The Festival of Natural Fibres

After a lovely mid-week mini-break at the Knepp Estate learning about rewilding, heading to the Festival of Natural Fibres at Craft Central felt like a good way to end a week of annual leave. Thinking about more sympathetic ways to use the land, making use of our natural resources and respecting skilled craftspeople rather than creating environmental devastation in pursuit of a never ending supply of cheap “stuff” felt like an important conversation to have across as many industries as possible.

And the Festival of Natural Fibres really was a conversation. Organised by the Khadi Initiative , the event brought together British farmers, Indian cotton spinners and weavers, and the owners of sustainable brands who are truly committed to forming and maintaining sustainable supply chains to share their expertise. It was eye-opening to hear how wide-ranging the challenges are that face a truly sustainable fashion industry, but heartening to hear that so many people are working across industries and across continents to create a better industry for people and the planet.

Rather than summarising each panel discussion, I’ve put together a list of the problems (some of which I didn’t even know we were facing) and their inspiring and creative solutions.

Cotton: the world’s problematic fave
The history of cotton spans millennia, and takes in numerous destructive conflicts, including the British invasion of India and the Transatlantic slave trade. Cotton is an incredibly thirsty crop, and the fashion industry’s constant demand for this popular fibre has devastated natural water resources. The modern industrial farming of cotton relies on chemicals that are destroying the health of farmers in India and their families. Organic cotton farming, and hand spinning and weaving is an important part of Indian tradition; the fashion industry should be paying a fair price for their skill and expertise. The people who carefully honed a manufacturing method should not be paying for “progress” with their health. Speaking of...

The dark satanic mills of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, where adults and children alike toiled in dangerous working conditions, are thankfully a thing of the past. But when Britain sold off our outdated mill machinery, we not only destroyed a part of our heritage, but also the local economies that depended on these industries. The British climate is ideal for growing flax (linen was a traditional part of our textile industry), hemp, and sheep farming is a common feature of our landscape, but we no longer have the machinery capable of spinning or weaving a wide range of different fibres on an industrial scale.

Affordability is always an issue when it comes to ethical and sustainable fashion. While it’s becoming aspirational for people in affluent areas, there is always the worry that it could just be a passing trend like any other. People on low incomes will have expenses they need to prioritise over organic or fair trade fibres, and there is no getting away from the convenience of easy-care synthetics that don’t need hand-washing or ironing.

It was interesting to be at an event that actually connected the dots between these issues. Exploitation of natural resources, low wages and a lack of respect for the skill and craftsmanship of artisans has led to this unequal, throwaway society. 

Shailini from Moral Fibres summed it up perfectly when she said that we were “in the final stages of a deceitful system”. I loved the way Shailini spoke about the joys of both making and wearing clothes in a mindful way and how there should be a “tactile, respectful humanity embedded in all we wear”.

So what changes do we need to make to ensure that fashion is better for people and the planet, and how do natural fibres fit into this?


Could we revive our textile industry? Several panellists spoke about their experiences trying to get fabrics woven from natural fibres in the UK. Current government policy ignores the needs of communities and the heritage industries they used to centre around (the focus of the idea of a “Northern Powerhouse” seems to be a fast train to London), but with investment in machinery we could be innovators and market leaders when it comes to spinning and weaving fibres like flax and hemp. The government would also have to relax their rules on the commercial growing of hemp, which currently requires a licence and may be subject to restriction depending on where the crop is grown.

One of the problems that ethical entrepreneurs encounter is a lack of options for scaling their business slowly. The infrastructure doesn’t exist for mid-range manufacturing; artisans making handcrafted pieces mean the price point may be too high for many customers, and the minimums for corporate manufacture are too high for small business that are still establishing a customer base.  Innovative new factories offering meaningful and fairly paid employment would be a solution to this problem.


Getting people interested in natural fibres would help everyone feel more connected to both their clothes and the natural world. Better knowledge and understanding of the benefits could lead to more demand for clothes made from natural fibres from customers; sustainable brands can’t grow their businesses unless there is consumer demand.

We shouldn’t just be focusing on clothes produced locally; sharing ideas and expertise with skilled craftspeople around the world would benefit the garment industry as a whole. As customers increasingly look for an experience or a sense of participation rather than just making purchases for the sake of it, ethical brands will be able to connect their customers with the stories and the people behind their clothes, making garments more personal and precious.

We’ve had our eyes opened to the problems of plastic pollution, surely the realisation that garment manufacture is also a contributor to the degradation of the planet cannot be far behind. Hopefully we’ll begin to realise the importance of weighing the benefits of the artificially low prices of clothes against the detrimental effect to the health of people and the environment. When we consider our personal values, and think about the sort of world we want to live in, hopefully it will be one where we can appreciate the value in working with your hands, and embrace the unique qualities inherent in natural materials.

Designing the way to sustainable costume

My career as a costume maker was the catalyst that set me on the path to leading a more sustainable life, but as well as exposing concerns about the fashion industry it also led me to the uncomfortable realisation that the film and television industry is also far from sustainable. Unlike workers in garment factories I am paid a fair wage and considered a skilled craftsperson, but I still couldn’t help worrying about the environmental impact of the job I love. Fortunately other creatives in my industry have the same concerns, so on a sweltering Friday evening, in a blissfully air-conditioned room at BAFTA HQ, we heard from a panel of experts about the changes we need to make as Costume professionals. 

Aaron Matthews, the head of industry sustainability, opened the session and introduced the speakers. First up was Sinead O’Sullivan, Assistant Costume Designer and founder of the Costume Directory, an open resource for responsible suppliers. Alarmingly, a film or television production can produce more waste in a week than the average household will produce in a year, and the costume department of any show is inescapably linked to the fashion and textile industries. While many of us might be conscious of recycling and waste reduction on a personal level, we are likely to tolerate more wasteful behaviours at work because of lack of regulation or time to source better alternatives. 

The ever-changing nature of freelance work in costume departments makes it hard to stick with the same suppliers; fabrics that were perfect for an 18th Century costume drama won’t be right for a gritty modern film. Similarly, costume departments can generate a lot of waste if multiple copies of a costume are needed to be broken down or damaged on-screen. Sinead stressed the importance of individual as well as collective change: the change has to come from the people working in costume departments as it isn’t going to come from studios or producers. 

Sinead asked us to think about the small changes we could make that would add up to make a big impact. She gave a pretty comprehensive list that I think all of us in a creative field could get some useful ideas from. 

Could we: 

• Source more ethical fabrics?
• Ask for more comprehensive recycling facilities at work?
• Make ourselves aware of harmful chemicals in dyes etc?
• Find ways to filter microfibres from our laundry?
• Buy more costumes for contemporary shows from secondhand or charity shops?
• Re-use on-set items?
• Create less single-use costumes; make use of costume houses and reuse resources?

Next up to speak was Orsola de Castro, co-founder of Fashion Revolution. Set up following the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, in which over 1000 garment workers, mostly young women, lost their lives, Fashion Revolution set out to ask high street brands “who made my clothes?” A question which, Orsola says, it was almost impossible to find answers to. For her, the first step towards a more ethical fashion industry is transparency (“you cannot change what you cannot see”), and we should all be more vigilant and scrutinise what we buy. 

Orsola sees the wardrobe department of a production as being three-quarters of the way through a garment’s life-cycle, from textile to landfill, and reminded us that there was such place as “away” when we discard unwanted clothing! In Orsola’s eyes, we are not using design cleverly enough. We are using design to create a problem (pollution and waste) rather than solve a problem (we all need clothes to wear). This is a criticism I have thrown at the fashion industry in the past, and while I think that my workplace does well when it comes to creatively using available resources (more on that later) it is definitely something we could all pay closer attention to. 

As well as changing our own practices, Orsola reminded us of our responsibility to inspire young designers and students to learn a more sustainable way of working from the start of their careers. There are plenty of free resources on the Fashion Revolution website, like their fanzine, as well as their Transparency Report on high street brands. She pointed out that sustainability is not a passing trend; it has been a way of life for thousands of years, and it is excess that is the passing trend. We only have to look at the history of the modern fashion industry that started with the Industrial Revolution to see how it is built on exploitation. We have an opportunity to change things and, in the words of Joan Crawford, “care for your clothes like the good friends they are”.

We also heard from Charlie Ross, founder and director of Offset Warehouse, the first textile company in the U.K. to exclusively sell ethical fabrics. Charlie’s journey from student designer to ethical entrepreneur began when she watched the film “China Blue” at fashion college. The film revealed widespread exploitation within the fashion industry, and Charlie realised that the impact of a product occurs right across the supply chain, including textile production. The garment industry is responsible for tragedies that aren’t as well-documented as the Rana Plaza disaster; for instance thousands of farmer suicides in India as a result of the exploitative cotton industry, or the draining of the Aral Sea for cotton production in Uzbekistan. The textile industry also uses harmful and toxic dyes, so fabrics can keep making a negative impact on the environment when they are being laundered. 

Her talk highlighted the importance of considering the impact of the fabrics we buy: giving our money to exploitative, wasteful manufacturers is giving our unspoken approval to their harmful practices. While (sadly!) there isn’t a magic fabric that can solve all our problems, if we keep making small changes, buying from textile manufacturers who pay fair wages and don’t damage the environment, opting for organic cotton and dyes, we can start to make a positive impact. 

Oscar- and BAFTA-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran joined the other speakers for a panel discussion and Q&A. Jacqueline spoke about creating a completely sustainable costume for Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast, talking through the different fabrics used on the costume, on display at the side of the stage. Inspired by the Green Carpet Challenge and Emma Watson’s personal interest in sustainable fashion, Jacqueline created a costume made from vintage wool and cotton, nettle fabric, sugar cotton and fabrics from Offset Warehouse, making use of the expertise of her costume team to custom-dye, print and paint fabrics using traditional techniques. 

Jacqueline discussed the benefits of working with actors who wanted to wear sustainable clothing (a focus on sustainability makes designers aware of each stage of costume manufacture, and all the boxes they have to tick) and the downside of working with experimental new materials (“we ordered some mushroom leather, and what arrived was just a mushroom”). 

Sinead, who has worked with Jacqueline on a number of productions, described the specific needs of the industry which the Costume Directory is trying to meet. She features suppliers who can provide low minimum orders, and fill and ship their orders quickly. She acknowledged that this was just the start of the big change that the industry as a whole needs to make, and that we all need to be responsible for contributing to this.

Jacqueline sees the goal as normalising sustainability in costume departments, and suggested that if we weren’t in a position to demand change we were in a position to ask questions and get a conversation going about sustainability. Some studios like to draw attention to environmentally friendly policies because it is good for publicity, whereas others weren’t keen to feature a particular sustainable initiative in case it drew attention to all the unsustainable practices.

One of the questions that came up was what happened to costumes post-production. A lot of costumes are hired from costume houses and are returned when a production wraps and can be used again. Some costumes made specifically for a production may end up in storage, as intellectual property rights for a particular production might prohibit their re-use. Sinead spoke about the problems with closing down a large department quickly when a film wraps; staff often don’t have time to carefully plan where items can be donated or repurposed.

The panel discussed the problems of textile waste; the current facilities in the U.K. are pretty poor so one option is to donate to schools or colleges, or to educational programs that teach sewing skills. The topic of how to teach sustainability was also considered, with panellists discussing the culture of immediacy that has robbed us of our ability to plan! With better organisation, we can make better decisions, but we need to create a new culture that pushes back against the need for instant results.

The evening left me with plenty of food for thought.  The costume house I work at is actually surprisingly sustainable when it comes to making and re-using costumes. We use a lot of vintage fabrics, and my colleagues and I often end up adopting a zero-waste approach to cutting and making up so we can use every scrap of a precious piece of antique fabric! As well as mending costumes from the hire stock, we often end up re-making clothing that is well past its best in order to save beautiful bits of embroidery or embellishment.

I’d be interested to see what changes we could make to become even more sustainable; all my colleagues have re-usable cups and water bottles, and our communal kitchen is full of recycling bins, but we often spend lunch breaks trying to solve our biggest sustainability bugbear: plastic garment bags. The research that several of us have done into textile and plastic recycling for our particular needs has revealed a lack of facilities that deal with this sort of waste. As well as focusing on the changes we can make personally, or as a company, we also need to ask for national change to tackle recycling on a larger scale as we plan for a more effective way of working sustainably in the long term.

The Mindful Makers: Sustainability and Style

There is an urgency to the issue of sustainability in the fashion industry. When you hear Swarovski’s sustainability expert saying “our lifestyles are not sustainable”, you know the message is getting through, and brands, large and small, are going to have to start addressing their role in the industry’s darker side: are they part of the problem or part of the solution? 

The Lone Design Club, a collection of fashion and lifestyle brands with a focus on traceable, mindfully-made products, organised the Mindful Makers evening to discuss sustainability and its importance in the design world. 

Rachele Gonzaga from Swarovski spoke about the ways in which big brands can use their money and influence for good, describing the responsibilities that these companies have to the communities where they operate. Reducing pollution through clean water initiatives and improving worker empowerment through education are priorities for Swarovski, as well as a commitment to sustainable innovation.

Rachele also talked about her work as a personal stylist, where she encourages people to think about what difference they could be making at an individual level. 

I very much approve of Rachele’s method: she suggests looking through our wardrobes carefully, working out what we aren’t wearing and why, and having old pieces upcycled or altered to suit our current personal style. She also suggests buying less but buying better, looking for seasonless, versatile clothes. I’m not the biggest fan of a capsule wardrobe for myself, but I agree that we are all buying more than we need and we need to reflect on why we buy. 

Rachele also pointed out that no brand is going to be 100% ethical, so rather than worrying about not being perfect, we should support the brands that focus on the issues that are important to us, whether that’s worker’s rights, sustainable or recycled materials or zero-waste design. 

Olivia Pinnock, a freelance fashion journalist and lecturer, spoke about the ways that sustainable brands can communicate the benefits of the way they operate to consumers. There is compelling evidence that consumers do care about sustainability; there was a 30% increase from 2017 in online engagement during Fashion Revolution Week, with customers asking brands “Who Made My Clothes?” However there is also evidence that sustainability doesn’t attract customers, it retains them. The product has to be appealing in its own right. 

Olivia emphasised the importance of clear communication with a positive emphasis on the advantages of sustainability. She suggested creating a community of shared values, telling a story rather than talking down to people. 

She also explained the importance of transparency: it levels the playing field and improves customer trust, while greenwashing hurts everyone. Certification (e.g the FairTrade label) can be a good way of communicating a brand’s values to customers, but this can be expensive, so endorsements from sustainability community leaders can also be a good indicator of a brand’s commitment to its values. 

A selection of swatches from Offset Warehouse

LDC’s Mindful Makers event showcased brands that have sustainability at the core of what they do, while creating beautiful and desirable products. Bourgeois Boheme have sleek and stylish vegan shoes, with smart formal styles as well as summery sandals. Gung Ho's statement sweatshirts and printed wrap dresses are very Instagrammable, as well as carrying a serious message about wildlife. Ware London's jewellery is eye-catching and futuristic, with gorgeous sculptural pieces created from vegetable tanned leather, and recycled rubber and silver.

Shoes by Bourgeois Boheme

Sophie from Gung Ho, Alicia from Bourgeois Boheme and Emma from Ware London were joined for a Q&A session by Charlie from Offset Warehouse, who source ethically made and sustainable fabrics.  The panelists talked about how they hoped their products could help customers to shop in line with their values, and how their brands could encourage people to see sustainable fashion as an aspirational lifestyle choice. 

Jewellery by Ware London

Sophie described Gung Ho as a brand for people who are “more than just a pretty face.” Our clothes are one of the first things people notice about us, they ought to show our interests and the things we care about. Alicia spoke about the extra research she does to make sure she is using the best factories and materials. Shoe construction is really complex, but they are constantly working on ways to make their products as sustainable as possible. Emma is living her brand’s values by living mostly off-grid, but still questions every decision when it comes to her products. I agreed wholeheartedly when she said that we have lost our connections to our surroundings. Sustainable fashion that uses interesting and unusual materials, like Pinatex, eco-stone or bicycle inner tubes can bring our attention back to the origins of the things around us that we take for granted. 

Gung Ho's print dresses and embroidered sweatshirts

The panelists agreed that legislation was needed to stop the overproduction and waste generated by fast fashion, but sustainable fashion brands could point out the shortcomings of the high street by emphasising their own selling points. For example, advertising jewellery made from FairTrade silver will alert curious customers to the fact that other brands are not using FairTrade materials. 

Gung Ho's signature embroidered motifs

The issue of the high cost of sustainable fashion relative to high street fashion came up in the Q&A, with different panelists having interesting takes. Olivia pointed out that although prices are higher than the cheapest end of the high street, they are actually comparable to mid-range retailers, and considerably cheaper than designer labels. Drawing those customers with plenty of disposable income away from the high street would be a sensible marketing strategy for brands who specialise in sustainable luxury. Sophie sells her Gung Ho designs at different price points to attract a wider range of customers, and Rachele pointed out that buying a lot of cheap clothes that you aren’t satisfied with, rather than a few pieces you really love, works out more expensive in the long run.

LDC are running a pop-up concept store, showcasing innovative independent brands, from 4th-24th July in Covent Garden. If you’re curious about
sustainable fashion, this would be a great opportunity to meet designers and find out the stories behind their products. Imagining the stories behind clothes was what drew me to start shopping for vintage clothes as a teenager, and has driven my passion for costume making, so finding a community where the story is a key part of the product is a constant source of delight for me.

Five questions we need to ask about the fashion industry

This is my second blog post about the Advaya Initiative's event Toxic Threads: The Dark Side Of Fashion (you can read Part 1 here). I’ve broken down the Q&A session into five key themes that anyone wanting to make a change, either to the fashion world at large or to their own buying habits, should be considering. 

How do we combat our addiction to consumption?

Orsola de Castro’s solution is to start with yourself: be a sustainable consumer by developing an intimate relationship with the things you buy. Under our current capitalist system we don’t have the ability to be 100% ethical, but we can work on changing our mindset. The fashion industry is built on growth and scale, with success measured in profit, so it’s important to encourage brands that are working to develop different models. Orsola also pointed out that the Latin root of the word “consume” originally meant “to wear out” which so rarely happens now! Alex Jones added that brands are producing more than we can consume, and they need to slow down their production. 

How can we put pressure on manufacturers to do things differently?

Dian Jen Lin mentioned H&M, Adidas and Kering as examples of big brands that are pushing their bounds of sustainability, but she also pointed out that small companies are the ones really innovating and producing futuristic fabrics. The panel all wanted to know: why can’t big brands with big budgets do more? Sophie Slater gave the example of her brand, Birdsong London, which is grant- and crowdfunded and can afford to pay London living wage. If she can do it, what excuse do big brands have for paying poor wages? A brand that cannot afford to pay a living wage has a flawed business model. Orsola added that the way the fashion industry is running now is fairly new: overproduction of cheap, disposable clothes has only been happening on such a large scale for a couple of decades, so it’s not a state of affairs that we are stuck with.

How do you know what not to buy?

Orsola spoke on a subject that is very close to my heart: the importance of understanding and recognising good quality clothes. She asked the audience: “Do you know what a good hem looks like?” She suggested new criteria for what would make an item of clothing a great purchase, like the ability to easily alter it, and emphasised an important baseline: fashion should fit! Alex suggested that we should cultivate a new idea of what “retail therapy” is, focussing on whether we support something positive through our purchases. The “feel-good factor” should come from knowing that the things we buy have made a positive impact during the production process. Orsola wondered if we could get our “fix” through waiting for our clothes to be mended/altered, or enjoy the delayed gratification of waiting for a bespoke piece to be made specially for us. Sophie countered the idea that relying on ethical brands might limit our choices: having a smaller pool of places to shop could make your choices more imaginative.

How can we recycle or offset our purchases? 

Orsola pointed everyone in the direction of Fashion Revolution and their Loved Clothes Last zine, which contains upcycling and mending inspiration, but also pointed out the seriousness of the problems caused by our overconsumption of clothes, and the need to find wide-reaching solutions as quickly as possible. Countries in East Africa are banning imports of second hand clothing because it is destroying their textile industries, and if we want to be responsible world citizens we have to learn that we can’t just dump things because we don’t want them anymore. Change is possible, but we are all going to have to play our part, and brands are going to have to slow down! Alex’s sobering reflection was that the problem is so immense that there isn’t an answer right now: there are still clothes donated to large charity shops that cannot be sold on, and huge volumes of clothing is still ending up in landfill. Sophie’s suggestion was to build links between charities with an excess of donated clothing, and small manufacturers like Birdsong. Buying from brands that specialise in slow manufacture by skilled workers using recycled materials has a positive impact rather than just a neutral one. 

How do we match up artisans and young designers?

Orsola shone a light on one of the depressing realities of the fast fashion landscape: we’ve lost a lot of our traditional artisan makers in Europe. Even though artisanal communities are the second largest employers of women in the world they are often unable to compete with the artificially low prices offered by big fast fashion brands. Sophie spoke about the importance of bridging the gap between young tech-savvy fashion students and older mills or factories with skills but no online presence. Dian Jen Lin gave the example of The Sustainable Angle supporting factories with no social media presence. Alex also mentioned how vital it is to support charities like Labour behind the Label and War on Want who empower women in local communities, amplifying their voices as they advocate for fair wages or union representation.

The final reflections of the panel were summed up in Fashion Revolution’s slogan: Find Out. Be Curious. Do Something. Everyone can take action without having to be an activist, and push for a fashion industry that puts positive impact above profit.

Toxic Threads part 1: four fashion experts reveal the dark side of the industry

On Wednesday 21st February I went to an event organised by The Advaya Initiative: Toxic Threads: The Dark Side of Fashion. Four speakers, Orsola de Castro, Sophie Slater, Dian Jen Lin and Alex Jones gave short presentations on their experience of the fashion industry and why radical change is needed to make the industry forward-looking again. It would be all too easy to get disillusioned by dire environmental predictions or the seemingly insatiable appetite for fast fashion,so I was heartened to hear messages of hope from people who are determined that fashion can, and should, be better.

First up was Orsola de Castro, one of the founders of Fashion Revolution and, in her words, “a recovering fashion designer”. She spoke about the event that spurred her into action: the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, in which over 1000 people (mostly women) lost their lives. Horrified that young women died to satiate our appetite for fast fashion, she also soon discovered that brands knew very little about the factories where they were producing their clothing. She encourages transparency, not as the definitive solution but as the first step. At the moment, most brands can’t answer “who made my clothes?” and that needs to change.

Fashion Revolution is an open source platform offering free educational materials, with a focus on transparency and social issues. Its aims are to educate consumers about  the fashion industry, but also to change our minds about the way people currently view their clothes. We as consumers aren’t appreciating or loving our clothes, which means they get discarded more quickly. 

The focus of Fashion Revolution’s current campaign is the overproduction and disposability of clothes, which as Orsola emphasised, isn’t just confined to cheap fast fashion chains. Luxury brands throw away as many clothes as high street shops, suggesting that clothes that cost a lot of money to buy have little value to the manufacturers. As consumers, we have the power to change this culture, and a good starting point is to only buy what you love, and pay attention to what is in your wardrobe. Clothing isn’t just an issue for those in the fashion industry, it affects 100% of the population! To Orsola, “sustainable” and “ethical” aren’t helpful words, they suggest something niche when these practices should just be part of the culture.

As someone who uses those words to define what I blog about, that’s really given me food for thought; am I limiting myself to “preaching to the choir”; could I reach a wider audience by using different language?

Next to speak was Sophie Slater, the co-founder of Birdsong London. The brand’s motto is “No Sweatshop, No Photoshop”  and they employ small groups of women with rare skills to make their clothes, from hand-knitters to seamstresses. Their mission is to empower women, from worker to wearer, and many of their makers are OAPs or migrant workers, who sign the tags on Birdsong garments so customers know who made their clothes. Their makers appear in advertising campaigns as well, which I thought was a great idea; it emphasises how central skilled artisans are to the production of beautiful, good quality clothes.

 As well as paying a living wage, Birdsong London supports women’s organisations, and they have a commitment to caring for the planet as well as people. They use reclaimed or organic fabrics wherever possible; 80% of Birdsong’s Spring/Summer 2018 collection from reclaimed fabrics; they have a partnership with Traid, to use clothes that don’t make it into Traid’s secondhand shops. I really like their emphasis on small production runs, giving their clothes an element of exclusivity and ensuring that their makers are employed but not overworked. 

Dian-Jen Lin, an “interdisciplinary designer/ researcher” had a fascinating take  on the current approach to sustainable fashion. To her, sustainability is passive, regenerative sustainability would be proactive, so what we need is Regenerative Sustainability Activism. This is going to involve a radical re-thinking of how we apply new technologies to garment manufacture. As well as developing fabrics that are recyclable, or use recycled materials, we could develop clothes that actively give back to the world around us. 

Dian-Jen Lin’s current project is to create a photosynthetic material; by adding photosynthetic microorganisms to fabric, your t-shirt could photosynthesise while you go about your business. In cities, millions of people wearing clothes that use up carbon dioxide and give off 

oxygen could be a great solution to air pollution. She works with The Sustainable Angle, who help to promote and develop innovative new fabrics. From leather alternatives made from post-consumer food waste, to sustainable sequins, you can read more about the Sustainable Angle’s latest event, the Future Fabrics Expo, in my recent blog post or on their website. 

Designer Alex Noble gave us his overview of the fashion industry and how it has lost its way. In his opinion, the negative aspects of fashion currently outweigh the good, and we all need to work to redress the balance. The good aspects, the parts which allow designers to unleash their creativity and allow consumers to express their identity were the building blocks of the industry, but are now being exploited by multinationals who are only interested in profit.


Alex believes that we as creatives and consumers have the ability to change the industry, through working together in a more egalitarian way. More communication and collaboration is vital, to encourage transparency and to make sure a more diverse fashion industry is able to flourish. He is in favour of a return to small-scale manufacture, emphasising that garment workers are people, not statistics, and that manufacturers should take into consideration the quality of life their products are creating. To embed these values in the industry, teachers and students at fashion colleges should be making sustainability a priority, not a project, and we as consumers have to embrace this change and support small businesses!

I loved hearing such a variety of insight from people trying to change the fashion industry for the better in very different ways. The second part of the evening was a Q&A session, and I’ll be publishing a second blog post in a couple of weeks to share more from the panel, so stay tuned!

Personal style meets personal values: the Ethical Brand Directory's Conscious Christmas Showcase

Happy Black Friday everyone! Since shopping is at the forefront of everyone’s minds at this time of year, I’ve written up a shopping event and panel discussion I attended that focussed on centring your personal style and personal values in the purchasing decisions you make, rather than being persuaded to panic-buy deadstock according to the whim of advertisers. 

"The more you know... the harder it is to shop!" Roberta Lee jokingly summed up the panel discussion at the Ethical Brand Directory's Conscious Christmas Showcase. It felt relatable (no high street impulse buys for me any more), and reflected the feelings of 'overwhelm' that can sometimes come with trying to make more ethical or sustainable life choices, but the whole event was actually a really positive exploration of the ways in which personal style and personal values intersect. 

The Ethical Brand Directory is an online listing for ethical brands, including homewares as well as fashion and beauty, that is searchable by the products you need and the causes that are dear to your heart. The Conscious Christmas Showcase was an opportunity to check out stylish designs and innovative fabrics, appreciating artisanal skill and the wonders of modern technology. Sleek and sophisticated occasion wear from Annaborgia would have paired well with a hand-tooled clutch bag from Embellished Truth, while cosier Autumn/Winter looks were represented by super-soft bamboo sweatshirts from Lyme Terrace and adorable printed scarves by Where Does It Come From?. Starseeds were following up their collections of bamboo and organic cotton active wear with workout clothes made from recycled coffee grounds, while Fresh Lifestyle had come up with packaging that would prolong the life of their natural skincare range, and which customers could return in exchange for discounts on future purchases. 

Stylist and founder of the Ethical Brand Directory Roberta Lee was joined for a panel discussion by Claire Couchman of Couchman Bespoke, a tailor specialising in alterations and bespoke menswear made from sustainable fabrics, Lucas Windhager from Alive, an online Vegan accessories boutique, and Olivia Pinnock, fashion journalist and founder of The Fashion Debates, a series of panel discussions focusing on ethics in the fashion industry.

Claire and Roberta discussed a topic close to my heart; how alterations to your store-bought wardrobe (and even the occasional bespoke piece if you can sew or can afford it) can be a key element of being a conscious consumer. Roberta explained that personal style and fast fashion are often at odds with one another; we make impulse purchases without thinking about who we are and how the clothes we buy will fit into our lives. Personal style is about knowing who you are, and when you know this you won’t buy so many things that end up being discarded. Ethical shopping and living doesn’t have to mean going without, it’s more about keeping the things we do buy for longer. 

Claire discussed her plans to work with ethically made fabrics as much as possible, but emphasised the sustainability of bespoke clothing: consumers can have input into the design, so their new clothing will work well with their existing wardrobe. A bespoke piece of clothing should fit perfectly, promoting confidence and body positivity. Roberta pointed out that throughout history, people have gone to dressmakers and tailors for bespoke clothes, and would have expected to get clothes altered to fit. It’s only recently that we have fallen out of love with alterations (although Roberta is still a big fan of getting her clothes altered). It seems like a big jump for consumers to go from the immediacy of fast fashion to the delayed gratification of bespoke clothing or alterations, but Claire emphasised that even if you buy the most expensive brands from a department store, you are still buying a generic size, and compromising on fit. Getting your clothes tailored to fit you is a great way to support a local seamstress or small business, and you’ll be following in the footsteps of plenty of people in the public eye. Clothes don’t magically fit celebrities better than anyone else; they get a lot of custom alterations done!

Roberta talked about her “evolution” into a more ethical consumer, and the difficulties she’d found when trying to make better choices. In her discussion with Lucas she brought up the issue that vegan, cruelty free and eco-friendly brands aren’t always the same thing, and asked Lucas how he chooses brands for Alive boutique that don’t contradict one another. Lucas had chosen not to include PVC or polyester products, as they are vegan but not eco-friendly. His customers expect his boutique to adhere to their values which he described as “fortunately - or unfortunately - more important than money!” The carefully curated collection in the boutique is an authentic reflection of Lucas’ values, but he stressed that there was only so much one person could do, and Olivia heartily agreed: “no one can be 100% ethical!”

Olivia spoke about the joys of embracing your personal style and finding your community through the clothes you wear. The internet makes finding independent businesses and style influences so much easier, and consumers no longer have to rely on the brick-and-mortar high street stores for their fashion fix. She emphasised the importance of not writing off the high street completely though; Olivia and Roberta (and most of us in the audience, I imagine!) still own high street clothes, but are planning to keep them til they wear out, rather than throwing them away in a futile gesture that will only add to landfill. There are also plenty of people who work in fashion who don’t want their work to be seen as disposable, and are working to change the industry from the inside. 

As well as emphasising aspects of our personality, clothes also reflect what we believe morally and ethically, and what we want our lives to be about. As more attention is drawn to the harm done by the fashion industry, to people and the planet, the harder this is to ignore. As the panel pointed out, it also makes good business sense to put sustainability at the heart of fashion, otherwise brands will lose customers in the short-term, and will run out of raw materials in the long-term! Roberta and Olivia agreed that it was more productive to respect the things that companies are doing to improve the fashion industry, and ask for more of the same, rather than just criticising them for the things they aren’t doing yet. They acknowledged that far-reaching change, from within the industry as well as outside, was needed. With less brand loyalty amongst consumers, brands with a more positive ethical identity could encourage consumers to switch to buying their products, which might encourage more brands to improve their practices to keep up. 

There were lively audience questions and comments, which made me reflect on what a wide-ranging and complex topic this is! For an industry with a global supply chain and many different manufacturing processes, improvement in one area of production is always going to highlight problems in another. Supporting brands that are doing good, and switching our shopping habits from trend-driven impulse buys to thoughtfully planned purchases that will make us feel good every time we wear them, are sensible ways to make a positive change. 

It was a pleasure to chat to the founders of the ethical businesses that were showcasing their products; they were all passionate about fair wages, quality fabrics and flattering, wearable clothes. Focusing on a capsule collection and understanding their customers rather than trying to scale too quickly and be all things to all people hopefully means that these brands will stick around and attract more like minded shoppers.

Roberta concluded the panel discussion with the quote from Anne Lappe: “every time you spend money, you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want” this quote has become the unofficial motto of the online ethical living community, and if it’s become ubiquitous it's probably because it resonates with more and more people, and it’s worth bearing mind as the holiday season becomes an endless stream of shopping events.

Ethical Consumer Conference: challenging corporate power, constructive campaigning and ethical blogging!

On Friday 20th October I attended the Ethical Consumer Conference, to learn how I can be a more engaged and active conscious consumer! The conference is organised by Ethical Consumer magazine, which helps consumers to make informed choices based on their personal ethics by rating brands according to their ethical credentials. The theme of this year's conference was “Challenging Corporate Power” which often seems impossible as an individual consumer, so I was looking forward to meeting like-minded people and hearing some positive messages.

The day started with a short presentation by Rob Harrison, the founder of Ethical Consumer Magazine, about its work challenging corporate power. We’re all aware of the global power of big corporations, but did you know that some have an annual turnover greater than the GDP of most countries? If Walmart was a country, it would be the 22nd richest in the world! Corporations tend to focus on their short-term self-interest, and trade deals like TTIP, or media monopolies, can allow corporations to take control of democracies. 

Ethical Consumer Magazine seeks to challenge corporate power, in part by simply informing the consumer. Their ethical indexes point out companies that are engaged in political lobbying or the funding of political parties. Rob explained that the magazine’s current policy was that corporations should have no place in our democratic process, but the idea of “lobbying for good” was going to be a recurring topic throughout the day; could consumers and politicians work with corporations to achieve positive change? 

Next, we heard from Richard Wilson, the founder of Stop Funding Hate, and Sean Dagan-Wood from Positive News, who spoke about how consumers can challenge corporate media. Richard described how his campaign had come about after seeing negative headlines about immigrants on an almost weekly basis in the Daily Express, the Sun and the Daily Mail, coupled with a spike in hate crime. Even though the readership of these papers is dwindling, and most of us are boycotting those papers by default, we are still subsidising them by buying products or services from the companies that advertise with them. 

Stop Funding Hate aims to persuade companies to stop advertising in these newspapers by gently suggesting that they wouldn’t want their products to be associated with hate speech. Richard talked about the importance of debating politely, and emphasising the values that we should be promoting instead; empathy, respect, civility and neighbourliness. By running a non-political campaign based on defending basic values, Stop Funding Hate empowers consumers to make a difference as part of a wider movement, and shows companies that funding hate doesn’t make economic sense. Publicity from Lego withdrawing advertising from the Daily Mail prompted similar action in other countries, notably in the US, where the ‘sleeping giants’ campaign persuaded many companies to stop advertising on far-right websites.

Sean from Positive News spoke about the importance of having a constructive voice in the media, rather than the destructive angle taken by a lot of newspapers. The focus of Positive News is to highlight good things that are happening in the world, but in a serious and relevant way, rather than trivial or lighthearted “and finally” news stories. The Constructive Journalism project is focussed on a high standard of reporting, and solution-focussed angles to stories, framing people as resilient, rather than victims. 

Sean is seeking to challenge the assumption that news should always be about the things that are going wrong; in his view, the news should hold power to account, but a constant barrage of negative news stories is causing a drop in engagement with the news. These negative stories have a damaging impact on mental health, making us feel helpless and fearful. Positive news, on the other hand, can boost our wellbeing, giving us a sense of hope and optimism. The magazine is run as a co-operative, through crowdfunding, meaning that it truthfully reflects the values of its owners. This is a difficult time for the newspaper industry, and Sean advised us all to support the media that takes an approach that mirrors our values.

Hanna Thomas from SumOfUs gave an engaging presentation entitled "10 things every corporate campaigner should know" with tips on creating a focal point for your campaign and getting media attention, how to exploit a company’s weak points (subverting their branding, appealing to the financial interests of their shareholders and pressing the advantage of bad publicity), and how to ensure the success of your campaign. She spoke about the importance of getting your facts right so your campaign is seen as legitimate, and the advantage of forming diverse coalitions with other campaign groups to amplify your voice and get through to a corporation’s target demographic. She also emphasised the value in celebrating corporations for getting it right, as it reinforces their willingness to make positive changes in the future, and finally, the need to live your values by avoiding replicating the bad behaviours you are campaigning against.

My chosen workshop session for the morning was "how consumers and campaigners can constructively engage with corporations". Paul Monaghan, the CEO of Fair Tax Mark, told us some of the lessons he had learned over years of campaigning:

• Framing matters: never make your idea sound radical or ‘lefty’
• Framing matters: your image and tone are part of your message

(I’m good at one of these and terrible at the other!) 

• You can't just be against something, you have to stand for something
• Indexes and awards drive companies to change
• You’re only successful if you get past the PR department!

We discussed our experiences of campaigning in small groups; I shared what I had learned from taking part in Fashion Revolution Week; I definitely didn’t succeed in getting past the PR department when I asked H&M “who made my clothes?” but another attendee pointed out the growing reach of the social media campaign since it started, as well as the fashion industry’s new transparency index which seems to be driving change. We all agreed that persistence and a positive attitude were also key to campaigning; it just isn’t possible to change company policy with a tweet!

After a delicious veggie lunch and an opportunity to browse the stalls of some ethical businesses, we heard from Paul Ellis, the Chief Executive of Ecology Building Society, about the challenge of providing financial services that serve people and the planet rather than corporate interests. I hadn’t stopped to consider ethical financial services, but as Paul pointed out, unethical banks were responsible for an artificial housing boom and the financial crash that followed, with their complex products disguising the severity of the problem until it was too late. The Ecology Building Society is working with London Community Land Services to fund affordable homes and incentivise sustainable lending. The perception that this business model is more risky is not borne out in reality, but value-based financial institutions need the support of ethical consumers! Something else to add to my long-term sustainable lifestyle to-do list! 

My chosen afternoon workshop session was Ethical Bloggers skillshare, run by Emma Oddie, and Sian Conway, the founder of the Ethical Hour Twitter chat, which has introduced me to lots of like-minded ethical consumers and has improved my experience of Twitter immeasurably! Hopefully Emma’s advice will lead to a marked improvement in my blog posts (I’m trying to write shorter sentences, I promise!), but both speakers gave great overall advice for anyone trying to raise awareness or campaign on any issue. Sian stressed the importance of being an engaged member of the community and adding value (whether that community is based online or offline), while Emma emphasised the power of a positive message; changing people’s minds by engaging readers in your passion, focusing on solutions rather than just pointing out problems. Hopefully that’s what I’m doing here; I’m always delighted when someone tells me that my blog has prompted them to take good care of their clothes or attempt an upcycling project.

The final session of the day was four short presentations and a panel discussion about corporate lobbying. First to speak was Claire McCarthy, the CEO of the Co-operative Party. She believes that mixing business and politics doesn’t have to be negative; by focusing on their values and principles rather than short-term commercial interests, and showing leadership rather than demanding action from others, corporations can make a positive difference.

Paul Monaghan pointed out the need to take a nuanced view of the role of corporations in modern life; a lot of multinationals might be a positive influence in some areas of public life (for example, environmentally friendly innovation), while being a negative influence in others (e.g. tax avoidance). He made a compelling case that ethical businesses could lobby successfully for progressive public policy.

Vicky Cann from the Corporate Europe Observatory described how big businesses have more access to government representatives than anyone else, and how they can use this influence to shape policy and evade responsibility. She wants to see more transparency and better freedom of information rules to make sure that decisions are made for the good of the citizens of a country, not for corporate interests.

Finally, Nick Dearden from Global Justice Now outlined the problems with current trade deals that enable big businesses to lower standards because they have the power when a deal is being negotiated. These deals (like TTIP) erode our democratic rights and make profit the focus, at the expense of everything else. His vision for better deals would include built-in guarantees that standards would go up rather than down, and a move towards co-ops and away from monopolies and privatisation.

The Q&A, unsurprisingly, was very Brexit-focussed, with the panellists split on the need for a second referendum, or the need to push for a positive future outside the EU that puts people before profit. The EU is vulnerable to lobbying by corporations, but it’s also where some of our most progressive consumer legislation comes from, and the lack of coherent policy on Brexit meant that there were no clear answers.

I consoled myself afterwards with a glass of wine and the company of other members of the Ethical Hour community. It was lovely to put faces to the business accounts I interact with every week, and to chat to other people who are living their values. If you’re interested in finding out more about Ethical Hour, you can join in the chat on Twitter from 8-9pm on Mondays using the hashtag #ethicalhour ; hope to see you there!