The Centre for Sustainable Fashion has compiled and released a collection of student and tutor resources.

Signposts features a responsible design reading list (undergraduate and postgraduate level), alongside projects, people and networks.

That’s not all, however. The compilation also includes a guide to responsible sourcing, showcasing initiatives such as Shared Talent India.

We’re honoured to have SA listed within the Matrix of Support Organisations – and what a strong group of organizations it is! The future for responsible fashion and apparel is bright!

Happy learning!

Source: CFS

You may already have read about the California Transparency in Supply Chain Act (SB 657) that went into effect on January 1^st of this year (2012).

There is no question that slavery and human trafficking run rampant in the global textile/apparel industry. Thanks to the University of Delaware and The Cahn Group, a short online course is here to help.

“When companies explore the extent of these tragic abuses in their supply chains in depth, what they are likely to find may be revealing and more than a bit sobering.” (Doug Cahn and Marsha Dickson)

Risks of Human Trafficking and Slavery: A Short Course for Supply Chain Professionals:

• Learning Goal # 1: Be aware of human trafficking and slavery in supply chains.
• Learning Goal # 2: Identify human trafficking and slavery risks present in company supply chains.
• Learning Goal # 3: Support prevention and mitigation efforts when human trafficking and slavery is suspected.

The course is taught by its creators, Doug Cahn, President, The Cahn Group, LLC, and Dr. Marsha Dickson, Professor and Chairperson Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies, University of Delaware.

A closer look //

Although the act is a state law, applying only to retailers and sellers working in Californiaearning more than 100,000,000.00 in “annual worldwide gross receipts” (Senate Bill No. 657 Ch.556, pg. 1), the law in fact “applies to nearly every major brand of consumer products sold in the United States.” (Doug Cahn and Marsha Dickson)

The act not only requires companies to implement real strategies for supply chain engagement, transparency, auditing, certification and internal accountability (Senate Bill No. 657Ch.556, pg. 3), but also that documentation of such strategies “be posted on the retail seller’s or manufacturer’s Internet Web site with a conspicuous and easily understood link to the required information placed on the business’ homepage.” (Senate Bill No. 657Ch.556, pg. 3)

Companies must also provide relevant employees and managers with necessary training on slavery and human trafficking laws within the countries they are doing business with. (Senate Bill No. 657Ch.556, pg. 3)

Here are just two of many declarations made in the act (Senate Bill No. 657Ch.556, pg. 2):

(h) Consumers and businesses are inadvertently promoting and sanctioning these crimes through the purchase of goods and products that have been tainted in the supply chain.

(i) Absent publicly available disclosures, consumers are at a disadvantage in being able to distinguish companies on the merits of their efforts to supply products free from the taint of slavery and trafficking. Consumers are at a disadvantage in being able to force the eradication of slavery and trafficking by way of their purchasing decisions.

Some helpful links for further reading on Slavery and Human Trafficking //

Anti-Slavery international

Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking: Human Trafficking—The Facts

Human Rights Watch: World Report 2012

The Asian Human Rights Commission: The State of Human Rights Annual Report (2011)

Slavery Convention: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

UN.GIFT.HUB

Hong Kong, Photo by Chris Lee (cblee), flickr.com

With 2012 already here in Hong Kong, here’s a look back at ten of our more popular posts from 2011:

• Learn// Greenpeace Targets Dove for use of Palm Oil: The true cost of real beauty
• Nike’s ‘Better World’ will make you want to “puke”
• Suzanne Lee’s BioCouture grows clothes
• Read// Let’s Clean Up Fashion 2011, Labour Behind the Label reports
• Fun Find | Vintage Chinese Fashion Magazine
• Kalpona Akter calls on Wal-Mart shareholders to stand-up for garment workers internationally
• Where Are These Child Labourers Working?
• New York Fashion Week vs. the Ready Made Garment Sector in Bangladesh: whose interests are protected when ‘special’ police hit the streets for fashion?
• Read// Sasha Duerr: The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes
• Urgent | Knit a Sweater for a Penguin!
• incidentally, if you didn’t get a chance to contribute to the penguin effort you can help a rare weasel species by donating your socks to UCDavis’ Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Program!

Vancouver, Photo by Richard G (EDeadPixel), flickr.com

FORAGING FOR FASHION

PERMACOUTURE: SLOW FASHION & TEXTILE WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS

SLOW TEXTILES: INTRODUCTION TO FIBER & DYE GARDENING

SLOW TEXTILES: THE PLANT DYER’S PALETTE

Click here for information on course details, schedules and fees.

With a forward by Paul Hawken, the book is divided into three parts:

PART 1: TRANSFORMING FASHION PRODUCTS

Materials / Processes / Distribution / Consumer care / Disposal

PART 2: TRANSFORMING FASHION SYSTEMS

Local / Speed / Needs / Adaptability / Services and sharing / Hygiene and laundering / Optimised lifetimes / Biomimicry / Engaged / Distribution

PART 3: TRANSFORMING FASHION PRACTICE

The designer

Educators, add this book to your required/suggested reading lists!

Click here for more information.

Back in September, with support from Tides Canada, the Google Earth Outreach team selected Social Alterations to join nearly 50 social justice and environmental security organizations from across Canada for a three-day intensive workshop.

The specialized training provided insight on how to harness Google Earth and Google Maps to deliver cutting edge education on social justice and environmental security issues.

At the end of the week, Dr. David Suzuki joined Google Earth Outreach founder Rebecca Moore as guest speaker in an intimate reception to mark the official launch of Google Earth Outreach in Canada.

In his speech, Dr. Suzuki highlighted the important role Google Earth can play in securing social justice and environmental protection and celebrated the Google Earth Outreach team on all that they have accomplished so far.

To be chosen to join the crème de la crème in Canada’s non-profit and social enterprising sector was an honour, and one we have not taken lightly.

So far we’ve successfully integrated Google Earth into some of our in-class guest lectures:

• we’ve connected cotton production to human security for Political Science students at Simon Fraser University using a case-study analysis of the Aral Sea crisis with the aid of historic satellite imagery, and

• taken the Textile Arts students at Capilano University through a virtual tour of our t-shirt travels programming using Google Earth and mapping tools.

While we’re not ready to launch the online component of our Google Earth education platform just yet, we’d like to thank Tides Canada and Google Earth Outreach for supporting the work we do through Social Alterations.

We can’t wait to share with you what we’ve been working on, so stay tuned!

Photo credit: Tides Canada Facebook page, “Google Earth Outreach Launch with Tides Canada” album, 7 of 25. 

Click here to read up on the research methodology used.

With green marking ‘garments’ let’s check out a tree map of Cambodia for exports in 2009 (click on the image to be taken to the interactive map):

Visualizations can also be built in stacked area charts and product space visualizations. Here’s a product space map of Hong Kong exports for 2009 (remember, green represents garments!):

Silk textile with gilt thread embroidery, 16th Century. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, © The New York Times, Dec. 5, 2005.

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 surface with some areas of pile and some of metal thread; brocade (kemha) and cloths of gold and silver thread (seraser)—the most expensive and luxurious. In the mid-16th century, Ottoman taste increasingly favored large, bold designs, such as medallions, stylized tiger stripes, and a triplespot design known as “çintamani” (literally, “auspicious jewel”). By repeatedly combining the similar motifs in different scales and patterns, the Ottomans were among the first to use recurrent motifs to create a dramatic and distinct visual language—a quintessentially “Ottoman brand”—that became identifiable with the empire’s centralized political strength and growing economic power—its style and status.”

If you are an educator and would like to incorporate this amazing online resource into your lessons, you can get some ideas from the resource for educators with a 4-part classroom activity that accompanies the exhibit.

Now…go explore!

Online exhibit: Style and Status: Imperial Costumes from Ottoman Turkey

Other online exhibits: The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art

Educator’s resource: Asian Art Connections: A Resource for Educators. Style and Status: Imperial Costumes from Ottoman Turkey

Anti-Slavery International has recently relaunched their Cotton Crimes campaign with a new video.

“It is our hope that, through our short video, we will reach out, inform and encourage people to act in the interests of the children of Uzbekistan.” (Samuel Cooper, Anti-Slavery International)

Anti-Slavery International is calling on the European Parliament to remove preferential trade tariffs with Uzbekistan. Click here for more information and to sign the petition.

Over 60 international retailers have joined forces to boycott Uzbek cotton, publicly stating their commitment to the eradication of forced child labour through the Responsible Sourcing Network, an As You Sow initiative.

Click below to learn more about what’s happening inUzbekistanand to follow our ongoing coverage:

LEARN // Social Alterations / A Closer Look / Uzbekistan

What exactly is a ‘living wage’? Click here to learn about recent developments on a living wage  from Nadira Lamrad.

Wage Ladder is currently programmed with data from Bangladesh, Bulgaria, China, India, Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam, but for all other countries, users may enter their own data into the system.

“While global garment supply chains generate enormous wealth, improving wages, has proven a challenge. Progress has stalled in discussions about what, exactly, constitutes a living wage. Sidestepping these discussions, FWF has developed a web-based tool that will help garment brands and factories to gradually improve workers’ wages.” (FWF)

Here’s a screenshot of Wage Ladder in action taken from the FWF Wage Ladder User Guide: