Fashion Revolution Week - 24th April 2017

Almost passed me by as well,

For those who don't know, it starts on the anniversary of the, awful, catastrophe of the collapse of the Rana Plaza in 2013. 1138 people were killed and injured.

http://fashionrevolution.org/ was launched and its ethos is to promote ethical fashion, without blame.

I became interested in this when a friend asked her facebook friends if any of them would join her in a year of not buying any new clothes. a whole year! I thought "yeah, I could do that!" and so a little group formed and we swap tales of not shopping. It's a great group that is about support and ideas and, definitely, not about blame.

I've never been a fan of clothes shopping and find the whole thing a chore - I buy clothes when I have to and always have to compromise. Its going to be too long or fit badly so I used to shop with the thoughts of "can I take it up?" or in? it's why I started sewing. BUT - a lot of people are buying clothes as an emotional outlet and I never knew that.

It was recommended to the group to watch the documentary "The True Cost", not a particularly 'easy watch' and I came out at the end wondering what kind of person wouldn't pay an extra 20p on the cost of a t-shirt if it meant the maker got a fair wage! https://truecostmovie.com/

I didn't see any publicity of it being Fashion Revolution Week, and no mention on any radio broadcast that I listen to - did I miss any?

I found out about it through that facebook group and, have since, read a bunch of blog posts and on-line articles. I liked this one: The Good Outfit Challenge

She was honest, although anyone that buys clothes and then writes about it for a living seems, at first glance at least, part of the problem and not the solution! There are a lot of posts 'out there...' where the writer seems to be halfheartedly interested in ethical fashion - "ooh, it's a hot topic at the moment, so I must write about it. hhhm, how to sound as if I do care???"

Then, there is this one of the Huff Post: Can a fast fashion detox change our shopping habits? but, the writer works for a clothing exchange so I already know how the article concludes before I even read it - I don't mind that, I didn't go to read it because i'd run out of Miss Marple's but the writer has a vested interest, albeit for good reasons.

I was interested in the Fashion Transparency Index: why-transparency-matters and i'm now interested in the work the organisation is doing so will follow them.

I'm going to pick-up "are leather trousers ethical" point that I made in a post in December last year - so, I was interested in ethical clothing before that FB group and I didn't realise it.

There is The Good Trade : http://www.thegoodtrade.com/fashion/ but how much is paid advertising compared to actual caring?

but, I found this, too: Katherine Hamnet - 25 years in ethical fashion

and I had forgotten her designer stuff back in the 80s! remember those WHAM! t-shirts??? she's still going strong with the ethical clothing and I wonder how many other designers are genuinely committed to the ethical fashion.

Let me know if you find any other good/useful links

In other news, I made a noodle-joy bowl for lunch: