Researching sustainable fashion initiatives, I came across a website group called The Sustainable Fashion Collective which promotes awareness of sustainable practice and ethical issues. Perfect.
In my eagerness, I accepted the online invitation to a group meeting on zoom, thinking that I could come along and listen, since I do not run a clothing business of any kind.
The meeting was divided into 2 halves and I was paired with another other student who was from South America. Sustainable textile manufacturer Jackie Corlett generously offered her knowledge and expertise about her company. The business is called Motif and is run by fairtrade weavers in Bangladesh and creates ethically made materials. She is based in New York. She talked about how her work offers fair wages to all those involved in the designing and making process. How skills are continued and passed on through families and generations. I have since researched her work and see that it does indeed offer a very ethical approach to fabric production. I'm inspired. The fabrics ooze a natural appeal both in colour and texture and the staff profiles give substance to the company ethos. My question to her was why choose Bangladesh in the first place? Is it the location of resources or skills? It seems the founder has a personal connection to the location and the choice is part of a journey of faith.
I like the concept behind this business and would consider purchasing their fabrics to support the workers whilst furnishing my home with beautiful handcrafted fabrics. The distribution of such products, however, would incur shipping and other transport environmental costs. I cannot help wonder, about the local workforce and resources that are here in my own local vicinity who could create fabrics and fashions with less transport costs and improved welfare and economic growth for families and industry. The Home Grown, home spun initiative in Blackburn springs to my mind and I'll look into it further.
Most surprisingly, the other participant in the meeting was from a village, just 6 miles from where I live. Her name is Paula Roworth and she creates made to measure dresses and other garments with the offer of mending any torn or worn items as part of the sale. She gives her items a story too, written on a label tag. The company is called Withnell and claims to be wholly natural and organic and using all British resources. Everything is biodegradable. The cotton fabric, threads, labels and packaging. It is a circular business model.
I'm inspired by the ethical and sustainable approaches of the business owners. As a consumer of fast fashion and not really knowing enough about the issues in the global industry of clothing manufacture, I feel humbled and interested to know more about what I can do as a consumer and the choices that I can make. The meeting signposted me to other initiatives such as
The Ethical Consumer,
Cyclo@recycled fibres,
The Textile Exchange,
Offset Warehouse,
The Ethical Fashion Forum and the Common Objective,
The Fashion Revolution.
The amount of information out there is initially overwhelming and powerful for me. I have a lot to learn and read about and as I open one door, another ten doors appear. I wonder, also, why I didn't know of these campaign sites before. Am I just another naïve customer on the high street? Am I choosing not to know? Am I not asking the right questions in the right places? Are these people not promoting their messages and information widely enough? If it were not for this course and a random drop in on a sustainable business meeting, I might still be in the dark on these serious ethical issues. I don't think enough is being done and it inspires my eco friendly, green living conscience to consider my consumer habits and lifestyle. I want to know more and do more. I want to choose my resources better.
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