What If We Chose Clothes Like Food? | Hiro Yoshikawa | TEDxHong Kong

Much of the clothing people wear begins as crude oil, and the chemical finishing applied to it is not always disclosed. In this TEDxHong Kong talk, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, a fashion professional with 36 years in denim finishing, questions how clothing is made and asks what it would mean to choose clothes with the same care as food. He draws on his family's sake background and his work as a Master Jeans Wash designer using WASHI fabrics in Okayama prefecture, Japan.

• Chemicals used in clothing production and their possible health effects
• Hiroyuki Yoshikawa's path from sake family to denim finishing
• Denim work and WASHI fabrics in Okayama, Japan
• A proposal to think about clothing choices like food choices

Much of what you’re wearing started as crude oil, and nobody is required to tell you what else was added. A fashion insider with 36 years in denim finishing says some of those chemicals are too risky for Europe to allow near your sandwich, yet they can still be worn against your largest organ. As the second son of an 18th-generation sake family in Japan, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa grew up surrounded by craftsmanship and a deep understanding of ingredients. With no pressure to inherit the family business, he stepped away in 1989 to pursue fashion. Years of traveling between Europe and Asia led him to denim, and eventually back to Japan’s Okayama prefecture, the fabric’s birthplace, where he became known as a Master Jeans Wash designer using WASHI fabrics. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx