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Ready for a Fashion Revolution?

How to get involved for Fashion Revolution Week: 22 to 28 April 2019

Tomorrow is the start of Fashion Revolution Week. The sixth year in which the charity are encouraging us to get involved and challenge our favourite fashion brands with the question ‘Who Made My Clothes?‘. Fashion Revolution was established in 2013 a year after the Rana Plaza disaster that killed 1138 garment workers in Bangladesh. Since then Fashion Revolution have been campaigning globally against the human and environmental consequences of the fashion industry, encouraging brands to change their practices to a more transparent and circular model.

I created Olive Road as way to recycle fabrics, refreshing and giving them a new lease of life. I’m unable to trace the supply chain of these fabrics or estimate the fibre composition. They are unlikely to be made from organic fibres but they are sustainable textiles as they are being reused. Reworking these vintage fabrics is preventing them from being thrown away and adding to the textile waste issue. Preserving their history and giving them a new lease of life.

Join me in being a fashion revolutionary. Here are my top tips on how to get involved this year:

  1. Who Made Your Clothes? Choose your favourite piece of clothing. Text, email and write a letter to the brand on the label using the hashtag #whomademyclothes? – find more tips on how to approach the fashion brand effectively on Fashion Revolution’s website. Including downloadable posters and kits. Don’t give up, keep contacting the brand until you get an answer. Keep the message positive and professional.
  2. Creatives Required: Do you have a sustainable fashion idea that could do with a bit of help to take it to the next level? Pitch your idea to the London College of Fashion on 23rd April for the chance to get expert advice. Or go along and witness the birth of some new ideas. Tickets available here.
  3. Discover Sustainable Brands all in one place: Shopping ethically takes time to research sustainable brands. Pebble Magazine help narrow down the search by recommending companies and products for an ethical lifestyle. They are hosting their first Pebblefest on Saturday 27 April close to London Bridge. I’ll be there with a Fast Fashion Therapy workshop alongside Eleanor Tull. Tickets available here and includes a £1 donation to Fashion Revolution.
  4. Clothes swishing is a fun way to buy clothes second hand. Join Betsy’s Closet Swap Shop for their Fair Fashion Fair on Sunday 28 April in West London. Eleanor and I will be bringing along our sewing kits for another Fast Fashion Therapy darning and patching workshop. Places are now fully booked but stop by if you are coming to swish to see if we have some cancellations.
  5. Want to find out the Future of Ethical Fashion? Organised by No Planet B, who in their words are ‘the inclusive community for the conscious generation’. Keynote talks, discussions and ethical shopping including The Craftivist Collective, with their positive, calm and effective way to campaign. Saturday 27 April from 6pm, in East London. Tickets here.
  6. Celebrate local designers and makers: Lewisham Village is hosting a week full of events including catwalk shows, repair & mend centre, sustainable textile centre, discussion panels and lots more. Click here for tickets and details or search Eventbrite and Facebook for events going on in your area.
  7. Refresh Your Wardrobe with super-crafter Barley Massey at Fabrications on Thursday 25 April. Bring along a couple of items to repair whilst listening to a panel discussion from a whole host of sewing and ethical fashion experts. More details and tickets here. I interviewed Barley for a guest post on her blog. Click here for her views and tips on upcycling.
  8. Future Fashion Focus Masterclass: Jo Salter is the founder of ethical clothing brand ‘Where Does It Come From’ and is an award winning business woman. She is sharing her advice for emerging sustainable businesses along with Sian Conway of Ethical Hour, Sabine Harnau, a copywriter and trainer. Taking place at the Museum of Brands in West London in Friday 26 April, buy tickets here.
  9. Discuss ‘Why Fashion is a Feminist Issue‘ on Friday in Brighton. Join social enterprise leaders, ethical fashion designers and fair trade experts for what sounds like a lively discussion on one of the humanistic impacts of the Fashion Industry. Tickets here and include a donation to Labour Behind the Label.
  10. The simplest way to get involved in sustainable fashion is to question ‘do I need this?’ before buying. If the answer is yes, can it be sourced second hand? I list my tips on how to reduce fashion and textile waste on Pebble Magazine’s site.

Last year I took a three week Future Learn online course designed by Fashion Revolution and the University of Exeter to take an in-depth look of ‘who made my clothes?’. I chose a vintage style skirt from Collectiff, you can read how I got on here.