The Six Items Challenge kicks off again in 19 days! The challenge begins on September 7th, overlaps with London Fashion Week (September 14th-18th), and concludes on October 7th which just happens to be World Day For Decent Work. How fitting!

The challenge:

It’s quite simple. Just pick six items from your wardrobe (not including workout gear, undergarments, socks, shoes, and accessories) and wear only those items for one month. I’ve attached a few photos of some of the items chosen by previous participants. Click on the photos to read more about their choices.

Why?

The goal of the Six Item Challenge is to bring awareness to the consequences of our fast-paced trend-driven cycles of  fashion consumerism. Labour Behind the Label explains:

“For workers in the garment industry ‘fast fashion’ is a millstone.  The drive to increase profits and get products into our high street shops faster and faster to satisfy an insatiable desire for new trends; the drive to sell more, consume more, make more, waste more unfortunately doesn’t mean that workers are paid more for making our clothes.”

How?

How does this bring awareness to these issues?

“It’s a great talking point – friends and family will be fascinated to find out why you’ve set yourself such a crazy goal!”

If you would like to take this challenge a step further, you can also get sponsored for your efforts and help raise funds to support garment workers fighting for their rights. The fundraising website can be found here.

If you’d like to know more about the challenge, check out their website where they have a great blog featuring posts from the previous cycle of participants and a hints and tips page to help you get started. Good luck with the challenge!

Nadira Lamrad

Nadira is the co-founder of Social Alterations. She is currently completing her final year as a PhD Candidate at City University of Hong Kong.