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Sota Koguchi
Who am I? Who do I want to be?
I’m Sota Koguchi from the University of Shizuoka, International Relations. I’ve been interested in second-hand clothes, and want to manage my second-hand clothes shop and improve general recognition of second-hand clothes.
（静岡県立大学・国際関係学部の髙口蒼太です。 古着に昔から興味があり、現在は古着屋を経営しており、古着の認知度を高めたいと思っています。）
What local and global problems am I aware of?
Local problems:
Global problems :Fast fashion is reasonable and afford to buy. But it brings our lives mass production and mass consumption. I found the picture of Chile’s Atacama Desert is covered with tons of fast fashion clothes. Because of this, cheap clothes are often thrown away or merely worn. After thrown away, these clothes pile up in Desert or Coast. This time, i focus on the mass production and mass consumption but other problems like Human-rights or working environmental problem is here in fast fashion.
(世界的に興味があることはファストファッションについてである。ファストファッションは安く、気安く買う事ができるが私たちの生活に大量生産と大量消費をもたらしている。 チリのアタカマ砂漠の写真では、たくさんのファストファッションの服で覆われていることが分かる。 日本ではかなりイメージしにくい話だが、海外のファストファッションの闇を代表した一枚と言える。そのため、安物の服が捨てられたり、単に着たりすることが多い。 捨てられた後、これらの服は砂漠や海岸に積み上げられる。今回は大量生産と大量消費に着目したが、その他にもファストファッションは人権問題や労働環境問題など様々な深刻な問題を抱えている。)
What Sustainable Development Goals have I learned about?
Goal 12. Responsible consumption and production.
Information
As you declutter Marie Kondo-style your closet and get rid of anything that doesn’t spark joy, you might end up with a big pile of clothes that you regret simply dumping in the trash. Here are a few options to recycle old clothes and give them a chance to bring joy to others.
Sources
https://jobsinjapan.com/japan-faq/how-to-recycle-old-clothes-in-tokyo/
Goal 1. No poverty , 3. Good health and well-being , 12.Responsible consumption and production
Information
Over 1,100 people lost their lives when the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 24 April 2013. Many more were injured, and the survivors faced a very uncertain future.
Ten years on from the disaster, much has changed. Today, the industry is safer and the capacity of the Bangladeshi Government to oversee compliance is much stronger.
Sources
https://www.ilo.org/infostories/en-GB/Stories/Country-Focus/rana-plaza#intro
What did I do and learn in my fieldwork?
What was my research question?
Where clothes go next; into the closet or recycled, reused, thrown away.
Why is this important to me?
Because I’m interested in clothes. When i was in high school, i started being interested in the fashion, and more recently, I’m interested not only in fashion but also its problem.
What did I do?
Did some interviews and took some pictures of the outfit to reveal how many second-hand items are used.
What data did I collect?
I used to think many people were throwing away their old, size-outed clothes. But most people are keeping them in the closet, and struggling.
What trends did I find in the data?
People who use second-hand on a daily basis tend to recycle their size-outed or old-fashioned items; put up for sale on Merucari, give to others.
How does my fieldwork connect to my future?
I’ll manage my own second-hand shop. This purchase habit and keeping habit I revealed are useful to think about the market.
Who is doing related work locally and globally? What are they doing?
Local connection:
Global connection:
What do I think would be a useful project to work towards achieving the SDGs?
Short summary:
There are huge amounts of clothes in the closet that aren’t worn for a long time and people are struggling. If I improve or use it effectively,I’d be able to reduce the side effects of fast-fashion.
SDGs targetted:
1. No poverty
3. Good health and well-being
12.Responsible consumption and production
Who
People who often use fast-fashion, or keep too many clothes in their closet
What
Research more.
Gather such clothes and re-make or re-build by myself.
When
It doesn’t matter. But I think summer or winter is available.
Where
At first, i focus on Kendai, so I’m planning at 上食
How (how many / how much)
More than 20 people
I hope 10kg
Why
I want to know more about the circumstances and social problems.
Because this re-make system creates benefits both for me and for other people. Customers can reduce their clothes sleeping in closet and get some money, and I can try what i want to do, and it would make money.
Materials
People who answer.
People who give me their closet in clothes.
Learn how to assemble, re-make.
Dangers / risks
People hate giving their clothes.
Problems
I can’t expect the amount of clothes; too much or too small.
Timeline
Reflection
What I learned this semester:
I did research on what I want to do for myself. It is a really good opportunity to practice what I had studied in real life. I was a member of UNICEF when I was in high school, and I know much about the SDGs. But through this semester, I researched and did fieldwork, my knowledge deepened and deepened.
I also knew the method of fieldwork; get permission
What I did well:
I made a well balanced project plan.
What I could have done better:
Too much. I should have done my project earlier so that I can fix or add more questionnaires. I wanted to do more fieldwork and collect more data. I tried to talk English every time.
The connection to my future:
Advice for other students:
References / Links
https://jobsinjapan.com/japan-faq/how-to-recycle-old-clothes-in-tokyo/
https://www.ilo.org/infostories/en-GB/Stories/Country-Focus/rana-plaza#intro
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