Slow Mode Journal (SMJ) is a newly formed open-access, peer-reviewed journal that welcomes interdisciplinary research from scholars and practitioners whose work addresses the acceleration of global systems related to textiles–from fashion and product design to computing and digital communication. SMJ’s origins are rooted in the goals of “slow fashion”, “slow design”, and “slow technology” - concepts that emerged in tandem during the early to mid 2000s from critiques of industrial systems that prioritize speed and disposability. Our interest in slowness also speaks to the 21st century’s heightened awareness of the Anthropocene, defined in 2000 by Crutzen and Stoermer as an ongoing period of significant human influence marked by excess waste and exploitation of natural resources. In the two decades since that research first appeared, the severity and urgency of the global situation has not abated; rather, with generative AI hastening the production of fashion, data, and e-waste, the problem is expected to worsen. What can be done to challenge the breakneck pace of the current mode of production? As our name suggests, Slow Mode Journal foregrounds deliberative research on textiles, art, and technology.
Slow Mode Journal
First Nations land acknowledegement
We acknowledge that the UBC Vancouver campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam).