Category Archives: Consumer Education

Bangladeshi labour activists face trial and wrongful detention on fabricated charges

The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) has reported today that Kalpona Akter and Babul Akhter of the Bangladesh Workers Solidarity Center (BCWS), alongside other Bangladeshi labour leaders, will be forced back into court next month to face fabricated charges filled against them by apparel suppliers such as Walmart.

You may recall their 30 day wrongful imprisonment last summer, coming out of the wide-scale worker protests that rocked the garment sector, or the illegal detention of BCWS organiser Aminul Islam and recent 4 month unlawful detention of Mushrefa Mishu of the Garment Workers Unity Forum.

The CCC reports that “[a]ll cases consist of a range of charges with punishments ranging from three months to ten years to life in prison. Some of the charges are punishable by death.” (CCC)

Although Walmart has claimed that their supplier has dropped the charges, CCC claims this is not the case.

Walmart is the largest buyer of Bangladeshi-made clothing. Speak up on behalf of these workers: take action.

Remember, you can still upload your photo and message to the SA Visual Lab in support of these workers. Visit the SA Bagladesh Project for more details.

We are not powerless…

Suzanne Lee’s BioCouture grows clothes

Suzanne Lee, Senior Research Fellow at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London and author of Fashioning The Future: tomorrow’s wardrobe, is brilliantly combining fashion and biology in search of alternative fibre/material.

BioCouture is currently on display:

Trash Fashion: designing out waste

Antenna Gallery, The Science Museum London, until June 2011

 

The Future That Never Was: Alter Nature

ModeMuseum Hasselt, Belgium, until June 2011

Listen in on her recent TED talk:

New Fashion Activism DIY Courses// re-dress, Ireland

FASHION /// ACTIVISM

Check out these amazing upcoming DIY courses from re-dress, held at their new HQ: 4 Hatch Street Lower, Dublin 2
  
BEGINNERS DESIGN CRASH COURSE
The one day fashion skills crash course for beginners.
Sat Nov 20th / 10am-5.pm / Re-dress HQ 
Cost : €90 (includes light lunch) Read more here
 
UPCYCLING TEXTILES : CURIOUS COLLARS
This one day crash course will teach you how to upcycle waste materials into amazing accessories using skills such as embellishment, embroidery and pattern drafting culminating in the creation of a unique collars , broaches and more.

Instruction by: Sinead Kane / Jane Kelleher Designer Makers
Sat 27th November, 10am -5pm, Re-dress HQ
Cost : €90 (includes light lunch) Read more here
 
ULTIMATE UPCYCLING
This 8 week course will explore upcycling to it’s fullest and teach you the techniques needed to create a new wardrobe from last seasons seconds. This is a make and take course so you will leave with a finished and photographed piece in week 8. Instruction by: Deirdre Harte, Upcycling Designer
Duration: 8-weeks, beginning Monday 1st November / 6.30pm-8.30.pm / Re-dress HQ
Cost : €150  Read more here
 
BOW TIES & BELLINIS!
In this half day workshop will create one of the the most seasonal fashion accessory ; the bow tie … We had to finish this one with a Bellini !  Instruction by: Sinead Kane (Bellinis made by the re-dress ladies!)
Duration: Duration: 1/2 Day, Sunday November 14th / 2pm-5pm /  Re-dress HQ
Cost : €40  Read more here
 
DROP IN FASHION SKILLS WORKSHOPS
This 2 hour evening sewing session will allow you finish , start or alter any garments you are having trouble completing and all under the helpful hand of the skilled designer Maria Tapper..
Runs every last Thursday of the month beginning Thursday September 30th / 7pm-9pm
To pre book your place in the next class email tickets@re-dress.ie
 
MUMS TO BE EMBROIDERY
This 4 week morning class is especially programmed for mums to be and we will take you through basic embroidery techniques for children’s clothes…. Tea and cakes a must for this one!  Instruction by: Maria Tapper, Fashion Designer
Duration: 4 weeks beginning Tuesday November 2nd / 10am- 12pm / Re-dress HQ
Cost : €80  Read more here
 
BASIC PATTERN DRAFTING
This 2 day course will take you through the construction of a skirt block to the design of a skirt and through the cutting and finishing process. Duration: 2-Days / December 4th & 5th / 10am – 5pm , Re-dress HQ Cost : €150  Read more here 
FRENCH KNICKERS & COCKTAILS
This 2 hour class will take you step by step through the construction of your own pair of frilly briefs and all while sipping a cocktail !
Duration: December 7th / 7pm – 9pm / Re-dress HQ
Cost : €30  Read more here

Refugees & Clothing

UN Refugee Agency Provides Shelter to Quake Victims (UN Photo/Evan Schneider) available under Creative Commons license on Flickr.

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 Ki-Moon also appealed to the international community reiterating this year’s message while “calling for working with host governments to deliver services.” So, the role of governments in this issue has been emphasized but is there a role for business?

One example of an ongoing program run in partnership with UNHCR is UNIQLO’s Clothing Recycling Initiative.  This initiative has been a part of UNIQLO’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program in Japan since 2001 when they began recycling fleece and expanded to include the rest of their products in 2006.  According to the company:

Refugees in Liberia (UN Photo/John Isaac) available under Creative Commons license on Flickr.

Our initial intention was to recycle the clothes as fuel, but with the cooperation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), we started donating the clothes to refugee camps. After recognizing once more the great need for clothing and the critical role it plays, our focus has shifted from recycling to reuse. To that end, approximately 90% of the clothing we collect is donated to refugee camps the world over, including those in Nepal, Ethiopia and Georgia. To facilitate our decision-making process, we not only check shortages of clothing but also conduct research on levels of demand, taking into consideration season and size, religiously appropriate color, and details concerning differences in local culture. In addition, to avoid theft and reselling during transit to the refugee camps, we go to the sites ourselves and distribute the items with the cooperation of the UNHCR.

The program is explained by the company:

UNIQLO Recycling Program

Since 2006, UNIQLO has had collection drives in March, June and September and the number of collected items has increased significantly:

UNIQLO Recycling Program: Items Collected

Map: Recipients of UNIQLO Clothing

Beginning in March of this year, UNIQLO is accepting clothes for recycling year round in Japan.  The company also works with Tokyo Metropolitan High Schools and other educational organizations to bring awareness to the All-Product Recycling Initiative.

UNIQLO’s impact on the lives of refugees in 2009:

  • June 2009: 79,000 pieces donated to Pakistani refugee camps

For previous years click here.

According to their 2010 CSR report, UNIQLO collected 7021 items at two high schools in Tokyo after running a high school version of the Initiative.  UNIQLO’s goal is to reach 30 million items within 5 years — one for each refugee around the world. The company also plans to expand beyond donated clothing to include technical training for employment.

The impact of UNIQLO’s project cannot be underestimated.  Other than protection from the elements, clothing plays an essential role in human dignity, self-esteem and self-expression.  Thank you UNIQLO for taking on such an important and sometimes overlooked need for refugees. I hope that this program will expand to include UNIQLO’s  international locations soon.

Sources:

UNHCR

UNIQLO

UNIQLO CSR REPORT :  Section on the Initiative

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 out!!

Toxic Chemicals in Personal Care Products: David Suzuki’s ‘Dirty Dozen’

Credit: jypsygen via Flickr.

The David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) has compiled a list of toxic chemicals to avoid in personal care products.  

Research has shown that “one in eight of the 82,000 ingredients used in personal care products are industrial chemicals, including carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive toxins, endocrine disruptors, plasticizers, degreasers, and surfactants.” (DSF)

You’ll notice that Formaldehyde has made the list. Please note that this chemical, a known human carcinogen, is widely used in permanent press fabric.  

Here’s who made the list:

BHA or BHT // Siloxanes // DEA // Dibutyl Phthalate // Formaldehyde-releasing Preservatives // Fragrance or Parfum // Coal Tar Dyes // Parabens // PEG compounds (e.g., PEG-60) // Petrolatum // Sodium Laureth Sulfate // Triclosan

Click here for more info.

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:

All the information you need has been made available to you, the public, and you are invited to vote online for the designer you believe best represents ‘eco design’ in Canada. Once you have cast your vote, the decision will be left in the hands of the jury, who will select their winning choice from the top three finalists.

The criterion for voting is based on production, material, design, and special features. Take your time getting to know each designer: you only get one vote, so make it count!

Check out the prize, valued at approximately $50,000!

  • A free membership in Fashion Takes Action
  • A three-month national PR campaign, provided by Third Eye Media
  • Feature in EcoSalon – the number one green fashion blog!
  • Participation at Nolcha Fashion Week’s Ethical Fashion Preview in NYC in September 2010
  • Travel and accommodations for two, provided by Air Miles Reward Program
  • 75 meters of eco-friendly fabric, supplied by Telio (to make a sample collection to show in NYC)
  • Look book photo shoot with full creative team including photographer, models, hair & makeup and stylist
  • Look book graphic design by pencil design
  • $1,000 towards Fair trade and Organic certification, provided by Ecocert.

The voting will close @ midnight on Friday, April 16th.

To all the designers, we wish you luck!

Social Alterations// Slides

Nadira and I both promised to make the slides from our presentations at the FEI conference available online, and here they are, along with a slideshow of some of the images we captured from the event. I’ve reposted the videos of the presentations for convenience.

Thanks to everyone who offered feedback, we were so grateful for your considerations. Please, keep let’s keep the conversation going!

Be sure to contact us with any questions!

Social Alterations: An Education Lab for Socially Responsible Fashion Design

Social Alterations @ FEI from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

CSR Trends in China’s Apparel Supply Chain

CSR Trends in China’s Apparel Supply Chain from Social Alterations on Vimeo.


Find more photos like this on Social Alterations

READ// Kate Fletcher, Matilda Lee, and Sandy Black

 

The ‘Open Space’ at the FEI conference featured celebrated authors Kate Fletcher, Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys, Matilda Lee, Eco-Chic: The Savvy Shoppers Guide to Ethical Fashion, and Sandy Black, Eco-Chic: The Fashion Paradox. You can find these texts and others in our reading section.

 

FEI set the stage for the Open Space format as an opportunity for conference participants to network, strategise, learn, share, challenge, be inspired and stimulate one another in a supportive environment. Fletcher, Lee and Black each presented their own discussion question, and participants were also given the chance to create posed further questions and create discussion groups.

Here is what they came up with:

1. How can we communicate providence to consumers?

2. International cooperation on ethical fashion

3. Raising awareness of organic cotton, and the impact on farmers

4. How do we get youth more involved?

5. How do we encourage behaviour change amongst consumers?

6. Scale-how big, how much? (Kate Fletcher)

7. How to get the media to be a driver for sustainable fashion? (Matilda Lee)

8. Design education-encouraging designers (Sandy Black)

9. How to bring ethics into fashion education internationally

Participants could move around and exchange ideas for a period of over two hours. To close the Open Space, a representative from each ‘talk’ presented key insights.

For those of you that weren’t following along on twitter, here are a few edited highlights that came out of the discussions.

  • What would happen if we could control scale in fashion?

             What about considering ‘Post-fashion stress disorder’?

             Fast fashion, can we raise awareness, similar to smoking bans?

             Can we change the discourse of fast fashion?

  • How can we communicate providence to consumers??

             Changing the discourse depending on who you’re speaking with:

             In some circles fashion is a bad word, so talk garment and apparel and clothing etc…

  • How to connect consumers to the cotton farmer?

             Spread the word, tell stories and stay focused.

  • Design educators encouraging designers:

             Make the experience real

             Connect the designer to the factory

             Make it exciting w/ different design strategies: design for disassembly, for example

What are your thoughts on these issues and questions? Feel free to leave a comment below!

WATCH// Social Alterations @ FEI

Here are just two of the videos we took at the conference. We have more videos to come, so stay tuned for those.

The first video is of my Pecha Kucha talk. I’ll be posting the slides and my notes a little later on. Please contact us if you have any questions on the works cited in the presentation.

Social Alterations @ FEI from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) held the table next to ours during the Market Place on day two of the conference. We asked them what exactly responsible fashion meant to the EJF, and for their thoughts on why designers should care.

FEI Conference 006 from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) was also there, asking participants “what organic cotton means…..to me”. Pictured above is Nadira Lamrad (right) with her answer.