Systems, Fashion and Sustainability in Brazil

DOMUS ACADEMY

MFM – MASTER IN FASHION MANAGEMENT 2010

DIRECTOR ANNAGEMA LASCARI

ORIENTED BY CLAUDIO M. MORES

SYSTEMS, FASHION AND SUSTAINABILITY:

Values as innovation drivers in Brazil

CAROLINA LEAL LIMA

MILANO, 2010

To my mom who showed me that men and nature are one;

To my dad who showed me some things in the world are not making sense;

To my aunt who put these things together;

To my ‘grandmas’ who hold everything with love.

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ABSTRACT

Keywords: Systems, fashion, sustainability

The reconfiguration of Designs‟ DNA that rather than continue to focus its
attention upon invention, innovation, and enterprise, to reconciling the human
state. No longer about the lifestyle, design is about the lifecycle, and products
are about meaning. The comprehension about the values that are emerging in
the society and Brazil as respective place where some of them can be found,
takes the research to the analysis and improvement of a brand that has a lot to
contribute with the new paradigms.

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INDEX

1.INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………..5

2. SYSTEMS………………………………………………………………………….7

2.1 WHY DO WE THINK AS WE THINK: The mindset…………………………7

2.2 CHALLENGING CONVENTIONAL THINKING:

Challenging the system……………………………………………………………12

2.3 FASHION SYSTEM……………………………………………………………..14

2.4 CIVILIZATION OF DESIRE: The system and the consumption………..16

2.5 AESTHETIC BARBARISM?.......................................................................17

2.6 FASHION CRISIS: The people make the system………………………….18

2.7 THE FUTURE OF THE SYSTEM: Emerging values……………………….21

3. BRASIL, BRAZIL…………………………………………………………………33

3.1 THE FUTURE BELONGS TO PEOPLE………………………………………37

3.2 “WHAT DOESN’T KILL ME MAKE ME STRONGER”……………………..39

3.3 BRAZILIANS AND THE BRAZILEIRISM: DNA……………………………..44

3.4 FASHION + BRAZIL…………………………………………………………….52

4. A SUSTAINABLE BRAZILIAN CASE………………………………………….67

4.1 SUSTAINABILITY: Concept and lines of thought………………………..80

4.2 DEVELOPING THE CASE: COLETIVO VERDE…………………………….91

4.2.1 INVESTIGATING THE NUMBERS………………………………………….92

4.2.2 WEB INFORMATION…………………………………………………………93

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4.2.3 E-COMMERCE IN BRAZIL………………………………………………….95

4.2.4 SWOT…………………………………………………………………………..98

4.2.5 BRAND’S CONCEPT……………………………………………………….100

4.2.6 BRAND’S PRODUCT AND PROMOTION IDEAS: Applying the concept
in the details……………………………………………………………………….105

5. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………..120

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………...122

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1. INTRODUCTION

The systems we inherited from the Industrial Revolution are built on a way of
manufacturing model that generates products designed for a one-way trip the
landfill. Much of them are toxic. And most of these conditions are the result of a
not aware conceived plan; they are the signals of flawed design. And they are
everywhere.

So, if there is an obsolete system ruling things, it is very difficult to have an
effective change in products and processes from a day to another. How does a
system start to change? In this research the way to know how to start changing
some things is taken, and the industry, in special, the fashion industry will be
questioned and consequently, also the sustainable solutions.

The fact is that sustainable development agenda, typically aims to reduce, re-
use and recycle, creating "more goods and services while using ever-less
resources and producing less waste and pollution." So, how does fashion
should to behave to be able to practice a sustainable development? Or better, is
a sustainable development the real solution? Probably yes, but which
sustainable development? There are so many ways of approaching
sustainability. The first decade of the new century is producing already more
questions than answers. But a well-placed question can be better than a bad
placed answer. Therefore, the arguments to construct a new mindset are the
main effort of this research.

What is visible, though, is that this is a way regarding to the structure of
perceptions and paradigms. And these structures are built by the values of the
society, its social imaginary, and the interconnections of social,cultural and
individual life. And these values can drive the innovation. So, to put the thoughts
in practice, a place and a case are chosen. The „funnel of knowledge‟ will take
to the understanding that Brazil has many reasons to be comprehended by now
and the study of a Brazilian case is an opportunity to highlight these values
which are being speculated here, and also to provide an orientation considering
all the issues that will be discussed in terms of values, approach and aesthetics.

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“Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are
you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human
purposes?”

Joseph Campbell

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2. SYSTEMS

2.1 WHY DO WE THINK AS WE THINK: The mindset

The world view and the system of values that underlie our culture have been
formulated in its essentials in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Between
1500 and 1700 there was a drastic change in how people describe the world
and in their whole way of thinking. This change led to Western civilization in
those aspects that are characteristic of the modern era. In the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries "the notion of an organic universe, living and spiritual
was replaced by the notion of the world as if it was a machine, and the world‟s
machine has become the dominant metaphor of the modern era. This
development was brought out by revolutionary changes in physics and
astronomy, culminating in the achievements of Copernicus, Galileo and
Newton" (Capra 1999: 49). Considered as the "Age of the Scientific Revolution",
this moment in history began with Copernicus. However, the true change in
scientific opinion was caused by Galileo Galilei. "The role of Galileo in the
scientific revolution is well beyond his achievements in astronomy (...). He was
the first to combine scientific experimentation with the use of mathematical
language to formulate the laws of nature discovered by him, so he is, therefore,
considered the father of modern science "(ibid.).

To enable scientists to mathematically describe the nature, Galileo postulated
that they should restrict themselves to the study of the essences of material
bodies - forms, quantity and movement - which could be measured and
quantified. According to the psychiatrist R. D. Laing1, in this process, which
became an obsession for scientists, nothing has changed the world more than
these four hundred years of quest for measurement and quantification. Thus,
sensibilities, ethics, aesthetics, values and consciousness were lost.

In “The Turning Point” the writer Fritjof Capra, Ph.D. at Vienna University,
explains about the philosophical implications of modern science, bringing a
different vision of the reality, enhancing changes in our thoughts, perceptions
and values. In his analysis, he explains that, like Galileo, Descartes believed
that the language of nature was mathematics, and his desire to describe nature

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in mathematical terms has led him to his most famous discovery. By applying
the numerical geometric relationships, he could correlate algebra and geometry
and doing so he established a new branch of mathematics, now known as
analytic geometry. The essence of his method was discarding the doubt, and
comes to a thing that cannot be doubted, the existence of himself as a thinker,
coming to his famous statement "Cogito, ergo sum." I think, therefore I am. The
method of Descartes is analytical. It is to decompose thoughts and problems
into their component parts and arrange them in logical order. This method is
perhaps his greatest contribution to science. This essential feature of thought
made possible the development of scientific theories and implementation of
complex technological projects. According to Capra, Descartes created the
method that made it possible for NASA to take the man to the moon.

Image 1 http://guibsman.tumblr.com/post/1288539132/estonoesuntumblr-oleismos-todo-lo-que-
cabe

For Descartes, the material universe was a machine, nothing else but a
machine. There was no purpose, life or spirituality in the matter. The nature
worked according to mechanical laws, and everything in the material world

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could be explained by the organization and movement of its parts. This
mechanical picture of nature became the dominant paradigm of science in the
period that followed Descartes. He gave to the scientific thought its overall
structure, the conception of nature as a perfect machine, governed by exact
mathematical laws.

The drastic change of nature‟s image, of the organism to the machine, had a
powerful effect on people's attitudes in relation to the natural environment. The
organic worldview of the Middle Ages meant a system of values that led to an
ecological behavior. Capra quotes Carolyn Merchant, the writer of 'The Death of
Nature' who says that “While the Earth was thought to be alive and sensitive,
would be a violation of human ethical behavior to carry out destructive acts
against it. The image of Earth as a living organism and nurturing mother served
as a cultural restriction. Those restrictions disappeared when there was the
mechanization of science. The Cartesian conception of the universe as a
mechanical system has provided a "scientific" support for the manipulation
and exploitation of nature that have become typical in the Western culture. In
this context, the scientific knowledge became the way to the purpose of men to
become the masters and rulers of nature.

Descartes created the conceptual framework for the science of the seventeenth
century, but his conception of nature as a perfect machine, governed by exact
mathematical laws, remained just as a simple vision in his life. Descartes
couldn‟t do more than to sketch the outlines of his theory about the natural
phenomena. The man who brought to reality the Cartesian dream and
completed the scientific revolution developing a complete mathematics‟
reformulation of the mechanistic view of nature and therefore held a grand
synthesis of Copernicus, Kepler, Bacon, Galileo and Descartes‟ works was
Isaac Newton. The Newtonian physics, the crowning achievement of
seventeenth-century science, remained as a solid foundation of scientific
thought until a large part of the twentieth century.

Newton unified trends from previous studies and developed a methodology in
which natural science has to rely thereafter, by formulating the general laws of
motion, which govern all objects in the solar system, from stones to planets.

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The unquestionable success of Newtonian physics and Cartesian belief, in the
certainty of scientific knowledge, led directly to the emphasis that was given in
our culture, to a heavy investment and development of science and technology.

In the course of Newtonian physics, Locke2 developed an atomistic conception
of society, describing it in terms of its basic component, the human being. As
the properties of gases and atoms are reduced, Locke tried to reduce the
observed patterns in society to the behavior of individuals. So he went to study
first the nature of the individual human being, and then, tried to apply the
principles of human nature to politics and economics problems. When Locke
applied his theory of human nature to social phenomena, he was guided by the
belief that there are laws of nature governing human society, similar to laws that
govern the physical universe. According to John Locke, these laws included,
among others, the natural freedom and equality between all individuals. His
ideas became the basis for the system of values during the Iluminism and
these had a strong influence on the development of modern economic and
political thought.

Other important events marked the structure of human consciousness as the
knowing about Darwin‟s Evolution theory and Einstein's scientific trials, which
are intellectual monuments of the early twentieth century. In the beginning of
the XX century other physicists have also discovered several phenomena
related to the structure of atoms and this exploration of atomic and subatomic
world brought scientists with a strange and unexpected reality that sprayed the
foundations of their worldview and forced them to rethink in a totally again.
Any adjustment in a system is not easily accepted. So, come to be required
profound changes in concepts of space, time, matter, object, cause and effect,
which are fundamental concepts, according to Capra, to our way of
experiencing the world.

Fritjof Capra affirms that “the evolution of a society, including the evolution of
its economic system, is closely linked to changes in the system of values
that underpins all its manifestations. The values that inspire the life of a society
will determinate its world view, as well as religious institutions, enterprises and
scientific technology, besides the political and economic actions that

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characterize it. Once expressed and codified the set of values and goals, it will
form the structure of perceptions, intuitions and choices of a society in order to
have innovation and social adaptation. As the system of cultural values change
- often in response to environmental challenges - new patterns of cultural
evolution come into sight.” (CAPRA, 2006:182)

"The overall name of these interrelated structures, the genus of
which the hierarchy of containment and structure of causation
are just species is system. The motorcycle is a system. A real
system.

To speak of certain government and establishment institutions
as “the system” is to speak correctly, since these organizations
are founded upon the same structural conceptual relationships
as a motorcycle. (…)There‟s no villain, no “mean guys‟ who
wants them to live meaningless lives, it‟s just that the structure,
the system demands it and no one is willing to take on the
formidable task of changing the structure just because it is
meaningless.

But to tear down a factory or to revolt against a government or
to avoid repair of a motorcycle because it is a system is to
attack effects rather than causes; and as long as the attack is
upon effects only, no change is possible. The true system, the
real system, is our present construction of systematic thought
itself, rationality itself, and if a factory is torn down but the
rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality
will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a
systematic government, but the systematic patterns of thought
that produced that government are left intact, then those
patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government.
There‟s so much talk about the system. And so little
understanding."

- Robert Pirsig, 19743

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This work is concerned about these values, these meanings – which with
technological, social, intellectual (and other) developments – are being
modified. As observed, was through key moments of the transformation in the
comprehension skills that values have been renovated and applied to life.
Taking this in consideration, everything we know in the world, the human notion,
can change all of a sudden. While this doesn‟t happen in a so drastic way, it is
important to keep pace with the signs of society.

Economy

The economy is defined as the discipline that deals with the production, the
distribution and the consumption of wealth. It tries to define what is valuable at
any given time, studying the relative values of trade in goods and services. So
the economy is, among the social sciences, the most clearly dependent of
values. The economic growth in our culture is inevitably linked to technological
growth. Individuals and institutions are hypnotized by the wonders of modern
technology and come to believe that for every problem there is a technological
solution. “Whether the problem is political, psychological, or ecological, the first
reaction that comes almost automatically is to address it by implementing or
developing some new technology. To the over-consumption of energy is
proposed the nuclear energy, lack of political vision is compensated by making
more bombs and missiles, and the poisoning of the natural environment is
ameliorated by the development of special technologies that, in its turn, affect
the environment in a still ignored way. While seeking for technological solutions
to all problems, we usually just limit ourselves to transfer them from one point to
another in the global ecosystem, and, too often, the consequences of the
"solution" are more harmful than the original problem.

2.2 CHALLENGING CONVENTIONAL THINKING: Challenging the system

David Carlson, renowned for his knowledge of strategies in design,
communication and brand development, and David Brent Richards, multi
awarded winning Chartered Architect and Designer, also ex Dean of Design at

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Saint Martins, created together the “David Report”, an „arena‟ which aims to
cover the intersection between design, culture and business with a creative and
humanistic appeal. By challenging conventional thinking they are trying to make
a difference.

In March 2010, it was launched an issue of David Report called "Time to rethink
design. In this edition, the report question if design is maybe being one of this
“solutions” that can be more harmful than helpful. According to the research,
design is now a great source of pollution. As process and a phenomenon,
design has degenerated into a state of aesthetic proliferation that has reached
accumulative and destructive levels, in terms of loss of meaning, value, and
identity.

“The result is a vacancy of purpose, a world full of „designer
jetsam and flotsam‟ that is swilling around or embedded into or
above our planet; poorly designed products, unwanted
solutions, unfriendly materials, and a mutli-choice of artefacts
that are discarded as fast as they were adopted.”

David Report

Like other areas, the design has been participating in a system where the
innovation lies in the creation process and possible industrialization. The search
for a good design is often unquestioned and extrapolates to an argument in
which all ideas must be made, masked by the permissive process of „design
solutions‟. According to David Report, the diagnosis is not making Design
better, but making Design matter.

“Making Design matter should be about „mind over matter‟. Using our creative
minds, our collective imagination and ability to evolve human construction. The
act of design is a truly powerful human intervention, but we must do it lightly and
we must think more coherently before we act. All design should support or
strengthen life in one way or another. Does design have a value if it does not
favour the human context? Design remains an isolated foreign object when it

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has no sense of belonging; it employs no reward and processes no genius loci.
The best design has so often managed to transfer social trends and lifestyle
changes into successful responsive products and services. It does so by
holding onto a holistic perspective, which respects humanistic values and
cultural identity. Designs‟ DNA needs to be reconfigured. Rather than continue
to focus its attention upon invention, innovation, and enterprise, it should be
reconciling the human state and contributing humbleness, compassion,
empathy and beauty. To transcend the norm, and to leave the world a better
place than we found it. Design is no longer about the lifestyle, but the lifecycle.
Everything that is manmade is designed, so we cannot blame nature for
overreacting or the current design aware generation for poor quality. We must
orientate our endeavors towards understanding ambiguity and contradiction,
embracing diversity over uniformity and identifying inclusiveness, over
exclusiveness.”

What David Report is working on is to break with the cycle of a system that no
longer makes sense, as something that lost its basic values. To rethink a
system is to watch the collective cultural memory needs, is to listen to new
narratives, to take time to ponder and revalue our lives.

2.3 FASHION SYSTEM

“A system of morality which is based on relative emotional
values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which
has nothing sound in it and nothing true.”

- Socrates

As a product of design, fashion is also participating of this system that must to
be questioned instead of just produced. Producing by producing is just an
object. Nothing to do with the fashion defined by Gilles Lipovetsky as “the first
major mechanism for the consistent social production of personality on display"
(LIPOVETSKY, 1989).

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This Fashion System, sharp, at the edge commercially, of the big global brands
and of mass production is a result of the civilizing process and of the economic
systems based in the economic growth at all costs . A system, unscrupulous, in
the borders of beauty and horror, addressed to contemporary anxieties and
speculations about body and identity has now to define which role it plays in
articulating contemporary concerns about the self and the world.

Caroline Evans investigated fashion with the lighting in the sector, proposed by
Lipovetsky that “fashion is socially reproductive, training us to be flexible and
responsive to change in a fast-changing world: fashion socializes human beings
to change and prepares them for perpetual recycling.”(LIPOVETSKY, 1994:
149) According to Evans, the personality of fashion, kinetic, is the personality
which a society in the process of rapid transformation most needs. As an
important role to play, fashion was promoted from superficial and frivolous, to a
part of the “civilizing process”. Indeed, it is, but it is also, equally, capable of
providing a resistant and opposing voice to that process.4

In an interview during a degree graduation event at Parsons, the designer
Donna Karan said to FIT's Valerie Steele her thoughts about the sector and the
system:

"I think there's been a shift in a fashion designer's approach to
fashion. The old system is 'Let's create a dress, let's put it down
the runway, that's the end of it.' I think it's far more complicated
right now . . .I think we're on the cusp of something major. I
really think conscious consumerism is where it's at . . . There
are so many more messages out there than just, 'This is the hot
new item of the season.' There has to be consciousness within
the clothing . . . and something that people want to wear,
something that makes them feel good, feel good on the outside
and feel good on the inside."

Donna Karan (02/05/2010)5

To the writer Anne Hollander (author of the books “Seeing Through Clothes”,
“Sex and Suits”, and “Feeding the Eye”) “the reign of fashion represents a

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genuine desire for personal and creative freedom that cannot simply be
manipulated”. This approach connected to the role of fashion in constructing
class, gender and age identities, and the diverse ways in which fashions are
created and imposed, also with the democratic possibilities afforded in a
fashionable society are arguments that always set fashion as something
fascinating and intriguing of human‟s personality usually discarded the fact that
it is, above all, a social and economic system.

2.4 CIVILIZATION OF DESIRE: The system and the consumption

To understand the systems that rules the contemporary thought and
consequently, life, for further analysis of the fashion system, can be a way to
make things clearer and understandable, in order to avoid the conclusion from
third parts of any inclination to political lines, partisanship or utopic idealism. To
understand how the culture of production unfolded in the twentieth century can
maybe open some insightful perspectives to a better comprehension about the
relation between people, production of goods and nature, without prejudices.
Hopefully it also can bring some simple and useful inputs for fashion and design
fields.

Regarding to the contemporaneity results of the systems, Gilles Lipovetsky6
presented in his book "Le bonheur paradoxal" (Paradoxal Happiness) a new
modernity which coincides with the "civilization of desire", built during the
second half of the twentieth century. This refers to a revolution that happened
with the new guidelines of the capitalist system on its way to a perpetual
stimulation of demand, and commercialization of indefinite multiplication of
needs – an issue that we‟ll turn the handle again during the research. According
to the author, the consumption capitalism has taken the place of the production
economics. The affluent society has changed the ways of life and habits, and as
a result, a new hierarchy of ends: a new relationship with things and with time,
with themselves and others. This society of mass consumption is a
phenomenon that has changed profoundly the lifestyles and tastes, aspirations
and behavior.

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2.5 AESTHETIC BARBARISM?

According to Lipovetsky (2007), our age has witnessed a wave of vulgar and
pornographic images. It also testifies to a legion of happenings and
performances, spraying the aspirations for the beautiful and the lasting work,
with the raise of the "make anything" to its own perfect crowning. Everywhere,
the shopping streets, the touristic spots, the art and craft shops offer the same
kitsch items, the same imitation jewelry, the same exotic objects. At the same
time, the proper attitude or the contemplative aesthetic was supplanted by a
consumption of images in constant renewal, less saw than swallowed with great
speed. In front of the television or at the museum, is the hyperconsumer with
their conduct of zapping and inattentive curiosity. Is it a triumph of commercial
disposable, of the dispersion? In this hiperproduction system, is the Homo
aestheticus an endangered species?

The author reassures that even real, these phenomena do not represent the
whole of the contemporary relationship between individuals and aesthetic
experiences. The sensitivity to the landscape, the "cult of monuments", the
frequency of museums, the taste for interior design, and other experiences,
illustrate the growing place of aesthetic appetites.

Especially in this phase III of the hypermodernity – moment when this research
is being developed – film, music, fashion, luxury and tourism, for example, are
at the heart of the economy: “increasingly it is an aesthetic of consumption that
orders leisure activities.” (LIPOVETSKY, 2007: 357)

The phase III is called the era of hyperconsume, the phase of commodification
of modern needs, orchestrated by a deinstitutionalized logic, subjective,
emotional. (LIPOVETSKY, 2007: 41) It is a phase in which the expectations,
tastes and behaviors act to itself instead to the other. Several sectors
experience this phase III, the moment when "the distractive value outweighs the
value of honor, the preservation of the self, instead of the provocative
comparison, the sensory comfort instead of the ostentatious display of signs."

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(Lipovetsky, 2007: 43). As it‟s possible to observe – in any page of a magazine
or in the streets out of a fashion show – in the fashion sector still remain some
of these old perceptions, as ostentation, comparison and the quality of honor
that – just – a good could bring. If this sector is not even completely situated in
this called “phase III” it‟s difficult to imagine the step forward to a moment that
can come afterwards, as one which says Lipovetsky, a time when "the quest for
'happiness' in consumption will no longer have the same power of attraction, the
same positivity" (LIPOVETSKY, 2007: 368). In question, considering the current
fashion system, the maintenance of pillars in the old, lagged values of
snobbery, taste for the shine, classification and distorted culture of the ego, can,
eventually, fall into the void.

2.6 FASHION CRISIS: The people make the system

Fashion has been branded as frivolous, extravagant and mean. These times
have passed and it was warrant with respectable connotation of artistic and
psycho-sociological characteristics. What happens is that these arguments are
not able enough to explain the system and other examples can be seen in many
events of the fashion system and is defended in a futuristic fiction of the fashion
journalist Luca Testoni. He announces in this book a possible the fashion scene
in 2015 compared to the event that will happen this year, in real life: the World
Expo in Milan. The journalist portrays the fashion system by the exaggerations
in blockbusters, media manipulation, and especially the distortion of the original
values of the class from the goodwill and talented work to, in short, a
compulsive arrogance. His book seeks to predict where this system would
reach if it had continued with the same attitudes after the first decade of this
new century. Despite being a fiction, the story depicts a current view of the
professional environment. The author analyzes the Italian fashion system and
sees that the situation in other countries probably would be different,
considering the changing attitudes. However, the homogenization of values
used by the fashion media is similar in many markets, which corresponds to the
same category, short-sighted and dissimulated, indifferent to the moral codes of
the emerging values in the society.

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1 Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of American Vogue Magazine, an important "behavior setter"
and fashion system icon

2 Lisbon Fashion Week October 2010 - Fashion has the power of projecting behaviors and
standards. This can results in several implications, in good and bad ways.

What is important to note is that whoever it is, what build the systems are the
people. If any system is in crisis, this crisis is partly a reflection of man-made
crisis. What leads again to the issue of values. The fashion system is a system
that clearly reflects the human issues. It is a system that cannot be understood
only in sociological analysis, but in psychological analysis. It is, therefore, at this

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time, a sick system, psychosomatic: neurotic, hysterical, compulsive maniac
and certainly, bipolar.

The virtual portal WWD Fashion7 did a report in July of 2009, about a meeting
between the members of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the
CFDA. The report can be analyzed below:

CFDA's Forum Debates the Fashion System8

NEW YORK — The fashion industry had a group therapy session Tuesday morning,
thanks to the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

At a town hall meeting convened by the CFDA, designers, retailers and fashion
journalists initially were meant to discuss the relevance of fashion shows and whether
they should be targeted at consumers or the industry. But that topic rapidly got
subsumed by a litany of complaints over the entire hyperactive fashion system.

Recession fallout; discount-driven shoppers; the disconnect between runway looks and
in-store merchandise; ridiculously early deliveries; oversupplied stores; markdown
madness; fashion shows’ potentially breakneck costs; the worldwide reach of runway
coverage, and the seemingly endless number of seasons were among the thornier
subjects discussed at the private gathering at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Despite those storm clouds overhead, CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg
repeatedly emphasized the upside and offered ways to solidify a sunnier future for
designers, retailers and the media.

“There is no way when you are in the middle of a tsunami that you can change
absolutely everything,” von Furstenberg, all too familiar with how the economic crisis
has taken its toll on the industry, told the crowd. “But one thing that we can do and that
I would like to do is make New York Fashion Week the most dynamic fashion week in
the world.”

Scores of CFDA members, including Donna Karan, Francisco Costa, Lazaro
Hernandez and Betsey Johnson, as well as representatives from IMG Fashion, which
produces Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, listened attentively, but then piped up to air
their concerns, as well as their hopes of building a stronger future for the industry once
the economy rebounds from the global recession.

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“I always like to look for the light at the end of the tunnel, and see how we can grow
from there,” said von Furstenberg.

After brainstorming with retailers, designers and editors, she had come to the
conclusion it was time to address the issues directly in an open forum. “Everyone had
been too greedy, and everyone thought the party was forever,” von Furstenberg said.
“We wanted more merchandise, and more of this and more of that, and expect 20
percent increases every month, and at some point it just became too much of
everything. I realized that what we all have to do is reduce the offerings and create the
demand.”

Upbeat as some attendees were, several aired concerns about the relevance of the
shows, retailers’ rampant discounting, the need for full-priced sell-throughs and the
timing of deliveries.

“We are in a crisis,” Karan said flat out. “There’s no question about it.”

Having been a proponent of selling and even showing clothes in season for the past 10
years, she lived up to her reputation of challenging the fashion cycle and the timeliness
of the shows.

“We design for the consumer, and right now, I believe the consumer is completely
confused,” Karan said, adding shoppers don’t know whether they were looking at a pre-
season, a fall season, or another delivery. “We should truly focus on the problem and
the solution. The consumer has been trained to buy on sale. The clothes in stores are
not in season, so she is confused. Why should she go out and spend money early in
the season, when in fact come September and October, when the season actually
changes, the next season is there and it’s called resort? We are putting all the energy
into something that the consumer isn’t really getting, because by then it’s on sale.”

2.7 THE FUTURE OF THE SYSTEM: Emerging values

"(...) What happens, however, is not so much the loss of values,
but the reconstruction of values. This is a "crisis", but as the
meaning of the word itself says, the crisis marks the negative
processes at the same time as it involves new and positive
possibilities. Culminate in opportunities and changes. In other

21

words, "loss of values" is not necessarily bad. (ROY H. MAY,
2004: 80)

The more the main problems of each epoch are studied, the more these studies
are driven to realize that these problems cannot be understood isolated. They
are systemic problems, what means that they are interconnected and also
interdependent. So, if there is any problem derivative from the production
system in the aesthetic fields, there is a resonance in another area. For
example, the population will only be stabilized when the poverty is reduced
worldwide. The extinction of animal and plant species on a massive scale will
continue while the Southern Hemisphere is under the fate of huge debts. Also
the scarcity of resources and environmental degradation combine with rapidly
expanding populations, which leads to the collapse of local communities.

These problems have to be seen as different facets of one single crisis, which is
largely a crisis of perception. “It is a result from the fact that most of us,
especially our large social institutions, still agree with the concepts of an
outdated worldview, a perception of reality inadequate for dealing with our
overpopulated, globally interconnected world.” (CAPRA, 1997: 24)

The solutions to the major problems of our time can be even simple. But they
require a radical change in our perceptions, our thinking and our values. And
indeed, we are now at the beginning of this fundamental change of worldview in
science and society. According to Capra (1997) now is the beginning of a
paradigm shift as radical as it was the Copernican revolution. However, the
main difficulty is that this understanding has not emerged among most political
leaders and didn‟t reach most of the leaders of our corporations, nor the officers
and teachers of our major universities.

The importance of new values

Offices, or laboratories, of consumer behavior research as Future Concept Lab9
(FCL), point to the movement caused by the evolution of globalization a
phenomenon that rescues the value of local cultural knowledge and market
diversity, in a revival of humanistic values. However, offices and services

22

agencies are already applying these concepts such as the Brazilian agency Q3,
from Sao Paulo, which offers coaching services, change of values and
marketing value services. According to this agency, a new morality is imposed
on citizens. No more individualistic, this new moral need to approach the ethical
and humanistic values. According to them, equality and justice should not be
obtained by standardization and mass production, but for a value of acceptance
of differences – the diversity – that brings people together, instead of classifying
them and break them down.

According to the company, these values are part of the search for solutions to
an increasingly complex daily lives, again, the result of a globalization that not
only brought benefits, but an excess of information, on the one hand, and
competitiveness, on the other, which leaves the people more and more stressed
and trapped.

The idea of an Inclusive Society, instead of fighting for values outdated and with
prejudge, can bring positive impacts on society as a whole, as well as on
company performance. The purpose of this agency is to raise awareness and
business leaders to integrate the new social paradigm. But it is interesting to
note that there is a resonance between the research laboratory of trends in
Milan and the services agency in São Paulo, in relation to emerging paradigms.

Still analyzing the philosophy of this company from Sao Paulo, according to
them, to evolve a system needs to develop qualities based on values, on
principles, concerned and with compassion, that lead people to work together
for the common good: to align interests, skills, talents and beliefs in order to
reorganize relationships and capacity to act. In other words, beyond the
comprehension of new values and paradigms as important strategic tools for
the understanding of human movement, which in this case follows a line more
human, also the humanistic values and its stimulus by itself are a powerful fuel
to progress the evolution of the current systems, so far harmful to man and
nature. It is an ethically two hands way.

Humanistic Solutions

23

As mentioned before, the dominant values that have shaped our culture for
several hundred years, made reference to a "vision of the universe as a
mechanical system: in the view of the human body, as a machine; in the view of
the life in society, as a competitive struggle for existence; and the most
notorious, the belief in unlimited material progress achieved through
technological growth. Though, according to Fritjof Capra – who has been
studying since the 70‟s the ways of thought in the western civilization setting the
grounds for change in many new theories in organismic biology, gestalt
psychology, ecology, general systems theory, and cybernetics – the new
paradigm has developed a holistic world view: a world as an integrated whole,
humanistic, which can also be understood as an ecological vision. In this way,
there is the recognition of the fundamental interdependence of all phenomena:
the universe is not a collection of isolated objects but a network of phenomena
that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent. The humans are just
one particular strand in the web of life. (Capra, 1999)

"I think that the concern with the "values issue" – we refer here,
of course, some values, because, strictly speaking, everything
is value – reveals a crisis, a moral and ethical discomfort."
(ROY H. MAY, 2004: 8)

Our leaders not only fail to recognize how different problems are interrelated,
they also refuse to recognize as their so-called „solutions‟ will affect future
generations. And as a result from a bad example, the greta part of the
population proceed with their life and work without questioning these things.
From the systemic point of view, the only viable solutions are the "sustainable"
solutions.

Sustainable Solutions

The concept of sustainability gained key importance in the ecological movement
and it is really crucial. Lester Brown of the “Worldwatch Institute”10 gave a
simple definition, clear and beautiful: "A sustainable society is one that satisfies
its needs without diminishing the prospects of future generations." This, in short,
is the great challenge of our time: to create sustainable communities: social and

24

cultural environments where people can meet their needs and aspirations
without diminishing the chances of future generations. Obviously, this involves
questions of ecology. But sustainability is not limited to environmental issues.
The ecology is just part of the concept of sustainability and found on it a way to
rejoin the political system and the economic system of human values. (CAPRA,
1997: 24)

Analyzing the former ways of living, ROY H. MAY11 can complete the former
thought, that “life as it has been lived can no longer be sustained, supported
and encouraged.”

Values: self-assertion x integration

The research about the new values in a society can be a long and exhaustive
work, which companies pay a lot of money to get the most deep and assertive
information. Anyway, as this is not the mission of this research, it‟s important to
keep the information absorbed during trends seminars and by the reference
line of this work. In the case it will be considered the integrated work developed
by Capra, to sustain and to visualize better the information from other medias
as the Seminars organized by FCL which explore some of these so
contemplated, emerging values.

According to Capra, the changes in thinking and values can be seen as
changes in self-assertion to integration. These two trends - the self-assertive
and integrative - are both essential aspects of all living systems. None of them
are intensively, good or bad. What is good or what is healthy, is a dynamic
equilibrium, what is bad, or unhealthy, is the imbalance - excessive emphasis
on one of the trends over another. If observed the western industrial culture, it is
possible to see that it was too much emphasized the self-assertive tendencies
and disregard the integrative. This is evident in our thoughts and in our values
and is very instructive to put these opposing trends side by side.

Thought Values

self-assertion integration self-assertion integration

25

rational intuitive expansion conservation

analysis synthesis competition cooperation

reductionist holistic quantity quality

linear nonlinear domination partnership

(CAPRA, Fritjof, 1996: 27)

Limitation

According to Capra (1996), one of the things that can be noticed when looking
at this table is that the self-assertive values – competition, expansion,
domination – are usually qualities associated with men, the masculinity. In fact,
in a patriarchal society, men are not only favored but also receive economic
rewards and political power. This is one of the reasons why the shift to a more
balanced value system is so difficult for most people, and can be especially
hard for men. Also the social structure as it is, for some men, and also for
women, regards to a rank of hierarchy and position that are already part of their
identity, and thus the change to a different system of values generates
existential fear in them. In other words, the possibility of power, domination and
competition become – naturally – something primeval, is not interesting for a
few people also in the perspective of identity.

However, there is another kind of power, a power that is most appropriate for
the new paradigm – the power as influence of others. “The ideal structure to
exercise such power is not the hierarchy but the network, which is also the
central metaphor of ecology.” (CAPRA, 1996)

We are what matter, we are humans

The belief that the human is in the top of the food chain, which is a key point for
the rules applied to humans be different of those applied to other animals, for
example, is one part of the old paradigm which is based on anthropocentric
values (centered in humans). The deep ecology is based on ecocentric values
(centered on the Earth and everything that is part of it). In this other vision, all
living beings are members of ecological communities linked together in a

26

network of interdependencies. When this deep ecological awareness becomes
part of our everyday consciousness, it will emerge a radically new system of
ethics.

If this is going to happen or not, the point is that this deep ecological ethics is
urgently needed today, and especially in science, since most of what scientists
do doesn‟t act to promote the life or preserve life. With the physicists designing
weapons systems that threaten to eliminate life on the planet, with chemicals
contaminating the global environment (by industries), with the biologists freeing
unknown types of microorganisms without knowing the consequences, with
psychologists and other scientists torturing animals in the name of scientific and
aesthetic progress - with all these ongoing activities, it seems of utmost urgency
to introduce standards of "ecoethics" in science. And thinking about fashion, if
people would stay away from the system for one single moment, and think
about the price that the nature, the harmless animals, the underpaid humans
have to bear just to justify a seasonal change in the identity expression or the
aesthetic differentiation, isn‟t it questionable a solution which keeps the beauty
in our bodies and houses but that also assure the right of life – all life – and
non-suffering on Earth?

Let’s create values!

The writer Roy H. May (2004) quotes Marquínez Argote to explain that values
are neither legislated nor dictated. No one can impose them. They emerge from
interaction between the community and technological change and other socio-
historical change and the new social practices. "The [human being] discovers
the values when they become aware of the new relations between things and
their own human reality". The values are institutionalized through policies that
govern society. It is not a process devoid of human intentionality or direction. In
other words, the community itself can take the initiative. The aim is to achieve
the maximum participation in the discussion of the meaning of the values and
the establishment of new social practices. Social movements play a key role
because crystallize the values, put them into practice and press for its general
validity. For example, the environmental movement encourages serious
reflection on the relationship of humans with the environment. From these

27

movements, as from other, new values are emerging to support and guide the
ethics,

Where are the values?

To talk about reconstruction, shift, evolution, or any other effect of change, of
values is something absolutely deep considering that there are political, sexual,
urban, national, linguistic, virtual, religious, social, ethnic, cultural, personal and
as many as imagined, values in people‟s life. But the fact is that, exactly the
values which guide the structure of the systems we build are the ones exposed
and investigated. As discussed in this research they are mainly ethics,
questionable if only for human benefit and in the same time, humanistic, what
means, care less about things that can harm and more to those which can fulfill.
Certainly, this search for things that fulfill the man, the “soul”, are the great
ambitions of all eras, and it‟s unquestionable here its procedure.

In 2002, the “MindStyle Magazine” with contents from the studies of Future
Concept Lab, was already connecting the Self – the human studied so far – and
Soul as currently going through. It said that with increasing frequency, personal
identity was being reshaped by starting with a spiritual exploration that has set
the definition of one‟s own inner self as a top-priority goal. This is an interesting
point to understand that all this attempts for the qualities cited earlier, as “new”
values, are also dedicated to a self with a soul, regardless the religions or the
practical life. So, it‟s not about „anthropocentrism‟, „theocentrism‟ or maybe even
„ecocentrism‟ – which certainly is the weight needed on the balance for now on
– but a holistic comprehension of all these experiences may express a sample
of the feelings which nourish life in this moment.

Considering this whole mixture it‟s possible to understand that not all places in
Earth are living exactly the same experience. It‟s a very complex „recipe‟ and so
many different cultures, that is almost impossible to expect exactly the same
attitudes in different areas. Definitely, to consider a new paradigm, a research
center must to observe the resonances between cultures in different spots of
the world, and also the contradicted waves of these resonances. Also, some

28

places are too much attached to their roots and tied to old beliefs and values
which have strong representation in the nation's identity and people‟s mindset.

For Future Concept Lab, this period, called by them as Neo Renaissance, is
definitely a time that witnesses the return of humanistic values identified by both
the recent rise of a Humanistic Management and by the new values attributed to
design, and to the taste of good quality life. The FCL studied the BRIC countries
and it is possible to understand that the growth of these countries may be not
only economic but also of comprehension and apprehension of some important
values.

In the book DNA Brasil where the Brazilian genius loci is examined, Francesco
Morace explains, in the chapter he wrote, that the experiences lived by the
Brazilian people, good and bad, led to a vital relationship in which there is a
logic of passion can be the basis of the production in this country, Also there is
an acceptance to clarify and improve an economic ethic. The economy is not
only based in the profitable and usable but is also getting into the level of
Human quality and civil world responsibility. It‟s a country completely based and
driven by the diversity in its own essence, and these qualities must be well
directed to a healthy development of the nation.

The FCL also affirms in its Seminar of 200812 dedicated to the BRIC countries
that “Brazil is today one of the most expressive laboratories of creative diversity,
a hub for international exchange of expressive languages. Brazil presents itself
as a true Lab for advanced visions in the area of Aesthetics, fueled by the
dynamics of the collective imaginary and by the tangible experience of daily
life.” Also some aesthetics approach, more simplistic and natural are important
values that signalize to Brazil.

According to Morace (2009), Brazil has many values to be “exported”, in the
sense of to be sold – used by industries – but mainly to be recognized around
the world: the joy of life, spontaneity in human relationships, the simplicity of
everyday access to a happy experience for everyone (carnival), but also the
values of natural products, the fresh consumption of products (fruits and
agriculture), the variety and richness of color, the sensuality of the bodies and

29

smiles, the naturalness of the environment and the people, and much more
values that have an humanistic approach and that emerge as those of the next
global era. Francesco Morace also affirms that in all the research conducted in
the U.S. in Europe, Australia and Latin America these are recognized as values
typically Brazilian.

Marcelo Ramos13, researcher of the Behavior and Consumption Observatory in
Senai Cetiqt (Rio de Janeiro) says that the Brazilian economic growth, the
increasing of the consumption power of the middle classes, the "new luxury",
based on simplicity, innovation, quality, functionality and beauty of the objects;
the sustainability in the choice of raw materials and production processes as an
important value of products and brands; the "oniconnectivity” (ability to be
connected everywhere); the increasing reflexivity and role of the consumer (as
the “consum-author” identified by FCL, in a book homonymous, as a new way
of consumption guided by new values; the strength of cultural traditions and
local talent in a globalized world; the estimation of body, beauty and youth in
Brazilian culture, and the reflection of these factors in the human quest for a
happier life are the issues in the Brazilian agenda to be investigated by his
company. This declaration helps to visualize why this country worth
understanding its ethos by now and the reason why it is the location chosen to
be connected to a study case on a research that aims to indicate the practice of
humanistic and sustainable values for a coherent fashion system. In other
words, there is a specific reason for talking about sustainability and to talk about
Brazil. Now that the context can be understood, let‟s proceed to the
development of the thought through the „funnel of knowledge‟.

30

Chapter Two

1
R.D. Laing (1927 – 1989) was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illness –
in particular, the experience of psychosis. He was Scotland‟s most famous public intellectual.
His revolutionary challenges to conventional psychotherapy were read by millions across the
world. Today, though, his work is unfairly neglected, particularly in Scotland. (MILLER, Gavin.
R.D. Laing. Edinburgh, 2005.)
2
John Locke, figura dominante no periodo do Iluminismo, cujos escritos mais importantes
foram publicados no final do século XVII. Fortemente influenciado por Descartes e Newton,
Locke produziu um impacto decisivo no pensamento setecentista.
3
Pirsig, R. 1974. Excerpt on Scientific Method from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,
Chapters 8 and 9. William Morrow
(http://bioinformatics.wsu.edu/academics/courses/MBioS426/426-0%20Pirsig.pdf)
4
Caroline Evans (EVANS, Caroline. Fashion at the edge: Spectacle, Modernity and
Deathliness. 2007)
5
http://www.fashionologie.com/Donna-Karan-Current-Fashion-System-Were-Killing-Our-Own-
Industry-7293694
6
The French sociologist and philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky analyses consumer society in his
book 'Paradoxical Happiness' (LIPOVETSKY, 2007). "In a society dominated by leisure there is
a cohabitation of daily difficulties and the well-being which results from the democratization of
pleasure.
7
Often called "the fashion bible", „Women's Wear Daily‟ (WWD) serves as the voice of authority,
international newswire and agent of change for the fashion, beauty and retail industries. First
and foremost, WWD is dedicated to providing a balance of timely, credible business news and
key women's fashion trends to a dedicated readership. This readership includes retailers,
designers, manufacturers, marketers, financiers, Wall Street analysts, international moguls,
media executives, ad agencies, socialites and trend makers.
8
CFDA's Forum Debates the Fashion System by ROSEMARY FEITELBERG and MARC
KARIMZADEH Posted on WEDNESDAY JULY 29, 2009. Last Edited FRIDAY JULY 31, 2009.
From WWD ISSUE 07/29/2009
9
Future Concept Lab is a trends laboratory located in Milan. They have been operating since
the 1980s in Milan, but now work in over 25 countries and more than 40 cities throughout the
world. FCL provides strategic advice to small and medium size businesses, but have also
worked for big name brands, such as Nokia, Coca Cola and Disney. They have an office in
Brazil and are partners of the “Observatório de Comportamento e Consumo” (Behavior and
Consumption Observatory) of Senai Cetiqt in Rio de Janeiro, which are also their partner in the
book DNA Brasil.
10
The Worldwatch Institute is an independent research organization recognized by opinion
leaders around the world for its accessible, fact-based analysis of critical global issues. The
Institute's three main program areas include Climate & Energy, Food & Agriculture, and the
Green Economy.
11
North American theologian who has studied the practical urgency of ethics as a feature of the
present time, in his book "Moral Discernment
12
http://www.futureconceptlab.com/pdf/FVW0108_UK.pdf- Future Vision Workshop: BRIC and
Made in Italy 2008
13
http://www.cetiqt.senai.br/blog/comportamento/?tag=dna-brasil - Por Marcelo Ramos em 08
de julho de 2010

31

(...) But because there were blood-colored,

amber colored wood in abundance, and because the

wild morning fire; was a heap of embers in the coal night landscape

and because the land had red trees; and because it was very kind,

they gave it the name1 Brazil.

Brazil full of grace, Brazil full of birds, Brazil full of light.

Excerpt from the poem: The names given to the Land Discovered

By Cassiano Ricardo

32

3. BRASIL, BRAZIL

―Giant by its own nature.‖

People are responsible for their destinations, but it is important to have a
historical consciousness in order to understand some basic questions about the
evolution of the country such as the reasons why Brazil is the way it is to
therefore to be able to perceive certain aspects of its genius loci without
stereotypes. Thus, the method chosen to tell the history of Brazil – after a very
dense chapter – will be in a more dynamic way, according to historical and
contemporary product of this environment, without to extend for information
beyond the scope of this research, although this is a very rich and interesting
topic even more in international exchange of knowledge.

When „Brazil‟ was just the west

To the western of European civilization there were lands pulsing, in a giant
continental area, occupied by natural groups, primitive, which didn‘t‘ form a
community, but were a plurality. In these lands there were more than 200 ethnic
groups and 200 languages and dialects spoken by the indigenous people.
These groups used to practice agriculture, fishing, hunting, in a very
rudimentary way, almost like the stone age, and they lived in constant conflict
with each other and cannot be compared with cultures seen in other regions of
Latin America as the Incas, Mayas and Aztecs. And because of this archaic way
of living and plurality, the original cultures of all this tribes were not appreciated
by the colonizers and don‘t have almost nothing to do in the general culture of
the Brazilian people2. Because of this, there was almost no possibility of
transferring values during the process of colonization.

What, then, is Brazil?

"We, Brazilians, are a people in ‗being‘, but impeded from being
so. A group of people mixed as flesh and as spirit, since here
the mixture was never a crime or a sin. On it we are made and
on it we‘ll continue making ourselves. " (Darcy Ribeiro)

According to the Professor Fernando Novais3 "Brazil" is a group of people that
constituted themselves as a nation, which was organized as a state. In 1500
there were none of those three things. Therefore, there was no discovery of
Brazil, because Brazil did not exist or neither was overcast. What happened at
that time were the bases of a Portuguese colonization, which is the basis of our

33

arrangement. The history of Brazil is essentially of a colony that became a
nation. Therefore, the colonization is the basis of our history. The "Brazil"
"happened" when the population began to think about themselves as different
from its predecessors. First, the Luso-Brazilians; Then, less ―Lusos”
(Portuguese) and more “Brazilians”, until they felt themselves just Brazilians.
This occurs only from the second half of the 18th century, and not before.

The Portuguese did not want to create a nation but a colony. Even the
colonization did not begin immediately with Cabral in 1500, but only in 1532,
with Martim Afonso de Souza.

The marks of colony

One of the strongest impacts in the history of this country was the belated
capitalist development and its policy of colonization, marked by a colonization of
exploitation. The colonial and commercial expansion in Brazil was such
meaningful that undertook deep changes in the economic landscape of Europe.

Colonies of exploitation can be considered as the most typical of European
colonization. Every economic system is a function of the external market. The
function of the Colony was to complete the metropolitan economy. To this end,
Brazil was divided into 15 straight lines – which fortunately were naturally
changed during the years – distributed among men who should take care of
each area. As manpower were brought between 3 and 5 million slaves from
Africa during 200 years.4

Since the days of colonial Brazil, the people had to learn how to deal with
oppression in various forms, from violence to trickery, but the 'good' trickery.
According to professor of modern history USP Laura de Mello e Souza 5, the
slaves often dodged the repression and came up with a mischievous way, in the
good sense, to be able to live together with slavery. It was possible, with smart
tricks, to face the order in unfavorable situations.6

'The colonial slavery', contains the key to explain the country's past. This was
the driving force of the Portuguese America unit, and has remained during the
independent Brazil.7

Brazil Empire, Brazil independent

According to the history researcher Armelle Enders8 the ―singular‖ colonization
of Brazil helps to explain aspects of the current political and social education in
the country. Single Lusophone (Portuguese speaker) country of America, Brazil
has had a singular independence without a liberator, a savior. It adopted the

34

monarchical form, the territorial unity was preserved. Portugal was a very
different realm of 'federation' which was Spain and was one of the oldest
Nation-states of Europe, and this was an important legacy to Brazil.

Before the independence, the Portuguese court moved to Rio de Janeiro in
1808, a reversal of colonial process lived only by Brazil in Latin America: Rio de
Janeiro became the seat of the Portuguese monarchy. The court did not have to
stay in exile, even before the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. But they
stayed to build a new empire, because Brazil colony was more powerful than
the metropolitan Portugal. In 1822 the independence was declared from
Portugal and the royal family established the Empire of Brazil.

To Enders. the contemporary Brazil has inherited from the "history of Brazil" the
issue that the Brazilians had to get used to rely on themselves. The people
created strategies to survive the general instability. This results in a very difficult
life, but also a great strength. She says impressed with the ability of changing in
the Brazilian society: the creativity, a smart and informal way in order to survive,
because people are used to not be able to count on the State. According to the
historian, the financial crises across the country developed an admirable
individual strength. "There are a lot of misery also, but people figure out how to
survive. Rather than some people say, I think Brazil has a capacity of collective
mobilization and has a very strong civic engagement."

The famous ―knack‖ of ―figuring out‖ (―jeitinho‖) finds its justification in the recent
political history of Brazil and it is present in all the sectors of contemporary life in
the country. The living with an unstable state and without having 'rooted
traditions of services' meant that the society acquired a 'capacity for change and
creativity‘ to overcome the deficiencies of the state.

Brazil Republic

Isaac N. Ford went to Brazil in the 1890‘s to see the general effects of the
transformation from monarchy to Republic. Beyond some aspects regarding
some old thoughts of races criteria by Ford, he also said about seeing that the
―Brazilians were already living psychologically in the future of the industrial
development proclaimed by the decrees of the provisional government, under
the charm of a mystical faith‖9. Also he said that according to what he saw,
―Brazilians had no objection to the intrusion of the future upon the present just
so long as the change was gradual and did not involve a complete repudiation
of the past‖(FREYRE: 1989).

On November 15, 1889, Brazil is no longer an empire from the symbolic act of
the Proclamation of the Republic of Brazil. There is a new period in Brazilian
history called ―Brazil Republic‖, which continues until today. After the

35

proclamation of the Republic, Brazil has had several names as "United States of
Brazil." But "Federative Republic of Brazil" is the current official name of the
country: a presidential democracy, restructured in 1985 with the end of military
dictatorship of the Brazilian Army that was in vigor since 1964.

USA: Eyes on Brazil

In addition to the political changes there was also an important cultural change
in Brazil this time, because instead of emanating from France and England (the
nation's most influential during the monarchy), the new inspiration came almost
entirely from the United States. And it was from this shift in influence that
preceded a series of consequences of signal importance to Brazilian culture.
There was a reform of Brazilian customs and institutions. Some technical
progresses were also introduced in Brazil. Also, in this moment, were felt the
first interest from the United States about the Amazon Forest. And then, there
was a considerable indignation against the United States caused by the
advantage that the USA could want to take of the Brazilian capacity to carry
development to that area with the presence of America in the form of labor-
saving machines. The USA were ―with their eyes‖ in the country also because
Brazil was the only constitutional government in the hemisphere, which was
advancing into the future ―in tranquility and material prosperity‖.

Brazil was devoting attention to the education of the people, and this was a
great market to the new technologies that the USA was developing. A lot of
sectors were modernized in this time. The modernization found in American
products and technology was a hope to the country to get out of the remaining
elements of a feudal past and pernicious archaism of Latin origin10. It doesn‘t
surprise that the older structures of Rio de Janeiro can be compared with the
architecture of ancient Rome. The very administration of the Brazilian provinces
was patterned on Roman forms; in the Empire of Pedro II the Romanism of the
physical architecture extended to the social structure as well. And what Brazil
needed more was to develop the country‘s natural resources. In this time, with
the ―hope‖ of modernization there was also a feeling of ―being used‖ along with
the one of ―exploitation‖ in history. Gilberto Freire says about the visit of Agassiz
in 1865 at Brasil:

―Once pointed in the direction of industrialization, it was
understandable that Brazil had turned eagerly to the economic
and political patterns of the United States, had become the
champion of Pan-Americanism in Washington, and had allowed
itself to enter into a commercial treaty ―most favorable to the
United States‖, as Ford wrote in 1892.‖ (Freyre, 1986)

36

As is possible to conclude, throughout this summary of the most important times
before the modern and contemporary history of the country, Brazil has become
a country suspicious of outside interests, though not afraid of the future.
Actually, it is a dual feeling, of fear and desire about the possible good things
that the future can bring.

3.1 THE FUTURE BELONGS TO PEOPLE

The future for Brazil designate leaving one condition which means delay
(marked by their past history) and enter a phase of improvement and progress.
The own national flag announces the feeling for this ―progress‖ which is
constantly looked by the country since the opportunities began to emerge.

However, often this ―progress‖, instead of being encouraged, is stopped by the
"order", by the government. Many policy mistakes happened and then the
"progress" of the country depended on "each" one effort. It‘s again, about the
individual strength that the approach can be settled to understand some
aspects of Brazil. Some governmental researches have been made and
campaigns have used this issue coming with the contemporary result, some
years ago, in which "The best of Brazil is the Brazilian". And it is important to
understand that Brazil is ―Brazil‖ because as said earlier, it "happened when
people began to see themselves as something different.‖ Neither Native Indian
or African, nor European, but what belongs to this land now. It‘s a very humanist
approach to a nation, and can be acquired a sense of responsibility, equality
and pride.

In recent years the appreciation of the Brazilian identity has been increasingly
refined in the country through national campaigns undertaken by the
government. In addition to that one which "The best of Brazil is the Brazilian"
there is also the campaign "I am Brazilian, and then I never give up." According
to government surveys11 the companies that adhered to this language felt the
difference and were satisfied with the results. This is about a campaign with the
primary goal of encouraging self-esteem of the people, and marks the style of
the "Lula era" in the media. Also, the second campaign showed more success
between the people because the first is not seeing as true when bad examples
of Brazilian behavior (violence for example) were seeing by the people.

Anyway, when thinking about Brazil it is fundamental to think in the stigmatized
people, with sad marks by the history, as it was possible to observe; in the
exploited colony by a country with outdated technology; in the inflow of external
investments that had always been much better for the investors from outside
than to the country, in other words, that just took advantage of the growth
phases of the State; in the animosity because people are descendants of a
mixing between very different cultures and ethnicities and mainly, don‘t have

37

"real" roots of one single culture, the Brazilian, but has a culture formed by
others that once saw in these lands the opportunity for a new and better life, out
of Europe. This last one, as very well pointed by the researcher João Cavalcanti
during the ―Ted x São Paulo‖ of 2009, it‘s considered by him the ―richness of our
poverty‖. In fact, Brazilians have their roots diluted what is the opposite of many
countries in the world. In these countries, people have their roots as great
milestones of density which staunch their creativity and the innovation capacity.
This ―to have no roots‖ means, to look back and don‘t have this historical
density asking to go to a certain direction, and it is fundamental and also
something that improves the natural curiosity of the Brazilian people. The mash
up and remix, the collision of cultures are the great differential of the country
nowadays, the blessing over the pain.

To better understand "who is Brazil," as "the best in the country is its people,"
this mixed up people, one of the strength of the country, it is necessary to pay
attention to the important process of the population‘s configuration, the
configuration of diversity: the colonizers, the slaves, and the worldwide
immigrants.

Immigration: the brazilians

"Brazil has no color. There is a whole mosaic of possible
combinations. Talking about race – in the singular or plural – is
anti-scientific, socially and ideologically dangerous." (Carlos
Lessa, 2006)

To understand the cultural aspects that will be discussed later on, it is important
to note that when it comes to roots in Brazil, is to speak of a very delicate
matter. No specific culture or ethnicity may be taken as the main ethnic group in
the country, there is no main color in Brazil. What happens is a great mix that
has its stronger substantiality in different regions.

Today, in a color scheme found in a research made by the government12,
51.4% of the population declare themselves as ―white‖, ―blacks‖ say they are
5.9% and 42% say they are ―browns‖, making use of a wide spectrum of
denominations. The Brazilian writer Oswald de Andrade and many other
defined Brazil as ―the country of the mixture‖. In other words, Brazil is a bit of
everything that was established in these lands.

In 1808 there was the opening of the ports for the immigration of "friendly
nations". The independence in 1822 also cemented this migratory flow to the
country. According to the Memorial of the immigrant13 between 1870 and 1930
came more than 5 million immigrants who went to work in agriculture in the
south or in the coffee farms in São Paulo (southeast). São Paulo is currently

38

considered14 the city with the largest populations of ethnic Italian, Japanese and
Lebanese out of their respective countries

The Italian community is one of the strongest, making their presence felt
throughout the city. Of the more than ten million inhabitants of Sao Paulo, 60%
(six million people) have some Italian ancestry. As a result, São Paulo is the
second largest city in the world in consume of pizza.

The colonist sent to the South were mainly Germans (starting in 1824, mainly
from Rhineland-Palatinate, Pomerania, Hamburg, Westphalia, etc) and Italians
(starting in 1875, especially from the Veneto and Lombardy). There were
established several colonies of immigrants who, even today, preserve the habits
of their ancestral country.

A genetic study15 demonstrated that the European ancestry is what accounts for
the largest share of the estate of the population, followed by African and
Amerindian. The opening of the ports was the culmination of this mixture that
has defined the culture and transformed all the people in the "Brazilian".

3.2 “WHAT DOESN‟T KILL ME MAKE ME STRONGER”

Today the country has 190 million inhabitants. And interestingly, as was said
from mouth to mouth, this is a country that does not begin to "work" (what
means that new projects are not developed) after the Carnival – a pagan
festival built on territory under the authority of the Catholic Church.

Brazil imported more African slaves than any other American state, and it was
the last state to emancipate them. Its culture, which has been molded and
remolded by Indian, Portuguese, African, German, Italian, Japanese and many
other influences, is among the most exuberant and creative in the world.

The territory always treated as a "backyard" of its kingdom, had to seek for itself
―a place in the sun‖. The world‘s economies were growing fast in the early
twentieth century and began to dispute its hegemony in the global context. The
colonial condition of conformation in Brazil allowed the growth of those who
were starting a movement of production because for those who were being
developed, it was necessary the undeveloped as a market.

World War I breaks out. And then, the great crisis of the 1930s takes Brazil
during the peak of the coffee cycle. The overproduction was acquired by the
government, which allowed, somehow, keeping the income of coffee-producing
region, minimizing the effects of global crisis.

The Second Great War destroyed the economic scenario in Europe, and part of
the savings of the economies involved in the conflict came to the Brazilian

39

industry and agriculture. This ended up facilitating private equity investments
that begin to occur in the late 1940 and early 1950. Also the entrepreneurial
spirit of Germans, Italians, Japanese, and Spanish began to change modes and
processes of production. At this time the scenario of the Brazilian economy
begins to undergo deep changes.

Always looking to copy the American model and - the familiar – way of thinking
and being from the European, Brazil passed along the decades from 1960 to
1990, with crises, stagflation and an uncertain future for the Brazilian society.
The politics went through dictatorship, and the political principles begin to
undergo changes in search of a prototype that could be better for the
population.

Closed economy, discontinued, with rudimentary production techniques. But in
the midst of what was happening in other worlds, Brazil also had to follow the
compass of the world economy. So, after years of dictatorship, from 1964 to
1985, in 1990 Brazil opened itself to the world, and saw how much it was
delayed relative to other economies.

Since this moment, Brazil has lived a day-to-day competitive, having to rescue
the rhythm of history that was lost in the centuries that have passed. And often
it is as if there‘s no time to stop the production to think, since the rhythm can‘t
stop to recover the delay (and this will be seen again when analyzed the
Fashion System in Brazil). But as if ―by magic‖, despite all these setbacks along
hundreds of years, something better was being built and solidified.

According to the economist Otto Nogami16, Brazil is not a characteristically
money saving society, therefore is usual not to have resources for investment.
But its population of 190 million people attracts foreign capital to work actively in
the productive sector of the country.

And within this context, Brazil has one of the best regulated financial markets of
the world. This market does not allow financial transactions as they were
performed in advanced industrial economies like the United States or in Europe.
And how could this happen? Throughout history it has been reported, the
Brazilian way of being transformed into an individual cautious about the reaction
of its ―other‖, established mechanisms of self-protection or corporatist
protection, which, by irony of fate, protected its economy against contamination
of the so-called "sub-prime". (NOGAMI, 2009)

The situation is quite different from a China or an India, for example. There, all
economic activity depends on the advanced industrial economies like the United
States and Europe. If these economies reduce consumption, these countries
need to reduce production, which generates unemployment and consequently
less income for consumption, less consumption less employment, and thus a
recessionary spiral.

40

It is a very different situation of what Brazil has accumulated over the past five
centuries. The country experiences alternating growth and recession, which
always made the country look for alternatives, whether knowingly or not, is in
the Brazilian DNA, the natural need to look for solutions.

Brazil, the “land of future”

―Tony Blair, visiting Brazil, the British politician defends the
thesis that the country [Brazil] represents a new global reality.
‗The balance of power is shifting. From now on, the power must
be shared and the developed countries will need to be more
humble. Brazil is one of the best symbols of this new reality. It
represents the spirit of the century XXI. It‘s not by chance it was
elected the headquarters of Olympics and World Cup,‘ said
Blair, on the morning of Tuesday (26/10) in the event held in
São Paulo, LIDE.‖17

Many people and companies have recognized Brazil's potential, and it has been
repeatedly called the "Land of the Future," but Brazil still struggles with its past.
Nevertheless, in many ways the future is already here. It has the world‘s eighth
largest economy, larger than Russia, India, and Canada, and, in addition to the
stereotypical tropical exports of developing nations, like coffee or minerals, it is
also among the world‘s major producers of soy beans, commercial jet aircraft,
automobiles, and television entertainment.

Despite having a lot of things to ―organize‖ in the country, the great abundance
is not only about richness that goes to the ―rich‖ people, but what happens now
in Brazil that makes its economy so interesting is the ascension of the class C,
the medium class. They are 95 million people, half of the country, and they get
from 3 to 10 minimum salaries. This is a very important thing that is changing
the scenario of industry in Brazil, because it‘s a phenomenon that took a time to
be seen by the entrepreneurs. Now the industries are studying these
consumers and are getting attempts to the fact that they want specific products.
They are not susceptible to pay more just because they are getting more
money, but they want more quality, to buy more things, and to pay the same for
the things they used to buy, affirm the journalist Ana Paula Padrão18.

Brazil passed through a big social revolution and after two decades of severe
economic difficulties and much struggle to reform a nation marked by great
economic inequality, the country began to do justice to the term "middle class
society." The increase in wages and incomes has led tens of thousands of
people in urban slums or rural poverty to acquire their own homes and a life of
comfort without precedent.

41

According to the well-recognized Brazilian magazine ―Época Negócios‖19, the
economic security has reached unprecedented levels and demographics started
to function as a tail wind for the country. Although there is social injustice, most
people lead material lives perceived as decent and similar. This magazine did
the research with Synovate, a research consultancy company from São Paulo,
about the aims of the Brazilians in this new economic moment.

About this economic moment, the research informs that Brazil increased its
consumption pattern and inaugurates a new virtuous cycle comparable to the
U.S. after the war. Part of this phenomenon, besides the political actions, is
recurrent of an entire industrialization based on import substitution, initially of
consumer goods and after the entire production chain. The self-esteem of the
people is good as never before what makes this moment special to produce and
to correct things. That‘s a very good time to re-think production; products,
costumers, communication, and to present innovation and different systems.

In the meantime, about the aims, the research provide an interesting
information about what make the Brazilians optimist in this important stage:
from top to bottom is ―family‖, the ―own future‖, ―professional growth‖,
―improvement in life over the last decade‖, ―social growth in the future‖ and
because their ―lives are better than the lives their parents had‖. This optimistic
feeling is part of 53% of the population, followed by 38% of skeptical and 9% of
unbelievers. Brazil ranks first in the ranking of confidence in the future, about
the future happiness according to the international ranking of happiness. If
Brazil is the ―future‖ or not this is something that belongs to the time. What is
fact is that much is being done and waiting for that future.

But, people don‟t know Brazil

"Here, what makes brazil, Brazil is no longer the shame of the
political regime or the rampant and "shameless‖ inflation, but
the delicious food, the catchy music, the ―saudade‖ that
humanizes time and death, and friends that allow resist
everything ... "(Damatta, 1986)

Brazil is politically divided into 26 states and the Federal District, where the
executive, legislative and judicial national offices are located. The country has
5,564 municipalities, 40 of them have populations exceeding 500.000
inhabitants.

42

The landscape is quite diverse, with semi-arid regions, mountainous, lowland
tropical and subtropical regions, where the climate ranges from semiarid
northeastern hinterland, passing through the equatorial tropical to the
subtropical areas of the South

Eighth largest economy of the world, Brazil has between 15 and 20% of the
biodiversity of the planet, distributed in 3.6 million square kilometers of several
kind of nature: Amazon forest, remnants of Mata Atlantica,, the Cerrado,
Caatinga, the Pampas and Pantanal - one of the largest wetlands in the world,
considered by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve. Besides the more than 7,000
km of beaches mainly of warm waters, are located in Brazil superlatives of
world geography. The country has also the world's largest reserve of fresh
water, represented, among others, the Amazon basin and the aquifers Guarani
and Amazon.

It is a very big country, with 8.547.403,5 km², the 5º in the world in size and
population (the extremes are from north to west 4.394 km and from lest to west
4.319 km) with bad distribution of the population, overloading some regions,
while some regions are left to large farms and little industrialization.

In fact there is growth and wealth in each region, from north to south. According
to Exame magazine, the Brazilian southeast, region of Rio Janeiro and Sao
Paulo, among other states, has a diversified economy that attracts the best
―brains‖ in the country.

The North, where is the state of Amazonas is growing the construction area and
there are a lot of investment in services and technology sectors.

The northeastern region, the cradle of the nation, place of discovery, with its
nine states, is growing faster than other regions of the country thanks to the
explosion in consumption and construction. It is an area with large social
differences marked much stronger by the colonization than other areas. But
growth opportunities are enormous and a lot of companies are betting on the
power of consumption in the C and D classes of the Northeast.

The Center-West region around the capital, Brasilia, is traditionally an area of
agri-business. In recent years, however, shows great growth in the chemical
industry, food, pharmaceutical, construction and IT services.

And the region South with its agricultural plains as essence, is the region with a
relatively equal development in primary, secondary and tertiary sectors, and has
the highest literacy rates and life expectancy recorded in Brazil. Today the
region is record on jobs, especially in software development, and the activities
of import and export.

The fashion districts are mainly in the South, Southeast and Northeast as will be
seen during this research.

43

Image 1: 1- Center-West, 2- Northeast, 3- North 4- Southeast, 5- South

Apart from the different nations which made the country, the centralization of
different people in each region has specific area. The climatic conditions of
each area also favored this cultural "distance".

Many people outside of Brazil do not know well the country, but many Brazilians
do not know also due to its huge size. What comes to the world about Brazil is a
look at Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. But Brazil is much bigger than this and
even better in different ways. There is enormous energy in places like Curitiba,
Porto Alegre, Salvador and Brasilia. Much of the country is yet to be discovered
by foreigners.

3.3 BRAZILIANS AND THE BRAZILEIRISM: DNA

"Despite being made from the fusion of such different sources,
it's remarkable that Brazilians are, today, one of the most
homogeneous peoples, both linguistically and culturally and
also one of the most socially integrated on Earth. We speak a
same language, with no dialects. We don't shelter any
vindication of autonomy, nor are we fond of any past. We are
actually open to the future. (...)

In the very truth of things, what we are is the ―new Rome‖. A
late and tropical Rome. Brazil already is the largest among all
neo-Latin nations due to its population's magnitude, and it also
gains terrain for its artistic and cultural creativity. It needs to be
it now in the technology field of future civilization, to establish
itself as an economic power of self-sustained progress. We are

44

building ourselves in struggle to blossom tomorrow as a new
civilization, half-breed and tropical, proud of itself. More joyful,
because it has suffered more. Better, because it gathers more
mankinds. More generous, because it's open to living together
with all races and with all cultures and because it's settled on
the fairest and brightest province on Earth.‖

(Darcy Ribeiro, "The Brazilian People" - Writer, anthropologist
and politician.)

To write about the Brazilian DNA is a subject so complex and interesting that it
deserves only a single research devoted to this subject. The Observatory of
Consumption and Behaviour from SENAI CETIQT conducted a very interesting
research on this case and some of the features that will be highlighted here are
a result of this study. Also it will be salient other characteristics found that aim to
enrich the knowledge and understanding of Brazil and its people. Thus, this is
not a general analysis but a focused one, in order to have knowledge of what
might be added to the understanding of national characteristics.

The house, the street and the other world are areas of experience, are three
codes of values, which alternate in the symbolic order of Brazilian culture. In
fact, symbolically operate with three dimensions of existence which alternate in
various arenas of social practices. The experience of the Brazilian triangle ritual
with its carnivals, processions and parades, and with their heroes, reflects
directly on the basic concepts with which we explain and live our lives. The
symbolic structure of Brazilian culture pervades social relations, interactions
between actors, daily practices, institutional concepts, representations of the
country and especially our own emotions. The Brazilian culture is like a musical
score and on it we read our identity. In multiple contexts of our society we know
by heart the tone in which we must play - the codes of the house, the street and
of the other world. For more different from each other that we can be, for most
cultural regions that Brazil may have, still, the musical score in many ways is
the same, the symphony is the same Brazilian symphony - singular and
complex culture. Therefore, as Tom Jobim sayd, "Brazil is not for beginners."20

Some intellectuals and writers emphasize the duality of Brazil, as Everardo
Rocha and Gilberto Freyre. According to Rocha there is a presence of ethical
duplicitous and ambiguous elements in the Brazilian imaginary, something
clearly identified by the contemporary Anthropology: the idea of the routine
experience of mixtures, divisions and ambiguity of values used to think about
ourselves. Meanwhile Freyre analyses this duality related to the cultural
background of the country, among Europeans, Native Indians and Slaves. He
believes that in general the formation of Brazil has been a process of balancing
opposites. This balance attests that cultural richness of the mixture under the

45

Systems, Fashion and Sustainability in Brazil

Systems, Fashion and Sustainability in Brazil

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