‘Fashioning The Future’ Young Fabian Debate Now Available Online

Last May (2019) FashionCapital’s CEO, Jenny Holloway, joined politicians, brands and advocacy groups at The Young Fabians Environment Network, the under-31 section of Britain’s oldest political think tank, the Fabian Society, for discussion and forward thinking on the future of fashion.

Jenny was joined by:

Edwina Ehrman (Senior Curator at the V&A)

Mary Creagh MP (Chair of Environmental Audit Committee)

Tamara Cincik (CEO and Founder of Fashion Roundtable)

Banita Vadlani (Founder of vegan fashion house LaBante)

The debate was inspired by Edwina’s recent exhibition at the V&A ‘Fashioned From Nature’ and she opened the discussion with a brief history on fashion’s complex relationship with nature which seems to be “both paradoxical and unequal because fashion is actively destroying the very source of its creativity.”

Fashion is now a £28.1 billion industry. British people buy an average of 27kg of clothing per person each year producing roughly 1.2billion tonnes of carbon dioxide and the environmental impact this is having on the planet is detrimental.

The debate explored some of the solutions to rebalance consumers love for clothes with a transition to more sustainable practices.

Mary Creagh MP (Chair of Environmental Audit Committee): “Our report (The Environmental Audit) basically found that the chemicals used in the dyeing processes, that the carbon emissions and social problems associated with the garment industry means that everything has got to change. We in the UK have got to get rid of the 25% of clothes in our wardrobes that we don’t use, get them out into the fresh air and distribute to our friends, neighbours, charities, selling them where we want to sell them on. Because at the moment we are chucking 140 million pounds worth of clothes go into landfill. We should reward companies that do the right thing and we should punish companies that do the wrong thing.”

Jenny went on to discuss how she operates an ethical and SMETA approved factory in North London and that thanks to the implementation of the Galaxius System at her Factory she knows who made every stitch on every garment. “It is absolutely possible to make ethical garments within the UK. Nothing is more lean than ‘made to demand.’”

You can now listen to the full debate (1 hour and 31minutes) via The Young Fabian Podcast click this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/267310/1603786-fashion-sustainability-panel-with-mary-creagh-mp plus an engaging Q&A session at the end.