How can Fashion Value Society? Centre for Sustainable Fashion: UAL. London
In this insightful article, Jeffery’s outlines how society and fashion are in direct relationship to one another, each influencing the other and this therefore evolves and changes our relationship with the world.
In todays world of fast fashion the geography and places where fashion and society meet are not always favorable, where profit margin is prioritised over safety the results can be catastrophic, such as the clothing factory in Bangladesh which collapsed in 2013, killing 1,134 people.
Fashion Revolution (https://www.fashionrevolution.org/), is an activist movement which came about as a result of this devastation. This is a movement who encourages consumers to ask brands ‘who made my clothes?’ and who fight for the fair wages and treatment of workers producing clothes. This is one example of how community and society meet fashion and how fashion and society are in constant relationship with each other on a global scale.
The Centre for sustainable fashion are in partnership with Vogue, IBM, Kering, and Business on Fashion Values and in 2022 launched the ‘Fashion Values Challenge’ (https://fashionvalues.org/challenge-2022/fashion-and-society) This is a call out on a global scale for change-making services, systems, and products and offered the opportunity to win a 6-month support programme for further development of the idea.
“If we think about intersectionality and intergenerational access to being, we need to consider not only the effects on people in other places right now, but also the effects of what we’re doing now for future societies. Ultimately, we need to both decolonize and decarbonize” – Prof. Dilys Williams
The Fashion Values initiative is a free initiative to create a more fairer interplay between fashion and society and offers articles, resources and webinars to inspire both professionals and students. “the Fashion Values programme focus is the relationship between fashion and society. We provide the tools and support for students and industry professionals as they push for change and look to create systems for prosperity within our society.” (Jeffreys, C, 2022).
bibliography
- Jeffreys, C, 2022. How can Fashion Value Society? Centre for Sustainable Fashion: UAL. London
- https://www.fashionrevolution.org/
- https://fashionvalues.org/challenge-2022/fashion-and-society