Social

Time to Connect the Dots!

August 18, 2010
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Time to Connect the Dots!

Bangladesh has been rocked by protests that resulted in injured and killed workers and security personnel, labour leaders have gone into hiding fearing the worst, some arrests have taken place — all of this over unsatisfactory wage hikes to 3,000 Taka/month (~US$43) but, don’t worry Canadian consumers, your clothing costs will not increase! I have to say, I was a bit surprised by this headline, although, to be fair, it is in the “Money” section.  The article has a cursory overview of what happened in Bangladesh (click here for a detailed summary of the events in Bangladesh) but something else stood out while reading it.  On...

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Bangladesh// The Details

July 29, 2010
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Bangladesh// The Details

Two weeks ago, SA founder, Mary Hanlon alerted us to a little reported story on massive worker strikes in Bangladesh.  Following that, we decided to create Social Alterations // Visual Lab and introduced The Bangladesh Project.  We noticed a lack of context in the reports circulating, so we decided to just go ahead and give our readers the details behind the story.  Although the protests were most dramatic during the past month, this story has been unfolding for a long time. Let’s go back one year to July 2009.  The world economic downturn was in full swing.  In Ashulia, a...

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WATCH//Mitumba: The Second Hand Road

June 28, 2010
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What happens to your clothes after you donate them?  Witness, a documentary program on Al-Jazeera English, played this episode (43 minutes) exploring the journey of a single t-shirt from Northern Germany all the way to Africa’s mitumba market.   This is a fascinating look into the easily forgotten part of the apparel supply chain. If you’re looking for further information on this aspect of a garment’s lifecycle, I strongly suggest reading Pietra Rivoli‘s The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade.

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Refugees & Clothing

June 22, 2010
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Refugees & Clothing

Along with father’s day, June 20th also marked World Refugee Day.  The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) along with its partners ran week-long awareness raising activities world wide centered around this year’s theme: Home.  The day was commemorated in different ways from a simulated refugee experience in Kuala Lumpur to free concerts and entertainment in Canada as part of Luminato, an annual festival of arts, culture and creativity. In Syria, which hosts the largest number of Iraqi refugees, UNHCR chief António Guterres stated: “I appeal to the international community to do more to host refugees.” UN Secretary General Ban...

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CWAC // Ethical Menswear Product Guide

May 18, 2010
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CWAC // Ethical Menswear Product Guide

Commerce with a Conscious takes shopping for ethical menswear to the next leve1 thanks to the new CWAC Product Guide. Here is how it works: “With the CWACPG, visitors can browse and compare CWAC-approved clothing and accessories based on the criteria of their choosing. The idea is have all of the best eco / ethical product in one place, thus taking the hassle out of socially responsible shopping.” (Brad Bennett, Editor at CWAC). The CWACPG organizes items by “Ethical Attribute,” showcasing only clothing and accessories that have been “CWAC-approved.” Amazing. Congratulations to CWAC on a fantastic initiative. Check it...

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Aware of What We Wear

May 18, 2010
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Aware of What We Wear

Aware of What We Wear: an Ethical Fashion Initiative by Samantha Reichman, Secretary of the Student Ethical Fashion Organization, The College of William and Mary How can fashion, a multibillion dollar flashy, frivolous, fickle industry, created to appeal to the whims of the consumer possibly be ETHICAL? Students of “Ethical Fashion” have discovered the answer to this question over the course of the 2009-2010 academic year. The Sharpe Community Scholars Program at The College of William and Mary originated a service-learning, seminar-style course called “Ethical Fashion”, taught by Professor Regina Root.  Designed for students interested in combining their concern...

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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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