With the amazing team from the Sewing Café Lancaster, volunteers, and the support of local academics and the Pentland Centre, it turned out to be a great week. We celebrated Fashion Revolution Week with workshops, films screenings, talks and more to get people curious, and engage with the importance of increased transparency and sustainability in the fashion industry. I think one of the most important messages we wanted to spread during the week was that the decisions we make as consumers matter. Our individual actions matter, and as a collective our voice cannot be ignored!
There was a huge variety of activities for people to engage with during the week including: an upcycling workshop delivered by Stitched Up! from Manchester; a Clothing Love Story Challenge at Lancaster university, where we encouraged students to in writing or on video tell us about a piece of clothing that means something special to them; screening of The True Cost, groundbreaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing; and a workshop with Sarah Corbett, founder of the global Craftivist Collective.
Personally, I would say the highlight of the week was the panel discussion at our big Saturday event which featured a real variety of viewpoints. So many important things were touched upon from our local history of cotton and slavery to how we see slavery in today’s fashion industry. It is clear that this is not a challenge specific to the 21st century, but the time is now here to do something about it, because our people and planet depend on it on so many different levels.
During the week we also shared a range of interviews from conversations with different people within areas of sustainability and fashion. Something which can offer insight into current research as well as how someone goes about starting their own sustainable fashion business. You can find them here: https://www.heymagazine.space/frw/).
I would really recommend everyone to check out the Fashion Revolution website. It offers amazing resources for everyone from brands, producers, students and educators to get curious, find out and take action!