WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Clare Press
WARDROBE CRISIS is a fashion podcast about sustainability, ethical fashion and making a difference in the world. Your host is author and journalist Clare Press, who was the first ever Vogue sustainability editor. Each week, we bring you insightful interviews from the global fashion change makers, industry insiders, activists, artists, designers and scientists who are shaping fashion's future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
New Gen: Essie Kramer talks Upycling Church Cast-Offs, Mastering the Digital Printer and Nearly Dressing Julia Fox
Experience matters. Everyone always tells new design graduates that it's best to work for someone else while you find your feet. But at what point do you know that you are ready to strike out on your own? While on the surface this conversation with emerging German fashion designer Essie Kramer seems to be about the joys of sourcing old ecclesiastical textiles and turning them into provocative new ensembles, or how digital printing is democratising object-making, I think it's really about confide
Clare's Take: Dressing Melania - Decoding the Meaning of Big Fashion's Right Wing Power Play
A note from Clare:This week, I'm experimenting with bringing you something a bit different. I'm calling it CLARE'S TAKE and it's a sort of op-ed slash invitation to start a conversation about a issue in the news. It's just me, no interview this time. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning the interview format! Normal programming will resume next week, but do let us know if you like the idea of adding these editorial takes on topical fashion criticism into the mix, as a bonus.Thank you, as ever, for lis
Photographer Axl Jansen on the Coolness of the Berlin Fashion Scene and how “Art is Always a Kind of Danger in Itself”
Ears here! Do yourself a favour and take a break from doomscrolling Trump...Berlin fashion week is about to roll around again, and we're inspired. Not least because last year Fashion Council Germany became the first to officially adopted Copenhagen Fashion Week's sustainability framework, complete with 20 minimum standards for participating designers.If you don’t live there, what’s your impression of the city's vibe? Dark, grey and dystopian?! In winter, there’s a bit of that for sure, but
Meet Mr McCall. A Chance Encounter with Count Buttons (Or, Why You Should Talk to Strangers at Fashion Shows)
Happy New Year! When was the last time you admired someone's style from afar, say from across the street? Or when you found yourself sitting next to them in a public place, a cafe perhaps, at a fashion show or on the bus? Did you strike up a conversation? Because we mostly don't. Mostly we just think how fab they look and that's that. I like to think of our first Episode for series 11 as an encouragement to talk to stylish strangers, in the very best of ways, because you never know what might co
Now Here's a Dazzling Idea: Smell as Material, with Susan Irvine
Breathe in deeply through your nose... What can you smell right now? Can you identify it? How does it make you feel? Is it fresh, bright, pleasant? Nostalgic? Disgusting? How often do think about smell? If you only tend to notice when it's something particularly lovely - your favourite dish being cooked, a preferred flower - or horrid (let's not go there); you're not alone.As this week's guest Susan Irvine explains, a couple of thousand years' of western philosophy has conditioned us to prioriti
What's Going on in Bangladesh? A Must-Listen Convo with Fashion Manufacturer Shafiq Hassan
"Bangladesh has come out of a lot of difficulty in the past. Bangladesh is a place of hope, is a place of resilience ... We could again come together as a nation, with the ertailers and the brands supporting us, and make the transformation. It's a huge, huge opportunity."Rousing words from this week's compelling interview with manufacturer Shafiq Hassan, of the Echotex manufacturing facility in Gazipur, Bangladesh.Last year Bangladesh was ranked the third-largest exporter of clothing globally (a
Tapestry! Embroidery! Quilting! Tailoring! Can Textiles Change the World? You Bet
From Victor & Rolf's "Get Mean" frock through Jordan Gogos's radical upcycling projects to Paul McCann's "Sovereignty Never Ceded" gown, certain items of clothing speak loudly - with intention - about the times we find ourselves in. Let's not forget the long traditions of tapestry-making, quilting, embroidery, and the newer but related concepts of stitch-n-bitch craftivism. Cloth can be a radical medium. You might call it soft power, for its undeniable tactility - but don't mistake soft for
Scottish New Gen Fashion Talent: Tartan, Tennent's, Tam O' Shanters - but with a Twist
New York, London, Milan, Paris? So last season! It's time to spotlight less discussed design centres. This time, Dundee, which is home the two emerging menswear designers you're about to meet - both recent graduates from the Jimmy Choo Academy.First we'll hear from Sasha Clegg, whom with a wink, called her label The English Man. Despite being neither. She chose the name to call out the pale, male-dominated fashion industry. Sasha, who is of Zambian and Scottish descent, wants to "celebrate multi
Jimmy Choo - How to be Successful: Sage Advice from the Iconic Shoe Designer
It's not every day you get to sit down with a proper fashion world icon and pick his brains for free!Dear listeners, you're in for a treat this week, as Clare meets the one and only Jimmy Choo. This magic name in shoe design is now professor - he runs his own fashion school, the Jimmy Choo Academy in London's Mayfair.This is a warm-hearted generous chat full over pearls of wisdom, like..."First, you must learn patience.""It all experience! Whatever happens, don't blame yourself - learn from it."
Is Fashion Ready for Ecocide Law? with Lucy Tammam and Jojo Metha
If you listened to last week's interview w. Jem Bendell and wondered, "What on Earth do I do now?" And you weren't up for moving to Bali and getting collapse ready by starting a self-sufficient permaculture farm...we've got you! This week's episode is about practical action being taken right now to protect the rights of Nature.Clare is sitting down with two can-do women, fashion designer Lucy Tammam and Stop Ecocide International's Jojo Mehta to decode one of the topics of the moment, ecoci
Jem Bendell's Dangerous Ideas - What if Sustainability Is Just a Big Green Fairytale?
Okay, brace yourselves...Brands love to set sustainability goals. But what if it's all nonsense? What if net zero, the obsession with carbon, and the idea that renewables are taking over from fossil fuels, are all part of a fake green fairy tale that we tell ourselves because the alternative is too difficult to imagine. Or that corporations tell us so that they can keep on with business as usual.WTAF? We know. It's... a lot.Is it true? You decide, after listening to this week's guest.Jem Bendell
Regenerative Thinking: "What Does A Bee Want?" Carole Collet on Designing with Nature in Mind
What is the role of a fashion designer today? Thinking purely about gorgeous clothes is so last season. Gone are the days when designers could consider only a collection, how it will sell and what the customer might be looking for.Forward-thinkers are already beginning to take more holistic view and adopt a living systems approach. They’re asking questions such as, Can we make like Nature makes? How might fashion create nutrients instead of waste? How can we use biomimicry in sustainable ways? P
Get Your Secondhand September On with Eunice Olumide
Happy Secondhand September! Six years ago Oxfam UK came up with the idea of using September to encourage people to: "Shop second hand to take a stance against fast fashion and dress for a fairer world." They say it's a moment to come together “to choose a more planet-friendly way to shop, and dress for the world you want to see."How does preloved help with that? We all know that fashion waste is a problem, that new clothing and textile production is a serious contributor to the climate crisis. A
How to Network - First Nations Designer Liandra Gaykamangu on Living the Fashion Dream
Fashion month is about to kick off again, with all eyes on New York, London, Milan and Paris. But the obsession with the so-called fashion capitals has long seemed out of touch. Yes, that's where the money is (well, Paris is anyway), but in our globalised world, there are many more fashion capitals that should not be overlooked. There are fashion weeks all over the place, all year round. But while Lagos, Melbourne, Berlin and Copenhagen deserve their place in the fashion spotlight, what happens
Underconsumpton Core! Rule of Five's Tiffanie Darke on What to Wear and Why
#underconsumptioncore is a thing! For this episode, we’re in London visiting British journalist Tiffanie Darke to talk about her viral wardrobe challenge, The Rule of Five. She’s also got a new book coming out in the US. What to Wear and Why, Your Guilt-Free Guide to Sustainable Fashion promises to get you "rethinking what clothes we buy, wear, and toss out, knowing that we can have a positive environmental impact while still looking good and dressing well”.It was during the pandemic, when Tiffa
A Refreshingly Honest Conversation about the Ups and Downs of the Fashion Biz with Danish Designer A. Roege Hove
Welcome to the last of our Copenhagen Fashion Week interviews (if you missed the previous Eps, do go back & take a listen).This one is refreshingly honest conversation with Danish knitwear designer Amalie Røge Hove about her much-loved label, A. Roege Hove, and the ups and downs of being an independent fashion business.Widely celebrated as the next big thing, for the past few years A. Roege Hove was a CPHFW highlight. But last season, Amalie was not on the schedule, although her brilliant wo
Crafternoon Delight! Meet Rolf Ekroth, the Finnish Former Polka Player Dazzling the Fashion World
Our Copenhagen Fashion Week special continues! Clare sits down with Finnish menswear designer Rolf Ektroth.Last season, his hand-knits, made with Finnish yarn manufacturer Novita, were made available as pattern and yarn kits, so that home knitters could recreate his runway pieces. He loves macramé and hand embroidery, yet his collections have a modern street vibe that feels very polished. Perhaps it's because he's not actually a new name - Rolf Ekroth has been celebrated before, with glowing rev
Copenhagen Fashion Week Special: Alectra Rothschild, Masculina - Make Your Own Rules
If you're not in Copenhagen for fashion week, here's your (virtual) ticket :)Last week, we talked to Ane from Alpha about studying fashion in the Nordics and how to make it as an artistic designer.Over the next three episodes, we’ve got interviews with some of the most exciting names to watch from the region.First up is Alectra Rothschild, whose show for her Masculina label was one of the most anticipated, thanks to last season's electric on-schedule debut.Vogue noted it was "probably history-ma
"But Who's Gonna Wear It?" - How to Succeed as Artistic Fashion Designer, with Ane Lynge-Jorlén
We hear it all the time: fashion students are overwhelmed by overproduction and the ruthless churn of creative directors at the big luxury houses. How can they forge a creative path without contributing to the problem? If they decide to operate outside the system - crafting extravagant one offs, for example, or only making to order - how will they survive financially? What is the point of fashion if you can’t wear it?Ane Lynge-Jorlén is the Danish fashion academic behind Alpha, a fashion incubat
Who Cares? Radical Ideas for Changing the Fashion System
Empathy, kindness, wellbeing, caring, sharing, repairing - not traditionally the first words that spring to mind when I say "FASHION!" But things are changing. Are we moving towards a new paradigm where who cares, wins? If we accept that the old ways (overproduction, exploitation, rampant shareholder capitalism, waste) don't serve us, why not redesign the whole thing along radical new lines? What might that look like?If you're intro underground fabulousness pushing disruptive fashion forwards, y
Regenerative? Part of the Wellbeing Economy? Imagine! Talking Future Scenarios at the UK's new National Centre for Fashion & Sustainability
Complete this sentence: The future of fashion will be…Welcome to Series 10 of Wardrobe Crisis! We're kicking off with a conversation about the future of fashion, recorded live earlier this year when Wear Next came out in the UK.Clare is in conversation Tamara Cincik, Professor of Fashion & Sustainability at Bath Spa University, at the first ever event of the UK's new National Centre for Sustainable Fashion, which is based there. A robust discussion beginning with regenerative fashion, and sw
A Provocation: You Need to Support Small Sustainable Enterprises if you Don't Want to Sink into a Boring Big Brand World - Meet High Tea with Mrs Woo
What does it take to make it as an independent, small, local ethical business in a global world that favours big brands? How can we work together to ensure that our local businesses and creatives are literally sustainable - in that they thrive and stick around, and continue to give us the awesomeness that, at times, we maybe take for granted? It's not just fashion this applies to, but all the beautiful, unique, heartfelt local businesses that make our neighbourhoods sing - the cafes and fam
This is the Real Circular Fashion Economy - Meet Roger, My Local Cobbler
Forget brands for a minute, the real circular fashion economy is the repair shop on your high street…Do you have a fab local cobbler or clothing alterations service? This episode is a reminder to thank them for being here and fixing our stuff.They are cornerstones of the circular fashion economy, and not some distant future dream - they’re already here, and in many cases have been for decades. Honing skills that simply can’t be learned overnight. They’re the best! Here’s to them! Keep giving the
Return to Sender: Buzigahill's Bobby Kolade on Fashion Waste Colonialism in Uganda
Bobby Kolade is the designer behind Ugandan fashion label Buzigahill - which puts the politics of upcycling and waste colonialism at its core with the brilliant, provocative concept: Return to Sender.Buzigahill's collections are made from items of secondhand clothing donated in the global north, and increasingly being dumped on the global south in unsustainable numbers. Why “return to sender”? Because much of Buzigahill’s clientele is in Europe and North America.Like Kantamanto in Accra, Ghana;
Lou Croff Blake Talks Pronouns, Fashion For Every Body and the Language of Belonging Beyond the Gender Binary
What do your clothes say about you? Dear listener, I bet you've thought about this before. Fashion is a language in itself. But, what about the language we use to describe - and by extension to include, or to exclude - the people who wear it? Or don't get to wear it? The people we're marketing it to, or employing.Fashion communication isn't just about the clothes. It's about how we talk to each other.Meet Lou Croff Blake, a Berlin-based non-binary fashion practitioner, scholar, artist and commun
Access Some Areas? Model Junior Bishop on Fashion's Disability To-Do List
Can fashion lift its inclusivity game? When 28-year-old British model Junior Bishop - who just so happens to be a wheelchair user - spoke at the Houses of Parliament recently, she called on the fashion industry to do more to tackle its disability access issues. Levelling the playing field is integral to the wellbeing economy - what’s the point of only some of us get to have our wellbeing considered?“When looking at fashion and media today,” said Junior, diversity and representation are gradually
Are You Posh & White Enough for a Career in the Creative Arts? Rahemur Rahman on Strategies for System Change
Rich, white and privileged - the creative arts sector has a class problem. Particularly in class-obsessed Britain, where middle-class people are twice as likely to work in creative jobs than their working class contemporaries. According to the Evening Standard, "the worlds of TV, film, music and the arts are dominated by straight, able-bodied white men living in London, despite them only accounting for 3.5% of the [UK] population."Not that this is purely a UK problem. In New York, 85% of artists
Caryn Franklin, Beyond The Clothes Show - Fashion, Identity, Representation and Belonging
We all know clothes have meaning, beyond just looking nice. We’ve often talked on this podcast about the importance of how they are made. This week, we’re considering how fashion’s meaning stretches beyond supply chains and our wardrobes, to shape our culture and the way we see ourselves collectively. How does fashion see itself when it comes to race and privilege? How about the male gaze?Clare sits down with Caryn Franklin, journalist, style icon, fashion citizen (not consumer, please!), one-ti
Irish Artist Richard Malone, Who Gets To Make It in Fashion?
How much is enough? How can creatives incorporate the idea of sufficiency in their output? If you make physical objects, what does it really mean to be sustainable in your practice? And, how can you, as my guest this week, Richard Malone, puts it, "do your own thing and stick to it" in the context of fashion's relentless push for newness?Also, where does class and privilege play into all this? Does Fashion with a capital ‘F’ actually want to be more inclusive and welcoming? Or is all the talk of
Magnificent Michaela Stark - From Insta Bans to Victoria's Secret, Meet the Body-Morphing Couture Lingerie Maker
Why does fashion have such a problem in accepting all bodies they way they are, and recognising the beauty in different shapes and sizes? I know, I know, we’ve heard it all before, yet depressingly little changes.Our guest this week has had enough! Self-described as “that body morphing b*tch”, Michaela Starck is a super-talented London-based Aussie creative director/designer/dreamboat who’s beautiful work includes her own glorious self, as well as Paris-worthy, bow-bedecked frillies.A frank conv
From Natural Dyes to Reading Nature's Signals, Re-Finding Knowledge Disrupted by Colonialism
If you’re interested in natural dyes, or want to know more about hands-on textile techniques, this episode is a joy. It's also a great one if you are into ideas around seasonality and connection to Nature. Aren't we all?!Continuing our Pacific theme (don’t miss last week’s Episode with Fiji Fashion Week’s Ellen Whippy-Knight) these two stories are also from Fiji, but a long way from its capital Suva. They’re both about different aspects of Indigenous practices, and living in balance with the the
Meet Fiji's Fashion Dynamo Ellen Whippy-Knight
When Anna Wintour was introduced to Ellen Whippy-Knight as the founder of Fiji Fashion Week, the Vogue editor-in-chief exclaimed, “Fiji has a fashion week?!” Sure does, Anna. It turned 16 last year, and is an established force in a small yet burgeoning Pacific fashion scene.White sands and turquoise waters. Surf breaks. Rugby. Fiji is rightly famous for these things, it’s also an international garment-manufacturing country with an independent design community, mainly focused on the local market
Could You Buy No Clothes This Year? Jenna Flood's Wardrobe Freeze
Addicted to thrifting? Wondering where all your money’s gone? Feeling the fashion clutter feels? If you answered “yes” to any of the above, it might be time for a fashion detox.From Slow Fashion Season to ReMake’s 90-day No New Clothes challenge to the Rule of 5, more of us are looking for ways to circuit-break bad fashion habits. There’s a real movement going on with conscious fashionistas sharing what’s worked for them when it comes to slowing down, buying and wasting less.Our first guest for
Desperate Measures: Gregory Andrews' Climate Hunger Strike
CONTENT WARNING. A note from Clare: "While in this Episode, we talk about creativity and hope, baking and Strictly Ballroom, and address a wide range of things from the politics of climate action to biodiversity, we also discuss the details of going on a hunger strike. Personally, I would say that bit is not suitable for children, although I suspect Gregory would disagree. I'd also like to let you know there's mention of eating disorders in this interview. It's a compelling listen - there's much
Spotlight on COP28: Flora Vano - Now is the Time to Stand with Pacific Climate Activists
It's that time of year again, when world leaders (along with marketers from brands, oil and gas industry lobbyists, celebs on their private jets) head to the UN climate conference to discuss what to do about greenhouse gas pollution and our warming world. Extreme weather! Rising sea levels! Phasing out fossil fuels! Wait, actually, maybe tone that last one down because it's a bit hard, and our mates in the extractive energy industry aren't keen ... okay, how about: Phasing down fossil fuels? Tha
Meriel Chamberlin - Factory Made & Fabulous? Fashion's Sustainable Re-shoring Opportunity
“When did we decide we couldn’t make stuff anymore?” asks this week’s guest, Meriel Chamberlin, the textile technologist behind Full Circle Fibres, an Australian startup producing “paddock to product” garments on-shore.We know that the fashion industry’s climate impacts are significant, and that most of it comes down to the textile production stage. So how can we do things differently, close to home? Who needs to come together to make that happen, to share expertise, innovate, and also to fund i
SPECIAL EDITION (Part 2) Ep 197, Juno Gemes on Photographing the Australian Civil Rights Movement
Our guest for this Special Edition interview is JUNO GEMES, one of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary photographers.Born in Hungary, she moved to Australia as a child. In 1970, then a young artist, she spent six months living on Country with Aboriginal communities at Uluru. She went on to documents First Nations activism and the Civil Rights Movement in this country for five decades. Juno photographed many of the early protests and meetings led by Aboriginal activists in the ‘70s and ‘80s,
SPECIAL EDITION (Part 1) What You Need to Know About The Voice Referendum in Australia
In this mini pod, which is Part 1 of our Special Edition on the Voice, you will hear RACHEL PERKINS read you the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Rachel is an Australian filmmaker, a proud Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman and the co-chair of the YES23 campaign. She is also co-chair of Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, and is a signatory to the Statement from the Heart.“As the largest consensus of First Nations peoples on a proposal for substantive recognition in Australian histor
London Fashion Renegade: Dr NOKI is the O.G. Upcycler - Just Don't Call Him That
It’s fashion month again and the big brands with the big budgets dominate our feeds. But amidst the commercial noise of the contemporary fashion circus, independent gems still exist. There are true artists who go their own way, and often set the future trend agenda (although they tend not to get the credit). Our guest this week is one of them. He’s been shaking up the London underground scene since the ‘90s. Meet Dr NOKI, the original upcycler. Just don’t call him that…NOKI does fashion on his o
Taylor Zakhar Perez on the Power of Influence
Woolmark's new ambassador Taylor Zakhar Perez is a rising Hollywood star known for his leading man roles. You might recognise him from a certain rom com that we're not mentioning here (in respect of the actors' strike), or his role in a royal drama based on a cult book (again, not going there). Maybe you know his Paris fashion week looks - snaps of him emerging shirtless from his car outside the Prada’s menswear show went viral in June.But whether you’re one of his 4.7 million Instagram follower
Parley for the Oceans' Cyrill Gutsch - Welcome to the Materials Revolution!
Series 9 has landed! Our first guest is Cyrill Gutsch, the fascinating founder of Parley for the Oceans. With his partner Lea Stepken, this NY-based designer and branding expert started his global environmental organisation in 2012, after bumping into Pamela Anderson at an art fair. Pammy was wearing a Sea Shepherd T-shirt, and when Cyrill asked her why, she told him Sea Shepherd’s activist-in-chief Paul Watson was in trouble - he’d been arrested in Frankfurt on an international warrant. Cyrill,
Big Dress Energy - the Practical Magic of Cecilie Bahnsen
Danish designer Cecilie Bahnsen studied at RCA in London, and interned with John Galliano and Erdem before starting her own label in 2015. You’ve probably seen her voluminous dresses, or her recent sneaker collaboration with ASICs. Cecilie says she operates at the intersection of couture and ready-to-wear – it’s high craft, she creates her own textiles, and loves to use embroidery and smocking which lends her work a certain whimsey. But although expensive, it’s not untouchable, as you will
Danish Design Maverick Henrik Vibskov on Meeting Copenhagen's Sustainability Standards & Why Fashion Needs to Think More
Meet Danish creative Henrik Vibskov - fashion designer, costume designer, curator, musician and professor. He shows at Copenhagen Fashion Week (which is coming around again next week) but also Paris, and he has a store in New York. A supremely conceptual designer – his last collection, Long Fingers To Ma Toes, was inspired by the tomato in weird and wonderful ways.In this interview Henrik shares his experience of living up to CPHFW's recently introduced 18 Minimum Sustainability Standards. What
Say What? The UN Wants to Help Fashion Get its Sustainability Comms Right. Rachel Arthur Explains
ICYMI: fashion has a greenwashing problem. No wonder policy makers, consumer watchdogs and NGOs are taking an interest. According to the UN: “Misinformation and greenwashing are ubiquitous ... As sustainability has grown as a selling point, all manner of vague and inflated claims have appeared across advertising, marketing, media, packaging and beyond.” Enter the UN's new Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook, an open-access guide that seeks to change that, while better aligning how the fas
Is Regenerative Agriculture the Answer? Yes! Says Sarah Langford
Hang on, what's the question? Why is everyone talking about regenerative farming, for starters. For fibre as well as food. #regenag is fashion's new favourite hashtag. What if we put back more than we took out? Stopped drenching the land with toxic chemicals? Worked in harmony with Nature? Could we feed and clothe the world if we produced less, and differently? Would we starve? Would prices skyrocket? How did we get to this place, where no one - not the land, not biodiversity, not the nutritiona
Under the Skin - Understanding Leather's Supply Chains with Alice Robinson
There's much debate around the sustainability credentials of leather vs vegan alternatives (most of which are still PU - polyurethane). Is one natural and bio-degradable and the other simply plastic? Sorry, but it's not that simple, not least because today's global supply chains are so long and complex. Then there's all the toxic substances used in conventional tanning. And we haven't even talked about animal cruelty yet. But amidst the confusion, there are obviously better ways to do it than cu
Future Fabrics: Sustainable Textiles Masterclass with Amanda Johnston
When it comes to the fabrics we make our clothes from, there’s much confusion. Many of us don’t have a clue what textiles we’re buying and wearing; we’re not really teaching it in schools and brands don’t tend to talk too much about it, not least because so many of the textiles they use are unsustainable synthetics.But materials matter, and they are all around us. Getting back in touch with them can be really satisfying. And when it comes to creating a more sustainable fashion industry, their im
Leather & Animal Cruelty with Emma Hakansson - "If we want total ethics in fashion, we can't ignore animals."
Why are animals so often left out of the conversation about sustainable and ethical fashion? We talk about people and planet, but less often about our fellow living creatures. This week's guest Emma Hakansson wants to change that. She challenges us to rethink the idea of animals as commodities - they are, she says, someone, not something.Emma is the founder of Collective Fashion Justice, an organisation that puts animals as well as people and planet at the heart of an ethical fashion industry. A
Why Vegan Model Activist Robyn Lawley Eats Her Spinach - “Hyper-Nourishment Saved My Health”
You might know her from the cover of Italian Vogue, campaigning against Victoria's Secret for its lack of diversity, or her role as ambassador for organic beauty brand INIKA, but what Robyn Lawley wants to talk about is spinach. In this candid interview, she tells her powerful personal story of overcoming some pretty scary health issues, and challenges us all to rethink our relationship with meat and dairy products.We're used to talking about vegan diets as planet-friendly and cruelty-free, but
How to Build a Movement - Legendary Aussie Greenie Bob Brown on the Fight to Protect our Forests and Last Wild Places
This week Clare sits down with legendary Aussie Greenie, Bob Brown to talk Tasmania’s old growth forests - where towering eucalypts that have been standing for centuries are threatened with the chainsaw, thanks to government short-sightedness and corporate greed. The good news? Grassroots action is rising, as the numbers of tree-appreciating citizens swell, helped by a glowing new documentary, The Giants, by Rachel Antony and Laurence Billiet. The film's subjects are indeed giants - not just Bob
Rana Plaza 10 Years - So, Did We Make Fashion Ethical Yet?
Ten years ago, the devastating Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka proved just how deadly the business of making clothes could be for marginalised garment workers. In countries like Bangladesh where cheap clothing is produced at high volume, and wages are kept low, it’s these workers - mostly young women - who face the greatest exploitation and vulnerability.As a result, a new consumer movement was born in the form of Fashion Revolution. New agreements, like what’s now known as the International Accord
Enthralling Mycologist Merlin Sheldrake Talks Fantastic Fungi & the Wonder of Mycelium
Psst! Mushroom leather is not actually made from mushrooms – but it is fabulous! Much Like our guest this week. Merlin Sheldrake is the biologist and author of the extraordinary book, Entangled Life, How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures. You might not give fungi much thought, but mycelium networks are working their wonders all around us. And we need them! Together with bacteria, fungi are responsible for breaking down organic matter and releasing carbon,
What Can We Learn About Sustainability from Central Asia's Textile Traditions? Meet Fashion Revolution Kazakhstan's Aigerim Akenova
Whether it’s the joy of dyeing cloth with pomegranates, the age-old practicality of turning sheep wool into felts and knits, or the rich legacy of complex embroideries and silk Ikat weaving, Central Asian textile traditions are bonded by cultural meaning and a respect for the natural world. And resources: nothing gets thrown away, as this week’s guest Aigerim Akenova explains through her love for patchwork - her nomadic ancestors' answer to upcycling.Aigerim is the country co-ordinator of Fashio
Forever Chemicals Be Gone! Andrea Rudolph on the Hidden Dangers of Toxic PFAS
How much do you know about the chemicals you're exposed to through every-day things like cosmetics and skincare, clothing or even food packaging, and food itself? How about what chemicals might be contaminating air, soil and water from industrial processes? Do you ever even think about it? We often presume governments and companies will protect from harmful substances, but history is full of examples where the advice over what's safe and what's not changes over time (from asbestos to cigarettes
Olena Braichenko: "Culinary Diplomacy Won't Stop Putin's War on Ukraine, but Stories About Our Rich Culinary Heritage and Sustainable Food Culture Are Worth Telling"
A year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, over 8 million Ukrainian refugees have been registered across Europe. According to UNHCR, the vast majority of civilians who have fled the war are women over 35 with one or more children. Men aged between 18-60 are not permitted to leave (except under special circumstances).This week, instead of the regular fashion angles, I’m bringing you this very personal conversation with Olena Braichenko, a Ukrainian refugee who, with her six-year-old daughter, is
Turkish Fashion Designer Bora Aksu Talks Culture, Creativity and Responding to the Earthquake
Fashion doesn’t exist in a vacuum. As Coco Chanel once said, it’s “in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what’s happening.” So how, as a designer, you do respond to what’s going on in the world when that's a tragedy close to home or heart? On February 6, 2023 a magnitude 7.8 earth quake hit south-eastern Türkiye, and northern Syria. It was catastrophic - causing unfathomable damage and loss of life. Official figures put the death toll beyond 50,000 people
How Does Trend Forecasting Work? The Future Laboratory's Chris Sanderson Pulls Back the Curtain
How do you feel about trends? In sustainable fashion circles, that word can have negative connotations. After all, it's the sped-up trend cycle delivers us fast fashion. Flipping between different, and often conflicting, fashion trends, it's easy to lose control, buy and waste too much. But there's more to trend forecasting than predicting that next week you'll be wearing blue. Or Barbiecore. Or whatever momentary madness TikTok is serving.Mapping cultural, lifestyle, economic and societal trend
Who Grew Your Cotton? Nishanth Chopra on Regenerative Agriculture - the New-Old Idea We Need Now
No doubt you’ve heard the buzz about regenerative agriculture. But who’s actually putting it into practice for the textile sector? At the soil level? Brands can say they want it, regulators can try to incentivise it, chemical companies might resist it, but at the end of the day, it’s the grower who has to actually do it.What’s it really like for a small-scale Indian cotton farmer trying to make a living? What challenges do they face? And what’s in it for them if they do decide to transition thei
Inclusive! Sustainable! No b.s! Can Collina Strada Save New York Fashion?
As New York Fashion Week rolls around again, it’s the perfect time to listen to this interview with Hillary Taymour, founder of the much-talked-about NYC label Collina Strada. Collina Strada is produced locally in small runs, using mostly deadstock. They’ve been working with the Real Real to upcycle unsold items, and with Liz Ricketts at the Or Foundation to upcycle and divert T-shirt waste in America before it heads offshore, and ends up in places like Kantamanto Market in Ghana.Known for shaki
"Craft connects us" - Samorn Sanixay on Weaving, Multiculturalism & What We Have in Common
On the surface, this is the story of Samorn Sanixay’s epic adventure to map Australia through a colour study of its natural eucalyptus dyes. Last year, she set out to do just that, spending a year travelling around the country collecting leaves from these wonderfully diverse trees wherever she went.But that's just the starting point of this feel-good interview with the natural dyes expert and co-founder of artisanal weaving studio Eastern Weft in Vientiane.Ultimately, this is a conversation abou
Edward Hertzman - Who's Got the Power? Addressing the Imbalance Between Suppliers and Fashion Brands
Forget Vogue. Sourcing Journal should be required reading of you really want to know how the business of fashion works. Clare’s guest this week Edward Hertzman founded this trade journal (now part of FairChild, which owns WWD) out of frustration that no one in media was telling the full story about how supply chains operate. A former apparel sourcing agent himself, with a degree in economics, the tough-talking New Yorker tells it like it is.In the garment game, suppliers and manufactures take mo
The Slow Grind's Georgina Johnson on Self-Care, Fashion Burnout and the Politics of Rest
In our first interview for 2023, we make the case for why Fashion’s New Year’s Resolution should be to slow the f*ck down...What does it mean to thrive in your career? How do you define success? Is that the same way that society, or your industry, defines it? Chances are there’s a disconnect. Because capitalism has been telling us for so long that it’s all about the hustle and the speedy output, that's become the dominant narrative. It's time you set your own pace. Fashion has a pretty terrible
Fashion Legend - Delightfully Bonkers Andrew Logan's Life in Art and Colour
Turn it up for the holidays! As he publishes his latest book, Reflections, Clare sits down with the colourful genius behind Alternative Miss World, who believes life is too short for muted tones...Andrew Logan is an artist, sculptor, jewellery-maker, yoga devotee and one of legendary English counter-culture fashion eccentrics. He's also the founder of the Alternative Miss World event, which turned 50 in 2022. Billed as "a celebration creativity and beauty that goes beyond gender, age, race and s
Wait, Seaweed Can Do, WHAT? Sam Elsom's Climate Gamechanger
Ever worry that sustainability talk is so much hot air? Us too. So this week, we're focusing on... BURPS AND FARTS!Now that we've got your attention, this is serious topic. According to UNEP, methane has accounted for roughly 30% of global warming since pre-industrial times and is proliferating faster than at any other time since record keeping began in the 1980s. While it hangs around in the atmosphere for less time than carbon does, while it is here, it's more potent. Where
Down on the Farm - A Yarn with a Wise & Wonderful Woolgrower Determined to Protect Native Grasslands
We hear so much about product in fashion; about the clothes, and the brands. Thankfully, we’re now starting to hear more about the makers, garment workers and skilled artisans behind the manufacturing scenes. But we still hear very little from the people and processes behind the raw materials.This week, we’re looking at wool, with a lovely interview with Tasmanian woolgrower Simon Cameron, who Clare met seven years ago while writing Wardrobe Crisis. Simon manages Kingston in the northern Midland
HRH approved! A Properly Posh New Talent Ep Set in Royal Surroundings - Meet Net-A-Porter's Modern Artisans
The race offshore hollowed out the fashion and textile industries in much of Europe, the US and Australia. But if you happen to live there, chances are you've got amazing fashion skills on your doorstep but you just don't realise. While much of the infrastructure has disappeared, the talent is still there. And still coming through. When Yoox-Net-A-Porter execs visited Dumfries House, Scotland to see how The Prince’s Foundation is working to inspire and upskill young people in the textiles a
Vin and Omi are the UK's Most Interesting Fashion Designers - and they Have Nothing to Sell You but Ideas
Welcome back! Series 8 is here ... finally! We're kicking off with a fascinating conversation about greed, excess, imagination, innovation, education and redefining sustainability for fashion. Phew.More exclusive than Chanel - because they barely produce anything you can buy? An anti-establishment fashion duo that works with royalty? Why not? Vin + Omi rewrite all the rules. They call themselves ideologists. They're also fabric inventors, creative thinkers and system-challengers. Now also featur
Back to Nature - Plant Dyes at Chelsea Flower Show
Fancy wearing a dress coloured sunny yellow by daffodils or a shirt dyed blue with woad? This week we're talking natural dyes and the magic of textiles derived from plants for a special episode produced with Fashion Revolution and guest-hosted by Carry Somers.Carry's talking with garden designer Lottie Delamain and natural dyes expert Kate Turnbull. Together, they've created a garden for Chelsea Flower Show "to inspire visitors to re-imagine the link between what we can grow and what we wea
Power Dressing with Costume Designer Jessica Worrall
What comes to mind when you hear the phase: power dressing? In the 1980s, it was big news in the corporate world - with woman in big-shouldered designer suits, showing the men who was boss. But using clothes to communicate your status goes back as far as fashion does. In Ancient Rome, it meant the right to wear purple. If you were a courtier at Versailles, it meant the finest brocades. Today, you might think that if you can afford it, you can have it, but as Kim Kardashian proved at t
Earth Day! More Trees Please, with Dr Greg Moore
Earth Day is not about buying eco-friendly stuff. This year, we challenge you to put your feet in the grass or the ocean, and your credit card away (unless you’re using it to donate to an environmental charity). Let’s make Earth Day about raising our voices for better government policies to protect biodiversity and act on the climate crisis. Let’s make it about communing with the birds, insects, animals and the trees.Start here! Meet Dr Greg Moore - a botanist and 'plant mechanic' at the Univers
Money, Fashion Power and Good Clothes, Fair Pay - Ineke Zeldenrust
Fashion Revolution Week 2022 begins April 18th. This year's theme is Money, Fashion, Power. Why? As Fash Rev's communications manager Ruth Macglip says in this Episode's intro: "The mainstream fashion industry is built on the exploitation of people and the planet, with wealth and power concentrated in the hands of a few. Basically, it’s time to reimagine the values at the heart of the fashion system and scrutinise what it is we’re really paying for.”You probably already know that the fashion ind
Lessons from the Fashion History Books - Rachel Elspeth Gross's Fab Instagram Feed
What Can Fashion History Teach Us About Sustainability? Which fashion figures tower over the history books? Who’s fame stands the test of time, and who gets forgotten - and why? What can we learn from wartime rationing and the Make Do & Mend movement? How was life when home-sewing used to be the norm rather than exception? What new materials rocked the runways in the 1960s, and did disposable fashion originate with a faddish paper dress?This week, we take a look at some of the sustainability
Extraordinary Invention! Could Mark Herrema's Air Carbon Change the Plastics Game?
How one company is turning greenhouse gases into a plastic alternative that biodegrades.As Scientific American points out, "carbon is the giver of life - your skin and hair, blood and bone, muscle and sinews all depend on carbon. Bark, leaf, root and flower; fruit and nut; pollen and nectar; bee and butterfly; Doberman and dinosaur—all incorporate essential carbon. Every cell in your body—indeed, every part of every cell—relies on a sturdy backbone of carbon." Carbon isn't a monster - although i
After the Flood - Zoe Gameau on Radical Hope Club
We love to talk about our 2030 goals, but climate change is not some future worry – it’s here today. It’s already bringing more frequent extreme weather events, as we’ve seen in Australia recently. In late February, early March, catastrophic floods hit northern NSW and southern Queensland, after intense rain fell over the eastern seaboard. Rivers burst their banks, sending houses, roads, farms, and public buildings underwater. People died. Communications were a struggle. It some cases, it took d
How to Dress your Avatar for the Metaverse - Digital Fashion 101, with Moin Roberts-Islam
Have you bought digital garments for your avatar yet? Would you like to? You need to listen to this! Moin Roberts-Islam is the Technology Development Manager at the Fashion Innovation Agency, at the London College of Fashion, and he’s here to answer all our questions.In this riveting interview, you’re going to hear him explain pretty much every entry level thing you need to know about how digital fashion works, why it’s exploding, what brands are doing, how gaming is involved, who is buying digi
Fashion's Response to War in Ukraine - A Conversation with Vogue Ukraine's Venya Brykalin
On February 24th, Russia invaded Ukraine. The news headlines filled with terrifying stories of missile strikes on residential areas, hitting apartment buildings and killing civilians; of nuclear power plants being attacked and 1 million people fleeing country. What has fashion to do with all this? The morning that Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war was also the first day of Milan Fashion Week. And as the violence continued, so too did the fashion shows, next in Paris. Fashion’s Instag
Akira Isogawa On Rescuing Fabric from the Trash and Why A Simple Soup Beats Truffles
What does it mean to leave - voluntarily - your homeland, to make a new creative life in another country? How might the place you left behind and the new one you chose collide in your work? Thirty-five years after he left Koyoto and enrolled in East Sydney Technical College, with a big dream and small bag full of kimonos nicked off his mum, Akira Isogawa is an Australian national treasure. He's been the subject of major museum retrospectives, designed costumes for the ballet, and seen his work w
Should Governments Stop Unsustainable Fashion? Maxine Bedat on New York's Fashion Act
Have you heard about New York’s proposed sustainable fashion law? It’s called the Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act, and if it is passes those behind it say: this groundbreaking piece of legislation that will make New York the global leader in accountability for the $2.5 trillion fashion industry. Supporters include the likes of Stella McCartney and Jane Fonda.So, why do we need it?If New York were a country, it would rank as the world’s 10th largest economy, bigger than Canad
Marvellous Magical Mara Hoffman - Fashion's Fire Sign Go-Getter
This week we sit down with New Yorker Mara Hoffman to find out how she turned her namesake brand into a sustainable fashion leader, what makes her tick - from astrology and to the inspirational beauty of Mother Earth, and being a mamma thinking about the next generation.The MH brand does a bunch of cool stuff, like working with natural dyes and regenerative agriculture projects. There’s even a peer-to-peer preloved Mara Hoffman marketplace called Full Circle. They also work with a local social e
In Pursuit of Balance - Tim Jackson talks Post Growth, Life After Capitalism
Do we really believe that we can pursue infinite growth on a finite planet? Why would we even want to?This week's guest is Tim Jackson, the ecological economist who wrote Post Growth, Life After Capitalism.It's a very persuasive argument for a complete rethink of how we define success, and why we need a new type of economy, one that prioritises relationships and meaning, over profits and power. Tim sees this book as "both a manifesto for system change and an invitation to rekindle a deeper
How to Make Fashion Week Sustainable, Copenhagen Style
After two years of fashion weeks globally being more or less on pandemic pause, they're back. Last week the Paris couture shows drew crowds in the French capital. As we publish, Scandinavia is in the spotlight with Copenhagen's event. The big four are going ahead this month, albeit with a few big names missing and some format changes. London's will be a gender neutral digital-physical event, showing "menswear, womenswear and gender neutral collections" - after London Fashion Week Men's was cance
Shein's Ultra Fast Fashion Model
And you thought Zara was fast fashion! Buckle up because new trends are landing daily if not hourly, as a new breed of online disruptor throws out thousands of styles a week to see what sticks. Brands like Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and Fashion Nova are part of a new ultra-fast fashion era, but Shein is by far the biggest player.Worth a reported $47 billion, the Chinese company is now the biggest selling fast fashion brand in the US. But how does it work? What's the secret to its giant reach? A
Fashion Act Now - Is it Time to DeFashion? (And What the Heck Does that Mean?)
You've probably heard about degrowth, which is: "a planned reduction of energy and resource use designed to bring the economy back into balance with the living world in a way that reduces inequality and improves human well-being." (If this idea is new to you, have a listen to Episode 135 with economist Jason Hickel).Question: is it time to apply such thinking more specifically to the fashion industry? What would that look like?This week's podcast presents the ideas of a new fashion activist orga
What's the Story with Recycled Polyester? Cyndi Rhoades from Worn Again Explains All
More than half of all the textiles use today are polyester. You will definitely have poly in your wardrobe, even if you prefer natural fibres. Synthetics are lurking everywhere, whether as polyester, nylon, or blends mixed with cotton. Poly is cheap, ubiquitous and it's not going away any time soon. It's also made from fossil fuels, doesn't biodegrade and most of it ends up as waste.Cyndi Rhoades believes recycled is the answer.A UK-based, US-raised activist turned entrepreneur, she founded Worn
Waste Colonialism and Dead White Man's Clothes with Liz Ricketts
Are you unwittingly contributing to waste colonialism via your wardrobe choices? What happens to our unwanted clothes when we donate them? Overproducing and underusing clothes has far-reaching consequences, as this week's guest Liz Ricketts of The Or Foundation explains.Each week, around 15 million pieces of secondhand clothing arrive in the Kantamanto second-hand clothing market in Accra, Ghana - and 40% goes to waste.This is the story of how your old shirt or dress or pants might end up cloggi
Status, Self-Obsession, Mental Health & What's Really Controlling How We Act - Will Storr
Are you a special person? How self-obsessed are we, as a society? How and why do we compare ourselves to others? What makes us group-ish? Violent? Or community minded? How about narcissistic? And is that getting worse?This week's guest is the British author Will Storr, who's latest book is Status Game: on social position and how we use it. After reading one of his previous books - Selfie, How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us - Clare persuaded him to come on Wardrobe Crisis an
Inclusive, Purpose-Driven - the Future of Fashion According to Kenyan Designer Anyango Mpinga
Everyone's talking about climate action and social change - but Fashion is still carrying on like it's 1999. The velvet rope! Exclusivity! Snobbery and barriers to entry that lock many young designers with new ideas, out. Fashion weeks alone are massive carbon emitters, before we've even considered production. Pre-pandemic, the carbon footprint of all the media, buyers, models and designers going to the big four fashion weeks (NY, London, Milan & Paris) over a 12-month period, was enough to
How Eco-Friendly is Fashion Rental, Really?
Have you heard the one about throwing your clothes away being better for the planet than renting them?In this Episode, we get the real story on the study out of Finland that spawned so many clickbait headlines, then ask a British retail legend about what's driving the fashion rental boom. We hear from a purpose-driven millennial founder about what her company is doing to ensure rental really is a greener fashion option than buying new clothes; and learn the secrets of eco-friendly dry cleaning (
You Need to Know These New Sustainable Fashion Designers
Who's Shaping Sustainable Fashion's Design Future? Each Wardrobe Crisis series we present a new generation talent episode, spotlighting emerging fashion designers who are pushing sustainability forward.This time we’re talking with: a positive knitwear designer from Canada who’s ongoing collaboration with Post Carbon lab sees her creating living garments that photosynthesise as you wear them. A British fashion multi-tasker who works as a sustainable womenswear designer focused on deadstock materi
How To Be Old with Accidental Icon's Lyn Slater
How do you feel about getting older? Maybe you’re so young it feels a world away? Or maybe you’re feeling it, and wondering where the time went?This week’s guest fashion influencer Lyn Slater has no such worries - she reinvented her career in her 60s, going from college professor to Instagram star and being described as “one of fashion's finest-dressed people”. Since then she’s been written about a thousand times as a sort poster woman for growing older stylishly. But now, she’s examining furthe
The Day the World Stops Shopping - J.B. MacKinnon
“The 21st century has brought a critical dilemma into sharp relief: we must stop shopping, and yet we can’t stop shopping.” - J.B MacKinnon Have you noticed that stopping shopping is trending? It used to be a very unusual challenge to take on, but fashion detoxes are going mainstream as people begin to question hyper-consumerism and look for ways to resist it.But what would happen if we all turned off the fashion tap tomorrow?And not just fashion - consumer goods in general. What if everybo
It's Amazing What She Can Do With an Old Tablecloth - Meet Menswear Maverick Emily Adams Bode
Lock up your linens! Emily Adams Bode has designs on your grandma's tablecloths. And her quilts. America's favourite emerging menswear talent made her fashion name upcycling characterful old domestic textiles and dusty deadstock - winning a CFDA award and a Woolmark Prize while she was at it. The result is menswear with meaning, designed to be passed down the generations.This is a lovely quirky conversation about what inspires her as a maker and collector, the joys of upcycling and the layers of
Red Shoes! Aminata Conteh-Biger, This is What a Refugee Looks Like
Welcome back! Series 6 is here!The title of this episode asks you to leave your pre-conceptions at the door. There is no one way for a refugee to look, seem, dress and show up in the world. On World Refugee Day, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) asks us to honour refugees around the globe. To celebrate the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home countries to escape conflict or persecution. And so we are excited to bring you this extraordinary interview with A
How To Make A Handbag the Old-Fashioned Way With Slow Fashion Craftswoman Simone Agius
While you were distracted by the latest luxury It-whatever (and the shiny, ridiculously expensive global marketing behind it) slow local fashion makers were carefully, quietly crafting their wares regardless - on a fraction of the budgets of the big fashion names.It's time to take more notice of them! Because if we don't support the independents, how will they thrive? Can small local makers compete with the big guys today, and should they try? Or is it time to build new networks that create a to
Fashion Revolution Special - A Conversation About Trees with Canopy Founder Nicole Rycroft
CALLING ALL TREE-HUGGERS! Nicole Rycroft founded Canopy Planet at her kitchen table in Vancouver with a small budget and a big idea - to protect the world's precious forests.20 years later, Canopy is one of the leading organisations fighting globally for last frontier forests and engaging business - including the fashion industry - to find alternatives to unsustainably sourced wood in their supply chains.Do we really use ancient trees to make trivial things? Try pizza boxes and party frocks. It'
Meet Ýr Jóhannsdóttir - Iceland's Most Exciting Knitwear Provocateur
How big is sustainable fashion in Iceland? You might be surprised to find out.We also nearly called this Episode: The Secret Lives Of Sweaters. Listen and you will see why!In this fascinating, surprising conversation about funny jumpers and changing the world, you will meet Ýr Jóhannsdóttir - a textile designer, artist/activist upcycler from Reykjavik.With her label Ýrúrarí (and her huge Instagram following) she is making a name for herself using creativity and humour to challenge fashion's unsu
Vintage, Thrifted & Secondhand Fashion - Series 5 Finale, Listener Stories Part 1.
Vintage and second-hand fashion is in the news more than ever before. It's set to eclipse fast fashion within ten years. The designer re-commerce sector is booming. But as shopping pre-loved becomes more aspirational, are those who rely on thrifted clothes being locked out?What's not up for debate, however, is that the piles of discarded fashion and textiles keep growing. The excess is real. Where it ends up, who pays the price, what that price should be, what's selling, what's not, what should
The Magic of Plants, Organic Gardening and Why Weeds Are Wonderful
Who else talks to their plants? This week's joyful episode is a love letter to what we grow - in gardens, allotments, veggie patches and pots on our windowsills the world over. But also what grows wild - in the woods, hedgerows, fields and scrub, the verges by the freeways, even the cracks in city pavements.Your guest host, musician and gardener Nidala Barker, talks with her friend and fellow green thumb, Kobi Bloom about connecting to Earth, respecting our Mother and the marvellous magic of pla
Sustainable Fashion is a Lie Without Garment Workers at the Table - Nazma Akter
Welcome to another episode of series 5 - #sharethepodcastmicDon't forget to hit subscribe and if you value these conversations, please share them with your communities.Your guest host this week is Ayesha Barenblat, founder of ReMake, and she is in conversation with Nazma Akter, founder and Executive Director of the Awaj Foundation. Nazma has been fighting to improve workers' rights in Bangladesh's garment sector for 30 years - and she started out as a garment worker herself, aged just 11. Hers i
Jason Hickel - Can Degrowth Save Fashion?
Everybody's talking about degrowth. Does this mean we've finally woken up to the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse? Are we ready to challenge capitalism's obsession with GDP and perpetual expansion? If so, what's the alternative? And how can we apply this to fashion, beyond simply "buy less"? How might we reimagine the whole system, and rethink how we measure success?This week's guest host Nina Gbor interviews Jason Hickel about his new book Less is More - How Degrowth Wi
Belinda Duarte - Culture is Life, racism & reconciliation in Australia
Meet Belinda Duarte, former athlete and educator, current inspirational leader, formidable female exec, proud First Nations Australian and the inspiration for Series 5 - #sharethepodcastmicJust in time for January 26th - a significant day in this country. It's time to #changethedateThere's so much up for discussion in this one - from Belinda's family story, to sustainability and Indigenous wisdom, raising strong young people, ethical leadership and how we can use sport and culture to move toward
Culture, Connection & Mentoring Indigenous Fashion Talent - Model Charlee Fraser
In March 2020, Grace Lillian Lee and Teagan Cowlishaw announced Australia's first ever Indigenous fashion council - First Nations Fashion & Design. In December, they held their first fashion show - Walking in Two Worlds. But don't expect just any old runway. This is a beautiful story about reframing the fashion discourse, connecting to country, and mentoring emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fashion talent.Grace is this week's #sharethepodcastmic guest host and she's in conversa
First Nations Fabulous - Australian Indigenous Fashion
Welcome back to Series 5, #sharethepodcastmicWhy are all eyes are on Indigenous Australian fashion right now? Try 60,000 years of sustainability... "We're the original fashion industry in this country," says this week's guest host Yatu Widders-Hunt of the vibrant, continuously evolving First Nations fashion and design sector.In this Episode, we hear from curator Shonae Hobson about her Piinpi exhibition - the first major survey of contemporary Indigenous Australian fashion to be undertaken in th
Degendering Fashion - Alok Vaid-Menon
Why does so much fashion still cling to strict men's and womenswear codes? Is the industry finally ready to shake off tired old binaries and embrace the trans and gender-nonconforming community? Or is Harry Styles' Vogue cover about as far as it goes?For this week's #sharethepodcastmic episode, sustainable fashion journalist Aditi Mayer is in charge.She's interviewing Alok Vaid-Menon about their new book, Beyond the Gender Binary. Alok is a gender-nonconforming poet, author, performance art
Kalkidan Legesse - Black-Owned Business & How to be an Ethical Boss
For this week's #sharethepodcastmic episode, Aja Barber is in charge.She's interviewing her friend, Kalkidan Legesse, founder of Sancho's - a pioneering Black-owned sustainable fashion store in Exeter in the UK.Sancho's sells ethical and fair trade clothing, gifts and accessories from sustainable fashion brands like People Tree, Armedangels, Lefrik and Just Trade. They also really innovate with their pricing accessibility - and you'll hear all about that in this interview.What else gets unpacked
Aja Barber - Consumed! Ethical Fashion Changemaker
A note from Clare: Welcome to Series 5, Share the Podcast Mic. After everything that's happened this year, we wanted to shake things up and share the power of this beautiful platform with some of the BIPOC voices leading the conversation in sustainability and ethical fashion. So after this episode, I'll be passing the Wardrobe Crisis mic onto them. Each will interview a person of their choice. Your guest hosts are some of the most exciting, dynamic, inspirational voices working in this spac
Disabled People Love Clothes Too - Keah Brown on Fashion's Inclusivity Failings, Self Love & Practicing Joy
For all the talk of inclusivity finally being taken seriously by fashion, the industry is way behind on many fronts. It basically ignores entire sections of the market, which makes no sense from a business perspective, and let alone a social one.Adaptive fashion is both an opportunity and a necessity - as this week's brilliant guest, author Keah Brown says, disabled people love clothes too. And they're tired of having to alter things that don't work for them. Accessible, adaptive design is the f
What is Fashion For? A Conversation about Meaning with Levi's Brainiac Paul Dillinger
Philosophy! The Internet of Things! Irvin Penn! From not being Mozart to designing outfits for The Muppets, as a kid... It's all up for discussion in this week's ep with Levi's Vice President of Global Product Innovation, Paul Dillinger. Paul drove Jacquard by Google, so of course we talk about that, and the future of tech innovation in fashion particularly around wearables. But fundamentally, this is a conversation about why we wear what we wear, what fashion means and how we've used it ac
David Breslauer - Spiders! Mushrooms! Fashion Biotech and Bolt Threads
"You can't farm spiders!" says this week's guest, scientist David Breslauer.You can keep more them in serious numbers spinning webs off hula-hoops suspended from your office ceiling though...Enter Bolt Threads, the Californian biotech company behind Microsilk - a bioengineered sustainable fibre used by Stella McCartney. Find out how they did it, where the science is headed, and what's next (hint, it's involves mushrooms). Just don't call David Spider Man.Head over to https://thewardrobecrisis.co
Jeans Genius Francois Girbaud - Rebelling Since 1964
How did denim get so unsustainable? And did it all start with stone washing? Our guest this week accepts responsibility for the industry going so hard on that.Francois Girbaud was there at the start, when, as he says “I was just a stupid guy” - and didn't know about the environmental impact of stone washing. After that, of course, came acid wash, sandblasting, all the rest of it.So, yes, we discuss all the important environmental stuff, but this is an epic interview about Paris, the history of f
Chemicals in Fashion Supply Chains
What's in my clothes? If you're asking that question, you probably expect the answer to be about fabric content. Polyester? Cotton? Wool maybe, or silk. But what about chemicals? You won't find these listed on your typical garment label.Last Series, Clare interviewed Greenpeace activist Kirsten Brodde, who led the Detox My Fashion campaign, launched in 2011, to force fashion to wake up to the toxic trail of textile production. So what's changed since then? Chemistry in fashion is still not
Dress For Our Time - Is Helen Storey Fashion's Most Original Thinker?
You know those people who are always ahead? The true originals no one can catch? Helen Storey is one of them. This British former runway designer and current Professor of Fashion & Science uses fashion as a trojan horse for big issues. Ten years ago she collaborated with a chemist to make garments that filter pollution from the air. She's made dresses that dissolve to show how we destroy what's beautiful.In 2015, in the run up to the COP15, she turned a decommissioned refugee tent, that
Giles Duley - Beyond Fashion Photography
“I don't give voice to anyone, but I have a really amazing tool and that's my camera. I use my camera to amplify the voices of people who feel unheard.”Today photographer Giles Duley is the CEO and founder of the Legacy of War Foundation, and an activist for the rights of those living with disabilities caused by conflict. But he started out working in music and fashion, shooting for magazines like Vogue, GQ and Arena.Since 2004, his portrait photography has taken him all over the world, from Ira
Upcycling, Purpose & Peace in Post-Conflict Laos - Article 22
Can fashion really make a difference? Can artisans be agents of change? Could a humble bangle help make post-conflict land safe for the people who live there?It sounds crazy to be talking about war and bombs in the same sentence as fashion and jewellery. But that's exactly what Article 22, a New York-jewellery brand and social enterprise that's handmade in Laos, seeks to do.They upcycle shrapnel and scrap metal from The Secret War into jewellery, and they called their first collection Peace
World Oceans Day - Big Wave Surfer Laura Enever
On World Oceans Day, we meet Australian big wave surfer Laura Enever.Laura started surfing as a kid in Sydney. She spent 7 years surfing professionally on the Women's World Tour . Now she's decided to reinvent herself as a big wave surfer.And we mean seriously big - these waves are scary, dangerous and remote, they break way out to sea, or on shallow rock ledges and only a few times a year.What has the ocean taught Laura about resilience and conquering fear?Head over to https://thewardrobecrisis
GANNI & Responsible Fashion - "We're Not a Sustainable Brand!"
This week, we're hanging out on the Copenhagen kitchen of the brilliant "insecure overachievers" behind GANNI.Married couple Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup are the force behind the cult Copenhagen label and they've have made it, according to Vogue, a "stratospheric success" beloved of #GanniGirls all over Instagram. Just don't call it sustainable fashion."A brand might do one organic T-shirt and call themselves sustainable," says Nicolaj. "We just do what we do, and try to do better every day."They
Fashion & Biodiversity - Kering's Helen Crowley
Friday May 22nd is the International Day for Biological Diversity. Actually this whole year was meant to be about that. The World Economic Forum named 2020 the Year for Nature Action. It was to culminate in a big conference about the UN convention on biological diversity in Kunming, China in October. But the coronavirus pause doesn't mean we get to hold off on action to protect Nature.This week's guest is Helen Crowley, Kering's head of sustainable sourcing and innovation, where she works with b
Special Coronavirus Report - Fashion Takes on PPE
Welcome to the second of our special reports about the fashion industry and COVID-19. This one is about how designers, makers and manufacturers are responding to the shortages of PPE - personal protective equipment - and scrubs for frontline workers, as well as masks for all.What is PPE? Why are there shortages? How have fashion designers and industry leaders around the world stepped up to produce PPE for frontline workers?Featuring Shibon Kennedy, founder of PPE Volunteer; Emergency Designer Ne
Is Vegan the Answer? Compassion in World Farming's Philip Lymbery
You probably already know that industrialised farming is chemically intensive and a big greenhouse gas polluter - but how much do you really know about animal agriculture? About its enormous scale, the waste and the way we treat the animals that feed us, and provide leather for the fashion industry?In this interview Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming and author of Farmageddon, provides a powerful argument for a system reset.Love the show?Please consider r
Ethical Fashion & Living Wages
If you've listened to Episode 115 on how garment workers are being impacted by COVID-19, try this one next. It's an edited version of a story we ran back in 2017, about living wages. Many of the women who make our clothes in countries like Bangladesh still fall far short of earning a living wage. April 24th is the anniversary of the Rana Plaza garment factory disaster. Join Fashion Revolution, and keep asking #whomademyclothes?Don't forget to subscribe to Wardrobe Crisis!The shownotes are o
Ethical Fashion? How COVID-19 is Impacting Garment Workers
Welcome to this special report on how garment workers around the world are being impacted by COVID-19. Fashion is being severely impacted by the shutdowns. You might argue, the sustainable business is the one that survives this. But as usual, it is the worst off who bear the brunt, because they don't have safety nets to catch them. How is coronavirus impacting garment workers around the world?Why are activists calling for brands to #payup as factories reel under the strain of cancelled orde
Anya Hindmarch - Single-Use Plastic Be Gone!
What kinds of products do we want to put out in the future? How can we rethink our design practices and material choices - and persuade the customer that it matters? Once we get to the other side of the COVID-19 crisis, circular and regenerative systems are going to be even more important. But how do we do it case by case? This week's guest British accessories designer Anya Hindmarch has already started. In 2007, Anya launched her famous "I'm not A Plastic Bag" to raise awareness of ho
Love in the Time of Coronavirus
"We are at one of those pivotal moments when it feels like the world is coming undone," wrote David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific in a recent newsletter. "But the best of humanity comes out in moments of crisis. It's a phenomenon that we saw in the [recent Australian bush] fires, and which we are seeing again in the face of the pandemic."Can we take this enforced pause to design a better way of relating to each other and the natural world? How can we use compassion in our activism?
Fashion Revolution's Carry Somers - What's in My Clothes?
For 7 years, Fashion Revolution has been asking, #whomademyclothes? on a quest for greater transparency in fashion supply chains.Now, they're asking #WhatsInMyClothes?, and say: "The answer is far more complicated than the composition label on the side seam. This is the starting point, but it doesn't account for the plastics lurking in our clothes, the trees cut down to transform wood into viscose, or the pesticides sprayed on fields of cotton, leaching into waterways."Fashion Revolution's co-fo
The Slow Travels of Ocean Plastics Explorer Emily Penn
Emily Penn is a British sailor and the co-founder of eXXpedition - a series of all-women voyages exploring the impacts of plastics and toxins in our oceans."The only way to reduce the potential impacts on human health and the environment is to reduce consumption," she says.But where to begin?For the next two years, a total of 300 women will sail around the world on eXXpedition's voyages of discovery, to look deep into what's going on with plastic in our oceans, and try to come up with solutions.
Upcycle This! Just Say No to Virgin Materials, say Fashion's New Disruptors
What's driving the fashion's latest obsession with upcycling? And how far can it go? Might fashion stop using virgin materials completely one day? Upcyling means taking something discarded, usually unloved and considered trash, and transforming into something new and of a higher quality.It's become a major fashion buzz word, thanks to designers like Marine Serre in Paris, and even Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. But it's the next generation that's really pushing it. This week, you'll mee
Tarana Burke - An Inspirational interview with the Me Too founder
The #metoo hashtag was a moment, sparked in when the actor Alyssa Milano used it on Twitter in October 2017 in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations. That tweet went viral. More than 19 million people around the world have since used the hashtag to share their stories of sexual harassment, abuse and violence.But Me Too is a about more than social media. Me Too is a movement, founded by the American activist Tarana Burke in 2006 to help survivors of sexual violence, particularly Black wome
The Magic Thrifting Powers of Bay Garnett - How to Shop Second-Hand (& why you should)
London stylist Bay Garnett has magic powers when it comes to finding fashion gems in charity shops. The former editor of Cheap Date magazine (all about thrifting) famously put Kate Moss in the pages of British Vogue wearing vintage. Want to get in her wardrobe?Even better, learn her tips and tricks, hear how thrifting has changed over 20 years, and learn why giving garments multiple lives is more important than ever as a tool to reduce fashion's environmental impact.Head over to https://the
Amber Valletta - Sustainable Fashion's Favourite Model
Welcome to Series 4! Our first guest is American supermodel Amber Valletta -sustainable fashion's favourite face, using her platform to make positive change in the industry.How did she move from celebrity covergirl (she had her own MTV show in the '90s, and in the 2000s did a Hollywood movie with Will Smith) to fashion's eco conscience? Today Amber is the model most closely associated with eco-fashion, she's fronted the last two Stella McCartney campaigns, and protested on behalf of climate acti
The Eco Awesomeness of Allbirds - Sustainable Shoes for Changemakers
Obsessed with Allbirds? Join the club. For the last Episode of Series 3, Clare visits the San Francisco HQ of the hottest comfy shoe brand on the planet, and unpicks what makes it work.On the way, she discovers the secrets of algae as an eco ingredient, asks the hard questions about end-of-life and greenwashing, and decodes the complexity of carbon offsetting. Oh, and sits next to Matthew McConaughey on the plane… Alright, alright, alright!“Phenomenal for customers, and also phenomenal for the p
Special Report: Is the Great Barrier Reef Dead?
Is the Great Barrier Reef dead? Headlines to that effect zoomed around the world after two consecutive coral bleaching events in 2016 and 2017. But Australia's most famous World Heritage wonder is still very much with us - a vast eco-system, roughly the size of Germany, it teams with life.Threats from climate change and other factors aren't going away though. Find out what is being done to build resilience on the reef. Meet the scientists and activists working together to protect it. Learn
Beyond Marie Kondo! Adam Minter Unpacks Secondhand, Recycling & Reuse
Are you into vintage shopping or second-hand style? Join the club. Whether you're glued to Depop, buying high end designer vintage or a committed charity shop trawler, secondhand has lost its stigma in fashion circles. Recommerce is growing. According to Thredup preloved fashion is on track to eclipse fast fashion within a decade, while 64% of women have either bought or are open to buying used clothes. But... that doesn't mean the world isn't drowning in unwanted stuff. This podcast g
Green Architect Jason McLennan on Biophilic Design & the Living Building Challenge
What if our buildings weren't just a little bit more energy efficient or decorated with a few extra plants? What if they gave back to the environment instead of taking away from it? Biophilic design is a buzz word, and we're on board!Meet the visionary Canadian architect Jason McLennan, founder of the Living Building Challenge and the Living Future Institute.This Episode is all about how we can not just green our built environment but totally rethink it so that it's regenerative, and provides ha
Economist Raj Patel - Can We Imagine the End of Capitalism?
Why are the old white men still in charge? What's the system build from, and how might be change it? In A History of the World in 7 Cheap things, Raj Patel and his co-author Jason W. Moore argue that the modern world has been shaped by the exploitation of cheap nature, money, work, care, food, energy, and lives."Cheap is a strategy, a practice, a violence that mobilises all kinds of work - human, animal, botanical and geological - for as little compensation as possible.” And it goes back way fur
Fashion Designers! Vegan Chefs! Gung-Ho & Women Leading the Sustainable Food Movement
Have you ever thought about the water footprint of beef or olive oil? Or how far your food has travelled before it reaches your dinner plate? And what has all this god to do with fashion? Meet Gung-Ho designer Sophie Dunster, food writer and photographer Sara Kiyo Popowa, and chefs Lauren Lovatt and Abi Aspen Glencross. Whether they're vegan or just very excited about colourful vegetables; sure that what we eat can affect our mental health or just really keen on yummy food that doesn't cost
Disability advocate Sinead Burke on Fashion Activism & Inclusivity
IT'S OUR BIRTHDAY! You are listening to the 100th Episode of Wardrobe Crisis - hurrah! Thank you for being part of it.This week's guest is Sinéad Burke, the Irish fashion journalist, activist and inclusivity advocate. Maybe you've watched her TED talk, Why Design Should Include Everyone, or heard about reminding the World Economic Forum at Davos this year, to ask: "Who is not in the room?" Probably you saw her on the cover of the Duchess of Sussex-edited September issue of British Vogue.This int
What Will it Take to Fix Unsustainable Fashion? British MP Mary Creagh
Why do we need to "fix" fashion? Try because textile production contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined and consumes lake-sized volumes of fresh water. If current consumption levels continue the industry could account for 25% of the world's carbon budget.Because our wardrobes are full of clothes we don't wear, yet we keep buying more and more garments, most of which are made from polyester and shed tiny plastic microfibres every time we wash them. Bec
Courage! Activist Anna Rose on How to Conquer Climate Anxiety
How are you doing with all this climate news? Is it getting you down? This Episode to the rescue! It's all about climate hope and how we can feel more courageous and positive about our activism.Meet climate activist, Anna Rose. She started forming environmental groups when she was a school kid. By the time she was at university, she, and her friend Amanda McKenzie, cofounded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, which today has more than 150,000 members. She's been involved in leadership for E
Extinction Rebellion - No Fashion on a Dead Planet
This Episode was recorded during London fashion week. Extinction Rebellion is a grass roots activism movement demanding radical action on the global climate crisis. The group formed in the UK in October 2018 on the premise that trying to be a bit more sustainable, tinkering around the edges of the system but essentially carrying on with business as usual, will not save us from climate breakdown.They are calling on governments to declare a climate and ecological emergency, and to act immediately
Are You Represented? Sara Ali on Fashion's Diversity Problem & Colonialism
How does colonialism play out in fashion? And how can we encourage the fashion industry in general, and retail in particular, to be more inclusive? And when will fashion finally wake up to cultural appropriation and do better?Join me and Sara Ali, a London-based luxury fashion consultant who focuses on Arabia and Africa, as we decode this sensitive subject and ask, Why don't more conversations focus on it?Enjoying the show? Thank you for listening. Please help us spread the word. Rating and revi
Fighting Pollution & Detoxing Fashion with Greenpeace Eco Warrior Kirsten Brodde
Have you heard the one about denim factories turning rivers blue in China? Horrendous, right? But change is possible.Kirsten Brodde is a former science journalist on a mission to clean up fashion. Meet the Greenpeace activist who led the Detox My Fashion campaign, which spurred an industry-wide commitment to phase out harmful chemicals from clothing production.In this interview, we unpick what it takes to be an effective activist (think dogged persistence!) and passion but also a willingness to
Joost Bakker, Zero Waste Renegade
The New York Times calls him "the poster boy for zero waste living". He's a florist, artist, restaurateur, architect, inventor and revolutionary thinker. Meet the man on a mission to convince us we can grow all the food we need where we live.In this riveting episode, we discuss everything from how wasteful the floristry industry is to the microbial power of healthy soil to boost serotonin (Yep, it can get you high apparently). What would happen if we reconnected with the natural world? How might
Everlane's Michael Preysman - Radical Transparency & Beyond
Do you have any idea how much it actually costs to make your clothes? Most brands would rather you didn't.Meet the fashion disruptor who is happy to tell you exactly what it costs his company to make its products, and exactly how much profit they make on each style.Michael Preysman founded Everlane on the concept of "radical transparency" and says: “We believe our customers have a right to know how much their clothes cost to make. We reveal the true costs behind all of our products—from material
Nest's Rebecca Van Bergen - the Handworker Economy
Did you know that handwork, or craft, is the second largest employer of women in emerging economies? Since a large proportion of them work from home, this is an often hidden and unregulated sector.Post Rana Plaza, there's been more attention on garment factories, but how often do we consider outworkers - homeworkers - who are often contracted by third parties?This week's guest is Rebecca van Bergen, founder of fab New York-based NGO, Nest. They are on a mission to “build a new handworker economy
How to Make it in Sustainable Fashion - A.BCH's Courtney Holm
I'm sure you've heard that sustainable fashion is the thing right now. Searches on Lyst increased by 66% last year. Vogue has a sustainability editor. Slow fashion is so popular that even Zara is trying to convince us they're not a fast fashion brand. But what does it take to make it as an independent designer working in this space? To cut through the noise to become a sustainable label people talk about? And buy?Are hard work and dedication enough? Nope, says Courtney Holm, the Austra
How to Make Denim Circular with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Francois Souchet
Denim is ubiquitous. Almost 2 billion pairs of jeans were sold around the world in 2017. That's a lot of jeans. It's also a lot of jeans waste. According to The New Textiles Economy report, less than 1% of used clothing is recycled into new clothing. We're landfilling and incinerating more while at the same time decreasing clothing use over time. The new Jeans Redesign Guidelines from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation seek to solve this. Can they get everyone on board?
Post-Growth Plan - Kate Fletcher on Craft of Use
By 2030, we keep going as we are, the fashion industry will manufacture 102 million tons of clothes and shoes. For comparison, that's the weight equivalent of half million blue whales!Growth is not something we like to question in the fashion industry (or indeed any industry). In our capitalist system, commercial success is measured by growth. But, how can we support infinite growth on a finite planet? “If we could live within the limits of what we've already got, we could get a glimpse of
Fashion Poet Wilson Oryema - What to Do About Consumerism?
What drives us to consume, and what does over-consumption do to us and the planet?Twenty-five-old British poet, filmmaker and activist Wilson Oryema describes himself as “a semi-retired fashion model”. He was scouted on his lunch break when he was working a London office job, and walked his first show for Margiela in Paris in 2015. He went on to appear in ads for Calvin Klein Underwear and Hugo Boss.His first book of poetry, titled Wait, explores consumerism, contemporary culture and waste. It s
The UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) decoded with Cameron Saul
Cameron Saul is a British social entrepreneur and the co-founder of ethical accessories brand Bottletop. For his next trick, he's teamed up with the United Nations and Project Everyone on #TOGETHERBAND - which is all about spreading awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals - (SDGs) - also known as the Global Goals.“We want solutions, but what most of us don't realise is that there is a roadmap for a healthy planet, and that's the Global Goals. It's an extraordinary framework for action
Jennifer Boylan on Trans Activism, Equality & Acceptance - Clothes Don't Make the Woman
(Trigger warning: this interview contains a brief reference to suicide.)This week's interview is with brilliant writer and activist Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan. Her memoir She's Not There, A Life in Two Genders is a must-read, as are her New York Times columns.For many years, Jenny was the co-chair of GLAAD's board of directors. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender and Reproduction, and she advised and appeared on the TV series I Am C
Michael Kobori, Give Earth A Chance - Levi's VP of Sustainability
Blue jeans were invented by Jacob Davis and Levis Strauss in the 1870s. They were worn by gold miners and cowboys, then James Dean, Marlon Brando, American teenagers and rock stars. If you want to talk about the history of cool, Levi's was there. From Debbie Harry and The Ramones to Jim Morrison - they all wore Levi's. And did you also know that Levi's introduced women's jeans in 1934, when skirts were the norm? The company has also been active raising money and awareness in the fight against AI
Fashion Royalty - Katharine Hamnett is Queen of the Slogan Shirt
CHOOSE LIFE, EDUCATION NOT MISSILES, WORLDWIDE NUCLEAR BAN NOW, SAVE THE FUTURE, and more recently, CANCEL BREXIT...just a few of the iconic slogan T-shirts designed by this week's guest over the years.Designer Katharine Hamnett is one of the pioneers of modern British fashion. She invented the much copied slogan T-shirt, was the first winner of the British Fashion Council's 'Designer of the Year' award (in 1984), and championed organic cotton long before it was trendy. This year marks her 40th
Bandana Tewari - What We Can Learn from Gandhi about Mindful Fashion
We don't talk very much about mindfulness in fashion, but it's not like the two are mutually exclusive. If the opposite of sustainable fashion is thoughtlessly buying more and more clothes and getting rid of them after just a few wears, then mindfulness surely has a place.Fashion journalist Bandana Tewari is a former Vogue India editor who now writes for Business of Fashion, and speaks globally on India's rich tradition of fashion craftsmanship. This episode covers that but from a unique perspec
Supermodel Arizona Muse - A Post Prada Education
In 2011, Arizona Muse landed a Prada contract and a 14-page story in American Vogue, with Anna Wintour comparing her to Linda Evangelista and Natalia Vodianova. She's since become a familiar face on Vogue covers everywhere (including Vogue Paris, British vogue plus she's graced 3 Australian Vogue covers). But these days Arizona has new priorities.Today she is using her platform to help the industry that she loves transition to a more sustainable future. She's been working with The Sustainable An
Maggie Marilyn - Meet New Zealand 's Sustainable Fashion Darling
Meet the millennial behind cult New Zealand label Maggie Marilyn. We hear a lot about how the Gens Y and Z are more woke, more into sustainability and of course more worried about climate change and the environment - why wouldn't they be? These are the generations that are going to inherit the mess that's been made. They are already inheriting it.Find out why designer Maggie Hewitt is determined to do fashion differently, how she sold her very first collection to Net-A-Porter and gets most excit
Citizen Wolf - A Tech Company with a Fashion Problem
The mainstream fashion production process is extremely wasteful. The whole system is built on over-ordering, taking a punt on how much will sell, and writing off over-production. This leads to shocking amounts of pre-consumer textiles and garments being landfilled or incinerated - according to some estimates, 1/3 of all the fashion ever produced it never sold.Australian made-to-order T-shirt company Citizen Wolf is using big data and algorithmic power to disrupt this. And they plan to take on th
Craftivist Sarah Corbett - Stitching the Rebellion
Fashion has a long association with craft, but what about fashion activism? Could we stitch out way to a better world?Meet the author of How to be a Craftivist and founder of Craftivist Collective. Sarah Corbett believes, “If we want a world that is beautiful, kind and fair, shouldn't our activism be beautiful, kind and fair?”This Episode is a call to arms for fashion change-makers, a demonstration of the persuasive nature of gentle activism, and the wonderful idea that together we might stitch
Natalie Isaacs & 1 Million Women Fight Climate Change
As we gear up to Earth Day on April 22, we're thinking about living more lightly on the planet. This year's theme is Protect Our Species, and one of the quotes that inspired it is from Rachel Carson, who said, “In nature nothing exists alone.”This week's podcast guest is proof of that. She is Natalie Isaacs, the super-inspiring Australian movement builder behind 1 Million Women. Natalie is one-woman powerhouse who decided to harness that power of other women - heck, the whole of womankind!
Ecoalf's Action Man - Javier Goyeneche
Who's up for stopping our wasteful ways and reimagining trash as a resource? This week's guest is proving fashion can be made from entirely from recycled materials.He is Javier Goyeneche, president and founder of Ecoalf, the Spanish clothing company that pioneers high-tech new materials made from waste.If you're a sustainability nerd, you've no doubt heard of Ecoalf. It was Spain's first B-corp and Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan - a few years back she did a collab with them for Goop.They've developed
The Sustainable Angle's Nina Marenzi - Future Fabrics
Have you heard that phrase: from seed to garment? Probably, right? Because most natural textiles are grown in the Earth. Around 24% of textiles are made from cotton, while hemp, linen and wool all depend on soil. But how often does fashion get its fingernails into the actual dirt?Perhaps it ought to start, because according to the UN, globally, one third soil is degraded. If we carry on like this, we could lose all of our precious topsoil in 60 years. Fashion isn't entirely to blame, but it
Sass Brown - Clothing Ethics
Is sustainable fashion elitist? Does fashion contribute to poor body image and eating disorders by perpetuating a single, unattainable beauty ideal? What can we do about fashion's diversity problem? How do we, as consumers of fashion, navigate all this? "You can't do it all at the moment,” says this week's guest. “You have to make choices based on your values and those are your personal ethics.”Sass Brown is an English designer, educator and the author of Eco Fashion. For many years, S
Rosario Dawson & Abrima Erwiah, Studio 189's Dynamic Power Duo
This episode is about purpose, co-creation and building a social enterprise with a friend. It's about fashion with a heart, and following your dreams. Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiah are Studio 189, a social enterprise fashion, lifestyle and media brand based between New York and Ghana, that won the CFDA Sustainable Fashion Initiative Award last year.They work in countries with valuable skills but little infrastructure and limited access to markets, to help build the creative eco
Claire Bergkamp - Stella McCartney's Secret Sustainability Weapon
You know it: Stella McCartney does the eco things first. Whether it's making all things green super-cool, proving non-leather accessories can compete with traditional animal leather in the luxury market, or bringing the circular fashion conversation mainstream, this fashion brand leads the way.So who makes all this happen? There's McCartney herself, of course - the designer is a visionary greenie. But no woman is an island. Claire Bergkamp has her back.Meet Stella McCartney's Worldwide Sustainab
Ronald van der Kemp - Upcyling Couture
VOGUE once called him a “high-end scavenger”. Meet Dutch designer Ronald Van Der Kemp - the "sustainable couturier" behind RVDK. Fans include Lady Gaga and Kate Moss, Emma Watson and Lena Dunham.While he was still in college, Ronald wrote a thesis on fashion and nature, and designed a collection using vintage materials. He then spent two decades working in luxury fashion for the likes of Barney's, Bill Blass, Guy Laroche and Celine.Now he's come full circle. Today, brand RVDK - which s
Mother of Pearl's Amy Powney, BBC Earth & #SustainableMe
Meet London fashion star Amy Powney: an eco pioneer in polka dots and pearls, who grew up off-grid in a caravan and is simply not content to let fashion off the sustainability hook. Amy is the creative director of Mother of Pearl , a British sustainable luxury womenswear brand that celebrates individuality and authenticity.Known for its dark florals, satin bows, ruffles and outsized faux-pearl trims, you could never accuse Mother of Pearl of being homespun or beige. Amy's putting
New Power Generation - London's Rising Fashion Stars
Fashion schools everywhere are full of eco warriors and bright, brilliant kids who are determined to do fashion differently. London is the leader. Long known for its fashion creativity, this is the capital that produces the most vibrant student shows and earth-shaking emerging designers. The big international and Paris-based design houses look to London fashion schools like Central St Martins and the London College of Fashion for their future stars - but will they be seduced?Many in this ne
Fashion Revolution's Orsola de Castro - Upcycling Queen
Welcome to Series 3! This Episode is a treat! It features Orsola de Castro, is one of the warmest, most generous, most knowledgable people working in sustainable fashion today. You may know her as the cofounder, with Carry Somers, of Fashion Revolution. But did you also know that she is the queen upcycling?In the that 1990s, after crocheting around the holes in a much-loved old jumper that she couldn't part with (although it was literally falling apart), she founded the fashion label From Somewh
Livia Firth, Eco-Age & the Green Carpet
Livia Firth is the Creative Director of sustainability consultancy Eco-Age, and the founder of the Green Carpet Challenge and Green Carpet Fashion Awards. She is a UN Leader of Change, a founding member of Annie Lennox's women's advocacy group The Circle, and was a co-producer on Andrew Morgan's ethical fashion documentary, The True Cost. Livia is also a warm and wonderful advocate for ethical and sustainable fashion, and an absolute treat to interview. We are so grateful to Livia for kicking of
Tamara Cincik, Fashion Politics - Brexit & the Environmental Audit Committee
From front row to front bench? Why not? It's time we stopped considering fashion as simply fluffy. The industry is a giant global employer with serious impacts on the environment, and yet it is not traditionally associated with being active in the political arena or central to government policy.Our guest this week, on the final Episode of Series 2, is Londoner Tamara Cincik, founder of the British policy organisation Fashion Roundtable, who is derminted to change this. Her timing's pretty good.I
Teatum Jones - the London Designers on Positive Fashion, Inclusivity & Activism
“We truly believe in the power of fashion to present a pro-social message of inclusivity and positive identity." How's that for a vision statement? These are the words of Catherine Teatum and Rob Jones, AKA London fashion duo Teatum Jones.Catherine Teatum and Rob Jones, are the London creative partners behind Teatum Jones - an inclusive, though-provoking label challenging fashion’s norms. What role can fashion play in empowering women and girls? How can we modernise fashion and make it way more
Ruchika Sachdeva on Indian Fashion's New Gen & Winning the Woolmark Prize
Meet Indian designer Ruchika Sachdeva of Bodice Studio, the Delhi-based label that took out the 2017/18 International Woolmark Prize .Join us as we discuss how to make it in fashion, and build a successful small business, sustainability, our need for connection and the importance of provenance and craft. We explore the rise of emerging Indian fashion talent (and no, it's not all Bollywood) and look at how can design offer solutions to fashion's waste crisis. A recent British survey fou
Paul van Zyl - Social Justice, Maiyet & The Conduit
Paul van Zyl is a human rights lawyer and ethical fashion entrepreneur, who 2009 he founded Maiyet, a luxury fashion brand with a social impact purpose.The idea was to “incorporate ancient traditions in non-traditional ways by partnering with artisans in developing economies and by sourcing material in ethical ways.” It's about creating opportunity, local entrepreneurship, prosperity, and dignity in, as Paul puts it, the places that need it most.Maiyet partnered with Artisans in Colombia, India,
Christina Dean - Fighting Fashion Waste
‘Single-use' was named the Word of the Year for 2018 by the Collins Dictionary. Now that we know the oceans are choking with plastics, disposable has become a dirty word. We also know, there is no away. Nothing that uses synthetic materials is ‘disposable' – it has to go somewhere. Out of site, out of mind is a total copout. But what about so-called "disposable fashion"?Single-use fashion is perhaps a stretch – but we're not a million miles away. Clothing usability is declining. Stats vary, but
Easton Pearson - Slow Fashion in a Fast Fashion World
What was it like to pioneer ethical fashion before that was even a phrase? For 27 years, Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson ran the iconic Australian fashion label Easton Pearson, known for its exquisite artisanal fabrics and embellishments, colourful exuberance and sense of fun.They are the subjects of an exhibition at the Museum of Brisbane, The Designers' Guide: Easton Pearson Archive - an invaluable resource for fashion students and fashion fans. It's also an important contribution to
Vogue Italia's Sara Maino & Vogue Green Talents
What does it take to break through as an emerging fashion designer today? Do sustainable designers have the edge? Who are the names to know, now? Sara Maino is the deputy editor-in-chief of VOGUE ITALIA, and the fashion force behind VOGUE TALENTS, Vogue Green Talents and Who Is On Next?As she told the New York Times: “You will rarely see me at the big shows, those blockbuster events with a starry front row. That is really not my scene.” Instead, Sara combs the globe meeting students, attend
Fashion Education - Dilys Williams & the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London
Welcome to our 60th episode! Can you believe it? This week's guest also have an anniversary to celebrate as the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion turns 10. You're going to meet its founder, academic, designer, educator and all-round sustainable fashion legend Dilys Williams.This is a lively and thought-provoking discussion about how we might totally redesign the way the current fashion system works.We talk about the role of the designer, the role of fashion in all our l
Cradle to Cradle's William McDonough - Fashion is a Verb
Meet legendary thinker, innovator, disruptor and Cradle to Cradle hero, William McDonough. Architect, designer, thought leader, and author – his vision for a future of abundance for all is helping companies and communities think differently. He was the inaugural chair of the World Economic Forum's Meta-Council on the Circular Economy and currently serves on the Forum's Global Future Council on the Future of Environment and Natural Resource Security. For more than 40 years, he has defin
Fashion for Good's Katrin Ley
Katrin Ley is the CEO of FASHION FOR GOOD, an Amersterdam-based organisation that was co-founded by Cradle-to-Cradle's William McDonough. They aim to bring together the entire fashion ecosystem with incentives, resources and tools for sustainability.At Fashion For Good's core is McDonough's concept of the Five Goods, which, he says, “represent an aspirational framework we can all use to work towards a world in which we do not simply take, make, waste, but rather take, make, r
Dame Ellen MacArthur, Making Fashion Circular
To say that Ellen MacArthur is a phenomenal woman is an understatement. In 2005, aged 28, she became the fastest person to sail solo, non-stop around the world. It took her 71 days, 14 hours and 18 minutes.You're going to hear what that was like, how she stayed focused and what she learned from it. The importance of goal setting really comes through in this interview. Ellen is obviously an incredibly determined person but there's a take-away for us all here: it's about having a plan - by knowing
Tamsin Lejeune, Access over Ownership & Common Objective
Sometimes it can feel like sustainable fashion is a new thing, but pioneers laid the groundwork years ago. People like this week's guest, British fashion change-maker Tamsin Lejeune.Back in 2006, Tamsin founded the Ethical Fashion Forum, a London-based industry body for sustainable fashion. Her team also brought us Source, one of the first platforms to list sustainable resources & suppliers in one place.In the UK, it was Tamsin & her team who were running the sustainable fashio
Outland Denim's James Bartle on Fighting Human Trafficking & Creating Positive Opportunity
How does an ordinary Aussie bloke go from motor-cross riding and working as a welder to setting up a social enterprise fashion business? You're going to meet James Bartle, founder of Outland Denim. This is a candid eye-opening interview about an extraordinary story.We talk about the tough stuff: Who gets trafficked, and who does the trafficking and why? Is it possible to empathise with their desperation?We talk about materials, and how organic and reduced waste is essential to the big picture. W
Safia Minney, Fair Trade Fabulous
If only all fashion was fair trade fashion. According to the Global Slavery Index 2018, fashion is one of 5 key industries implicated in modern slavery. In Australia, every year we import over $US4 billion worth of clothes and accessories at risk of being tainted by modern slavery. 40 million people globally are trapped in it, and 71 % are women.In this Episode, we hear from ethical fashion pioneer Safia Minney, founder of People Tree and Real Sustainability, on fair trade,&n
Baroness Lola Young on Modern Slavery in Fashion
According to the Global Slavery Index 2018, fashion is one of 5 key industries implicated in modern slavery. How does that happen? What can we do about it?In this Episode, you're going to meet Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey, a British crossbench peer in the House of Lords who is active in the ethical fashion space and is working to amend the UK's Modern Slavery Act.Modern slavery is, of course, a depressing issue but this episode is not depressing. No, no. It's got the power! It's all about unle
Do We Need Sustainable Fashion Weeks?
What is fashion week actually for? Is the old system tired and old-fashioned? Has it lost its purpose and reason for being? If so, what sorts events do we want to see take over? Do we need sustainable fashion weeks? Meet Evelyn Mora, the millennial change maker behind Helsinki Fashion Week. Evelyn is on a mission to reinvent “traditional concepts of fashion week venues and the ways they present collections to buyers and press” while simultaneously “questioning the way we consume.”She says h
Artisan Fashion in Kenya
How can fashion aristanship empower women? What does a fair work accessories factory look like, and how do the workers see value in the setup? How about in community hubs, where skilled artisans can work as collectives?This is the second instalment of a 2-part series about the UN's Ethical Fashion Initiative, a flagship programme of the International Trade Centre. The EFI connects skilled artisans in places like Kenya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Afghanistan, to the international value ch
Simone Cipriani, the United Nations & the Ethical Fashion Initiative
Ciao Simone! Simone Cipriani is the founder of the UN's Ethical Fashion Initiative, a flagship programme of the International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the UN and World Trade Organization.The EFI connects skilled artisans in places like Kenya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Haiti and now Afghanistan, to the international value chain of fashion, working with the likes of Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Adidas and the Australian accessories house MIMCO.Simone sees luxury fashion as a vehicle
Tim Jarvis, a Polar Explorer's Insights
What to pack for an expedition to Antarctica? Or to keep yourself alive on a remote mountainside? In extreme conditions, clothes move way beyond fashion to become tools for survival. In this Episode, you get to hang out with environmental scientist, polar explorer, author and adventurer Tim Jarvis, a man for whom pushing himself to the limits of his physical endurance is all in a day's work. But Tim doesn't undertake his incredible expeditions just to prove he's tough; he does it
Anna Gedda on H&M's Sustainability Goals & Challenges
Can fast fashion turn circular? Can fast fashion ever be sustainable? Will circularity fundamentally change things? How about supply chain transparency, collaboration and pumping resources into textile innovation? Is all this eclipsed by the shadow of overproduction?Swedish giant H&M is the second biggest clothing company in the world (the first is Zara.) The H&M Group comprises the H&M brand, but also COS, & Other Stories, jeans brand Cheap Monday, hyper-tran
Tim Silverwood, Beating Plastic Pollution
"Change isn't going to be easy, but there's no time to procrastinate or hope someone else is going to fix it…it's time to do something. YOU are the person you've been waiting for." — Tim Silverwood.Australian oceans advocate Tim Silverwood is fighting plastic pollution. Why? Nearly one third of the plastic packaging we use escapes collection systems, which means that it ends up clogging our city streets and polluting our natural environment. Every year, up to 13 million tons of plastic leak into
Supermodel Lily Cole on the Bcorps & Purpose
Lily Cole is a model turns eco-entrepreneur. She was the youngest model to appear on the cover of British Vogue, and was listed by French Vogue as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s. Her pictures, shot by some of photography's greatest names (think Tim Walker, Nick Knight, Steven Meisel) are some of the most memorable in the business, but these days Lily has other fish to fry.An environmental advocate, actor, writer and social entrepreneur, she is the founder of Impossible.com, a B Corp that
Roland Mouret, Sex, Fashion & Sustainability
You might know about ROLAND MOURET's famous "Galaxy" dress. Fitted, flattering, cap-sleeved and much-copied, it was a phenomenon in the 2000s, worn by everyone from Beyoncé and Scarlett Johansson to Demi Moore and Victoria Beckham. You might also know about another of his glamorous clients, the Duchess of Sussex who wore a chic navy Roland Mouret dress the day before her wedding to Prince Harry.What is less well-know is the designer's strong interest in sustainability.This is the first ever publ
Fashioned From Nature: V&A curator Edwina Ehrman
London's Victoria & Albert Museum (“perhaps the world's best dressing-up box” with an archive of more than 75,000 items of clothing) takes on sustainable fashion.The Fashioned From Nature exhibition includes amazing historical garments as well as contemporary fashion by the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Katherine Hamnett, Alexander McQueen, Christophers Kane and Raeburn, and Bruno Pieters. But most importantly, it looks at fashion's eco footprint, and the massive impacts of textile produc
Simon Collins, Fashion Culture Design
Simon Collins is a creative director, educator, fashion consultant, and ex-dean of the fashion school at Parsons in New York. With his new platform Fashion Culture Design, Simon holds what he calls Unconferences where not-boring fashion people address topics such as, How do you solve a problem like fashion week? And, Can sustainability be sexy?At an opening address of the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, he famously said: "It's all your fault!" Is it? Is it down to us to make fashion more sustain
Sara Ziff, Fashion, Me Too & the Model Alliance
Meet Sara Ziff, founder of the Model Alliance. She is a campaigner for a fairer, more sustainable fashion industy in general and for the rights of models in particular.This Episode was recorded during the Copenhagen Fashion Summit - Sara was there with model Edie Campbell and casting director James Scully to speak about the RESPECT Program. It launched with an open letter signed by more than 100 fashion models in the wake of Me Too, calling for fashion houses, media companies and model
Bianca Spender, the Australian designer on Nature, process & creativity
She's a strong tailor, cuts a mean coat & has been a Woolmark Prize finalist. One of the most considered, creative, thoughtful designers working in Australia today, Bianca Spender also thinks deeply about sustainability & making positive impacts on people & planet with her work.In this interview, recorded live at the recent SCCI Fashion Hub in Sydney, we discuss Bianca's approach to integrating sustainability into every aspect of her business. We talk about her use of dead stock
Eva Kruse, on the Copenhagen Fashion Summit
How can we begin to solve fashion's most pressing sustainability issues? We need collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and a willingness to look fearlessly at what's wrong as well as the opporunities for positive change. We need the movers and shakers to get involved, and stakeholders from all areas of the industry to join them. We need fresh ideas and points of view. Enter, the Copenhagen Fashion Summit. Organisers liken the summit "the Davos of the fashion industry", and say: "it's a nex
Stylist Laura Jones, Red Carpet Ready
It's Met Gala time, which means your social media feeds are going to be full of who wore what. This got us thinking about the huge influence of the red carpet on fashion and pop culture, and about how it works and who, apart from the designer, creates these looks - because make no mistake, celebrities do not dress themselves at these things...What better time to share an Episode about styling? You're going to meet New York-based fashion editor Laura Jones, who is fast carving a niche for he
VEJA's co-founder Sébastien Kopp, Active Good
Are you a sneaker freak? How sustainable are your favourite sneakers? If they're by cult French brand, Veja, the answer is very.In the sustainable fashion space, we often talk about reducing the negative impacts of production on people and planet, but Veja's Sébastien Kopp and François Morillion talk about having a positive impact on the environment and society. Not less harm but active good.Is it possible? How do you choose eco-positive materials to make sneakers? Can you make money doing
Fashion Revolution's Sarah Ditty, Pro-Fashion Protest
Who made your clothes? Welcome to the last in our mini-series of four shows in celebration of Fashion Revolution Week, the global not-for-for profit campaign that was established on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh, to promote transparency in the fashion industry. You're going to meet Fashion Revolution's Head of Policy, Sarah Ditty. Sarah is based in London, and has a wealth of insights the big issues around ethical and sustainable fashion today, from modern slavery
How I Built A Fashion Social Enterprise - The Social Outfit
Where would we be without creative collaboration? This week's Episode is all about fashion community, its power to change the world, and the idea that together we are stronger.You're going to meet the inspiring change-maker Jackie Ruddock, CEO of The Social Outfit, a Sydney-based social enterprise and fashion brand that works with refugees and new migrants to provide first Australian jobs in the fashion industry. What it's like to come to a new country and to try to build a n
Patrick Duffy, The Clothes Swap King - Sustainable in Sequins
This Episode is about the magical powers of the clothes swap. It's also about us having way too many clothes. And some of it is just about the charmed life of Patrick Duffy, New York's clothes swap king, and co-founder of Global Fashion Exchange.Buy less choose well is great, but it's clearly it's not what everyone's doing. There are quite simply too many clothes in our wardrobes. Fashion resale is projected to be bigger than fast fashion within 10 years. Millennials are both the most
Walk Sew Good - Discovering Positive Fashion Stories
"By walking, we connect with the Earth" - Satish Kumar. Towards the end of 2016 two friends from Melbourne, Megan O'Malley and Gab Murphy went out for a walk. A year later, they made it home. Calling themselves Walk Sew Good they went on a epic adventure - walking 3,500 kilometres through Souh East Asia to collect and share stories from some of the people who make our clothes. They met with and interviewed more than 50 different people and organisations, made videos and wrote a blogs - and
Kim Jenkins, Fashion & Race
We need to talk. And we need to listen. Fashion is supposed to be modern, cutting edge, leading the way. But is it? Or is it stuck in old-fashioned tropes that place white culture at its centre? Now is the time to shake things up and insist on representation and inclusivity, and we all have our parts to play. But what does diversity really mean? Are we headed in the right direction, and are we going there fast enough?In this week's Episode, we meet Kim Jenkins, a New York-based writer, educator
Advanced Style's Ari Seth Cohen, No More Invisible Woman
Photographer and author Ari Seth Cohen is the creator of Advanced Style, a project devoted “to capturing the sartorial savvy of the senior set.” He says, “I feature people who live full creative lives. They live life to the fullest, age gracefully and continue to grow and challenge themselves.”In this interview, you're going to hear all about how he began, who he met along the way, what he's learned and how he his work has helped to change the way the world looks at older women and advanced
Fanny Moizant, Secondhand is Not Second Best
There used to be a stigma about old clothes. Whereas vintage was always cool for those in the know, until fairly recently plain second hand wasn't always so welcome. But this is changing: 30% of millennials have shopped second-hand in the last three months. Instagram is full of stylish people wearing second-hand gear. Fashion rental and resale sites are booming.In this Episode, recorded in Paris, we meet Fanny Moizant, one of founders of Vestiaire Collective, the French ‘re-commerce' s
Kit Willow, Sustainability Gets Glamorous
Meet the Australian designer on a mission to save the planet one dress at a time. She's just been in London for Fashion Week showing her work at Buckingham Palace, no less. Livia Firth and Emma Watson lover her, and she's always in Vogue. No wonder everybody's talking about Kit Willow.Her KITX label is a sustainable fashion standout, established to do good as well as look good. Recorded at Kit's home in Sydney, this Episode offers a fascinating insight into what makes this revered creative
Christopher Raeburn, Remade, Reduced, Recycled
Meet British fashion's ruling King of Ucycling, and prepare to fall in love with his ideas.He's a Fashion Revolution favourite who shows both mens and womenswear at London Fashion Week Men's. US Vogue says Christopher Raeburn "totally relevant" and WWD notes that right now he totally captures the Zeiteist. True that, but this is no sudden trend-driven thing. Raeburn has been creating collections sustainably since he started out a decade ago.With his industry-leading Remade, R
Kowtow's Gosia Piatek, The Beauty of Minimalism
Welcome back! We're excited to kick off Series 2 with this inspiring interview with Gosia Piatek, the fabulous force behind cult ethical fashion label Kowtow.Decluttering, minimalism and the sustainable wardrobe are big themes in the ethical fashion conversation. But what does minimal design really mean? And what's it like to be an aesthetic minimalist with a partner who's a full-on maximalist?In this Episode, we discuss how to build a sustainable fashion business, and the pressures of running o
Eva Galambos, Luxury and the Art of Retail
London has Browns and Dover St Market, Milan has 10 Corso Como, New York has Jeffrey, and Paris had Collette. In Australia, the multi-brand designer fashion stores to know are Melbourne's Marais and in Sydney, Parlour X.This Episode is about independent high fashion retail, how it works and what it does, what's happening with bricks and mortar stores, and why we need them. You're going to meet the brilliant buyer, style setter and retailer Eva Galambos, who is Parlour X's founder.Eva is an exper
The Streets Barber, Good Hair Day
On any given night in Australia 1 in 200 people don't have a roof over their heads. Nasir Sobhani A.K.A The Streets Barber skateboards around Melbourne giving free haircuts and shaves to homeless people as a part of his ‘Clean Cut Clean Start' movement. Today, fashion and hairdressing live in the same world, along with makeup artistry, art direction, photography. The hair stylist on a shoot, for example, is just as important as the stylist, model or photographer. But the art of cu
Richard Denniss, Curing Affluenza
Join ethical fashionista Clare Press as she asks, Do you suffer from affluenza? This week's guest, Australian economist Richard Denniss has the cure!Richard is the author of a fascinating new book called Curing Affluenza, in which he argues that there's nothing inevitable about our current mode of consuming.“The vast majority of humans who have ever lived (and the majority of humans alive today) would find the idea of using our scarce resources to produce things that are designed to be thrown aw
Garment Workers, What She Makes
Join ethical fashionista Clare Press as she asks, What's it like to be a garment worker in Asia making clothes for high street brands in Australia and the global north?This Episode explores one of the biggest issues around fast fashion and cheap clothing supply chains - low pay. Do we care? Do brands? And what's being done to campaign for a living wage and fair fashion?Based on CEO pay levels of some of the big brands in Australia, it would take a Bangladeshi garment worker earning the minimum w
Patagonia's Director of Philosophy Vincent Stanley, Talking The Big Stuff
Vincent Stanley is Patagonia's Director of Philosophy. (Yes, that's a thing). He has been with the outdoor gear company since 1973, when his uncle, Yvon Chouinard, gave him a job as a kid out of college. Vincent is a deep thinker and passionate environmentalist, and a visiting fellow at the Yale School of Management. He's also a poet, whose work has appeared in Best American Poetry.With Yvon, he co-wrote the book THE RESPONSIBLE COMPANY, which is like a handbook for buil
Blake Mycoskie, TOMS' Chief Shoe-Giver on One for One
Have you got big ideas? Do you dream of starting a company that makes a difference in the world? Or working for one? Are you interested in how brands can create positive impacts in communities, beyond the boring, some would say broken, mainstream consumerism model? This Episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in social enterprises. Blake Mycoskie is one of the most successful players in this space, and in this interview he shares the story of his company TOMS, how
Karen Walker, Beyond Trends
New Zealand designer Karen Walker is one of The Business of Fashion's 500. Her brand sells in 42 countries, in prestigious stores like Barneys New York, and Liberty of London. She is a New York fashion week veteran, with some very famous fans. Everyone from Beyoncé and Rihanna to Scarlet Johansson, Alexa Chung, Lorde, Lena Dunham, Toast the dog, oh look everyone, wears her sunglasses.She also designs ready-to-wear, handbag, shoe and jew
Stylist Catherine Baba, Cycling in Heels
Yves Saint Laurent, Loulou de la Falaise, Pierre Cardin, Chanel, Givenchy, couture, prêt-à-porter and vintage shopping in the Paris flea markets, this week's Episode trés chic.Meet Paris-based Australian-raised stylist and César-winning costume designer, Catherine Baba.Vogue calls her a “fashion eminence”. Vanity Fair? An “original”. Indeed that magazine just included her on its 2017 Best Dressed List.She is also an accessories designer with her own line of sunglasses, a massive vintage fan and
Tim Flannery, on Climate Change & Saving the Great Barrier Reef
Australia's GREAT BARRIER REEF is the largest living thing on earth. Visible from outer space, it's the size of 70 million football fields and is home to 400 different types of coral and more than 1500 species of toprical fish. It's a magical underwater garden. No wonder fashion is obsessed with its beauty.But climate change is killing the reef, and fashion, being a major manufacturing industry, has its part to play. About 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the fashion sec
Fast Fashion Question Time
This week's Episode is little different from normal. It was recorded in September at a live Q&A event at the Wheeler Centre for Books & Ideas in Melbourne, and moderated by Madeleine Morris, a reporter for ABC television's 7.30. We touch on a whole lot of issues front and centre in an industry currently in overdrive, from slow fashion, overconsumption and waste, to what brands are doing about supply chain transparency, as well as Australia's m
Rachel Rutt, Making Mending Great Again
We live in a our throwaway society. "Landfill fashion" has become a phrase - we literally buy clothes to throw them away. With fast fashion brands dropping new stock into store sometimes as often as every week, we're consuming new clothes like never before. The average woman wears just 40 % of what's in her wardrobe, meanwhile it's cool to declutter. Or is it? Have you considered where all that "clutter" ends up when you remove it from your house?In this Episode, fashion model and Heart People f
Linda Jackson, Re-inventing Australian Style
Linda Jackson is an iconic designer who, with Jenny Kee, created a new visual language for contemporary Australian fashion in the 1970s, inspired by Australia's flora, fauna and landscapes.Until then, the Australian fashion industry had mostly looked outward, copying what Europe did. But Linda and Jenny shook that whole thing up, and the world took notice. In Sydney they engergised the fashion scene, collaborating with creative friends like Peter Tully and David McDairmid, who went on to become
Milliner Stephen Jones, from Club Kid to Christian Dior Couture
Stephen Jones is the most extraordinary, the most famous, and the most marvellous milliner working in fashion today.This interview took place at the National Gallery of Victoria on the eve of the opening of the exhibition, THE HOUSE OF DIOR: SEVENTY YEARS OF HAUTE COUTURE.During John Galliano's tenure at Dior in particular, from 1996 to 2011, Stephen made some of the house's most jaw-droppingly fabulous hats.Stephen also designed hats and headpieces for the designers who came after Galliano at D
Barney's Window Dresser Simon Doonan's Extraordinary Fashion Life
Before ecommerce changed the world, designers knew they'd made it when their collections were stocked by Saks, Bergdorf's or Barneys. The iconic New York department stores hold a special allure, even when you live elsewhere. But retail, globally, is in a state of flux. Will there even be physical stores in 10 or 20 years' time? As customers continue to head online, it seems like every week there's news of another “bricks and mortar” closure. In the US, analysts predict 25 % of malls could shutte
Conscious Chatter - Kestrel Jenkins on Sustainable Fashion Podcasting
The ethical fashion movement is gathering momentum. Not so long ago sustainable, ethical, eco-fashion (whatever you want to call it) was a too easily dismissed as some way-out, niche concern. Something kooky, and very possibly hairy and hemp-y, that belonged on the lunatic fringe. Well, no longer. Today sustainability is a buzz word. Everyone wants a piece of the activism action. We're in the middle of a Fashion Revolution, where the coolest, smartest most creative fashion fans are starting to a
Interiors Stylist Megan Morton - Chasing Decorating Dreams & Finding Beauty
Beauty is one of the major motivators for people who work in creative industries – they want to make beautiful things, whether it's a garment, textile, show or picture. They want, as Megan Morton puts it in this Episode, to chase down true beauty wherever they see it. Not to push the beautiful lie but to try to capture and understand it.Megan is a stylist, author and “house whisperer” with a life-long love for vintage and the stories behind old things. She grew up on a banana farm in Queensland,
Ethical Fashion & NGOs - Making it Work in India
What do you think is possible? How about impossible? Kim Pearce and Katherine Davis are living proof of the old adage: where there's a will there's a way. The Possibility Project, which they cofounded after meeting on the school run, “delivers social justice programs through the mindset of social entrepreneurship”.What does that look like on the ground? Try their womenswear label Slumwear 108, and made in the slums of Jaipur in partnership with the NGO i-India. The number 108, in case you're won
StyleLikeU’s Elisa Goodkind – Disentangling style from Fashion
Hands up who's over the narrow view of beauty peddled by mainstream fashion brands and media! Elisa Goodkind wants us to take back our power from magazines, advertising and the money-driven global fashion business, so that getting dressed each day becomes an act of self-love. With their platform StyleLikeU New Yorkers Elisa and her daughter Lily Mandelbaum are breaking down the fake stereotypes about what's beautiful, and what's supposedly not. They've published a new booked called Tru
Marina Debris – The grotesque beauty of trashion
In our final Episode for Plastic Free July, Clare interviews American visual artist Marina DeBris. Marina calls herself a “trashion” designer, as well as an environmental activist, and anti-plastics campaigner. She makes her "Beach Couture" collections from rubbish she finds washed up on beaches.There's a history of fashion designers referencing refuse. John Galliano's controversial Couture 2000 collection for Christian Dior featured newspaper prints
Singer/songwriter Montaigne – Using fame for good
Montaigne, AKA Jessica Cerro, shot to fame while she was still in school thanks to Triple J’s Unearthed High competition. Now 21, she’s made a name for herself as one of the most interesting and original new Australian recording artists.
Rolling Stone describes her vocals as “astonishingly powerful and expressive”, praising her debut album, Glorious Heights, as: “an enthralling listen, with pin-balling pop melodies and irrepressible hooks.”
Equally enthralling is her mindful approach to e
Garment Worker Labour Rights Activist Kalpona Akter on Rana Plaza & Ethical Fashion
Kalpona Akter is Executive Director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity. An inspirational and influential figure in the country's union movement, she is a former child labourer who began working in a garment factory at age 12. By 17, she'd been fired for standing up for her own rights, and those of her colleagues. ‘The day they fired this noisy woman, was the day they made a big mistake,' she says. Eighty per cent of ga
TOME’s Ramon Martin – Fashion Is a Feminist Issue
TOME is a New York-based fashion label. Designers Ramon Martin & Ryan Lobo are known for collaborating with, and taking inspiration from, female artists. This season they looked to the Guerrilla Girls for a show inspired by the Women's Marches and the Trump administration's attacks on Planned Parenthood. How can high fashion combine the pursuit of gorgeousness with serious messages about diversity and equality? What role does the runway have to play? ‘We underestimate the power of beauty and
Jennifer Lavers – Ocean Plastic, Marine Conservation and Birdlife (Plastic Sucks Part 2)
Dr. Jennifer Lavers sees seabirds as sentinels of marine health. Are we listening to what they're telling us? Her work as a scientist attached to the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies focuses on birdlife, but recently she's been looking to art and fashion to help get the message out too.Jennifer appears in the new film Blue about the state of our seas. And she's working with her friend Marina De Bris, who shows her ‘trashion' concept (fashion garments made entir
Fashion Professor Timo Rissanen – Design Can Save Us
Timo Rissanen is former Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Sustainability at Parsons The New School for Design, New York. Today he is associate professor at University Technology, Sydney.He is an expert in zero-waste fashion design, as well as a cross-stitch artist currently stitching a letter to humanity to be read 100 years from now. Oh, and he's a birdwatcher…Timo teaches his students to rethink traditional ways of approaching design to consider the entire lifecycle of a garment, and f
Model & Marine Biologist Laura Wells – Plastic Sucks Part 1
Ocean plastic pollution kills marine life and threatens us too - the fish eat the plastic, and we eat the fish! The UN warns that 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year, and plastic has been detected on shorelines of all the continents. Our very first podcast guest unpacks this topic, and helps us think about solutions. And of course, there's a fashion element too...Laura Wells is an Australian marine biologist and body positive model. She is a eco-warrior who divides her time
WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press - A New Podcast about Sustainable Fashion
WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press is the sustainable fashion podcast you've been waiting for.Join ex-Vogue sustainability editor Clare and her fascinating roster of international guests as they investigate fashion's impacts on people and planet. Who can you expect to hear from? From couture designers to scientists, economists to activists, models, influencers and inventors of new materials - if they've got a fascinating story to tell about reshaping the fashion conversation, they're here. This po