Labour

VIDEO//Parsons School of Fashion sits down with Mary Hanlon to talk Social Alterations and Responsible Design

April 27, 2010
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VIDEO//Parsons School of Fashion sits down with Mary Hanlon to talk Social Alterations and Responsible Design

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of sitting down with Tamara Albu, Director of the A.A.S. Fashion Design Program at Parsons School of Fashion in New York to discuss Social Alterations, and the work we’ve been doing in developing free, open-source curricula for students and educators. Tamara asked me to sit down with her more formally and explain the project so that students and faculty at Parsons might get to know who we are and the work that we are doing.   Speaking with Tamara in this virtual space was a complete honour, and I am...

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TEACH// Fun Workshops for Pre-16 Learners: [Fashion High] Understanding the Impact of your Clothing

April 25, 2010
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TEACH// Fun Workshops for Pre-16 Learners: [Fashion High] Understanding the Impact of your Clothing

    Fashion High @ Balmoral Jr. Secondary School from Social Alterations on Vimeo. On Earth Day, SA stepped back into the classroom to introduce Grade 8 students to the social and environmental impacts of fashion. We have collated our favorite activities from Teaching Sustainable Fashion: A Handbook for Educators as well as developed our own exercises to create two workshops for pre-16 learners. These workshops hope to engage, educate, encourage and empower both educator and learner to get involved with the issues. Each workshop provides resources and tools to help lessen the impact of the fashion industry on...

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“Step into her shoes” for some Human Rights training with Fashioning an Ethical Industry

April 19, 2010
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“Step into her shoes” for some Human Rights training with Fashioning an Ethical Industry

Back in January, we posted on Clearing the Hurdles, a report by The Playfair campaign, which is made up of  the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Worker’s Federation (ITGLWF), in partnership with Maquila Solidarity Network, and other organizations worldwide. This May, Fashioning an Ethical Industry invites teachers and tutors  to “Step into her Shoes” and be introduced to a “new pack of teaching resources aimed at KS4, A-level and FE themed around the London’s 2012 Olympics. The pack focuses on issues of human rights within global sportswear supply chains,...

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Fashion High// Educating Youth on Responsible Fashion Consumption

April 14, 2010
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Fashion High// Educating Youth on Responsible Fashion Consumption

 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...

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Eco Chic – Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion

April 8, 2010
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Eco Chic – Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion

“The fashion industry faces major challenges in both resources and labor, but designers featured in the Eco Chic exhibition strive to change the general attitude of fashion and consumption.” (Scandinavian House, on Eco Chic) Will you be in New York sometime this year? If so, you are in luck with so many exhibits, instillations, seminars and talks surrounding responsible design in the fashion industry, including a lecture by Matilda Tham on “Metadesigning Fashion – Scenarios for Sustainable Fashion Futures” (see below). You may remember we have spoken on Matilda Tham before on SA, as she and Nadira presented their...

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Sseko Designs: Social Change through Responsible Business

April 8, 2010
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Sseko Designs: Social Change through Responsible Business

Janette Crawford, who runs one of our favourite blogs, fashion loves people, has shared a wonderful interview she had originally done for KCFreePress.com. The interview is with Liz Bohannon, founder of Sseko Designs, an organization working to provide women with tuition money they need to attend college in Uganda through social enterprise. I encourage you to head over to fashion loves people straight away to check out the full interview. I wanted to share this video clip with you here, as a source of encouragement. Liz Bohannon speaks passionately on the power of social enterprise in creating sustainable change—her...

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Call for Entries// The Earth Awards

March 26, 2010
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Call for Entries// The Earth Awards

The Earth Awards is a global search for creative solutions designed for the 21st Century. The award represents six categories: Built Environment, Product, Future, Systems, Fashion, and Social Justice. Dilys Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, has been included in the Selection Committee, and will be judging the Fashion category, along with other designers, architects, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, humanitarians, environmentalists and spiritual leaders. Here is the mission of the awards: Human imagination and ingenuity are the impetus of every good design. All across the world, people from every walk of life are generating...

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READ// the Fair Wear formula

March 26, 2010
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READ// the Fair Wear formula

The Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) has launched a new publication, the Fair Wear formula. “The design by Ruben @ Buro RuSt combines with the more than readable texts by Anne Lally combine to create an innovative, attractive description of the FWF approach to improving labour conditions in garment supply chains. In hardback or paperback.” (FWF) Image: FWF’s focus (image from the Fair Wear formula, (c) Buro RuSt   If you aren’t already familiar with the Fair Wear Foundation, an international verification initiative dedicated to enhancing workers’ lives, take a minute to check out their guiding principles: Supply chain responsibility...

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Community News

March 26, 2010
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Community News

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...

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VOTE// Fashion Takes Action, Design Forward Award

March 25, 2010
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VOTE// Fashion Takes Action, Design Forward Award

Who’s your favourite responsible Canadian designer? Fashion Takes Action (FTA) has officially launched Canada’s 1st annual eco design award, Design Forward. I had the pleasure of working on this project, and I am so excited that Social Alterations could support this important initiative in Canada,  and I will explain the extent of our participation in an upcoming post, so stay tuned! Here are the nominees: Thieves Elladora   Elroy Paper People Clothing Laura Chenoweth Revolve Clothing Co. Nicole Bridger Salts Organic Preloved Lav & Kush deux fm Nixxi flora&fauna We3 (twigg&hottie) All the information you need has been made available...

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