We know we talk a pretty big talk when it comes to responsible fashion, but can we walk the walk? We’ve decided to take on Labour Behind the Label’s Six Items Challenge to find out!

We’ll be blogging about our experiences with our fellow ‘sixers’ (who are amazing, fyi) on the LBL site and hope you’ll stop by to offer support and guidance!

Could you go 4 weeks with only 6 items of clothing?

Wish us luck!

Links you’ll need if you want to connect:

• Labour Behind the Label
• LBL’s Six Items Challenge Blog
• #SixItemsChallenge FB Page
• Labour Behind the Label’s FB Page
• LBL on Twitter @labourlabel

• Nadira on Instagram – ‘nadiralamrad’
• Nadira on Twitter @nadiralamrad
• Mary on Instagram – ‘mariafrancescah’
• Mary on Twitter @maryhanlon
• SA FB Page
• SA on Twitter @SA_FashionLab

Localflux is currently featuring a wonderful interview with Kate Fletcher on slow fashion.

According to Fletcher, the real call to action for slow fashion thinking and systems is the “challenge to industrial ideologies of production and consumption.”

Be sure to pop on over to Localflux to read the interview.

But while I have you, and while we’re on the subject, I’d like to take this opportunity to post a relevant RSA Animate from 2010: 21^st Century Enlightenment, by Matthew Taylor.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

Fashion + Sustainability: Lines of Research is an exciting project series currently underway over at Fashion Projects. The project, beautifully curated by Mae Colburn with the support of Francesca Granata, is designed to inspire…and inspire us it has.

Three interviews have been released so far, with more to come. Here is a sampling we hope will entice you to follow the series.

Interview with Timo Rissanen: Fashion+Sustainability—Lines of Research Series

“In Zero Waste fashion design, you have to begin making the pattern before you know how the garment is going to look.  What that’s saying is that patternmaking is integral to the design process.  That’s a shift in thinking […] because historically in fashion education, but also the way the industry is organized, all of those skills tend to exist within their own categories: you’ve got the designers, the patternmakers, the cutters, and the machinists, and there’s kind of a hierarchy.  With Zero Waste, you have to bring the patternmaking and the cutting and the making into the design process.” (Timo Rissanen)

Interview with Otto von Busch: Fashion+Sustainability—Lines of Research Series

“I don’t talk about sustainability in my work, and if I do, I usually talk about abilities and the ability to sustain values.  I think that we have to disseminate abilities, whether it’s the ability to repair, or the ability to have attention to detail, or the ability to use the sewing machine.  It’s about building those capacities rather than disseminating the commodities.  How do we produce the ability, the courage, to dress and interact with the fashion system differently?” (Otto von Busch)

Interview with Pascale Gatzen: Fashion + Sustainability—Lines of Research Series

“If you really look at the work of Coco Chanel and see how it’s made – her attention to the make and finishing of the garment was amazing; how the lining was quilted into the jacket, the small metal chain against the back hem to weigh the jacket down, ever so lightly, the lack of interlining and shoulder pads, the way the sleeves fit into the body of the jacket allowing for movement and comfort – it’s very much about the person wearing the piece of clothing rather than the clothing as image, which is what I see on the catwalk and what Yves St. Laurent never escaped.  Even if it’s an image of comfortable clothing, his clothing remains mostly image.”

Source: Thanks for the info. Francesca Granata, of Fashion Projects

We love the FIBERcast series out of the University of Delaware. These FREE webinars are supported through FIBER, the Online Journal of the International Fashion and Apparel Industry — an invaluable resource for responsible fashion education.

Be sure to tune in Monday, April 30^th, at 12:30 p.m EDT, for the next FIBERcast:

Is The Product You’re Buying Made In a Way That Is Fair, Healthy, and Safe?

Guest Speaker: Gregg Nebel, adidas

“With brands and companies outsourcing production to extended global supply chains, how does a company ensure there are fair, healthy and safe conditions in those suppliers factories? While buyers can go it alone (and have for many years), there are an increasing number of opportunities to join forces with other buyers, with suppliers, with multi stakeholder organizations, and with civil society organizations. Mr. Nebel will discuss how sustainable compliance can be leveraged with a multitude of collaborative activities.” (FIBERcast)

Click here to learn more about Nebel, and to register for this FREE event.

If you’re unable to tune in, keep your fingers crossed that this latest edition will be archived online after the event — previous webinars are available online, here.

‘See’ you there!

Dear friends and colleagues,

It is difficult to express thoughts and feelings on the reported murder and alleged preceding torture of Aminul Islam, a union organizer working with the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity (BCWS).

Please click through to read a letter written by Human Rights Watch, accounting events leading up to Islam’s disappearance.

In 2010, Islam was arrested alongside BCWS labour rights activists Babul Akhter and Kalpona Akhter, as well as others, for helping Bangladeshi garment workers organize themselves to stand up for the right to decent work and a living wage.

“Past torture of Islam by the security agencies for his labor activism puts the onus on the government to show it can impartially investigate his killing and bring all those responsible to justice.” (Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch)

Islam’s final words in a statement recounting his 2010 detainment are haunting:

“Now I’m living in extreme anxiety […] Nightmares of torture won’t let me sleep.”

It is important to take time to reflect on Islam’s life and death, and it is imperative to not allow his story to overwhelm to the point of inaction.

It has been reported Babul Akhter and Kalpona Akhter are continuously faced with threats against their lives.

Our actions must be clear: it’s not about boycott; it’s about engagement and support.

International Labor Rights Forum has organized an online petition that can be found here.

According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, “[b]oth disappearance and torture are the by-products of the ‘rule of coerciveness’ in absence of the ‘rule of law’ inBangladesh. It is a matter of grave concern that the incidents of disappearance are increasing, alarmingly and unabatedly.”

Islam was a dedicated labour rights’ activist who clearly understood the risks and dangers associated with his work. That he would continue to work under these circumstances tells us he was hopeful for change.

To Islam’s family, friends and colleagues, our thoughts are with you now, yes, but they will remain with you as you continue to fight for change.