Global ethical fashion movement Fashion Revolution have released a new report that demands radical transparency at every tier of the supply chain. Out of Sight: A call for transparency from field to fabric was produced in support of the Tamil Nadu Declaration, a pledge to eradicate severe labour exploitation in the textile manufacturing hub of...
On Monday 12th October, Scandinavian fast fashion empire H&M announced that they are partnering with Looop, a new garment-to-garment recycling system. Developed by The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) in collaboration with the brand’s non-profit arm H&M Foundation, the ‘world’s first in-store recycling system’ has been installed in the first instance...
Despite the rising popularity of recycled fashion, currently less than one percent of the materials used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing. How can we effectively recycle textiles? Which brands are getting recycling right? And what on earth is a closed loop? From the debate around recycled polyester to what really happens when...
Ethical business is not just about what you sell, but how you sell it. Almost daily, we see more and more ethical brands and publications battle for the attention of conscious consumers. Many of these enterprises are driven by the increasing profitability of sustainable buzzwords rather than a genuine passion for sustainability. Worse, they’re simply...
This summer, a group of scientists at CSIRO in Canberra have developed a method to grow cotton that has the potential to wipe out the need to dye the fabric by genetically modifying the fibre. Their experiments have ‘cracked cotton’s molecular colour code’ in order to diversify the crop from its natural off-white or the...
Like a home renovation project exposing underlying damp and cracked walls, this pandemic has torn open the systemic problems in fashion retail that lay under the surface all along. From the cancelled orders crisis spotlighting garment workers on the poverty line, to the dramatic halt in shopping that’s shifted millions of consumers towards a slower,...
When we think about fast fashion, we think about clothing. Anything made from fabric, we generally feel familiar with its social and environmental implications. However, as Tansy Hoskins’ new book Foot Work doubles down on, there are many fashion categories that have yet to reach the public consciousness in the ethical fashion movement. Beyond shoes,...
Since the monotonous reality of lockdown here in the UK truly set in, I had a stark realisation– charity shopping is my only hobby. While others bake sourdough, learn to knit or slip on their running shoes, I find myself pining purely for those afternoons spent treasure hunting on overstuffed rails, chasing the thrill of...
“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” – Anne Marie Bonneau. In just a few short months, many of us have felt our priorities shift dramatically from one crisis – the climate emergency, to another – the coronavirus pandemic. The health and safety...
The world is on lockdown, and for many of us, that means buying new clothes (or even getting dressed at all) is the last thing on our minds. On the surface, this could be spun as positive news for ethical fashion. A pause on overproduction and overconsumption, more people than ever mending and upcycling their...