Fashion Revolution

Fashion Revolution is a not-for-profit global movement with teams in over 90 countries around the world. Fashion Revolution campaigns for systemic reform of the fashion industry with a focus on the need for greater transparency in the fashion supply chain. Fashion Revolution has designated the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh as Fashion Revolution Day. In 2014, 2015 and 2016 millions of people around the world called on brands to answer the question Who Made My Clothes? The hashtag #whomademyclothes was the no.1 global trend on Twitter.^[1][2][3]

History

Fashion Revolution was created in 2013 in response to the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh by Carry Somers and Orsola de Castro. Somers and De Castro had worked as fashion designers in the UK for over two decades and saw that the factory collapse could act as a catalyst for change in the industry.

Fashion Revolution Day

Fashion Revolution Day takes place annually on 24 April, the anniversary of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse when 1133 died and over 2500 were injured. In 2016, it expanded into Fashion Revolution Week.

The first Fashion Revolution Day took place on 24 April 2014. Fashion Revolution's hashtag #insideout was the no. 1 global trend on Twitter.^[4][5]

The second Fashion Revolution Day took place on 24 April 2015. The global reach from online news and broadcast media was 16.5 billion and 63 million people from across 76 countries made the hashtag #WhoMadeMyClothes the number one trend on Twitter^[6][7] The YouTube video The 2 Euro T-Shirt - A Social Experiment had over 6.5 million views and won a Cannes Lions award^[8]

The third Fashion Revolution Week took place from 18-24 April 2016, commencing with Fashion Question Time at the UK Houses of Parliament.^[9] On 18 April Fashion Revolution launched the first edition of the Fashion Transparency Index scoring 40 of the biggest global fashion companies on what information they disclose to stakeholders and the public about social and environmental issues across their supply chains.^{[10] [11] [12]}

Events took place in over 90 countries around the world. During Fashion Revolution Week over 70,000 people around the world asked brands #whomademyclothes with 156 million impressions of the hashtag on social media. G-Star Raw, American Apparel, Fat Face, Boden, Massimo Dutti, Zara and Warehouse were among more than 1200 fashion brands and retailers that responded with photographs of their workers saying #Imadeyourclothes.^[13] Fashion Revolution achieved online media reach in April 2016 of 22 billion.^[14][15]

On 26 October 2016, Fashion Revolution's €2 video, A Social Experiment was ranked no. 7 in the top global PR campaigns of the year at the Global Sabre Awards ceremony.^[16][17] The video has received over 7.5 million views.

Events

During Fashion Revolution Week, hundreds of events take place around the world. Fashion Revolution has also organised high level roundtable events on ethics, sustainability and transparency in the fashion industry.

12 May 2014: Roundtable Debate in UK House of Lords on^[18][19]

26 February 2015: Fashion Question Time in the UK House of Commons with Mary Creagh MP, Lily Cole, Jenny Holdcroft, policy director of IndustriALL Global Union Catarina Midby, Global Head of Sustainable Communications, H&M Dilys Williams, Head, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, and Anas Sarwar^[20][21]

29 June 2015: Ethical Fashion 2020: a New Vision for Transparency in UK House of Lords^[22]

2 December 2015: EU roundtable and launch of White Paper on transparency 'It's Time for a Fashion Revolution' in Brussels.^[23]

18 April 2016: Fashion Question Time at the Houses of Parliament. ^[24][25]

Haulternative Campaign

The #Haulternative campaign, in conjunction with the Daily Telegraph, featured fashion vloggers filming themselves doing an alternative fashion haul.^[26] Haulers who participated included CutiePieMarzia Noodlerella, Bip Ling, Grav3yardgirl and Shameless Maya with combined views of over 1.5 million on YouTube.

Schools, colleges and universities

In 2014, Fashion Revolution published a quiz and an education pack for school, college and university teachers and students. These were freely available online. In 2015, a new quiz and separate education packs were produced for primary schools (7-11 years), secondary schools (11-16 years), further education colleges (16-18 years) and universities (18+).^[27] These were published in English and translated into Spanish, Finnish and other languages by Country Coordination teams. To encourage students to 'Be curious, Find Out, Do something' about #whomademyclothes, these packs include worksheets like:

• 'Design a Fashion Revolution Poster' (Primary - Universities),
• 'What can I find out about my clothes?' (Primary),
• 'Where are my clothes made?' (Primary),
• 'Write to the person who made my favourite item of clothing' (Primary),
• 'Research my clothes and write to the brand' (Secondary, FE),
• 'Take a selfie and send it to the brand' (Secondary - University), and
• 'Make and play a game of Fashion Ethics Trumps' (Secondary - University).

In July 2015, a collection of social media postings showing how teachers and students got involved the Fashion Revolution was published on Pinterest, along with a 'who made my clothes?' film library, and a collection of 'imaginative ways in which the work of artists, activists and others can be used to inspire and engage people in the Fashion Revolution'. These continue to be updated. In the October 2015, the education packs were revised, expanded and published as a set of worksheets. They were, again, published freely online but educators were asked to register for them.

External links

• Fashion Revolution website

References