Tag Archives: Rana Plaza

Sew 115 – Fighting the good fight

The fabric of society is threads of courage, concepts and good conscience woven with heart. It is Anzac Day in Australia, a day we remember the sacrifice of others so we can live well in a just and free society.

Yesterday a different type of war began. The Fashion Revolution is a battle of conscience to change the culture of clothing consumption which causes injustice, exploitation and waste in the name of looking good.

When you lead from the heart, valuing good and honest endeavours, you live with a clear conscience. This year I stepped into a fairly vacant space, upcycling downunder out of concern for the waste and clothing churn I saw all around me.

This time last year on television, I had watched Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza factory collapse in what was the worst industrial accident for a generation, killing 1133, injuring twice that number, and leaving thousands more destitute. It seemed so wrong – people working in unsafe and desperate conditions, churning out more $5 clothing that not one of us need.

There’s little any individual can do on their own to change things – but yesterday it was amazing to see the Fashion Revolution Day social media storm begin in Australia/New Zealand and gain momentum as it swept around the globe.

So many great words written, photos posted and shared with the #insideout hashtag. The Fashion Revolution movement, founded by Carry Somers in the United Kingdom, connected people in more than 50 countries wanting fashion to become a force for good, one year after Rana Plaza collapsed.

It fell on fertile ground with me, an agricultural scientist and communications consultant with a love of natural fibres and wardrobes bulging with op-shop rescued natural fibre clothing. My Sew it Again upcycling journey began this year as a way of reusing what I already have, showing others what they can do with what they have, and working to shift society’s thinking about the way we engage with our clothes.

Sew 115 is a dress upcycled from a skirt and top that weren’t being worn as they were. The skirt I’d made a while back from cotton/viscose knit fabric which was resewn to the reworked top. The top was op-shop found of cotton/viscose/elastane blend fabric which was quite thick and structured. I cut out the neck and put it aside. I cut off the hem and reattached it as a collar – positioning the collar piece inside the neckline so that it flops forward over the cut neck edge. (Place collar inside neck with both pieces sitting the same way not right sides together. It is hard to show in a photo but easy when you get it sitting the right way. Put one pin in and test how it sits when you bring it to the front.) I trimmed and angled the sleeve length to groove it up a bit, leaving the edge unfinished but putting a few hand stitches in the cut arm-seam so it doesn’t unravel. I removed the elastic from the waist of the skirt and discarded. I then attached the skirt to the top by sewing right sides together. The skirt had a slightly bigger circumference than the top, so I pinned both in quarters (for even spread) and stretched the skirt as I sewed it to the top. The rosemary sprig from our garden is a nod to Anzac Day. Lest we forget.

Sew 114 – Jeans repinafored

Fashion Revolution Day has arrived. It’s exactly one year since Rana Plaza collapsed in Bangladesh killing 1133 workers, injuring many others, and exposing unpleasant truths about cheap, unethical and exploitative clothing.

We’re fussy about what we wear because we want to look good, feel comfy, reflect an image, belong to our tribe. Wearing any old thing is rarely enough. We want to make a statement.

Fashion Revolution Day is a chance to wear your heart on your sleeve, think about what you’re wearing, show your labels, ask the brand who made it, reflect on whether it is an ethical and sustainable choice.

Clothing the world soaks up massive resources when you do the sums – 7.2 billion people each (on average) consuming 11 kg of apparel fibre (ie clothing) every year. Look at this graph below and you’ll see how consumption is rising, with the growth mainly in synthetic fibres made from petroleum. source document Continue reading →

Sew 111 – The 4T-shirt skirt

Fast fashion means new clothing has never been cheaper or more plentiful. The process of shopping, trying and buying clothing in stores (or online) is recreational therapy – replacing tailor-made or making your own clothes.

A recent Choice magazine article quotes Council of Textiles and Fashion Industries of Australia figures (based on value) that 92% of clothes sold in Australia are imported. Of these, 73% are made in China, 6% in Bangladesh, 2% in India, with the rest from Italy, Indonesia and other countries.

Global supply chains mean we have lost sight of the making process. Skills, knowledge, and understanding about where and how clothing is made are diminishing. The new clothing story is about consuming end results, limitless choice, on tap 24/7, then toss and replace once the gloss has gone (Americans toss 30kgs of clothing each per year).

The Rana Plaza clothing factory collapse in Bangladesh this time last year exposed the dark underbelly of the fashion industry – sparking a global Fashion Revolution to inspire cultural, ethical, environmental and social change in the way we engage with our clothes.

If you have Made in Bangladesh on your labels, read more about Where your clothes are really made in this well-researched Women’s Weekly article published six months after the Rana Plaza collapse.

The first Fashion Revolution Day campaign is Who Made Your Clothes? Take a look at the label, ask questions, consider whether it was ethically made by someone who was adequately compensated for their work. Post a selfie with the hashtag #insideout to support the campaign. Continue reading →

Sew 108 – Resewing existing clothing

Weird, eccentric, alternative, unusual, different, unique, junky, ragged, rustic, rough, bodgie, wasted, original, rad, scrappy, yuck, quirky, bespoke, creative … adjectives describing various results from taking scissors to existing clothes and resewing them.

There are professional designers creating cutting-edge clothing from upcycled materials all over the world, with the best collated by New York-based academic Sass Brown in her latest book Refashioned and website Eco Fashion Talk.

I’m an amateur, learning by doing, having a go with what I have, resewing rejected natural fibre clothing using home-sewing techniques and posting results on sewitagain.com every day this year.

One doesn’t have to look far to see evidence of clothing waste, millions of tonnes of it every year. Americans throw out 30kg of textiles per person per year, according to Elizabeth Cline in Overdressed: the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. And at least half of donated clothing ends up being shipped overseas to African countries, according to Beverly Gordon in her book Textiles: The Whole Story. Continue reading →

Sew 100 – Bring on the buttons

Buttons are useful, decorative, sentimental, collectable, fun … and they cover a multitude of sins when upcycling.

In a long-ago Sunday Mail magazine article (23 November 1997), I wrote about the magic buttons and the stamp of individuality they bring to garments. The story included a north Queensland grazier who was making buttons from timber on her property to generate income during hard times. The buttons were made by pruning branches from native hardwoods on the Charters Towers property that were 1-2cm in diameter, dry them for weeks to harden the sap, cut them into circles and treat with durable varnish to keep the bark in place and make them washable. Continue reading →

Sew 97 – Join the Fashion Revolution

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it, is one of my favourite Albert Einstein quotes.

Most thinking people appreciate we are consuming resources at an unsustainable rate, eating into reserves that belong to future generations and generally abusing our natural environment. Many know it, few make changes.

As with the rising interest in home cooking and food growing for improved health and wellbeing, there is a pressing need to rethink our approach to textiles and fashion for ecological health and sustainability. That’s why I’ve embarked on the 365-day Sew it Again campaign throughout 2014 to demonstrate creative ways of reusing existing garments by empowering individuals to reimagine and recreate their own wardrobe collection by resewing at home.

In so doing, I am pleased to be part of Fashion Revolution Day’s Australia & New Zealand committee bringing awareness about the reality of where clothes come from and the resources from which they are made. Continue reading →

Sew 84 – Moving along

Hand-stitching an embellishment to a plain neckline is an easy way to change the look of a silk shift dress and it doesn’t need to be permanent – you can change it again any time you want. Investing a little time adapting clothing that’s already in your wardrobe rather than spending time shopping for new stuff is one way you can be part of the Fashion Revolution which is raising awareness of where clothes come from.

April 24 is Fashion Revolution Day, a global movement in response to the Rana Plaza fire on that day last year which exposed the exploitative realities of cheap fast fashion and caused by rethink about ethical and sustainable ways of dressing. Stories like Toxic Clothes on The Project last night are bringing light to problems with some new denim jeans – giving pause for thought.

Fashion Revolution Day is encouraging us all to be curious, find out and do something about the way we engage with our clothes – in the same way we are now more engaged and interested in the food we eat, how it was produced and where it comes from. Continue reading →

Sew 76 – Creative reuse

A jumper-skirt is teamed with an upcycled jacket that has its hemline recast as a collar to become Sew it Again #76 of 365.

Creative resewing of existing clothing is one of several ways eco-conscious consumers can be part of the sustainable fashion movement which has strengthened after the Rana Plaza fire in Bangladesh raised awareness of the deathly high cost of cheap clothing choices.

If you want to rethink the way you dress, there are four options (summarised below) outlined by Dominica Lim in a Verily Magazine article “What kind of eco-fashionista are you?”

THE CREATIVE: Rally girlfriends for a clothing swap party or engage in fun DIY projects to usher in new style statements.

THE INVESTOR: Think quality over quantity and price per wear. Before you buy ask yourself, will I wear this more than 10 times? Will I be able to wear this next season? Why am I buying this? No matter how fast fashion is, a staple piece that makes you feel your best self is absolutely timeless. Continue reading →

Sew 67 – Dressed to frill

This was a long shift dress to which I added rows of salvaged silk and repositioned the hem as a collar.

On this International Women’s Day it’s troubling to read the statistics of women still living in difficult circumstances and disempowered, enslaved or subjugated.

Oxfam International says women perform 66% of the work, produce 50% of the food, but earn only 10% of the income & own 1% of the property.

The Women’s Agenda highlights these statistics along with the stunning Oscar speech of 12 Years a Slave actress Lupita Nyong’o in which she said: “it doesn’t escape me for a moment that so much joy in my life is due to so much pain in someone else’s”.

As I reuse existing clothing I’m valuing the hard work that has gone before and rejecting exploitation exposed by the Rana Plaza fire that has sparked a Fashion Revolution. Continue reading →

Sew 3 – Who made your clothes?

We are naturally attached to our clothes on a physical, emotional, even spiritual level. We wear them next to our skin, the biggest living organ in our bodies intrinsically linked to health and wellbeing.

How we look and feel in our clothes is important at all stages of life, hence the multi-billion dollar global fashion industry.

But that industry had a watershed moment on April 24 last year, when 1133 people lost their lives in the Rana Plaza fire in Bangladesh. One of many insightful reports is Fashion Victims story by Sarah Ferguson and Mary Ann Jolle on ABC Four Corners

Fashion is coming to consciousness because of people’s growing interest in the ethics of where and how our clothing is made.

A tweet came my way this morning thanks to London slow-fashion consultant Veronica Crespi @rewardrobe, highlighting the launch of the Fashion Revolution Day USA campaign.

“This is part of a global movement to honour the lives lost last April 24th by both asking and answering one simple question Who made your clothes? Let’s revolutionize the fashion industry through curiosity, discovery, and direct action. Wear a piece of clothing #insideout and become a part of this global movement on 04.24.14.”

I’ve been making my own clothes for about two decades (more on that another day) and am now remaking, repurposing, refashioning clothes through a campaign of my own making Sew it Again.

When we consider the bigger picture of where our society is positioned with regard to climate change, constant consumption and excessive use of limited resources, transformational thinking about the sustainable reuse of natural resources is required.

In his book People, planet, profit, Peter Fisk says managing a business with a higher purpose is like committing to a better way of life. Sustainability is like a lifestyle change – to eat more healthily, to keep fit, to explore the world. By adapting your outlook, you see and seize new opportunities.

Fisk says a purpose behind profit is about defining how the business ultimately adds value to society. A purpose is energizing. It gives us cause and focus, and gives people a reason to love us.

I created Sew it Again 3 from an out-dated op shop dress that had a button-down top and long gathered skirt. I cut the top off, lifted up the skirt to make a muumuu that’s cool on hot summer days. I hand-sewed a shell necklace to the front, and sewed the necklace to an offcut of the old bodice at the back to make it the required length. The model is Belinda.