2020 went down in history as the year the world stopped, without exaggeration. Proof of this is an indisputable indicator such as the Earth Overshoot Day1, which moved more than 3 weeks compared to the previous year. This stoppage forced by a universal pandemic gave way to countless reflections, theories and self-imposed demands, motivated by the desire to find meaning in this new scenario worthy of science fiction, and by the deep desire to redesign our lives for the return to a brand new normal. Without wanting to delve into those reflections, which were undoubtedly as many and as diverse as there are people in the world, the fact that does not admit any argument is the manifestation of a present of disruption, and with it the appearance of anxiety that every opportunity generates. Time magazine called it The Great Reset2, and in partnership with the World Economic Forum, they gave visibility to the ideas of many leaders on how to transform the way we live and work.
Disruption, what the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy) defines as "sudden breakage or interruption", also speaks of a process or a way of doing things that is imposed and displaces those that had been used until now. At this point, there should already be consensus that the disruption or reset was not caused by a pandemic, nor is it temporarily located in 2020. This moment is the corollary of years of exhausted and obsolete systems, models and lifestyles, and in any case, the pandemic stood out like the icing on the cake, or rather, like the straw that broke the camel's back, and made massive what until now was exclusive to a few. In any case, it was presented as a magnificent opportunity to rethink, redefine and redesign everything that no longer does good, that does not regenerate, that does not add value.
In order to illustrate this process of disruption, we could resort to the Two Loops Model of the Berkana Institute3 and imagine it as a scheme of two flows that coexist and overlap in a portion of time: - on one hand, the descending curve that symbolizes the old paradigms that lose strength, credibility and followers; - on the other, the ascending curve that represents the new paradigms, alternatives and possibilities that mark the path towards a better future. It is clear that it is a dynamic sequence, which is constantly repeated and fed back over time. What today is an exhausted model, it was the improved version of previous times years ago. We always start from the assumption that everything new is built from the benefits and strengths of the old, incorporating the wisdom of experience in the light of innovation.
In this new era, the scope of the new paradigms is wide and transversal. It implies, among many other things, redefining concepts such as economic prosperity and the wealth of nations (moving from the concept of growth to that of development, from indicators such as GDP to others that account for the quality of life of individuals); the success of companies and businesses (moving from the profit maximization model to the triple impact model); motivation and personal success (moving from the search for security to the search for freedom, from well-having to well-being). It also forces us to review and rethink the educational system at all levels (go from standardization to personalization, from indoctrination to the development of multiple intelligences); as well as the labor market (going from titles and private labels, to personal branding and added value, from dependency to interdependence).
In short, it commits to the search for new ways of doing things, whatever the sphere, based on awareness, connection and purpose, with a focus on the construction of good practices and sustainable habits. I like to simplify it by saying that it is a question of always choosing the best of the options for each decision (with the information that we have available today, as science does), the most correct, the one that harms the least, the one that adds the most, the one that we know can last over time without an associated cost (or at the lowest possible cost), which builds individual and collective happiness, which denotes evolution. Something like the search for excellence in each decision space, from the most everyday to the most crucial and transcendent, whatever the area in which we have to influence. Aristotle said well: "We are what we do every day, so that excellence is not an act but a habit" (Aristotle, 384 BC - 322 BC).
And the fashion industry has a lot to say about it. As the designer Frederieke Broekgaarden stated months ago for Fashion For Good4 "While design is partly responsible for ruthless exploitation of the planet, it also offers the solution" (Broekgaarden, 2021). In this sense, the Animaná model, anchored in an ethical, transparent and sustainable value chain, stands as an inspiring prototype for all those who seek to be part of the solution motivated by excellence. This dynamic and virtuous value chain, lovingly illustrated in the header image, is a call to reflect, redesign and redefine based on awareness, purpose and sustainability. It is an invitation to act collectively in pursuit of a clear objective defined by 3 pillars: to revalue natural fibers and artisan work; work for a new fashion paradigm anchored in values such as ethics, transparency, inclusion and sustainability; and promote responsible consumption from research, design and communication. This new time commits us all, the new paradigms push us to act from another level of consciousness, and this model shows us how to do it.
1 Earth Overshoot Day. Global Footprint Network. 2021.
https://www.overshootday.org/newsroom/past-earth-overshoot-days/
2 The Great Reset. Time USA, LLC. 2021.
https://time.com/collection/great-reset/#:~:text=The%20COVID%2D19%20pandemic%20has,way%20we%20live%20and%2 0work
3 Two Loops Model. Great Transition Stories. 2021. https://greattransitionstories.org/patterns-of-change/two-loops/4 Fashion For Good. 2021. https://fashionforgood.com/
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