant fibers35 3.3 Designer Kenneth Cole’s “Tied with Pride” advertising campaign is one of many the company has developed to support social issues37 5.1 Number of US degree-granting postsecondary institutions and their total fall enrollment, 1974–202058 5.2 Average undergraduate tuition and fees and room and board rates charged for full-time students in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, 1969–2020 (in constant 2019/2020 USD)59 6.1 The Bauhaus at Dessau71 6.2 Gropius’ curriculum schema displaying students’ sequence of learning, from the outer ring (the Vorkurs) to the centralized areas of disciplinary study73 9.1 The Fiat 500 (1957)102 9.2 Prototype for a solar balloon that floats above a city by day and lights its streets by night110 10.1 The studio critique121 11.1 Emotional well-being, by hours per week using social media (% indicating “frequently”)129 11.2 Percentage of twelfth-grade students who have a driver’s license, who have ever tried alcohol, and who have a paid job, 1989–2020 134 List of Figures and Tables
  • 16. List of Figures and Tables xi 12.1 Perry’s Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development142 13.1 The studio classroom154 14.1 The Pedagogical Ecosystem189 16.1 Interpersonal distances214 16.2 Seating positions215 18.1 Flow model230 18.2 The Zone of Proximal Development232 21.1 Bloom’s Taxonomy Pyramid272 22.1 The Model of Effective Mentoring279 Tables 9.1 The four phases of growth in the Chinese design industries99 9.2 Public and private design schools in Italy105 12.1 Initiatives to support design students’ transition into design school149 15.1 Practical teaching strategies for the new generation of design school undergraduates193 22.1 Examples of specific responsibilities and activities commonly practiced in faculty mentorship281
  • 17. Steven Faerm is an Associate Professor of Fashion at Parsons School of Design. A Parsons alumnus and Designer of the Year nominee, he began teaching at Parsons in 1998 while simultaneously working as a professional fashion designer and illustrator. He has been recognized for his teaching by receiving both his University’s “Distinguished Teaching Award” and his School’s “Faculty Award.” Steven has taught and lectured at over 40 institutions on five conti- nents for students spanning all educational levels, from pre-college- to undergraduate- to graduate-level and beyond. He has created college- and pre-college programs and workshops at Parsons and other leading international institutions, and has served on academic advisory boards for numerous colleges of art and design. He is the author of Fashion Design Course: Principles Practices, and Techniques and Creating a Successful Fashion Collection: Everything You Need to Develop a Great Line and Portfolio, and his scholarship has been widely featured in academic journals. His research examines design education, teaching and learning, young adult development, and the complex connections between these subject areas. Steven holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design, an MSEd from Bank Street College of Education, and an EdM from Harvard University. www.StevenFaerm.com About the Author
  • 18. Katherine C. Boles taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for twenty-five years, serving as a Senior Lecturer on Education and Director of the Learning and Teaching Master’s Program. She retired in 2018. A classroom teacher for over twenty years before teaching at Harvard, Boles, along with her colleague, Vivian Troen, has written and taught about school reform, teacher education, and new forms of teacher leadership. Boles is co-author with Vivian Troen of Who’s Teaching Your Children: Why the Teaching Crisis Is Worse Than You Think and What Can Be Done About It; The Power of Teacher Teams: With Cases, Analyses, and Strategies for Success; and The Power of Teacher Rounds: A Guide for Facilitators, Principals, and Department Chairs. Boles wishes to thank Barney Brawer, Nneamaka Eziukwu, Amy Kiser-Schemper, Katherine Merseth, Barbara Neufeld, Rulan Tangen, Vivian Troen, and Michael Sy Uy for their gracious and invaluable assistance with this essay. Mariah Doren has a Doctorate in College Teaching of Art and Design from Columbia University, an MFA in Photography from Pratt Institute, and a BA in Growth and Structure of Cities from Bryn Mawr College. She is Director of Academic Programs, Continuing Education, at Rhode Island School of Design. Her work is a mix of studio practice, writing, andteaching, carefullywovenandintermixedsuchthateachcomponent feeds and supports the others. Mariah has a studio practice based on photography that includes collage work combining printmaking, drawing, and photographs included in exhibitions at the Monmouth Museum, New Britain Museum of American Art, and Northern Kentucky University. Mariah’s writing centers on teaching: projects include a book titled Do We Have to Call It Critique? Reimagining the Tradition: More Inclusive, More Fulfilling, and Maybe a Little more Fun (Intellect Press) and articles include “Working Collaboratively- Teaching Collaboration” in Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy. Contributors
  • 19. xiv Contributors Verónica Fiorini is an Associate Professor of Accessories design in the Fashion and Industrial Design Program at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina. She began teaching at UBA in 1999 and served as Coordinator of the Fashion and Textiles Design Program between 2001 and 2006. Her research centers on the intersections between design education, innovation, identity, and the communication of design. She is the co-author of “Fashion Collection as a Discourse” in Thinking About Design (Ediciones Infinito, 2021). Her research has also been featured in the academic journal Cuadernos de Estudios en Diseño y Comunicación (Cuaderno 53, 64, and 78), a collaborative publication between the University of Palermo, Buenos Aires, and Parsons School of Design, New York. Matthew Kressy is the founding Director of the MIT Integrated Design Management (IDM) master’s degree program and founding Trustee of the New England Innovation Academy, the first middle and high school that prepares innovators to shape the world through human- centered design. He is an expert in product design and development. As an entrepreneur and founder of Designturn, he has designed, invented, engineered, and manufactured products for startups, Fortune 500 companies, and everything in between. Kressy believes in interdisciplinary, design-driven product development derived from deep user research, creative concept generation, and rapid prototyping. He is passionate about teaching this approach to the design process. Since 1999, Kressy has co-taught collaborative courses in product design and development at top design and business schools, including the MIT Sloan School of Management, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and Harvard Business School. As IDM director, Kressy leads curriculum development and co-teaches the track’s primary and required courses. He holds a BFA in Industrial Design from RISD. Tim Marshall is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Design and Social Context, and Vice-President at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. Prior, Tim spent sixteen years at The New School in New York City, first as Dean of Parsons School of Design (2006–2009) and then as Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs at The New School (2009–2016). As Parsons’ Dean, he led a major restructuring based on a visionary academic plan that established the formation of five thematic schools and a more integrated and comprehensive suite of undergraduate and graduate degrees. As Provost, he championed innovative approaches to curricula development and pedagogy, including work in creating a trans-disciplinary approach to the integration of design studies with the humanistic disciplines of the liberal arts, social sciences, and performing arts. Prior to moving to the US, Tim spent ten years in
  • 20. Contributors xv academic roles at the University of Western Sydney, predominantly in the School of Design. Susan Orr is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor: Education at De Montfort University. Previously, she was a Pro-Vice-Chancellor at York St John University. Before her PVC roles, Susan was the Dean of Learning Teaching Enhancement at the University of the Arts (UAL) in London, UK, a post she held for seven years. In this role, she led the University’s Teaching and Learning Strategy. Susan chairs the European League of Institutes of the Arts’ Teachers Academy and has published extensively on creative education. Susan co-authored the book Art and Design Pedagogy in Higher Education: Knowledge, Values and Ambiguity in the Creative Curriculum and she edits the international journal Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education. Tobias Revell is a digital artist and designer from London. He is the Design Futures Lead at Arup Foresight, co-founder of design research consultancyStrangeTelemetry,andapproximately47.6%oftheresearch and curatorial project Haunted Machines. He lectures and exhibits internationally on design, technology, imagination, and speculation, and works with clients to imagine alternative futures. Benjamin Stopher is the founding Dean of the UAL Creative Computing Institute, University of the Arts, London, UK. His research interests center on the intersection of design and computation and he is the co-author of the book Design and Digital Interfaces: Designing with Aesthetic and Ethical Awareness. Arturo Tedeschi is an architect and computational design specialist with more than ten years of experience in the avant-garde segment of architecture and industrial design. He works as a consultant for leading companies, providing services and training related to algorithmic modeling, complex geometry, digital fabrication, and data-driven design. He is the author of the books Parametric Architecture with Grasshopper and AAD Algorithms-Aided Design. He taught and was an invited speaker at the Architectural Association School (London), Politecnico di Milano, IUAV (Venice), The University of Sydney, Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation, University of Edinburgh, and Universidad Europea (Madrid). His personal work has been featured in international magazines and exhibited worldwide. He has collaborated with major architecture and design firms, including Zaha Hadid Architects and Ross Lovegrove Studio. info@arturotedeschi.com Christine Tsui is a researcher, commentator, writer, and consultant. With nearly fifteen years of professional experience in the fashion industry, Tsui has worked in operations, sales, retailing, product management, and general management. Her clients have included Nike and Li
  • 21. xvi Contributors Fung Group, and she has been widely interviewed by the leading fashion/financial media in China. Her scholarly work includes a comparative study between Western and Chinese fashion systems that was conducted when she was a Fulbright Scholar at Parsons School of Design. Tsui’s publications include China Fashion: Conversations with Designers (Bloomsbury, 2009; Hong Kong University Press, 2013; China Textile Press, 2014), Work Book for Fashion Buyers (China Textile Press, 2011; 3rd edition, 2020), and Advanced Buying and Merchandising (2020). Tsui has also contributed to The Encyclopedia of Asian Dress (2020) and is a section editor of Economics and Business of Routledge Encyclopedia of Chinese Studies (forthcoming). Dr. Tsui earned her MA from London College of Fashion and her PhD from The University of Hong Kong.
  • 22. I give profuse thanks to Simon Jacobs, Senior Editor at Routledge. His warm support and confidence in this book and my abilities, from the very beginning, have been a vivid beacon for me throughout the project. I’m extremely appreciative for being given the opportunity to share my ideas that aim to strengthen design education. I offer endless gratitude to Kelly Quinn for her outstanding help in editing this manuscript during its development. Her ability to deftly pol- ish and strengthen each chapter’s numerous iterations, all while helping to elevate and amplify key ideas, is a very special gift. Our partnership and collaborative processes were profoundly rewarding and inspiring. I am forever grateful to my “dream mentor” Dr. Katherine Boles. It is through her teaching and our rewarding friendship that has grown over the years that I came to understand what qualifies as a Master Educator. Katherine embodies this awesome role in every conceivable way. It is from her, and the many other faculty members and classmates I met at Harvard, that I learned more deeply what the goals and responsibilities of higher education must always be for our students, faculty, and future world. I’m honored to feature in this book the remarkable contributions of Katherine Boles, Mariah Doren, Verónica Fiorini, Matthew Kressy, Tim Marshall, Susan Orr, Tobias Revell, Benjamin Stopher, Arturo Tedeschi, and Christine Tsui. Their formidable insights are invaluable to this book, and they will undoubtedly benefit readers and the field. To my research assistants Cheryl, May, and Weijing, I am indebted. Their enthusiasm, curiosity, and perseverance during many sleepless nights contributed greatly to this endeavor. Finally, I thank my parents, whose great esteem for and prioritization of education sparked in me a lifelong passion for learning, educating students, and working with fellow educators. Acknowledgments
  • 23. “Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out.” In the late 1990s, when I first entered the design classroom as an edu- cator, my hiring director assured me I’d soon “figure out” how to teach. Like many of us, I had vast professional experiences as a designer, so it was assumed I could teach design. With little ceremony, I was placed in a classroom with essentially no pedagogical training or any professorial insight into student development. Through trial and error, course after course, and semester after semester, I was left to “figure it out.” What is “good teaching?” Over two decades after teaching that first course, I still don’t have a precise definition of what “teaching” is; rather, as the adage goes, “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.” My decades of experience working with thousands of students from across academic levels, holding diverse roles in aca- demic leadership and advisorship positions, lecturing across five con- tinents at over forty institutions, completing two advanced degrees in education—and then making sense of it all—has made me think more critically about what constitutes “great teaching” and what being an “educator” really means. The meanings of these terms are far more complex than I ever imagined prior to setting out on my journey as a design educator. My experiences and reflections on this journey have awakened me to the fact that we, as design educators, must give far greater priority to advancing and strengthening our teaching practices than we have before. There is just too much at stake if we don’t. Thus, I ardently hope that Introduction to Design Education: Theory, Research, and Practical Applications for Educators provides design educators with the knowledge, insights, and skills they need to advance their pedagogical practices. This book, the first of its kind, provides readers—including design educators, directors, and scholars—with an understanding of the shift- ing design industries as well as how and why design education in the US is responding. Through the presentation of extensive research, theory, and practical instructional strategies, the text contextualizes design ped- agogy with student development. I strongly believe this contextualization Preface
  • 24. Preface xix is a critical component of fostering successful teaching, optimal learn- ing, and student success. Design education in the US is responding to the dramatically chang- ing design industries by evolving curricula. Traditionally, these curricula have emphasized vocational skills, but they are now being replaced with those that prioritize the development of students’ conceptual thinking, interdisciplinarity, and innovative design processes. Program structures, coursework, and degree offerings are being reimagined to meet the new demands of an increasingly tenuous, accelerated industry so that grad- uates and young professionals may flourish as their professional design practices and their design thinking evolve. Concurrently, a new student population is entering design school cam- puses. This growing population of design undergraduates—the largest ever—exhibits markedly different learning styles, personal and profes- sional goals, views of higher education, and developmental needs than the preceding cohorts. Their unique attributes, coupled with the shifts in design industries and education, make it essential for educators to advance and strategize their pedagogy so that their design students, institutions, alumni, and industries can flourish. For many US design educators, these sudden and ever-increasing shifts have been challenging. Often with little or no support for faculty development from their institutions, they must self-create new teaching methods and strategies that address both the widespread institutional changes and the unique attributes of the new student generation. These design teachers, typically trained as design practitioners and not as edu- cators, are asked to rewrite long-standing mission statements, curricula, syllabi, and design briefs to meet the new requirements. This book pro- vides teachers and others with the guidance they need to work success- fully with this particular demographic. With US higher education’s increasing prioritization of student reten- tion, colleges and universities must aggressively focus on faculty develop- ment so their faculty may better support these students and thus improve retention rates. Design students are at particularly higher risk when it comes to retention, with many dropping out of college. By some statis- tics, approximately 40% of art and design students drop out of college, and, among the general undergraduate population in the US, fewer than half graduate within six years. Research shows the impact high-quality teaching makes on students’ well-being and academic success. For example, students who receive three ineffective teachers in a row may achieve at levels that are as much as 50 percentile points lower than students who receive three highly effective teachers in a row. This book presents contemporary research in design education, student development, and pedagogy to contextualize these challenges and provide readers with practical solutions for their students and institutions.
  • 25. xx Preface Moreover, the spikes of enrollment in design programs will prompt design schools to hire more design educators, many of whom will be new to the teaching profession. These faculty will need additional peda- gogical support due to the reasons outlined above and due to the hiring process itself: my professional observations and experiences show that design educators are typically hired for their design experience, not their teaching experience. In the hiring process, school leadership assesses the candidate’s design experience and upon hire, places the beginner teacher in a classroom without any (or remarkably limited) form of pedagogical training or support. Consequently, these teachers must experiment with teaching methods through “trial and error,” learn as they go, and ulti- mately “sink or swim” at their students’ and institutions’ expense. Although the examination of the design Academy in this book is articulated from a US-centric perspective, I strongly believe that the key dynamics impacting US design higher education are affecting teachers and students in all parts of the world, from student retention to student mental health. These dynamics, along with the many others presented throughout this book, will require international design educators and institutions to evolve and adopt new practices. It is my sincere desire that this book helps prioritize and advance design pedagogy across design schools and, in doing so, reaches beyond design school classroom walls. The Structure of This Book This book contains four sections: Section I: Design Industries examines how and why the US design industries are experiencing unprecedented shifts. These changes are subsequently radicalizing the traditional role of the designer, emergent business models and strategies, consumer behavior, and even the very aims and purposes of design. This section intertwines historical and contemporary contexts with speculations about the likely future of the US design industries. It looks at the changes that will directly impact the ways design schools educate and prepare future students. In Section II: Design Education, US design education is contextualized by first summarizing how the nation’s Academy formed into its present model. Chapters in this section discuss the broader, holistic landscape and circumstances of US higher education along with the more nuanced approaches that are specific to design higher education. Following these discussions, theories are articulated with regard to the tenuous futures of both the design Academy and the design classroom experience. This section concludes with descriptions of unique approaches to design edu- cation practiced in Argentina, China, Italy, and the UK, all of which have the potential to educate and advance US design programs and educators.
  • 26. Preface xxi Section III: Design Pedagogy focuses on design pedagogy through diverse lenses. Chapters discuss a range of topics that include the distinct elements of design pedagogy; the nuances of the emergent generation of undergraduates; the cognitive and emotional developmental needs of design students; the newly expanded role of the design educator; meth- ods to employ strategically and successfully diverse pedagogical methods in the design classroom; the adoption of a critically reflective teaching practice to strengthen teaching quality; and the key attributes commonly found among highly effective educators. Section IV: Design Classrooms, which builds upon the previous three sections, offers a wide variety of research-based pedagogical techniques that will support design educators in the evolving design classroom. Chapters in this section present and examine a broad swath of key con- cepts, including teaching strategies that target the key attributes and learning styles of the emergent design student generation; interpersonal methods that build trust and manage conflict effectively; guides to craft- ing well-designed syllabi; practices that foster dynamic pedagogy and class sessions; techniques that bolster student motivation and subsequent success; and ways to cultivate an inclusive learning environment. When synthesized together and utilized in the classroom, these pedagogical techniques can help engender an optimal student experience. Steven Faerm June 2022 New York City
  • 30. DOI: 10.4324/9781003049166-2 John Dewey (1916/2008), the venerated education reformer and phi- losopher, famously observed, “we live not in a settled and finished world, but in one which is going on and where our main task is pro- spective” (p. 134). It is precisely this sentiment that has long governed the direction of the design industries—in the past, in the present, and, most importantly, in the future. In no other time in recent history has there been a greater urgency for the design industries to understand and address the interconnectedness of our complex social, economic, political, and natural systems (Davis, 2018a). It is vital that designers and their practices demonstrate contextual intelligence if they are to engage successfully and strategically with informed iterative specula- tions about our future design industries—and the wider systems they affect (Davis, 2018c). The Growing Design Industries Annually, the US arts industries, which contain the design industries as a subset, contribute approximately $763.3 billion US to the US economy, employ nearly 4.9 million workers, and, in 2015, exported $20 billion US more than was imported into the US (National Endowment for the Arts [NEA], 2018a). Their economic growth frequently surpasses the national average of 2.4%; for instance, between 2014 and 2015, it was 4.9% in inflation-adjusted dollars (NEA, 2018a). Within this sector’s growth, the nation’s design industries exhibit markedly strong economic performance, especially in particular design disciplines and US states. For example, in 2015: • graphic design in Illinois grew 69% above the national rate (adding $589.5 million US to the state’s revenues); • architectural design services in Massachusetts grew 73% greater than the national rate (adding $804.6 million US to Massachusetts’ economy); Introduction to Design Industries Growth, Responsibility, and Uncertainty 1
  • 31. 4 Design Industries • industrial design in Michigan grew nine times the national rate (adding $429 million US to Michigan’s coffers); and • jewelry manufacturing in Rhode Island grew thirty-three times the national rate (adding $224 million US to the state’s economy) (NEA, 2018a, 2018b). More recently, between 2017 and 2019, the value added to GDP from arts and cultural production increased at a pace of 3%—faster than the overall growth rate of the US economy that was 2.5% for the same time period, and, in 2019, arts and cultural goods and services produced in the US added 4.3% to GDP (NEA, 2021; The World Bank, 2022). The US arts and design industries are so important to the US economy they have generated a widening trade surplus that has increased ten-fold from 2006 to 2019, totaling more than $33 billion US today (NEA, 2021). Accordingly, employment has risen in many of the US design indus- tries. For example, between 1999 and 2020, there was an increase of graphic designers (up 68%), interior designers (up 100%), set and exhibit designers (up 32%), commercial and industrial designers (up 22%), land- scape architects (up 50%), fashion designers (up 119%), and art directors (up 113%) (US Bureau of Labor Statistics [USBLS], 2021a). Contributing to this growth is the rapid surge of non-design industry companies that are now hiring designers in order to integrate “design thinking” into their organizations. These companies recognize the unique ways of thinking and problem-solving that designers possess; companies are leveraging these designers to innovate new approaches to staid cor- porate systems and customer experiences. For instance, at IBM, there are more than 2,500 user-experience (UX) designers and researchers embedded across the organization’s nearly sixty global studios (IBM, 2022; Miller, 2019). Other companies are following suit due, in part, to the emergent consumer generation’s demands for more personalized, cus- tomized products and experiences across all aspects of their lives—both in-person and online (see Chapter 3). Subsequently, there has been a pronounced shift in the hiring ratios of designers-to-developers: between 2012 and 2017, the average increase in designer-to-developer ratio grew 2.5 times, with notable changes occur- ring at LinkedIn (from 1:11 to 1:8), Dropbox (from 1:10 to 1:6), Atlassian (from 1:25 to 1:9), and IBM (from 1:72 to 1:8) (DeAmicis, 2019). In fact, research shows the general demand in the US economy for employees trained in design and emerging technologies grew 250% in just ten years (2009–2019) (Kett, 2019). Rosanne Somerson, President Emerita of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), has spoken publicly about this growing proliferation of designers across diverse corporate sectors. For example, while RISD’s annual career day always draws the standard design companies seeking new hires (e.g. architects, graphic designers, and interior designers), over the last several years, the scope of attendees
  • 32. Introduction to Design Industries 5 has been expanding to include employers from venture capital firms, the insurance, finance, and healthcare industries, and other sectors that “want the creativity of people that can spot trends, that can think about what’s coming, what’s important, what’s well designed,” and can “con- ceive ideas for new things that aren’t evident” (Somerson, as quoted in Vartanian, 2019, n.p.). The future bodes well for many employees in the diverse design indus- tries. Between 2020 and 2030, total US employment is projected to grow by 7.7% (USBLS, 2021b). (This percentage reflects recovery growth from the low 2020 base-year employment following the emergence of COVID-19 in 2019.) The design industries are anticipated to experi- ence varying levels of economic growth during this ten-year period. Job growth is predicted for architects (3%), graphic designers (3%), indus- trial designers (6%), set and exhibit designers (9%), art directors (11%), and web developers and digital designers (13%) (USBLS, 2021b). A Bigger Role and Responsibility The ever-growing scale and ubiquity of design and the design indus- tries in nearly every area of our lives require that corporations and their designers assume far greater responsibilities than ever before for the impact of their products and services on numerous areas, including the environment and critical social issues. One factor that impacts this sig- nificantly is the fact that there is rapidly increasing adoption of designers in non-traditional “design” environments, such as companies that offer technologies across vertical markets—as seen above with enterprises such as IBM. These roles require additional levels of interdisciplinary understanding of design and society. Fortunately, in the US, there is a growing number of designers who increasingly engage in inter-, multi-, and trans-disciplinary practices. While designers of the 20th century primarily focused on object-driven outcomes (e.g. those that improved products and environments), design- ers of the 21st century will be focused on knowledge- and service-driven outcomes. This shift in focus has consequently “spawned audience- centered theories of interpretation; raised concern for how complex information systems are planned, produced, and distributed; and high- lighted the social, political, and economic consequences of design” (Davis, 2018b, p. 4). As a result, the design industry has expanded its foci from the tech- nical skills of “drafting” and “styling” to include strategic skills such as “design strategy/thinking” and “problem-solving.” Although the demand for “traditional” designers is constant within the design indus- tries, “[our] society today demands a new generation of designers who can design not only products and communications, but systems for liv- ing as well” (Muratovski, 2016, p. 19). This transformation—from an
  • 33. 6 Design Industries industrialized system that is concerned with commerce (“product cre- ation”) to one that also acknowledges its place in and responsibility to a more complex and challenged world (“process creation”)—requires designers to assume a bigger role and more responsibility in our global society (Muratovski, 2016). Design practitioners must now ask more meaningful and probative questions about their respective industries, their work, and their customers. It is through this heightened awareness and engagement in systems con- struction that designers can understand better that every single decision they and/or their corporations make has consequences. As Chochinov (2007) incisively notes, “We have to remember that…design equals mass production, and that every move, every decision, every curve we specify is multiplied—sometimes by the thousands and often by the millions. And that every one of those everys has a price. We think that we’re in the artifact business, but we’re not; we’re in the consequence business” (n.p.). These consequences are vast and include sustainable sourcing and manufacturing, ecosafe disposal methods, attention to biodiversity and ecology, and social responsibility. Additionally, as applications and implementations of automation and robotization increase across indus- tries, designers must also consider the ramifications of adopting these technologies throughout global systems—and the impact these systems will have on people’s livelihoods. For some designers, these responsibilities may seem daunting at first. Yet each obstacle can be mitigated or eliminated if, at the educational level, design teachers work hard to lead students to understanding and contemplating the esoteric potentials, opportunities, and obligations of design, rather than merely teaching the pragmatic process of churn- ing out more and more “pretty things” (Chochinov, 2007). As design educators and as design professionals, everything we choose to discuss, espouse, spotlight, advance, and ultimately produce brings us that much closer to or farther from a sustainable and symbiotic world. Systems-Oriented Design What, then, is the raison d’être of the design industries in the years ahead? Numerous scholars (e.g. Davis, 2018c; Dubberly, 2008) assert the design industries must assume an advanced role—as a sort of “sys- tems steward.” In this role, designers are afforded the necessary time and support to analyze a system’s patterns and apply theories of change at the advent of every new venture, no matter its scale. This “sys- tems-before-artifacts” design process affords ample benefits, includ- ing a more sustainable practice whereby every element of the design system is quantified—“metrics before magic”—prior to proposals being approved for advancement (Chochinov, 2007). Naturally, this underscores the imperative of interdisciplinary design practice. When
  • 34. Introduction to Design Industries 7 designers eschew siloed approaches and build connections across rele- vant but diverse practices, they ensure design initiatives address what previously had been unforeseen psychological, ecological, social, or other challenges and consequences—within both the system and the final product. By reorienting the designer’s focus, the design industries can now recognize the difference between systems-oriented work and simply producing “stuff.” Accordingly, this systems-oriented design process radically alters the traditional designer-consumer relationship. In that relationship, the traditional designer-auteur works independently and creates saleable products for a passive, receptive audience. By prioritizing systems first— which includes considering all constituents involved throughout the development of the product, from start to finish—the traditional product- oriented framework that is top-down, planned, rigid, sequential, and “expert-driven” is replaced by a service-oriented framework that is more organic, adaptable, and is co-created with customers and members of the supply chain (Dubberly, 2008; Evenson, 2006). In systems-first design, the designer is the facilitator, and the customer is a contributor. The designer-collaborator designs with rather than for people (Davis, 2018b). When developing systems-oriented frameworks, designers must ask themselves, “How can I increase my consumer’s engagement as a partner, as a stakeholder, across all areas of a product’s planning, devel- opment, experience, and subsequent evolution?” As a result of this shift in focus toward viewing the consumer as a collaborator, an ongoing feed- back loop emerges between designers and consumers, one that allows a brand to gain greater meaning and an industry to gain greater relevance. A Great Uncertainty Over a decade ago, Linda Darling-Hammond (2010), Professor of Education Emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, noted the top ten in-demand jobs projected for 2010 did not exist in 2004. Shortly before 2004, in the span of just three years (1999–2002), “[t]he amount of new information produced nearly equaled the amount produced in the entire history of the world previously” (Varian Lyman, 2003, as cited in Darling-Hammond, 2010, p 4). In today’s world, advanced technology and information resources have enabled an even greater acceleration of information creation and consumption, which is subsequently opening up opportunities for new job functions and careers in our society, both now and in the future. Design teachers must therefore “prepare students to work at jobs that do not yet exist, creating ideas and solutions for products and problems that have not yet been identified, using technologies that have not yet been invented” (Darling-Hammond, 2010, p. 2). Ultimately, the only certainty—in design industries and education alike—is uncertainty.
  • 35. 8 Design Industries While the rapid growth of information and advancements in technology will impact all industries, in many ways the US design industries will expe- rience higher levels of acceleration and uncertainty than other industries (Figure 1.1). The quickening lifecycles of designed products and services, spikes in global competition, growing urgency for sustainable practice and attendant policies, and an emerging consumer generation that increas- ingly demands change across corporate and federal sectors are just some of the factors that will amplify the speed of these changes (Davis, 2018c). Resultantly, the designer’s core attributes of nimbleness, versatility, respon- sive, and flexibility must remain at the center of their practice; we do not yet know what the needed technical skillsets and creative practices will be in the years ahead. Additionally, we do not know how the design indus- tries themselves will evolve. This uncertainty will drive not only the afore- mentioned attributes of the designer, but also how they should approach each venture—namely, how they conceive of, hone, and ultimately present their designs to the market. Rather than completing a design until it is nearly “perfect”—which is the traditional approach—designers should, as Meredith Davis (2018b, 2018c) argues, adopt an ability to recognize when the effort input is surpassing the benefit to be gained. They must develop an attitude that enables them to stop short of perfection and adopt a “good enough for now” attitude, since new versions quickly replace preceding products and services. It is the uncertainty and volatility of the design mar- ketplace, the expansiveness of designers’ roles and responsibilities, and the Figure 1.1 A lab technician tests nanofibers on an electrospinning machine. Source: MAOIKO/Shutterstock.com.
  • 36. Introduction to Design Industries 9 unrelenting acceleration of technology and information that will chart the course for the 21st century’s design industries. Section I: Design Industries This section examines the past, present, and future states of the design industries that, in turn, directly impact the evolution of US design edu- cation. The following chapters discuss: • the systemic changes occurring in the US design industries and mar- ketplace as seen through the lens of the nation’s fashion industry; • the evolving role of the design entrepreneur, people’s changing rela- tionships with design and associated consumer behaviors, and a model for advanced changes in what the new role of the “designer” looks like; and • key qualitative assessments into the future design industries and how these sectors may best prepare themselves and grow successfully. Together, these chapters establish a foundation for understanding how and why US design education is undergoing an evolution, a topic that is fully discussed in Section II. This development in academia is largely attributed to the design industries’ unprecedented acceleration, growth, and ever-expanding scope in shaping our world, a world that is growing more fragile and in dire need of innovative designers who operate beyond the conventional modus operandi to solve the seemingly impossible and insurmountable problems we as a society face, both today and tomorrow. In 1969, the acclaimed designer Charles Eames was asked, “What are the boundaries of design?” In response, he famously quipped, “What are the boundaries of problems?” Today, the question of boundaries is more salient than ever before. The boundaries of the design industries and their workforces will become more porous, with more designers fol- lowing careers that differ from the “traditional” design career track. In turn, the design industries will continue to exert strong influences on the future direction of US design education. It is by examining and contex- tualizing these complex shifts and speculations of the design industries that we, as design educators, can strengthen our Academy’s programs, curricula, and pedagogy in order to prepare students for success in the evolving design practices. References Chochinov, A. (2007, April 6). 1000 words: A manifesto for sustainability in design. Core 77. https://www.core77.com/posts/40586/1000-Words-A-Manifesto-for- Sustainability-in-Design Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). The flat world and education: How America’s commitment to equity will determine our future. Teachers College Press.
  • 37. 10 Design Industries Davis, M. (2018a). Design futures trends: Core values matter. AIGA. https:// www.aiga.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/Core%20Values%20Matter.pdf Davis, M. (2018b). Design futures trends: Introduction. AIGA. https://www.aiga. org/sites/default/files/2021-02/introduction-to-design-futures.pdf Davis, M. (2018c). Design futures trends: Resilient organizations. AIGA. https:// www.aiga.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/Resilient%20Organizations.pdf DeAmicis, C. (2019, December 16). The decade of design: How the last 10 years transformed design’s role in tech. Figma. https://www.figma.com/blog/the-rise- of-ux-ui-design-a-decade-in-reflection/ Dewey, J. (2008). Democracy and education. Wilder Publications. (Original work published 1916). Dubberly, H. (2008). Design in the age of biology. Interactions. http://www. dubberly.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/ddo_article_ageofbiology.pdf Evenson, S. (2006, September). Experience strategy: product/service systems [Presentation]. CMU’s Emergence Conference, Detroit. IBM. (2022). IBM: IBM iX. https://www.ibm.com/services/ibmix Kett, R. (2019, June 25). College of Engineering and College of Environmental Design launch new Master of Design program. University of California, Berkeley. https://engineering.berkeley.edu/news/2019/06/college-of-engineering-and- college-of-environmental-design-launch-new-master-of-design-program/ Miller, M. (2019, October 21). Are traditional design degrees still relevant? Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90419644/are-traditional-design- degrees-still-relevant?partner=rssutm_source=rssutm_medium=feedutm_ campaign=rss+fastcompanyutm_content=rss?cid=search Muratovski, G. (2016). Research for designers. SAGE. National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). (2018a). The arts contribute more than $760 billion to the U.S. economy. https://www.arts.gov/about/news/2018/arts- contribute-more-760-billion-us-economy National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). (2018b). Arts and cultural produc­ tion satellite account: State highlights. https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/ BEA_2018_State_Highlights5.pdf National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). (2021). The U.S. arts and cultural pro­ duction satellite account: 1998–2019. https://www.arts.gov/impact/research/ arts-data-profile-series/adp-28 The World Bank. (2022). GDP growth (annual %) – United States. https://data. worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=US US Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS). (2021a). Occupational employment and wage statistics. US Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm US Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS). (2021b). Occupational outlook hand- book. US Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/ home.htm Varian, H., Lyman, P. (2003). How much information? University of California, Berkeley. https://groups.ischool.berkeley.edu/archive/how-much-info-2003/ index.htm Vartanian, H. (2019, November 21). The realities facing art schools today: A con­ versation with RISD President Rosanne Somerson [Audio podcast]. Hyperaller­ gic. https://hyperallergic.com/529483/president-rosanne-somerson-risd/
  • 38. DOI: 10.4324/9781003049166-3 Introduction Over the last century, the American design industries have undergone radical changes. Local manufacturing-focused design practices have been transformed into highly globalized systems that prioritize “design thinking” for its innovation. Offering more than mere products, today’s American designers—including those in packaging, furniture, textile, graphic, and industrial design—engage across design platforms that incorporate diverse systems, technologies, and user experiences. As the US design industries evolve due to these widespread changes, it is use- ful for us to approach the nation’s fashion industry as a case study to understand the multinational dynamics and events that have shaped and changed US design industries across all media. In doing so, we will gain an understanding of how and why design education has responded to these shifts while enabling speculations into the future of the design industries and design education. The histories of the nation’s fashion design industry and fashion design education are intrinsically intertwined. At the turn of the 20th century, the nascent US apparel industry was rooted in manufacturing, which grew steadily in the US in the first seventy years of that century. By 1973, New York City’s garment manufacturing industry employed 400,000 people at its peak (Karimzadeh, 2013). However, due to factors that include reduced importation tariffs with other nations, rising man- ufacturing costs in the US, and increased access to expanding interna- tional garment factories, the US manufacturing aspect of this industry was largely displaced overseas by the end of the 20th century. As manu- facturing was phased out of the US, the design aspect of fashion, rather than the manufacturing aspect, became the focus of the US fashion industry. With New York City as its epicenter, this industry has evolved over the past four decades by focusing on new, high-value endeavors that focus on design, research and development, technology, marketing, entertainment, and other creative practices. Fashion design education has responded by placing greater emphasis now on conceptual thinking, A Study of the Fashion Industry as a Model of Widespread Systemic Change 2
  • 39. 12 Design Industries design innovation, and interdisciplinary practice than it ever did in the 20th century. The futures of both the fashion design industry and fashion design education will continue to be closely intertwined, with each sector informing, advancing, and challenging one another. The past two dec- ades have been hallmarked by growing concerns around sustainability in an economy that is becoming increasingly “disposable.” Additional issues around environmental degradation and ethical labor practices compound the untenable position of historical fashion design practices. To address these and other concerns, national and international initi- atives are growing. These efforts aim to elevate consumers’ awareness of these issues, promote legislation, sustain fragile resources, reshore/ nearshore US manufacturing, and more. As one of the world’s largest industries, the direction the fashion industry takes on these issues will play a significant role in our planet’s future. Subsequently, design educa- tion must understand this unique industry’s past, the trends shaping its present, and future critical issues it may face so that it can play a positive role in our holistic futures. The Rise of the US Apparel Industry The mass production of apparel in the US emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. The invention of the sewing machine in the mid-1800s and the introduction of a standardized body-size measurement system necessitated by the demand for Civil War military uniforms gave rise to industrialized production and consumers’ reliance on ready-made, fashionable clothing. After 1900, the number of US garment makers increased dramatically, particularly in New York City, where the num- ber of women’s apparel companies grew 246% (from 1,850 to 6,392) between 1900 and 1917 (Selekman et al., 1925) (Figure 2.1). It was dur- ing this time that factory owners, located in the Lower East Side, began to relocate to Seventh Avenue between 30th and 42nd Streets, where they established larger production centers. By 1920, the vast influx of large-scaled apparel manufacturers in that location led the US to become the major producer of clothing for American women. Although New York City’s early 20th century fashion industry flour- ished, the city itself was not recognized as a design center. Historically, Paris was seen as the pinnacle of fashion creation; by 1925, there were approximately 300,000 couturiers in France (Wolf, 2017). To acquire designs, American manufacturers commonly paid fees to attended seasonal Paris shows and receive the rights to adapt the haute couture (made-to-measure) garments into inexpensive (mass-producible) ver- sions. American manufacturers often promoted their laudable adapting skills and, in the case of the Simon Crawford Company, “displayed in their store window an original Drecoll imported gown costing $485,
  • 40. A Study of the Fashion Industry 13 reproduced in every detail by their dressmakers for sale at $24.75”—a retail price reduction of 95% (Marcketti Parsons, 2007, p. 4). For decades, New York City’s industry focused on producing affordable fashions; one 1940s stylist noted the city’s manufacturers were “not so interested in making something good, as in making it cheap—and cheaper” (Rantisi, 2004, p. 96). These practices continued until WWII when the Nazi’s occupation of Paris isolated the city’s fashion industry. Following the war, New York City became an international fashion capitol due, in part, to Manhattan’s rising status as a cultural center and hotspot for high society (Municipal Art Society of New York [MASNY], 2011). Although Parisian couturiers remained authorities of “high” fash- ion, a growing number of entrepreneurial American “ready-to-wear” fashion designers emerged during the 1950s and 1960s. These designers targeted American women’s growing need for fashionable clothing that did not require custom-fittings and addressed their more active lifestyles. New York designers, including Claire McCardell, Bonnie Cashin, and Norman Norell, drew global attention for their comfortable, uncompli- cated designs, which became a hallmark of American fashion for decades to come. Igniting designers’ success were the nation’s growing middle Figure 2.1 A garment sweatshop in 1905. Source: Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News collection/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images.
  • 41. 14 Design Industries class, rising wages that strengthened consumers’ purchasing power, and escalating apparel sales. Resultantly, the US fashion industry’s work- force doubled between the 1950s and 1973 (Karimzadeh, 2013). Offshore Manufacturing and Apparel Importation The US fashion industry’s exponential growth during the second half of the 20th century concurrently experienced increases in globally outsourced garment manufacturing and importation. The mass out- sourcing of apparel began in earnest when, during the 1950s, the US “directly subsidized the building and re-building of modern textile and apparel industries in [countries, such as] Singapore, the Philippines, and India” (Rosen, 2002, p. 47). By 1960, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Pakistan, India, and the Philippines had established highly productive apparel manufacturing complexes that were well prepared to become large- scale suppliers (Rosen, 2002). Moreover, reduced import tariffs led outsourced apparel to compete directly with higher priced American- made garments. Later, additional legislation increased offshore manu- facturing and importation, particularly with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 and the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) in 1995. NAFTA reduced or eliminated barriers to trade and investment among the US, Canada, and Mexico, thus ena- bling non-US goods (made by a cheaper workforce) to compete with American-made goods. Between 1994 and 2000, Mexico’s exportation of textiles and apparel to the US increased 335%, from approximately $2.4 million US to nearly $10.2 million US (World Integrated Trade Solution [WITS], 2020). The ATC further impacted US manufacturing through its four-stage plan that increased import limits from 16% in 1995 to no limits by 2005. In 2020, NAFTA was rescinded by the par- ticipating nations and replaced with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Federal legislation, coupled with escalating labor costs in the US that increased manufacturing costs, devastated America’s apparel manufac- turing infrastructure and workforce. Between 1960 and 2015, the amount of American-made clothing purchased domestically dropped from 95% to 3% (Morgan, 2015). In just twenty-nine years (1990–2019), the sec- tor’s workforce dropped by approximately 89%—while globally, apparel and textile jobs spiked from 34.2 million to 58.8 million (Thomas, 2019; US Bureau of Labor Statistics [USBLS], 2021) (Figure 2.2). For their goods to remain competitive, apparel manufacturers have shifted pro- duction from the US (where factory workers make around $1,600 US a month) to more affordable nations such as Bangladesh ($95 US a month) and China ($326 US a month) (McCarthy, 2019). The resultant increase of apparel importation into the US is equally unprecedented. Apparel importation reached new heights during the
  • 42. A Study of the Fashion Industry 15 presidency of Ronald Reagan, when, between 1981 and 1988, the value of imported apparel nearly tripled from $7.7 billion US to $22.4 billion US (Rosen, 2002). Throughout the proceeding decades, companies con- tinued to outsource their manufacturing—particularly to China, where, from 2000 to 2018, textiles and apparel exported to the US increased 430% (WITS, 2020). By 2018, Chinese-manufactured products accounted for over one-third of all US apparel imports (WITS, 2020). Apparel impor- tation is so high in the US that today, approximately 97% of clothes sold nationally are imported, making the US the global leader of imported textile apparel articles (Reagan, 2018). The exorbitantly high levels of reliance on foreign manufacturing continue to contribute to the nation’s trade deficit of $80.2 billion US as of November 2021 (US Census Bureau [USCB], 2022). Reshoring and Nearshoring Apparel Manufacturing Against this backdrop of the tradition of offshoring, there are indications the fashion industry may increase “reshoring” (return manufacturing to the US) and/or “nearshoring” (moving physical production geograph- ically closer to the US). Researchers speculate this shift will occur due to Figure 2.2 Number of employees in the US apparel manufacturing industry, 1990–2019 (in 1,000s). Source: USBLS, 2021.
  • 43. 16 Design Industries several reasons. The first reason is the escalating manufacturing costs in most of the top twenty-five exporting countries. Once considered inex- pensive manufacturing locations, the cost of operations within those countries has become comparable to those in the US. For instance, in recent history, labor costs in China were “one-tenth of those in the US; today, they are about one-third. Across Asia, labor costs are increasing more than the rest of the world and in some markets the gap to offshore labor costs has even disappeared …” (Andersson et al., 2018, p. 10). The second reason is geographic proximity to the US. Closer geo- graphic proximity reduces the typical shipping time to the US of thirty- days from Asia to approximately two days from Central America (Andersson et al., 2018). The reduction in duration and costs enables fashion companies to respond faster to trends while simultaneously test- ing and scaling styles. This helps reduce the physical waste that results from unpopular, unsold merchandise. Additional environmental sus- tainability is promoted through this improved proximity; environmental damage from shipping is reduced as the accompanying carbon footprint is reduced. Given consumers’ growing concerns over sustainability— more than 50% report they would choose a more sustainable brand over non-sustainable alternatives—fashion companies are progressively including sustainability as an integral part of their businesses and brands (Andersson et al., 2018; Martinez-Pardo et al., 2020). The recent rise of geopolitical tensions may also encourage reshoring/ nearshoring activities due to volatile trade agreements and duties—both of which factor heavily into the costs of materials and manufacturing. Rather than relying on offshore production, US-based designers may scrutinize the economic differences among offshoring, reshoring, and nearshoring in order to determine which model yields the best finan- cial outcome. These decisions will be increasingly influenced by emer- gent technologies and automated machinery. For example, automated garment assembly via “sewbots” (robotic sewing machines) will offset higher labor costs and increase productivity, thus making nearshoring/ reshoring a more compelling economic model. The future growth of automation is a certainty: 82% of surveyed fashion professionals believe simple garments will be fully automated by 2025 (Andersson et al., 2018). Support for reshoring apparel manufacturing has gained momentum, particularly since the “Save the Garment Center” campaign was founded in 2008. This ongoing campaign raises awareness of New York City’s dwindling manufacturing facilities. Proponents cite the Center’s historic significance, opportunities for employment growth, and its benefit to fashion designers who need rapid turnaround of their prototypes and immediate input from production and manufacturing teams (MASNY, 2011). The location is also “a critical resource for emerging designers who cannot afford to export production and rely on their interactions
  • 44. A Study of the Fashion Industry 17 with manufacturers to shape the product” (MASNY, 2011, p. 48). The area’s resources equally benefit the small- and mid-scale fashion com- panies that are often unable to meet the high production minimums required by overseas factories. These local fashion companies rely heav- ily on the approximately 164 facilities in New York City that specialize in sewn goods (e.g. cutting, sample making, and pattern making)—a sub- set of the city’s 1,500 garment manufacturing firms (Council of Fashion Designers of America [CFDA], n.d.; New York Economic Development Corporation [NYCEDC], 2017). The industry has received additional support through an unparalleled $51.3 million US support package from the New York City Economic Development Corporation, in collaboration with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). Announced in 2017, this ten-year support package is designed to help stabilize and strengthen the City’s garment manufacturing industry. It includes grants for investment in advanced technology to improve competitiveness globally, workforce develop- ment, overall business development, and relocation assistance to help companies from the Garment Center move to Sunset Park in Brooklyn (NYCEDC, 2017). Furthermore, The Fashion Manufacturing Initiative, a $14 million US partnership, offers New York City-based contract man- ufacturing facilities grants to grow their businesses. These and other initiatives are helping transform the US fashion indus- try. Between 2010 and 2017, apparel became the third-largest reshoring industry in the US manufacturing sector, with nearly 600 companies and 40,000 jobs returning to the US (Reshoring Initiative, 2019). In 2016, American workers produced 10% of the nation’s fashion goods—a con- siderable leap from 3% in 2013, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49% (Thomas, 2019). In a recent survey, 60% of apparel procurement executives expect that over 20% of their sourcing volume will be from nearshore facilities by 2025. The same survey revealed 63% of respondents believe that by 2025, fabric production will likely move to nearshore manufacturing options to support regional supply chains better (Andersson et al., 2018). The Contemporary US Fashion Industry Amid these developments, the US fashion industry remains an interna- tional leader. The industry contributes to the national economy and spe- cific sectors that include finance, marketing, advertising, entertainment, photography, education, and tourism. In 2017 alone, New York City’s fashion industry employed approximately 4.6% of the city’s private- sector workforce and generated more than $11 billion in wages and $3.2 billion in tax revenue (Joint Economic Committee [JEC], 2019). The industry’s semiannual New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is a par- ticularly important event that both promotes design innovation and creates
  • 45. 18 Design Industries opportunities for substantial economic development. Attracting more than 230,000 attendees annually, NYFW generates over $530 million US per year in direct visitor spending, leading to a total economic impact of nearly $900 million US (CFDA, 2016). In fact, among the fashion weeks of the international fashion capitals of Paris, Milan, London, and New York City, NYFW accounts for more than half of the total number of shows presented and generates more income than the other three cities’ fashion weeks combined (JEC, 2019). Fashion design has become an especially strong focus for artistic and economic growth. Between 1999 and 2019, there was a 129.5% increase (9,600–22,030) of fashion designers in the US, with the high- est density of 8,460 fashion designers (38% of all US designers) work- ing in New York City (USBLS, 2020). Additional key areas of the workforce are located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. These cities have the next-highest densities to New York City of approximately 6,010, 510, and 490 fashion designers each, respec- tively (USBLS, 2020). The Imperative of a Sustainable Fashion Practice The fashion industry’s growth and the extreme levels of demand from consumers for rapid apparel production and consumption have resulted in substantial environmental damage. The industry’s growth has been particularly high in “fast fashion,” an apparel sector that prioritizes making fashion trends quickly and inexpensively for consumers. This category of companies includes such international mass-retailers as Hennes Mauritz (HM), Zara, and Uniqlo. The sector’s accelerated growth is evidenced by the nearly 4,400 stores HM opened globally between 2000 and 2019 and the over 6,300 stores the Inditex Group (which contains Zara) opened globally during the same period (HM, 2020; Inditex, 2020). To fill their stores and ensure they meet consumers’ demands, fash- ion companies worldwide currently manufacture an unprecedented amounts of goods. Between 2000 and 2014, the number of garments produced globally doubled from 50 billion to 100 billion annually (Thomas, 2019). Recently, Americans’ apparel consumption reached an all-time high, with clothing and clothing accessories store sales leap- ing by more than 123% from 1992 to 2019 (USCB, 2021) (Figure 2.3). This rapidly increasing rate of consumption leads some to speculate that, “If the global population swells to 8.5 billion by 2030, and GDP per capita rises by 2% in developed nations and 4% in developing economies each of those intervening years…and we don’t change our consumption habits, we will buy 63% more fashion—from 62 million tons to 102 million tons [per year]” (Kerr Landry, 2017, as cited in Thomas, 2019, p. 3).
  • 46. A Study of the Fashion Industry 19 The accelerated growth of fast fashion has led the sector to develop new systems that offer unparalleled levels of speed and scale. For instance, Zara employs 300 designers, develops 24,000 products each year, and produces approximately 450 million items for 2,264 stores in ninety-six countries annually (Hanbury, 2018; Inditex, n.d.; Lee, 2019; Thomas, 2019). Zara’s supply chain is so well organized that it typically takes only three weeks from initial product concept to in-store product launch, thus allowing the brand to deliver new styles twice per week (Inditex, n.d.). The HM Group (consisting of eight brands) operates 5,076 stores in seventy-four countries and employees over 120,000 peo- ple (HM, 2020). In 2019 alone, the Group opened a gross total of 281 new stores (net new 108) (HM, 2020). These increased rates of apparel consumption have led to significant environmental damage. Currently, the world consumes 400% more gar- ments on an annual basis than it did just two decades ago (Morgan, 2015). Consumers keep these garments roughly half as long as they did fifteen years ago—typically wearing a garment seven or eight times before it is discarded (Remy et al., 2016). In the US, clothes are only worn for one quarter of the amount of times of the global average, and the national rate of garment discard has doubled in the past twenty years, Figure 2.3 Clothing and clothing accessories store sales in the US, 1992–2019 (in billion USD). Source: USCB, 2021.
  • 47. 20 Design Industries from 7 million to 14 million tons per year (Ellen MacArthur Foundation [EMF], 2017; Wicker, 2016, as cited in Thomas, 2019, p. 7). Beyond the material waste lies tremendous financial loss: globally, consumers miss out on $460 billion US worth of product each year due to the apparel they prematurely discard (EMF, 2017). Ultimately, three-fifths of all produced apparel is lost to incinerators or landfills, with less than 1% of material recycled into new clothing (Remy et al., 2016; EMF, 2017). Not surprisingly, these and other fashion industry practices are causing unrelenting environmental damage by putting increasing pres- sure on natural resources, polluting the environment, and disrupting the global ecosystem. These practices include cotton production that requires exorbitant amounts of water; if fashion manufacturing main- tains its current pace and demand for cotton products, the demand for water will surpass global supply by 40% by 2030 (Kerr Landry, 2017, cited by Thomas, 2019, p. 71). Additionally, a recent study found that greenhouse gas emissions from textile production surpassed all greenhouse emissions produced by international flights and global mar- itime shipping combined (International Energy Agency, 2016). Some estimates anticipate that by 2050, the fashion industry alone will be responsible for approximately one-fourth of the earth’s total climate cost (Amed et al., 2017). A Future Paradigm Efforts to address the fashion industry’s unsustainable practices are escalating across diverse platforms. For instance, The United Nations’ Alliance for Sustainable Fashion was launched in 2019. Later in that year, more than 7.6 million people participated in the worldwide 2019 Global Climate Strike (Amed et al., 2019). Initiatives like these are significantly raising awareness about sustainability: for example, internet searches for “sustainable fashion” tripled between 2016 and 2019 (Berg et al., 2019). In a recent survey, fashion professionals cited sustainability as both the biggest challenge facing their industry and the biggest opportunity (Amed et al., 2019). Of those surveyed, 78% of sourcing managers agreed sustainability will be a “somewhat likely” or “highly likely” key pur- chasing factor for mass-market consumers by 2025 (Amed et al., 2018). Consumers—such as Millennial (born between the early 1980s and mid- 1990s) and Generation Z (born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s) shoppers—increasingly scrutinize their brands’ integrity, social engage- ment, and environmental impact. Over 70% of both generations make purchases based on personal, social, and environmental values, with 45% of Generation Z shoppers researching background information before making purchases (Amed et al., 2018; First Insight, 2020). Concurrently, companies are increasingly addressing issues relating to ethical manufacturing, sustainability, environmental wellness, and
  • 48. A Study of the Fashion Industry 21 brand transparency. Of course, some fashion brands have maintained a sustainable ethos from their beginnings. The US-based brand Alabama Chanin, launched by Natalie Chanin in 2000, exemplifies sustainable practice through the use of local manufacturing, organic cotton, and repurposed/reclaimed materials. Among certain fast fashion compa- nies, sustainability efforts have been more recent and evolutionary. For instance, by 2025, HM’s plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable; by 2030, all their products will be made from recycled or other sustainably sourced materials; and by 2040, the company will be “climate positive” by developing sustainable ways to make, transport, and package its products (HM, 2020). Zara has pledged to use 100% sustainable fabrics by 2025, and Adidas has committed to only using recycled plastic in footwear by 2024 (Conlon, 2019; Cooper, 2018). The future expansion of sustainability is suggested by the 67% of sourcing executives who believe the use of sustainable materials will be important for their companies (Amed et al., 2019). Sustainable initiatives are also developing in laboratories. Bio-fabricated and reengineered materials include threads created from discarded cof- fee grounds, lotus stems, milk, and algae, along with “leathers” made from mushrooms, collagen proteins, tea leaves, and apple waste. Material waste is also being used to develop both molecularly engineered fibers made from discarded clothing and regenerated nylon made from dis- carded industrial plastics. Scientists are even experimenting with growing near-complete items without the need for factory assembly. The envi- ronmental benefits of these materials (in particular their biodegradabil- ity) include the ability to make or grow the precise amount of material needed, thus eliminating waste. Additionally, digital technology is spawning “smart textiles” that con- nect users with web applications, change color, guard against radiation, release medications, kill bacteria, and conduct electricity. Developments have been swift: in just five years (2012–2017) the revenues in the smart textile industry grew at a CAGR of 20%, from $700 million US to $1.76 billion US (QYResearch, 2017, as cited in International Labour Organization, 2019, p. 5). Between 2018 and 2025, the smart textile industry is expected to increase 30% every year, for a total increase of 525.78%, from $878.9 million US to $5.5 billion US (Grand View Research, 2019). Innovations in manufacturing technologies enhance sustainability. For example, the Jeanologia manufacturing company uses a range of tools that support environmental wellness. These include using lasers, rather than water and chemicals, to treat and distress denim; “e-flow” technology that treats fabric and saves up to 95% of water, 40% of energy, and 90% of chemicals typically used in manufacturing; and “G2” technology, which is the first ozone treatment for continuous fab- ric and provides savings in water, energy, and chemicals that are similar
  • 49. 22 Design Industries to those found with “e-flow” technology. Jeanologia’s services make a significant impact on both the fashion industry and the environment: its technologies are used to make 35% of the five billion jeans annually produced worldwide (Jeanologia, 2020). Waste reduction is also found in the growing accessibility to technol- ogies such as body scanning, made-to-order apparel, and 3D printing. Body scanning technology utilized for the apparel industry gained sig- nificant attention when, in 2005, Levi’s adopted the Intellifit System of electronic body scanners at the retail level to produce made-to-measure jeans for individual customers. More recently, Adidas launched a tem- porary pop-up store in Berlin that provided customers with 3D body scans to create sweaters that were ready within four hours. Similarly, the company Unmade produces on-demand knitwear that can be delivered in mere days rather than the weeks it used to take to fulfill such orders. This technology leads many to speculate clothing sizes eventually will become obsolete, particularly given the accessibility of body scanners in smartphone technology. Combined with the increasing accessibility of 3D printing due to its decreasing costs, future apparel production may be as simple as customers scanning their personal measurements, purchas- ing a link for the desired garment, and printing it themselves at home (Thomas, 2019). The impact on sustainability is high: deadstock from untested, unsold merchandise is eliminated; textile waste from cutting patterns from yardage is decreased; and the impact of these new tech- nologies and reshoring/nearshoring options means a mitigation of envi- ronmental harm that has previously arisen due to manufacturing and the supply chain. Moreover, the addition of design customization and personalization may increase garments’ lifespans due to the heightened emotional connection consumers will have toward their “co-designed” purchases (see Chapter 3 for more detail). Automated sewing machines (“sewbots”) will further support on- demand and made-to-measure apparel. Akin to the expansive growth of robotic technologies that transformed automotive assembly lines and now perform surgeries, the increase of sewbots will decrease the require- ment for human labor, increase efficiency, and possibly help reshore US apparel manufacturing (Thomas, 2019). Proponents of sewbots antic- ipate an uptick of purchasing of products that have the “Made in the USA” label (albeit by sewbots) and are produced by companies that have reduced their carbon footprints, decreased volumes of unsold goods, and the more competitive costs of merchandise. Opponents cite the possible explosion in volume of products produced and the accompanying costs to the environment due to that volume of production. For example, a sewbot in the US can produce as many shirts per hour as approximately seventeen human beings can, and at a cost of approximately $0.33 US each—a cost so low that most low-labor-cost countries cannot compete
  • 50. A Study of the Fashion Industry 23 (Bain, 2017). Concerns for the destabilization of human welfare owing to automated sewing technologies must also be considered, given vast populations of garment workers will lose their jobs as these technologies become increasingly ubiquitous. Conclusion The widespread systemic changes occurring across US design indus- tries are exemplified by those that have occurred in the nation’s fash- ion industry. As a manufacturing-turned-design leader, the US fashion industry will continue to drive innovation for knowledge-based econo- mies. The fashion industry’s trajectory has deeply informed and helped shape fashion design education. As discussed in Chapter 6, the design school’s former curricular emphases that prioritized the process of making in response to the nation’s manufacturing industries’ demand for labor have given way to sophisticated pedagogies that increasingly prioritize innovation, conceptual thinking, interdisciplinary practice, sustainability, inclusivity, societal impacts, and more. This shift, which started in the industry, is leading design schools to alter design edu- cational aims in order to better prepare students so they may address successfully the design industries’ challenges of the future. Indeed, the design industries’—and particularly the fashion industry’s—future “self- disruption,” facilitated by design school graduates, will play a crucial role in impacting our planet’s long-term future. References Amed, I., Andersson, J., Berg, A., Drageset, M., Hedrich, S., Kappelmark, S. (2017). The state of fashion 2018: Renewed optimism for the fashion industry. McKinsey Company and Business of Fashion. https://www.mckinsey.com/ industries/retail/our-insights/renewed-optimism-for-the-fashion-industry Amed,I.,Balchandani,A.,Beltrami,M.,Berg,A.,Hedrich,S., Rölkens,F.(2018). The state of fashion 2019: A year of awakening. McKinsey Company and Business of Fashion. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/ the-state-of-fashion-2019-a-year-of-awakening Amed, I., Balchandani, A., Berg, A., Hedrich, S., Poojara, S., Rölkens, F. (2019). The state of fashion 2020: Navigating uncertainty. McKinsey Company and Business of Fashion. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/ the-state-of-fashion-2020-navigating-uncertainty# Andersson, J., Berg, A., Hedrich, S., Magnus, K. (2018). Is apparel manufac- turing coming home? McKinsey Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/ industries/retail/our-insights/is-apparel-manufacturing-coming-home Bain, M. (2017, August 30). A new t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers. Quartz. https://qz.com/1064679/a-new-t-shirt- sewing-robot-can-make-as-many-shirts-per-hour-as-17-factory-workers/
  • 51. 24 Design Industries Berg, A., Hedrich, S., Ibanez, P., Kappelmark, S., Magnus, K. (2019). Fashion’s new must have: Sustainable sourcing at scale. McKinsey Company. https:// www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/fashions-new-must-have- sustainable-sourcing-at-scale Conlon, S. (2019, July 17). Zara clothes to be made from 1005 sustainable fabrics by 2025. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/jul/17/ zara-collections-to-be-made-from-100-sustainable-fabrics Cooper, K. (2018, July 31). Fast fashion: Inside the fight to end the silence on waste. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44968561 Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). (n.d.). Resources. https://cfda. com/resources Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). (2016, February 10). NYFW memo from the CFDA. https://cfda.com/news/nyfw-memo-from-the-cfda Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF).(2017).A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/ publications/A-New-Textiles-Economy_Full-Report_Updated_1-12-17.pdf First Insight. (2020). The state of consumer spending: Gen Z shoppers demand sustainable retail. https://www.firstinsight.com/white-papers-posts/gen-z-shoppers- demand-sustainability Grand View Research. (2019). Smart textile market size worth $5.55 billion by 2025. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-smart-textiles- industry Hanbury, M. (2018, November 11). These are the tricks that Zara uses to figure out the styles you want before you even do. Business Insider. https://www. businessinsider.com/zara-design-process-beats-trends-2018-11 Hennes Mauritz (HM). (2020). Reports and presentations. https://hmgroup. com/investors/reports.html Inditex. (n.d.). Corporate home page. https://www.inditex.com/about-us/inditex- around-the-world#continent/000 Inditex. (2020). Annual reports. https://www.inditex.com/investors/investor- relations/annual-reports International Energy Agency. (2016). Energy, climate change environment: 2016 insights. https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-climate-change-and-environment- 2016-insights International Labour Organization. (2019, February 6). The future of work in textile, clothing, leather and footwear. https://www.ilo.org/sector/Resources/ publications/WCMS_669355/lang–en/index.htm Jeanologia. (2020). Products. https://www.jeanologia.com/products/ Joint Economic Committee (JEC). (2019). The economic impact of the fashion industry. https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/39201d61-aec8-4458- 80e8-2fe26ee8a31e/economic-impact-of-the-fashion-industry.pdf Karimzadeh, M. (2013, October). Ralph Lauren boots N.Y. manufacturing initi- ative. WWD, 206(84), 1. Kerr,J., Landry,J.(2017).The pulse of the global fashion industry.Global Fashion Agenda. https://www.globalfashionagenda.com/publications-and-policy/pulse- of-the-industry/ Lee, H. (2019, December 10). How extreme agility put Zara ahead in fast fash- ion. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/3f581046-cd7c-11e9-b018- ca4456540ea6
  • 52. A Study of the Fashion Industry 25 Marcketti, S., Parsons, J. (2007, January). American fashions for American women: Early twentieth century efforts to develop an American fashion identity. Dress, 34(1), 79–95. Martinez-Pardo, C., Seara, J., Razvi, A., Kibbey, J. (2020, April 20). Weaving a better future: Rebuilding a more sustainable fashion industry after COVID-19. Sustainable Apparel Coalition. https://apparelcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2020/04/Weaving-a-Better-Future-Covid-19-BCG-SAC-Higg-Co-Report.pdf McCarthy, N. (2019, May 7). Where pay is lowest for cheap clothing produc- tion. Statista. https://www-statista-com.libproxy.newschool.edu/chart/17903/ monthly-minimum-wage-in-the-global-garment-industry/ Morgan, A. (Director) (2015). The true cost [Film]. Untold Creative. Municipal Art Society of New York (MASNY). (2011, October). Fashioning the future: NYC’s Garment District. https://www.mas.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2018/01/fashioning-the-future-report.pdf New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). (2017). NYCED announces $51M support package for NYC garment manufacturing industry. https://edc.nyc/press-release/nycedc-announces-51m-support-package- nyc-garment-manufacturing-industry-collaboration QYResearch (2017). Global smart fabrics and textiles industry 2017 market research report. https://www.hexareports.com/report/global-smart-fabrics-and- textiles-industry-2017 Rantisi, N. (2004). The ascendance of New York fashion. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 28(1), 86–106. Reagan, C. (2018, April 9). You’re already paying tariffs on clothing and shoes, and have been for almost 90 years. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/06/ americans-are-already-paying-tariffs-on-clothing-and-shoes.html Remy, N., Speelman, E., Swartz, S. (2016, October 20). Style that’s sustainable: A new fast-fashion formula. McKinsey Insights. https://www.mckinsey.com/ business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/style-thats-sustainable-a-new- fast-fashion-formula# Reshoring Initiative. (2019). Reshoring initiative 2018 data report. https:// reshorenow.org/?pageLink=blog-detailblogLink=reshoring-initiative-2018- data-report Rosen, E. (2002). Making sweatshops: The globalization of the U.S. apparel industry. University of California Press. Selekman, B., Walter, H., Couper, W. (1925). The clothing and textile industries in New York and its environs. Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs. Thomas, D. (2019). Fashionopolis: The price of fast fashion the future of clothes. Penguin Press. US Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS). (2020). Occupational employment statis- tics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm US Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS). (2021). Industries at a glance: Apparel manufacturing. https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag315.htm US Census Bureau (USCB). (2021, January 28). Annual retail trade survey: 2019, sales (1992–2019). https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2019/econ/arts/annual- report.html US Census Bureau (USCB). (2022, January 6). Monthly U.S. international trade in goods and services, November 2021. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/ Press-Release/current_press_release/ft900.pdf
  • 53. 26 Design Industries Wicker, A. (2016, September 1). Fast fashion is creating an environmental crisis. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/09/old-clothes-fashion-waste- crisis-494824.html Wolf, E. (2017, February). A conversation with fashion’s biggest homme d’af- faires: Didier Grumbach. 1 Granary, 4, 579–584. World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS). (2020). World textiles and clothing exports by country and region 2018. https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/ en/Country/WLD/Year/2018/TradeFlow/Export/Partner/all/Product/50- 63_TextCloth
  • 54. DOI: 10.4324/9781003049166-4 Introduction As the contemporary design marketplace reaches unprecedented levels of abundance, saturation, and consumption, consumers’ needs and desires for design move well beyond the material realm. No longer is object crea- tion, which offers traditional forms of value (e.g. material worth, aesthet- ics, and function), the sole goal of designers. Now, their creations must carry an “emotional value” that targets consumers’ unique practical and emotional needs. Subsequently, the traditional role of the designer is no longer relevant or sustainable. This new form of design practice requires the designer’s long-held posi- tion in the creative economies to shift. The conventional notion of the “designer-as-auteur” whose personal proclivities and dictates are blindly followed by devotees has become obsolete. It has been replaced by design- ers who, through their use of new design and research processes grounded in the social sciences, craft emotionally compelling products that pro- vide “emotional value” to their customers (Faerm, 2021). By doing so, the designer transforms the creative process itself; rather than creating design from myopic, personal biases, the designer must begin their work by rigorously researching their consumers’ psychographics and emotional needs. This research grounds and substantiates all proceeding stages of design development—from concept to final product to marketing pres- entation format—and, consequently, enables designers to accurately identify, create, and deliver the “emotional value” increasingly sought by consumers. Designs become more meaningful and desirable to consumers who, due to this heightened “emotional value” and sentiment, may cher- ish and retain the products longer, thus contributing to global sustaina- bility. Moreover, this approach to the creative process enables designers to stand out in the oversaturated marketplace and businesses to increase consumer loyalty and resultant sales by offering only those products that are truly desired by their target audience. Presented in three parts, this chapter examines the emerging new role of the design entrepreneur: namely, the “Designer-As-Social Scientist.” The New Design Entrepreneurs 3
  • 55. Random documents with unrelated content Scribd suggests to you:
  • 59. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Strife of the Sea
  • 60. This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The Strife of the Sea Author: T. Jenkins Hains Illustrator: Clifford W. Ashley W. J. Aylward Release date: October 20, 2017 [eBook #55780] Most recently updated: October 23, 2024 Language: English Credits: Produced by Charlie Howard and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRIFE OF THE SEA ***
  • 61. IN THE WAKE OF THE WEATHER CLOTH.—See Pages 305–320. T H E S T R I F E O F T H E S E A T. J E N K I N S H A I N S AUTHOR OF “THE WIND-JAMMERS,” ETC.
  • 62. N E W Y O R K THE BAKER TAYLOR CO. 33–37 East Seventeenth St., Union Sq., North Copyright, 1903, by THE BAKER TAYLOR CO. Copyright, 1901 and 1902, by Harper Bros. Copyright, 1902 and 1903, by The Success Co. Copyright, 1902 and 1903, by The Independent. Copyright, 1903, by The Butterick Pub. Co. (Ltd.) Published October, 1903.
  • 64. CONTENTS PAGE The Old Man of Sand Key, 11 The Outcast, 37 The Sea Dog, 77 The Cape Horners, 101 The Loggerhead, 135 The White Follower, 165 King Albicore, 199 The Nibblers, 227 Johnny Shark, 251 A Tragedy of the South Atlantic, 277
  • 65. In the Wake of the Weather-Cloth, 313
  • 66. ILLUSTRATIONS Clawing off the Cape, Frontispiece Facing Page The Great Shape Sailed for the Top of the Buoy, 44 Full into the Center King Albicore Tore His Way, 214 The Line Was Whizzing Out, 300
  • 67. THE STRIFE OF THE SEA
  • 68. THE OLD MAN OF SAND KEY
  • 69. H THE OLD MAN OF SAND KEY e was an old man when he first made his appearance on the reef at the Sand Key Light. This was years ago, but one could tell it even then by the way he drew in his chin, or
  • 70. rather pouch, in a dignified manner as he soared in short circles over the outlying coral ledges which shone vari-colored in the sunshine beneath the blue waters of the Gulf Stream. He had fished alone for many seasons without joining the smaller and more social birds, and the keepers had grown to know him. He was a dignified and silent bird, and his stately flight and ponderous waddle over the dry reef had made it quite evident that he was a bird with a past. Sandy Shackford, the head keeper, knew him well and relied implicitly upon his judgment as to the location of certain denizens of the warm Stream. He had come back again after a month’s absence, and was circling majestically over the coral banks not a hundred fathoms from the light. The day was beautiful and the sunshine was hot. The warm current of the Gulf flowed silently now with the gentle southwest wind, and the white sails of the spongers from Havana and Key West began to dot the horizon. Here and there a large barracouta or albicore would dart like a streak of shimmering silver through the liquid, and the old man would cast his glance in the direction of the vanishing point with a ready pinion to sweep headlong at the mullet or sailor’s-choice which were being pursued. His gray head was streaked with penciled feathers which grew longer as they reached his neck, and his breast was colored a dull, mottled lead. His back and wings gave a general impression of gray and black, the long pinions of the latter being furnished with stiff quills which tapered with a lighter shade to the tips. His beak and pouch were of more than ordinary proportions, for the former was heavy and hooked at the end and the latter was large and elastic, capable of holding a three-pound mullet. He soared slowly over the reef for some time, and the keeper watched him, sitting upon the rail of the lantern smoking his pipe, while his assistant filled the body of the huge lamp and trimmed its several wicks.
  • 71. To the westward a slight ripple showed upon the surface of the quiet sea. The pelican sighted it and stood away toward it, for it looked like a mackerel that had come to the surface to take in the sunshine and general beauty of the day. In a moment the old man had swung over the spot at a height of about a hundred feet; then suddenly folding his wings, he straightened out his body, opened his beak, and shot straight downwards upon the doomed fish. It was literally a bolt from heaven from out of a clear sky. The lower beak expanded as it hit the water and opened the pouch into a dipper which scooped up the mackerel, while the weight of the heavy body falling from the great height carried everything below the surface with a resounding splash that could be heard distinctly upon the light. Then up he came from the dive with the fish struggling frantically in his tough leathern sack. He rested a moment to get his breath and then stretched forth his pinions again and rose in a great circle into the clear blue air. “The old man’s fishin’ mackerel this mornin’,” said Sandy, “an’ I reckon I’ll get the dory an’ try a squid over along the edge o’ the Stream as soon as the breeze makes.” “Well, take care you don’t lose nothin’,” said Bill with a grin. “Whatcher mean?” snarled the older keeper. “Nothin’,” answered the assistant. “Then don’t say it,” said Sandy, and he walked down the steps of the spider-like structure, muttering ominously, until he reached the reef a hundred feet below, where, hauled high and dry, lay his boat. Sandy was an old man, and had depended upon false teeth for some years. The last time he had gone fishing he had lost them from his boat, and as he could not leave the light he had nearly starved to death. In desperation at last he had set the ensign union down and signaled for assistance, the second keeper Bill being ashore on leave, and after the U.S.S. Ohio had come all the way from Key West to find out the cause of the trouble he had been forced to explain to the officer his humiliating disaster. As the danger of landing in the
  • 72. surf had been great and the services of the man-of-war had been required for a whole day, he had been forced to listen to a lecture upon the absurdity of his behavior that did little to encourage him, and it was only his emaciated appearance and unfeigned weakness from loss of food that saved him his position as keeper. He shoved his small boat off and sprang into her. Then he stepped the mast, and hauling aft the sheet swung her head around and stood off the reef, riding easily over the low swell. High above him was the lantern, and he looked up to see Bill gazing down at him and pointing toward the southward, where a ripple showed the breaching fish. His lines were in the after locker, and he soon had them out, one of them with a wooden squid trolling over the stern as the little craft gathered headway. The memory of his former disaster now came upon him, and he took out his teeth, which were new, and examined the plates upon which they were fastened. A small hole in either side showed, and through these he rove a piece of line. Then he placed the teeth back in his mouth and fastened the ends of the line back of his ear. “Let ’em drop an’ be danged to it, they’ll git back mighty quick this time,” he muttered. “I wonder where that old pelican left the school of fish?” The old bird had satisfied his present needs and had flown away to a distant part of the outlying bank, where he was now proceeding to enjoy his catch at leisure. Far away to the northward, where Key West showed above the horizon, a long line of black specks were rapidly approaching through the air. They were the regular fishermen of the reef, and they were bound out to sea this morning for their daily meal. On they came in single file like a line of soldiers, their distance apart remaining regular and the motions of their leader followed with military precision. Every time he would strike the air several sharp strokes with his wings, the motion would be instantly taken up by the long line of followers flapping their own in unison.
  • 73. The “old man” heeded them very little indeed as he quietly ate his fish, and they knew enough not to bother him. They sailed majestically past and swung in huge circles over the blue Gulf to locate the passing school. The old man mused as he ate, and wondered at their stupidity. Even the light-keeper knew as much as they. There was the breaching school a mile away to windward, and the stupid birds were still watching him. He saw his wives go past in line. There was old Top-knot, a wise and ugly companion of former days, her penciled feathers on her neck rubbed the wrong way. Behind her came a young son, an ingrate, who even now would try to steal the fish from him did he but leave it for a moment to dive for another. He glanced at him and ate steadily on. He would finish his fish first and look out for his ungrateful son afterwards. Further behind came his youngest companion, one who had hatched forth twelve stout birds during the past few years and who was still supple and vigorous, her smooth feathers still showing a gloss very pretty to look at. But she gave him no notice, and he ate in silence until they all passed far beyond and sighted at last the breaching mackerel. When he had finished he sat stately and dignified upon the sand of the reef, all alone. Far away to the southward, where the high mountains of the Cuban shore rose above the line of water when he soared aloft, a thin smoke rose from some passing steamer. To the northward the spars of the shipping at Key West stuck above the calm sea. All about was peaceful, bright, and beautiful daylight, and the ugly spider-like tower of the Sand Key Light stood like a huge sentinel as though to guard the scene. The day was so quiet that the sullen splashes of the fisher birds sounded over the smooth surface of the sea, and the breeze scarcely rippled the blue water. The deep Gulf rolled and heaved in the sunshine, and the drone of the small breakers that fell upon the reef
  • 74. sounded low and had a sleepy effect upon the old fellow who had finished his fish. He sat with his pouch drawn in and his long, heavy beak resting upon his neck, which he bent well into the shape of a letter S. Now and then he would close an eye as the glare from the white coral in the sunshine became too bright. The man in the boat was trolling back and forth through the school of fish with hardly enough way on his craft to make them strike, but every now and then he saw him haul aboard a shimmering object that struggled and fought for freedom. Above, and at a little distance, soared the pelicans. Every now and then one would suddenly fold its wings and make a straight dive from the height of a hundred feet or more, striking the sea with a splash that sent up a little jet of foam. The sun rose higher and the scorching reef glared in the fierce light. The old man shifted his feet on the burning sand and looked about him for a spot where he might bring another fish and lie quiet for the afternoon. He turned his head toward the westward, where Mangrove Key rose like a dark green bush a few feet above the water of the reef. Two small specks were in the blue void above it, and his eyes instantly detected them and remained staring at them with unwinking gaze. The specks grew larger rapidly, but they were a long way off yet, and he might be mistaken as to what they were. He had seen them rise above the blue line before, and if they were what he took them to be there would be trouble on the reef before long. Yes, he was not mistaken. They rose steadily, coming on a straight line for him, and now they were only a mile distant. Then he noticed one of the objects swerve slightly to the eastward and he saw they were, indeed, a pair of the great bald eagles from the Everglades of Florida. He was an old man, and he gazed steadily at them without much concern, although he knew they meant death to all who opposed their path. They were pirates. They were the cruelest of killers and as implacable and certain in their purpose as the Grim Destroyer
  • 75. himself. The pelicans fishing for their living over the reef were good and easy prey. A sudden dash among them, with beak and talons cutting and slashing right and left, and there would be some full pouches of fish to empty. It was much better to let the stupid birds fill up first and then sweep among them. Then, after despoiling them of their hard-gotten catch, they would carry as much of the plunder as they cared for to some sheltering key to devour at leisure. The white head of the leading pirate shone in the sunshine and his fierce eyes were fixed upon the fishermen. The old man was apparently unnoticed, although there was little within the sweep of that savage gaze that was left unmarked. Those eyes could see the slightest object on land or sea far beyond the reach of ordinary vision. They had even this morning, probably, been watching the fishermen from some distant key miles away to the northward. The old man was a huge, tough old fellow, and he dreaded nothing. He gazed at the fishermen and a feeling of disdain for their weakness came upon him. He thought of his old scolding mate, Top- knot. What a scared old bird she would be in a moment with that great eagle sailing straight as a bullet for her, his beak agape, and his hoarse scream sounding in her wake. How she would make for the open sea, only to be caught in a few moments and torn until she disgorged her fish. His eldest son would make a show of fight, perhaps, and in a very few minutes would be a badly used up pelican. As for the rest, how they would wildly and silently strike for the open ocean, going in single file as was their custom, only to be overtaken one by one, until they were all ripped and torn by the fierce fighters, who would follow leisurely along behind, striking and clutching, screaming and calling to increase their fright and dismay. He was almost amused at the prospect, for the pirate birds seemed to know him instinctively for a barren prize and swept with the speed of the wind past him and over the reef to the blue waters of the Gulf beyond, where the fishermen were still unaware of their approach. He would watch and see the skirmish, for no harm could come to him even though all the rest were killed and wounded. He
  • 76. swung himself around and gazed seaward again, and suddenly the thought of his uselessness came upon him. Why should he sit there and see this thing done—he, an old man? He had led the flock for many years. Should he, the father of many and the companion of all in former days, see them cut up by two enemies? What if they no longer cared for him? What if the younger birds were ungrateful and would steal his fish? Was he not the old leader, the one they all had looked to in the years gone by? Did not even the men in the tower treat his knowledge with respect? And here a couple of fierce marauders from the forests of the land had passed him to wreak their will upon the timid birds whose leader had grown old. Memories of former days came to him, and something made him raise his head very straight and draw his pouch close in. He sat gazing for a few moments longer. The eagles now had closed up half the distance, for they were going with a rush. A pelican saw them and headed straight out to sea, striking the air wildly with outstretched pinions. Then in they dashed with hoarse cries that caused the keeper in the boat to luff into the wind to witness the struggle. The old man launched his weight into the air, and with a few sudden strokes rose to the height of a couple of fathoms above the sea, bearing down toward the screaming birds with the rapidity of an express train. Above Sandy Shackford a very mixed affair was taking place. The two eagles had dashed into the pelicans without warning and were within striking distance before many of them could even turn to flee. Old Top-knot had just caught a fine fish and was in the act of rising with it when the leading eagle swooped down upon her with a shrill scream. She was an old and nervous bird and a touch from any other creature she dreaded at all times. Now, right behind her came a giant shape, with glaring eyes and gaping beak, a very death’s- head, white and grisly, while beneath were a pair of powerful feet, armed with sharp talons, ready to seize her in a deadly grip. She
  • 77. gave a desperate leap to clear the sea and stretch her wings, but the sight was too much for her, and she sank back upon the surface. The great eagle was too terrifying for her old nerves, and she sat helpless. In an instant the eagle was upon her. He seized her fiercely in his talons and struck her savagely in the back, and the poor old bird instantly disgorged her newly caught fish. Her savage assailant hesitated a moment before striking her down for good and all, while he watched the fish swim away into the depths below. Then he turned to finish her. At that instant there was a tremendous rush through the air, and a huge body struck him full in the breast, knocking him floundering upon the sea. The old man had come at him as straight as a bullet from a gun, and, with the full force of his fifteen pounds sailing through the air, had struck him with his tough old body, that had been hardened by many a high dive from above. The eagle was taken completely aback, and struggled quickly into the air to get out of that vicinity, while the old man, carried along by the impetus of his rush, soared around in a great circle and came slowly back to renew the attack. In a moment the eagle had recovered, and, with true game spirit, swung about to meet this new defender of the fishermen. They met in mid-air, about two fathoms above the sea, and Sandy Shackford cheered wildly for his old acquaintance as he landed a heavy blow with his long, hooked bill. “Go it, old man!” he cried. “Give it to him. Oh, if I had my gun, wouldn’t I soak him for ye!” The other birds had fled seaward, and were now almost out of sight, being pursued by the second eagle. One limp form floated on the sea to mark the course of the marauder. Old Top-knot had recovered from the shock, and was now making a line for Cuba. The old man was the only one left, and he was detaining the great bald eagle for his last fight, the fight of his life.
  • 78. Around and around they soared. The eagle was wary and did not wish to rush matters with the determined old man, who, with beak drawn back, sailed about ready for a stroke. Then, disdaining the clumsy old fellow, the bald eagle made a sudden rush as though he would end the matter right there. The old man met him, and there was a short scrimmage in the air which resulted in both dropping to the sea. Here the old man had the advantage. The eagle could not swim, his powerful talons not being made for propelling him over the water. The old man managed to hold his own, although he received a savage cut from the other’s strong beak. This round was a draw. During this time the second eagle had seen that his companion was not following the startled game, and he returned just in time to see him disengage from a whirlwind of wings and beaks and wait a moment to decide just how he would finish off the old fellow who had the hardihood to dispute his way. Then he joined the fight, and together they swooped down upon the old man for the finish. He met them with his head well up and wings outstretched, and gave them so much to do that they were entirely taken up with the affair and failed to notice Sandy Shackford, who was creeping up, paddling with all his strength with an oar-blade. The encounter could not last long. The old fellow was rapidly succumbing to the attacks of his powerful antagonists, and although he still kept the mix-up in a whirl of foam with his desperate struggles, he could not hope to last against two such pirates as were now pitted against him. One of them struck him fiercely and tore his throat open, ripping his pouch from end to end. He was weakening fast and knew the struggle must end in another rush. Both eagles came at him at once, uttering hoarse cries, and drawing back his head he made one last, desperate stroke with his hooked beak. Then something seemed to crash down upon his foes from above. An oar-blade whirled in the sunshine and struck the leading eagle upon the head, knocking him lifeless upon the sea. Then the other rose quickly and started off to the northward as the form of the keeper towered above in the bow of the approaching boat.
  • 79. Sandy Shackford picked the great white-headed bird from the water and dropped him into the boat and the old man looked on wondering. He had known the keeper for a long time, but had never been at close quarters. “Poor old man,” said Sandy. “Ye look mighty badly used up.” And then he made a motion toward him. But the old pelican wanted no sympathy. His was the soul of the leader, and he scorned help. Stretching forth his wings with a mighty effort, he arose from the sea. The reef lay but a short distance away, and he would get ashore to rest. The pain in his throat was choking him, but he would sit quiet a while and get well. He would not go far, but he would be alone. The whole sea shimmered dizzily in the sunshine, but a little rest and the old bones would be right again. He would be quiet and alone. “Poor old man,” said Sandy, as he watched him sail away. “He’s a dead pelican, but he made a game fight.” Then he hauled in his lines, and, squaring away before the wind, ran down to the light with the eagle and a dozen fine fish in the bottom of his dory. The next day the old man was not fishing on the reef. The other birds came back—all except one. But the old man failed to show up during the whole day. The next day and the next came and went, and Sandy, who looked carefully every morning for the old fellow, began to give up all hope of seeing him again. Then, in the late afternoon when the other birds were away, the old man came sailing slowly over the water and landed stiffly upon the coral of a point just awash at the end of the key. As the sun was setting, the old man swung himself slowly around to face it. He drew his head well back and held himself dignified and stately as he walked to the edge of the surf. There he stopped, and as the flaming orb sank beneath the western sea, the old man still stood watching it as it disappeared.
  • 80. Sandy Shackford lit the lantern, and the sudden tropic night fell upon the quiet ocean. In the morning the keeper looked out, and the old man was sitting silent and stationary as before. When the day wore on and he did not start out fishing Sandy took the dory and rowed to the jutting reef. He walked slowly toward the old man, not wishing to disturb him, but to help him if he could. He drew near, and the old bird made no motion. He reached slowly down, and the head he touched was cold. Sitting there, with the setting sun shining over the southern sea, the old man had died. He was now cold and stiff, but even in death he sat straight and dignified. He had died as a leader should. “Poor old man,” said Sandy. “His pouch was cut open an’ he jest naterally starved to death—couldn’t hold no fish, an’ as fast as he’d catch ’em they’d get away. It was a mean way to kill a fine old bird. Ye have my sympathy, old man. I came nigh goin’ the same way once myself.” And then, as if not to disturb him, the keeper walked on his toes to his boat and shoved off.
  • 82. T he day was bright and the sunshine glistened upon the smooth water of Cumberland Sound. The sand beach glared in the fierce rays and the heat was stifling. What little breeze there was merely ruffled the surface of the water, streaking it out into fantastic shapes upon the oily swell which heaved slowly in from the sea. Far away the lighthouse stood out white and glinting, the trees about the tall tower looking inviting with their shade. The swell snored low and sullenly upon the bar, where it broke into a line of whiteness, and the buoys rode the tide silently, making hardly a ripple as it rushed past. Riley, the keeper of the light, was fishing. His canoe was anchored close to the shore in three fathoms of water, and he was pulling up whiting in spite of the ebb, which now went so fast that it was with difficulty he kept his line upon the bottom. When he landed his fiftieth fish they suddenly stopped biting. He changed his bait, but to no purpose. Then he pulled up his line and spat upon his hook for luck. Even this remedy for wooing the goddess of fortune failed him, and he mopped his face and wondered. Then he looked over the side. For some minutes he could see nothing but the glint of the current hurrying past. The sunshine dazzled him. Then he shaded his eyes and tried to pierce the depths beneath the boat. The water was as crystal, and gradually the outlines of the soft bottom began to take form. He could follow the anchor rope clear down until a cross showed where the hook took the ground. Suddenly he gave a start. In spite of the heat he had a chill run up his spine. Then he gazed fixedly down, straight down beneath the small boat’s bottom. A huge pair of eyes were looking up at him with a fixed stare. At first they seemed to be in the mud of the bottom, two unwinking glassy eyes about a foot apart, with slightly raised sockets. They
  • 83. were almost perfectly round, and although he knew they must belong to a creature lying either to or against the current, he could not tell which side the body must lie. Gradually a movement forward of the orbs attracted his attention, and he made out an irregular outline surrounding a section of undulating mud. This showed the expanse of the creature’s body, lying flat as it was, and covering an area of several yards. It showed the proportions of the sea-devil, the huge ray whose shark-like propensities made it the most dreaded of the inhabitants of the Sound. There he lay looking serenely up at the bottom of the boat with his glassy eyes fixed in that grisly stare, and it was little wonder he was called the devil-fish. Riley spat overboard in disgust, and drew in his line. There was no use trying to fish with that horrible thing lying beneath. He got out the oars and then took hold of the anchor line and began to haul it in, determined to seek a fishing drop elsewhere or go home. As he hauled the line, the great creature below noticed the boat move ahead. He watched it for some seconds, and then slid along the bottom, where the hook was buried in the mud. It was easy to move his huge bulk. The side flukes had but to be ruffled a little, and the great form would move along like a shadow. He could see the man in the boat when he bent over the side, and he wondered several times whether he should take the risk of a jump aboard. He was a scavenger, and not hard to please in the matter of diet. Anything that was alive was game to his maw. He had watched for more than an hour before the light-keeper had noticed it, and now the boat was drawing away. His brain was very small, and he could not overcome a peculiar feeling that danger was always near the little creature above. He kept his eyes fixed on the boat’s bottom, and slid along under her until his head brought up against the anchor line, now taut as Riley hove it short to break out the hook. This was provoking, and he opened a wicked mouth armed with rows of shark-like teeth. Then the anchor broke clear and was started upward, and the boat began to drift away in the current.
  • 84. The spirit of badness took possession of him. He was annoyed. The boat would soon go away if the anchor was withdrawn, so he made a grab for it and seized the hook, or fluke, in his mouth, and started out to sea. Riley felt the sudden tug from below. He almost guessed what it was, and quick as lightning took a turn with the line about the forward seat. Then, as the boat’s headway increased rapidly, he took the bight of the line aft and seated himself so as to keep her head up and not bury in the rush. His knife was at hand ready for a sudden slash at the line in case of emergency. “If he’ll let go abreast o’ the p’int, all right,” said Riley. “I seen lots harder ways o’ getting about than this.” The tide was rushing out with great rapidity, and going along with it the boat fairly flew. Riley watched the shore slip past, and looked anxiously toward the lighthouse for the head keeper to see him. It would give the old man a turn, he thought, to see a boat flying through the water with the occupant sitting calmly aft taking it easy. It made him laugh outright to imagine the head keeper’s look of astonishment. Then he saw the figure of the old man standing upon the platform of the tower gazing out to sea. He roared out at the top of his voice, hoping to attract attention, but the distance was too great. Meanwhile the sea-devil was sliding along the bottom, heading for the line of white where the surf fell over the bank of the outer bar. The hook, or fluke, of the anchor was held securely in his powerful jaws, and the force necessary to tow the following craft was felt very little. The great side fins, or flukes, merely moved with a motion which caused no exertion to such a frame, and the long tail, armed with its deadly spear of poisoned barbs, slewed slightly from right to left, steering the creature with accuracy. And while he went his mind was working, trying to think how he could get the man from the boat after he had taken him out to sea beyond any help from the shore. A sea-devil he was, and rightly named. This he very well knew, and the thought made him fearless. He had rushed many schools of mullet and other small fish, who fled in frantic
  • 85. terror at his approach. He had slid into a school of large porpoises, the fishermen who seldom gave way for anything, and he sent them plunging in fear for the deep water. Once he had, in sheer devilry, leaped upon a huge logger-head turtle weighing half a ton, just to see if he could take a nip of his neck before the frightened fellow could draw in his head behind the safe shelter of his shell. He could stand to the heaviest shark that had ever entered the Sound, and had once driven his spear through the jaws of a monster who had sneaked up behind him unawares and tried to get a grip upon his flukes. All had shown a wholesale respect for his powers, and he had grown more and more malignant as he grew in size and strength. Even his own family had at last sought other waters on account of his peculiarly ferocious temper. Now he would try the new game in the craft above, and he felt little doubt as to the outcome. A sudden dash and twist might demoralize the floating tow, and as he neared the black can buoy which marked the channel, he gave a tremendous rush ahead, then a sudden sheer to the right, and with a quick slew he was heading back again in the opposite direction.
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