September 5, 2019
Growing up an avid explorer, Iris Mohr, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair of Marketing, always had an affinity for nature and the outdoors. She also possessed a passion for fashion, a flair for retail, and an interest in entertainment.
They all converged when she became a professor of marketing, studying sustainability and fashion, then making a noted documentary film about the subject.
In addition to her M.B.A. and Ph.D. in marketing strategy from the City University of New York, Dr. Mohr has an M.A. in Communications from Hebrew University in Israel, and a professional degree in Screenwriting from the University of California at Los Angeles and a certificate in documentary filmmaking from New York Film Academy.
She combined these talents in the summer of 2018 by writing, producing and directing #sustainUP, which highlights some of the environmental devastation wrought by the international garment industry. The film features interviews with designers and retailers who aim to minimize that damage through sustainable fashion, which Dr. Mohr defines as “clothing that is made in an environmentally sound manner, embraces ethical standards, and is good to the people making it.”
The film won an Impact DOCS Award of Recognition in January 2019 and was nominated for the Women Film Critics Circle Award. It has also been made an official selection of many film festivals around the world.
“There are all sorts of ways for people to add life and longevity to pre-owned clothing with the goal of reducing their fashion footprint,” Dr. Mohr said. “One is recycling. The other is upcycling.”
Recycling is an expansive concept that encompasses an array of objectives, including donating, consigning, and renting clothing. Upcycling, by comparison, takes clothing that has been used and labels them as “gently worn” or “vintage,” rather than “used” or “old,” to foster consumer acceptance and adoption of secondhand clothing.
Citing her research, Dr. Mohr expects the resale market to grow from $20 billion to $41 billion by 2022.
In January 2020, Dr. Mohr will address some of these issues at the Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability in Santiago, Chile, where she will present a paper on “Communicating Sustainable Fashion.”