The Creative Commons is embedded into our responsible education ethos; we have researched and aggregated content to create educational resources because we believe that accessibility leads to accountability. Of course knowledge is power, but without access to knowledge we will not move forward.

In 2009 we brought you “[Lesson 1] Sifting through the ‘Ecofashion’ Lexicon” and our “Fibre Analysis”. In 2010 we worked further to bringing you lessons on the social, cultural, economic and environmental interdisciplinary challenges facing the value system that is the global apparel supply chain.

Social Alterations 2010 //

[Lesson 4] Corporate Social Responsibility

[Lesson 3] Global Governance and the Corporation

[Lesson 2] Connect // Key Players

[Fashion High] Understanding the Impact of your Clothing (pre-16 learners)

Social Alterations 2009 //

[Lesson 1] Sifting through the ‘Ecofashion’ Lexicon

Fibre Analysis

Check out this how to on navigating our site:

Social Alterations 2010 // Program Guide from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

“Workers’ children in the area are not admitted in the Government schools in Delhi as they cannot provide the documents the Delhi Government Schools ask for.” (Worker X, Case Study: Taking Liberties)

Labour Behind the Label and War on Want are reporting gross violations of workers rights in two Delhi factories producing garments for M&S, Debenhams, Next Monsoon and Arcadia.

Taking Liberties, cites exploitative labour practices such as unregistered living in slum housing, precarious labour through non-contractual temporary employment, threats and violence against workers through hired security in anti-union workplace environment, poverty wages (workers paid less than ½ a living wage), and forced overtime.

The report is asking M&S, Debenhams, Next Monsoon and Arcadia to:

• Take concrete steps to ensure freedom of association and collective bargaining in Gurgaon
• Develop clear benchmarks for paying a minimum living wage, based on the Asia Floor Wage figures
• Address purchasing practices that impact on wages, in particular the costing in of a living wage to prices
• Eliminate the use of short term contract labour in supply chains
• Work with others, especially workers and their unions, to translate aspirational codes into reality

Take action! Click here to download the report have your say! Speak out against worker violations and speak up for workers rights!

In our activity “Talking Back” students were asked to ‘talk back’ to fashion magazines, by cutting out images and placing them on a poster board either under the category “OK!” or “NO THANKS.” Students at Balmoral said “NO THANKS!” to this fashion theme.

 I recently had the pleasure of stepping in as a guest speaker at Balmoral Jr. Secondary School, in North Vancouver (BC, Canada), to talk responsible fashion consumption with a fantastic group of Grade 10’s (thanks Ms. Thomson!).

Why? We got to talking recently at SA about how many of the resources we’re aggregating for fashion designers/students/educators are easily translated into resources for youth (pre-16). In fact, thanks to groups like Fashioning an Ethical Industry and TRAID (to name just a couple), so many resources on responsible fashion dedicated to students within this age bracket already exist.

Because we want to make sure teachers know where to go to access these great educational tools, we’ve pooled some of our favourites together to present to you what we think is an amazing workshop for Pre-16 students: [Fashion High] Understanding the Impact of your Clothing: An Introduction.

We want to share the experience with you here and give you all the tools you need to run your own workshop. We’ll be uploading a package for the 1 hour workshop I ran at Balmoral, as well as an extended 2 hour version of the same workshop. Like all of our content, these lessons are completely interdisciplinary.

I’ll be stepping back into the classroom at Balmoral soon, so to make sure that this workshop goes as smoothly as possible on your end, I will record some video footage to give you a sneak peak at how it all works together when put into action.  

My experience at Balmoral, here in Canada, was a complete success; Not only was I inspired by these students, encouraged at how comfortable they were discussing Human Rights and the environment within the fashion context, I believe that the workshop had a real impact on the students, providing them with tangible solutions to some very big problems.

Stay tuned for more on this.

Here are some images of the workshop:

Eco-conscious artist transforms trashed PCBs into stunning sculptures via Ecofriend

A roundup of some of the stories, headlines, and updates you may be interested in from in and around the community of socially responsible fashion design.

Become a Fan on Facebook for other news, links and regular updates.

Core77

Design and the public good

CSR Asia

Not for Sale: Exporting products from forced labour camps in China

CSR and poverty alleviation

CSR Europe

‘Degradable’ plastic not so environmentally fantastic, study reveals

Shoppers go green ‘to impress neighbours not to save planet’, study finds

UN report reveals financial cost of environmental damage

Corporate Responsibility comes of age  

Ecouterre

Kate Moss Dons Recycled Mosquito Net Dress For Malaria Awareness

BREAKING NEWS: Acid, Formaldehyde Found in Designer Clothing Brands

The Detectair is a “Smart” Vest That Sniffs Out Air Pollutants

Why Are There So Few Options in Men’s Eco-Fashion?

Karl Lagerfeld Ships 265 Ton Artic Iceberg to Paris for Fashion Show

Ecotextiles News

Help on organic and fairtrade supply chains

Gap Inc pushes denim recycling

Eco-Textile Labelling Guide 2010 – now published

AAFA updates restricted substances 

GOTS launches new database 

Liu Institute for Global Issues

Launch of the Global Health Network

Planet Green

There’s Going To Be a Little Less Cancer in Your Shampoo

Certified Organic Textile Companies Increase 40% Last Year: More than 50 countries now making organic cloth

The Centre for Sustainable Fashion

Call for Designers: Fashion Footprints – Sustainable Approaches

Rapid Prototype Shoes

Tesco Launches Recycled Clothing Collection  

The Global Compact

Principles for Responsible Management Education Initiative Adopts Governance Framework

Top Organizations Unite to Support Global Oath Initiative

859 Companies Delisted for Failure to Communicate on Progress

Speakers and several important topics covered include:

• Environmentally Friendly Fabrics – Understand the Definition, Sourcing and Production Issues,
• A Discussion on Recycled Materials – Polyester and Nylon,
• Responsible Processing – The Good The Bad & The Ugly of Dyeing and Finishing Industry,
• Product Integrity – Certification, Labeling, Transparency and Traceability,
• Social Compliance – Understand the Different Systems and Learn The Actual Work Done,
• Setting Sustainability Strategy – Learn from the Perspective of Leading Brands, Their Pitfalls, Triumphs and Lessons Learned,
• Communication Strategy – How Sustainability and Branding Strengthen Each Other?
• Fashion and Consumer Trends Towards Sustainability in Europe.

Participants will be encouraged to be critical, ask questions and share experiences during discussions. It would be an excellent place to actively share knowledge and information and to network at every possible level.” (MADE-BY)

Click here to download the latest version of the agenda.

Here are some testimonials from past events:

“Most valuable aspect was meeting with other people facing the same issues and discussing how we can work through to a solution together”

– Marks & Spencer, United Kingdom

“After the seminar, striking argument towards our top management on sustainable fashion production has been developed!”

– INTERSPORT International, Switzerland

“A real thorough approach to looking at all aspects of building and implementing a sustainable strategy, fantastically useful and incredibly interesting”

– Ted Baker, United Kingdom

“The most valuable aspect were the case studies of brands committed to sustainable fashion, good networking opportunities and the open atmosphere during interactive discussion”

– PUMA, Germany

Title: Organic Exchange/MADE-BY: ‘The Case for Sustainable Fasion’
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2010-05-26
End Date: 2010-05-27

Thanks to everyone who offered feedback, we were so grateful for your considerations. Please, keep let’s keep the conversation going!

Be sure to contact us with any questions!

Social Alterations @ FEI from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

CSR Trends in China’s Apparel Supply Chain from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

Find more photos like this on Social Alterations

Here are just two of the videos we took at the conference. We have more videos to come, so stay tuned for those.

The first video is of my Pecha Kucha talk. I’ll be posting the slides and my notes a little later on. Please contact us if you have any questions on the works cited in the presentation.

Social Alterations @ FEI from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

FEI Conference 006 from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) was also there, asking participants “what organic cotton means…..to me”. Pictured above is Nadira Lamrad (right) with her answer.

So here we are in London for the Fashioning an Ethical Industry Conference: Fast Forward. Today, Nadira and I will both be presenting at the conference, and with Katrine in attendance, this will mark the first time the SA team is all together in the same place at the same time!  

We will be doing lots of blogging and twitter (ing?) from the event, and will have our presentations uploaded later tonight for you to check out, so be sure to tune in.

Follow on twitter via @maryhanlon for that feed.

Wish us luck!