Love Fashion, Hate Sweatshops

 

Campaign Information

“We love fashion. But the clothes we buy in the UK come at a terrible cost. Millions of workers around the world suffer poverty wages and exploitation, producing cheap fashion for our shops. This can’t go on. We demand a fashion industry that respects workers’ rights. Our government must act now to protect the people who make our clothes.

War on Want is leading the biggest ever call for the government to regulate companies and put an end to the exploitation of overseas workers. We are asking people to add their faces, names and voices to our campaign against sweatshops. Our aim is to have 50,000 people join our call for immediate government action. It’s an ambitious goal, but together we can bring an end to sweatshops.

War on Want’s research on the sweatshop conditions facing the workers who make our clothes has made front page news and attracted attention nationwide. Yet in spite of widespread awareness of the issue, it is not always clear what practical steps members of the UK public can take to end sweatshop labour abroad. Asking companies to regulate themselves hasn’t worked. Boycotts have only led to further job losses.”

War on Want 2009

Access their website to read full reports and information on how to support this campaign. 

 

 

Co-Everything

I have uploaded a snippet from my presentation last Friday… Thank you so much to everyone who came along. It was a valuable exercise and I feel it really pushed me forward. 

Thank you for the questions and feedback… it gave me lots to think about and was a great opportunity to see my research from the viewpoint of others. I have lots to consider and look forward to developing the workshops and moving forward.

I will doing a series of presentations as the research develops… I will post updates and also advertise the workshops as they come into practice.

Build Your Own Dress

Studio 28 Couture offers a bespoke dress service allowing customers to co-create their own clothing via a “build your own application”.

This easy to use application allows the user to select dress shape, fit and apply colour or pattern via swatches provided, the fabric swatches change seasonally. The options presented provide lots of variations regardless of opting for either cotton or jersey fabrics.

Their service is marketed to provide affordable clothing that is unique and invites the consumer to participate in the design process. All dresses are made by hand in NYC and take approx 3 weeks to arrive.

I think it would be interesting if there were more fashion experiences presented this way. Studio 28 Couture are offering a similar solution to style|shake another bespoke dress creator website which I blogged about a while back…

A Style|Shake Creation

Style|Shake are evolving rapidly and have integrated a wedding service into their service! They offer affordable personalised fashion and their dresses retail between £35-65.

I have uploaded a youtube video of the Style|Shake process:

Both are a fantastic add on to traditional online shopping and a great way to personalise your wardrobe or even create that dress you have wanted for a long time but haven’t been able to find or don’t feel confident or skilled enough to produce independently.

But, how could these services be expanded upon to allow consumers to participate further in the design process? Can such services support upskilling or integrate upcycling into their business models?

I think it’s fantastic that both solutions are affordable and easy to use and cant wait to see how they evolve.

Oxfam DIY

Oxfam are hosting a DIY section at their Camden store with the help of fashion stylist to the stars Mrs Jones who has styled the likes of Kyle and The Killers…

She will be running a series of workshops within the store and be on hand to offer customisation tips & tricks. This is an exciting way to re-style and re-use reclaimed materials. Offering such support has the potential to inspire people to be more creative with discarded clothing…

Running parallel to the workshops are DIY tools online and a DIY fashion competition. Visit their website for more information…

Grass Roots Event

 

Grass Roots was an event organised for postgraduate students from Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon. The two day site specific project was based at Crystal Palace on subjects around being and making. 

I attended with Clara from TED and several Chelsea MA students. We organised a fashion workshop called “Closet Confidential”. Our workshop introduced the concept of emotionally durable design to the participants. We then asked each to select a piece of clothing that they were wearing and answer three questions:

1. Where did they acquire it?

2. What do they like about it?

3. How do they care for it?

The workshop was really engaging and I loved hearing every ones fashion stories. Some pieces of clothing were mended, some were found and reclaimed, others represented special memories… Everyone really cared about each item they talked about and would seek ways to “make do and mend” if they had the know how.

The event hosted a whole range of workshops and activities around climate change through being and making. We picked herbs and flowers within Crystal Palace and then brewed our own tea with a little help and guidance from the Tea Bike… The day closed with a chat from a speaker from Climate Camp who talked about lots of different ways to get involved. 

Grass Roots was an event organised for postgraduate students from Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon. The two day site specific project was based at Crystal Palace on subjects around being and making. 

  I attended with Clara from TED and several Chelsea MA students. We organised a      fashion workshop called “Closet Confidential”. Our workshop introduced the concept of  emotionally durable design to the participants. We then asked each to select a piece of  clothing that they were wearing and answer three questions:

 1. Where did they acquire it?

 2. What do they like about it?

 3. How do they care for it?

 The workshop was really engaging and I loved hearing every ones fashion stories. Some  pieces of clothing were mended, some were found and reclaimed, others represented  special memories… Everyone really cared about each item they talked about and would  seek ways to “make do and mend” if they had the know how.

 

 

   The event hosted a whole range of workshops and activities around      climate change through being and making. We picked herbs and flowers  within Crystal Palace and then brewed our own tea with a little help and  guidance from the Tea Bike… The day closed with a chat from a speaker  from Climate Camp who talked about lots of different ways to get  involved.

Gok’s Fashion Fix How To’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I watched Gok’s Fashion Fix again the other evening. I like some of the ideas which the show explored as it presented lots of ways to update and adapt clothing to create new looks.  Gok turns to DIY sewing, stitching, nipping and tucking to adjust high street fashion to compete against high end fashion. 

The shows format has evolved from the last series with lots of new topics being explored like the “capsule wardrobe concept”. Gok helps style a woman each episode and begins by hanging her complete wardrobe on a washing line. He then interrogates her wardrobe and offers style tips to create the perfect capsule wardrobe – a collection of interchangeable garments selected to mix and match.

This promotes considerate consumption and forces us to question will I wear it? do I need it? does this co-ordinate with everything else in my wardrobe? All of these questions not only promote sustainable consumption but also promote sustainable relationships with our clothing.

Shopping can be a really personal experience and not one complete set of rules can resolve everything as we all have different fashion needs and wants, different budgets and available time. The tips and tricks offered are affordable and require minimal skill and little time therefore I think it will appeal to a larger audience. 

 The channel 4 website has a great resource section and it is updated weekly with lots of how to’s…

Fashion Favours

Check out the fashion favours collection, a website dedicated to customising clothing. The virtual wardrobe provides a platform for social exchange encouraging users to upload their creations with the best going to auction on ebay from 2nd Dec for Body & Soul, a charity who are dedicated to helping children, young people and families affected by HIV in the UK. A DIY fashion pack is available to download which has tips and ideas from Ben de Lisi and other designers from Junky Styling to TRAID.

To get involved visit www.fashionfavours.com

You can view the gallery of existing creations and register to get involved.

This is a great way to explore recycling old clothing by updating and adapting them and raise funds for charity in the process.

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