Curricula

Fashion Futures 2025: Global scenarios for a sustainable fashion industry

February 27, 2012
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Fashion Futures 2025: Global scenarios for a sustainable fashion industry

New Resources for tutors and students! What will the fashion industry be like in 2025? How might the role of the designer or consumer change? And what can we do now to shape our future? Thinking about the future can be daunting because we are bound by what we know and what we have experienced, but it can also help us to see things from another perspective; to inspire debate and innovation. In response to this, Fashion Futures has designed four scenarios that help us to picture the future beyond our existing knowledge of the fashion industry. Each scenario...

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Style and Status: Imperial Costumes from Ottoman Turkey

November 23, 2011
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Style and Status: Imperial Costumes from Ottoman Turkey

Some people are adamant that fashion is not art. This online exhibit proves them wrong. The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art have created an online exhibit that features highlights from their 2005 exhibit entitled Style and Status: Imperial Costumes from Ottoman Turkey. The online exhibit is beautifully curated with interactive close ups of the costumes that are so detailed you can actually see the fabric grain. What’s so special about the Ottoman Empire? According to the press release in 2005: “Three weaves were dominant: velvet (kadife), featuring a three-dimensional...

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LEARN // Playfair 2012 Campaign launches new teaching resources

October 21, 2011
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LEARN // Playfair 2012 Campaign launches new teaching resources

The Playfair 2012 Campaign has launched with new cross-curriculum teaching resources for learners aged 9-14. “Lesson ideas and activities make links between different subjects including art and design, citizenship, English, geography and maths. By using this pack, pupils can develop their understanding of why decent working conditions are part of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to end poverty, and take practical actions to help make the world a fairer place.” (Playfair 2012 Campaign) We’ve reported on the campaign in the past, recommending teachers utilize this interactive online game in the classroom. New resource materials include: 10 lesson plans 14 activity sheets 4...

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Otto von Busch Hacks Fashion Theory

September 2, 2011
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Otto von Busch Hacks Fashion Theory

As you know, we’re huge fans of Otto von Busch for his innovative work and research in ir/responsible fashion and hackivism. In a recent project, Otto hacks fashion theory through a series of small booklets. We’ve just added them to our required reading list and so should you! “Fashion is the celebration of the immediate future. By being constantly new, fashion indicates that the future can be something else, and it pulls us there, by force almost, promising the endless possibilities of the new, the unwritten, our possible better self.” (The Virus of Fashion, Axel Trumpfheller and Otto von...

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Mass Faintings, Fixed-Duration Contracts and the ILO’s Better Factories Cambodia Program

August 30, 2011
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Mass Faintings, Fixed-Duration Contracts and the ILO’s Better Factories Cambodia Program

You’ve likely followed the mass faintings of garment workers that have taken place in Cambodia this year. While most reports have cited gruelling working conditions and worker exposure to toxic chemicals as likely causes, reasons for the faintings remain unclear.  - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - Fast Facts // Cambodia “The face...

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Sneaky Business // Oxfam Australia organizes virtual protest to support the rights of footwear workers

August 9, 2011
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Sneaky Business // Oxfam Australia organizes virtual protest to support the rights of footwear workers

Oxfam Australia has launched a new online campaign: Sneaky Business—a virtual march touring protesters across factories in Southeast Asia, China and Central America, all the way to the headquarters of leading shoe manufacturer, Nike. The march is a call for action for workers rights in the global footwear industry. As I write this post, there are 205 virtual protesters marching through Indonesia. “The journey shows that poor working conditions are a global problem. Worker exploitation exists whether in Australia, South East Asia or Central America. However Sneaky Business also demonstrates that there are companies doing the right thing— ensuring...

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Oxfam International // Supporting garment workers through education and engagement

July 28, 2011
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Oxfam International // Supporting garment workers through education and engagement

You know Oxfam as a leader in global humanitarian efforts—working toward poverty reduction, advocating and campaigning on behalf of human rights, leading the fight against unregulated international arms trade (all the way to the UN, with Arms Trade Treaty negotiations expected to close in 2012), promoting gender equality, health and education, responding to both chronic and acute social, environmental and economic crisis…the list goes on. What you may not know is that Oxfam is also committed to supporting systemic change with respect to the labour rights of garment workers internationally through education and engagement. Here are some of the...

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Interactive lesson plans educate learners on responsible fashion

May 30, 2011
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Interactive lesson plans educate learners on responsible fashion

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 “ 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 // Corporate Social Responsibility ...

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The Call of Juarez // Profit in Violence

March 10, 2011
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The Call of Juarez // Profit in Violence

Since 1993, more than 1,400 women have been violently murdered in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico (Maquila Solidarity Network). Thousands more remain missing. These femicides have gone unsolved since the murders have not been properly investigated by local and/or international authorities. While the found bodies of women rest buried in mass graves, the killers roam free. Ciudad Juarez is a war-zone— no one is protected from the systemic violence and corruption that plagues its citizens. In 2010 MAC cosmetics and American design house Rodarte partnered to deliver a limited edition line of cosmetics inspired by the plight of the Juarez woman....

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Shamelessly Idealistic? Free the Children // We Day: Vancouver, Canada

October 15, 2010
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Shamelessly Idealistic? Free the Children // We Day: Vancouver, Canada

“Acting is what I do for a living; activism is what I do to stay alive.” (Martin Sheen) Today I witnessed 18,000 youth stand up and shout out  in support for children’s rights. Have you ever heard 18,000 children chant freedom, again and again? I can assure you that it is a sound I will not soon forget. This year’s We Day events saw Free the Children co-founders Craig and Mark Kielburger celebrate the hard work and dedication of students all across Canada—students...

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