Week 11

Mary Qin
ASA 141
Week 11

Reflections on ASA 141

This class was very different from any class that I have ever experienced and definitely nothing like what I was expecting from a ASA class. The fashion aspect and the project were challenges to me and often made me quite stressed, but it was a interesting experience and break from the curriculum that I am used to. For the first time in my four years at UC Davis, I actually also really enjoyed working with my groups. I feel like the most important thing that I learned from this class is sustainability. I had never thought about where the cheap clothing comes from or thought about how unsustainable it is. It seems so obvious now reflecting back. This class really helped me think about the things that I buy and realize how wasteful I am with my clothing. It also helped me appreciate higher quality clothing. Before, I never cared about the quality of clothes and easily followed the fast fashion trends, which often led me to buy new clothes all the time while only wearing some of the outfits once or twice before they were unwearable or I was bored of them. The films that we watched also made me realize that in a sense colonialism still exists today as the United States pretty much exploits these asian countries for their resources and cheap labor. I had always assumed that the cheap clothing that we get at Forever 21 and H&M were just mass produced by machines. I never imagined a human work force behind it and now that I know, I am bewildered by how clothing can be sold for so cheap and how these people's labor can be worth so little. The sustainability aspect is definitely something that makes this class special and something that I will be able to apply to my life.