This Sunday, protestors gathered outside a number of fashion stores on Oxford Street, in a 'Cost of Fashion' walking tour, to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse and to honour the lives of the 1138 garment workers who were killed. We hear from some of the members of the Rana Plaza Solidarity Collective and discuss our Cleaning Up Fashion Report.
Read MoreOver the last two years, The Helena Kennedy Centre within Sheffield Hallam University has been at the forefront of exposing corporate and financial institution complicity in the crisis in the Uyghur Region and identifying the risk that crisis poses to our international supply chains. Now they have launched a series of issue briefs and supply chain updates. The series is intended to keep everyone up to date on what is happening in the Uyghur Region and to help us all understand a bit better how supply chains are changing in response to the crisis. We share this and our work in this area through our ‘Cleaning Up Fashion Report.’
Read MoreFor this week's Informer,, we spent some time with Lottie Jackson who was up until recently Fashion Roundtable's newsletter editor. Now Lottie has published her first book with Penguin and we couldn't be prouder. See Me Rolling is a playful, illuminating memoir, but it is also a clarion call for greater diversity and inclusion. Lottie powerfully explores the ways in which we undervalue and underrepresent disabled people in our society, and demonstrates how negative stigmas about 'abnormal' bodies seep into all aspects our lives, from travel, work and education, to fashion and social media. In this dazzling debut, Lottie reveals why we must strive for change and redefine what it means to be disabled in every facet of life. She has a voice that needs to be heard.
Read MoreFor this week's podcast, our Slow-fashion Policy Lead Meg Pirie is in conversation with Ruth Rands, founder of knitwear label Herd. We first met Ruth at one of our initial roundtables focused on wool and Herd is one of our most cited case studies, because of their localised business model and best-practice processes, with provenance at its heart. Through her label, Herd, Ruth has shown what is possible here in the UK, sourcing everything within 150 miles.
Read MoreFashion Week came to a close in Paris last week, where our Fashion Director styled London-based designer, Feben Vemmenby's show. If you haven’t heard of the label Feben yet, then it’s certainly worth taking note. A recent Masters graduate of Central Saint Martins as an Isabella Blow scholar, her work reclaims feelings of displacement. Creating an aesthetic vision imbedded in community, her approach explores visual codes of Black life from all corners of the globe. Hear from our Fashion Director, Karen Binns on styling the show.
Read MoreAn Op-Ed not to be missed by CEO Tamara Cincik. Tamara explores why we need a manifesto for creative wellbeing not more International Women’s Day platitudes.
“Who else is bored? Bored of the neverending pendulum swing between riding a tide of adrenalin infused empowerment, and a continuous news cycle which highlights the endemic structural issues women and girls face. I know I am, and I know I am not alone.”
Read MoreMulberry has closed its iconic Bond Street store, citing the axing of VAT-free shopping as a major factor in its decision. Here at Fashion Roundtable, this is a big concern and we have already presented MPs with questions to take to Parliament. Our recent Treasury Report, powered by ACS, focused on key issues around VAT and is linked below. Click through for more.
Read MoreChildren’s early years have been in the news recently, thanks to the Princess of Wales’s launching of a campaign emphasising the long-term benefits of investing in the first five years of a child’s life. In a report for her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, she warned how the roots of adult problems, such as mental health issues and addictions, often trace back to those years. We at Fashion Roundtable, and the Fashion Roundtable Education Committee, suggest that we should be looking beyond those first five years, too. A poignant OP:ED by Fiona McKenzie Johnston.
Read MoreLast week Traid and Hemingway Design launched Charity Super.Mkt, bringing together for the first time, Britain's charity retailers and creating a physical department store in former Topshop space. We hear from CEO of Traid Maria Chenoweth on the new concept.
Read MoreIn honour of the late Dame Vivienne Westwood, The Vivienne Foundation launched last week. Since the start of her career in the 1970's, Vivienne has been renowned not only for her eponymous label, but also in utilising her platform for activism. The Vivienne Foundation exists to honour, protect and continue the legacy of Vivienne's creativity and activism.
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