Fashion Revolutionaries is an ongoing global programme we work on with Fashion Revolution and other global partners. Bringing together global leaders from our networks to look at regenerative possibilities of fashion through creativity, policy, skills, education and partnerships. The programme hopes to bring new voices to the forefront from places often most affected by the damaging impacts of fashion. 

Earlier in the year we commissioned a series of short films featuring UK practitioners who are working to change the industry standard from within, their release coincided with Fashion Revolution Week which works to raise awareness of the cost of the fashion industry both on the Earth and the individuals working throughout the supply chain from around the world.

You can learn more about our work, resources and collaborators here. 

Creativity

In the following months a number of initiatives have taken place under the programme all centred around circular design and economy, eliminating excess production and experimenting with creative approaches towards a more sustainable future for fashion.

In the Philippines, Fashion Revolution Philippines presented The Walk-Through, an exhibition featuring work commissioned by artists Tekla Tamoria, Anina Rubio, Pam Quinto, Tanya Villanueva, and Zeus Bascon x Jas Fernandez, which address themes, philosophies, practices, studies, technologies, and socio-economic insight in regenerative fashion. The work invited visitors to walk through, feel and ponder, and included a publication of the artists' processes and was accompanied by their new fanzine Gossamer. 

In Tunisia with the support of Fashion Revolution Tunisia, a group of emerging designers received materials from Denim Company DEMCO in order to explore zero-waste, upcycling and reconstruction in the aesthetic of traditional Tunisian costume. While in Zimbabwe local designers were afforded new opportrunities to collaborate with local clothing factories, tanneries and businesses to gather matierals that would otherwise be waste and repurposing them into pieces of wearble work through a collaboration with Fashion Revolution Zimbabwe.  

In Cambodia, Fashion Revolution Cambodia organised a collaboration with Cambodia Childrens Fund which saw the materialization of the Re-A-Dress Challenge, a 10-week upcycling programme for local high school students in a garment manufacturing neighbourhood of Phnom Penh. "Fashion Packs" were supplied by Fair Sew which comprised of a weighted selection of garment offcuts, thread, needles and instructions. After 10 weeks of experimentation, testing, modifying, constructing and lessons with local craftspeople, new work and concepts were presented in an exhibition. 

In Vietnam at the CUC Gallery in Hanoi Women's Museum, Fashion Revolution Vietnam explored the sustainable fashion movement through a curated programme of workshops and film screenings for local students, and interactive installations presenting the impact of fast fashion in the community. It also displayed an original commission by photographer Le Xuan Phong, capturing sustainable fashion leaders in Vietnam to inspire the audience to be more aware of #whomademyclothes. 

Policy 

Fashion Revolution Philippines brought together policy experts and stakeholders to get involved and discuss the issues and concerns confronting the importation of the second-hand industry in the Philippines, or "ukay-ukay."After months of research involving key agencies and organizations such as Bureau of Customs, Philippine Textile Research Institute, Baguio City Local Government, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Social Welfare and Development, the team have launched their policy recommendations online. Fashion Revolution India organised a policy dialogue which addressed how gender equity could generate greater sustaianbility in cotton farming and production. Policy dialogues are currently taking place in Rwanda and Kenya, where they will explore localised issues. The policy work is supported through a toolkit created by Fashion Revolution's Policy team, which aims to create localised policy recommendations which can help to shape global policy. 

Skills

Our work in skills with Fashion Revolution aims to embed trainers throughout the world who can lead on developing what sustainable fashion means in their context and working with local fashion professionals to share this. In a bid to reduce our own carbon emissions, this work has been delivered digitally. In the European Union, we have brought practitioners such as Elisa Palamino to work with designers from across Spain, Greece and France. Both projects look to create international networks to share ideas and bring practitioners together.

Education 

This year we have supported Fashion Revolution to bring together their Country Coordinators from across the world to shape the future of fashion education resources, from drawing on narratives from local fairytales and mythologies to understanding what the greatest local challenges and solutions are. 

Through our Fashion Revolutionaries digital campaign, we commissioned local innovators to tell their fashion revolution stories using simple filmmaking techniques with mobile phones and images which is accompanied by a How to Tell Your Fashion Revoltuionary Story toolkit encouraging others to tell their own stories.  

If you are new to the conversation, you can access Fashion Revolution's updated How to be a Fashion Revolutionary toolkit, or the Crafting Futures: Discovering Your Craft Heritage toolkit to learn about some of the easy first steps you can take to get involved. 

Partnerships

In the European Union we have been working with partners to change the discussion on sustainable fashion in the region and enhance networks of practitioners. Working with the EU Commission on the WORTH Partnership Project, we supported a future fashion award, which highlighted projects from the WORTH project which demonstrated innovation and vision towards a sustainable fashion future. 

The winners included Tauko, a Finnish fashion brand which uses waste textiles from rental companies supplying hospitals and hotels, collaborating with Rutiks OÜ, an Estonian tailoring company supporting local refugee communities. Their project sought to further develop the use of waste textiles through a new quilting technique, aiming to minimise the use of virgin textiles. The other winning project waas led by Mayya Saliba, a Berlin-based circular designer, partnering with Lena Fashion Library, a clothing rental store in Amsterdam, and Greenbuzz, a peer-to-peer network for those interested in sustainability. Their project investigates the future of circular fashion and the shared economy by testing and optimising products meant for rental and better understanding the current barriers and incentives for potential customers in this system.

In Greece, we partner with the Onassis Cultural Centre to bring together European leaders in sustainable fashion to discuss things like craftsmanship in fashion or the future of materials. In Spain we collaborate with partners like Bilbao Design Week and Re/Barcelona, where we most recently brought leaders from Extinction Rebellion, Common Objective and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.