Twinkle twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are…. No, really – what are stars made of and how did they get all the way up there in the sky? Let’s find out more with astrophysicist, Dr Kirsten Banks! Get ready to blast off in 5, 4, 3, 2 1!
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Regenerative Thinking: "What Does A Bee Want?" Carole Collet on Designing with Nature in Mind
Manage episode 442213574 series 3525168
内容由Clare Press提供。所有播客内容（包括剧集、图形和播客描述）均由 Clare Press 或其播客平台合作伙伴直接上传和提供。如果您认为有人在未经您许可的情况下使用您的受版权保护的作品，您可以按照此处概述的流程进行操作https://zh.player.fm/legal。
What is the role of a fashion designer today? Thinking purely about gorgeous clothes is so last season. Gone are the days when designers could consider only a collection, how it will sell and what the customer might be looking for.
Forward-thinkers are already beginning to take more holistic view and adopt a living systems approach. They’re asking questions such as, Can we make like Nature makes? How might fashion create nutrients instead of waste? How can we use biomimicry in sustainable ways? Program living systems to produce bespoke products? And, how can we build a truly regenerative system in place of the current degenerative one?
“We won't have a choice in the future. We will all have to include sustainability in everything we do,” says this week’s guest Carole Collet - a bio designer, professor of textile futures and the director of LVMH’s Maison/0 incubator for emerging talent focused on regenerative luxury.
Carole was raised in Burgundy, France, to respect Nature. Her mother worked in a flower shop, her father in a greenhouse. In 1991, she was in London studying for her Masters in textiles when she had a revelation: “It’s in biology that the answers will be.” Traditionally, textile design education focuses on weaving, knitting or maybe printing. “It's very craft based,” says Carole says, “and I love craft; I think it’s justified. But at Masters level, I felt like it was too restrictive.” She went on to set up the first Material Futures program at Central Saint Martins “to explore what textiles could be”.
A philosophical conversation that extends way beyond fashion, encouraging us to ask the big questions about what sort of world we want to build - and our responsibilities in doing so.
We might begin, suggests Carole, by challenging our anthropocentrism, and ask, "What does a bee want? How about a fish?"
Thought-provoking!
Can you help us spread the word ?
Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production.
We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free.
If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating / reviewing us in Apple or
Spotify. Share on socials! Recommend to a friend.
Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
THANK YOU
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
255集单集
分享Manage episode 442213574 series 3525168
内容由Clare Press提供。所有播客内容（包括剧集、图形和播客描述）均由 Clare Press 或其播客平台合作伙伴直接上传和提供。如果您认为有人在未经您许可的情况下使用您的受版权保护的作品，您可以按照此处概述的流程进行操作https://zh.player.fm/legal。
What is the role of a fashion designer today? Thinking purely about gorgeous clothes is so last season. Gone are the days when designers could consider only a collection, how it will sell and what the customer might be looking for.
Forward-thinkers are already beginning to take more holistic view and adopt a living systems approach. They’re asking questions such as, Can we make like Nature makes? How might fashion create nutrients instead of waste? How can we use biomimicry in sustainable ways? Program living systems to produce bespoke products? And, how can we build a truly regenerative system in place of the current degenerative one?
“We won't have a choice in the future. We will all have to include sustainability in everything we do,” says this week’s guest Carole Collet - a bio designer, professor of textile futures and the director of LVMH’s Maison/0 incubator for emerging talent focused on regenerative luxury.
Carole was raised in Burgundy, France, to respect Nature. Her mother worked in a flower shop, her father in a greenhouse. In 1991, she was in London studying for her Masters in textiles when she had a revelation: “It’s in biology that the answers will be.” Traditionally, textile design education focuses on weaving, knitting or maybe printing. “It's very craft based,” says Carole says, “and I love craft; I think it’s justified. But at Masters level, I felt like it was too restrictive.” She went on to set up the first Material Futures program at Central Saint Martins “to explore what textiles could be”.
A philosophical conversation that extends way beyond fashion, encouraging us to ask the big questions about what sort of world we want to build - and our responsibilities in doing so.
We might begin, suggests Carole, by challenging our anthropocentrism, and ask, "What does a bee want? How about a fish?"
Thought-provoking!
Can you help us spread the word ?
Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production.
We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free.
If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating / reviewing us in Apple or
Spotify. Share on socials! Recommend to a friend.
Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
THANK YOU
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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1 Made in Melbourne Pt 4: Australia's National Designer of the Year, Amy Lawrance on Artistry and Authenticity 38:53
In the last of our mini series, Made in Melbourne, we meet Australia’s National Designer of the Year 2025, Amy Lawrance. Amy launched her namesake label just a couple of years ago, but she's highly experienced - working for other labels, teaching at RMIT, and she is an extraordinary, couture-standard maker. Her architectural patterns are blisteringly original, she uses mostly undyed silks and has been experimenting with decorative embroidery stitches that she discovered studying vintage dressmaking manuals. As she tells us, her atelier is "very, very small scale and very, very hands-on"; everything from pattern-making, to sampling to final production is by her own hands. "A lonely team of one!" she jokes, but she loves it. Not that it comes without challenges. Any small fashion business owner will be familiar with these. Like, how are you going to pay for it all? Will you need a second job forever? At what point should you give up? Or shift your aims from running your own show to helping grow someone else's vision? Resist! It's worth it in the end! In our discussion, we talk about passion, solitude, the joy of sewing, and the gap between that and selling, doing media, all that stuff that not every creative automatically loves. Why should they? We cover trend cycles (hello, Pantone Colour of the Year), self doubt, origami, the joy of having a dog and what it's like to stand before the judges at one of these big fashion prizes. But big picture: this is an episode about the sometimes elusive "Why" - why do what you do, the way you do it. Enjoy! Thank you for listening to Wardrobe Crisis. Find links and further reading for this episode at thewardrobecrisis.com Read Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
What do your favourite clothes mean to you? How connected are you to most of what's in your wardrobe? If you had to start from scratch, what would you prioritise? This interview is the third in a mini series of four about made in Made in Melbourne. This time, it's actually made in Ballarat, which is about 120 ks from the Victorian capital, but you get this idea. We're talking thriving in your own community, local production and pushing back on the idea that to make it in fashion you have to rush off to Paris or New York. For my guest this week, designer Saskia Baur-Schmid, it's sustainability and zero-waste pattern making. It's the fabric choices that she makes for her label Hyph_n , her beautiful sewing, and the way she communicates all this to her customers - each garment carries its own 'Eco ID'. But more than that, it's about crafting a sartorial identity, what makes us connect with our clothing, and how that ultimately plays such an important role on tackling overconsumption and waste. It's boils down to meaning, where we find it, and why it matters. Thank you for listening to Wardrobe Crisis. Find links and further reading for this episode at thewardrobecrisis.com Read Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
In the second of our mini series on emerging designers based in Melbourne, my guest this week Singaporean-Aussie designer Jude Ng. Jude started out selling at design markets, and we talk here about how some people might view that as not elevated, somehow not fashion enough. And what rubbish that is! As Jude says, it was having these direct relationships and conversations with potential customers that helped him build his business. To this day, he's set up his workshop on view in his Fitzroy, Melbourne store, so that people who are interested in his work can actually see him do it. In his own words, he offers: "ethically Melbourne made, zero waste slow fashion production and in-house bespoke mending". His pieces are unisex, and he talks about: "a different perspective in the realm of fashion by playing with a signature asymmetry and a relaxed, gender neutral sense of tailoring... using an artisanal approach and respect for the traditional craft techniques." And it works. It's beautiful and people love it. Six years in to his independent business, he's proving you can thrive as a directional designer outside of the obvious fashion capitals. Thank you for listening to Wardrobe Crisis. Find links and further reading for this episode at thewardrobecrisis.com Read Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
A new generation of fashion designers is rejecting the current system, but what are they building in its place? In the first of our mini-series, Made in Melbourne, Isabelle Hellyer, the designer behind All Is Gentle Spring, discusses her vision for small-scale, skills-based fashion trade we can be proud of. These stories are Australian, but relevant wherever you are - exploring universal themes of staying small in a Bezos-world, backing the authenticity of true craft, resisting the rise of ultra fast fashion and the unethical systems that underpin it. Thank you for listening to Wardrobe Crisis. Find links and further reading for this episode at thewardrobecrisis.com Read Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
According to Antoine Arnault, CEO of Loro Piana: "Luxury products are sustainable by nature." Hmmm. What do we think of that, then? Just because it's expensive doesn't make it ethical. In case you are not across these names, Arnault is a member of the LVMH dynasty (his dad, Bernard, is one of the 10th richest people on the planet) and Loro Piana is a posh Italian knitwear brand known for its cashmere and $500 baseball hats. But they’ve been in the news of late for rather less glamorous reasons, including sweatshop conditions in supplier factories in Italy. On this week’s pod, Clare sits down with Jasmin Malik Chua , Sourcing Journal’ s Environment and Labor Editor, to unpack just how that can happen, and whether it’s really true that you get what you pay for in high fashion. Thank you for listening to Wardrobe Crisis. Find links and further reading for this episode at thewardrobecrisis.com Read Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
We've all had tough days at work, right? But I'm going to bet your last one didn't involve multiple colleagues fainting from heat stress. My guest this week is researcher and academic Cara Schulte , author of an important new report, for Climate Rights International, that looks into the effects of the effects of extreme heat on garment workers in Bangladesh. These don't stop at the physical. Workers describe feeling mentally unwell, anxious, hopeless even desperate as both temperatures and humidity climb. And as climate change accelerates, we can only expect conditions to get gnarlier. So what can fashion do about all this? Listen to find out about the role of education; how pregnant women are impacted; how heat is linked to violence; why drinking fizzy pop won't help; how working hours, low wages, audits and PPE come into it; and practical action to improve things that would make a difference today. Cara's ultimate message: "When we think about sustainability in fashion, it's not just about materials and recycling - it has to be about people." Essential listening for anyone who produces in the Global South, or buys clothing made there. Thank you for listening to Wardrobe Crisis. Find links and further reading for this episode at thewardrobecrisis.com Read Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
1 Indigenous Star Knowledge and Changing the Narrative with Cultural Astronomist Ghillar Michael Anderson 59:41
To mark NAIDOC week in Australia, which officially celebrates & recognises the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, we bring you this interview with activist, astronomer and knowledge holder Professor Ghillar Michael Anderson, who was central in the setting up of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972. Michael is a Senior Law Man, Elder, and leader of the Eualeyai Nation from Goodooga, New South Wales. He has published several academic papers on Aboriginal astronomy. He contributed to the book, The First Astronomers , and he has asteroid named after him by the International Astronomical Union in honour of his contributions to the science. In this deep, warm and at times confronting conversation, we discuss how Aboriginal people read the stars, Michael's own experience growing up on Country, bush tucker, connection, the radness of Indigenous Aunties, Black Power, the story behind the Tent Embassy, and Michael's ideas for the future of activism for his community. Oh, and meeting Keith Richards in a casino in Alice Springs. Thank you for listening to Wardrobe Crisis. Find links and further reading for this episode at thewardrobecrisis.com Read Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. THANK YOU x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
This week's episode is an update from Accra, Ghana, and the situation at Kantamanto markets. It was recorded during the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, where I met up with Liz Ricketts from The Or Foundation. Liz was with several community members from Kantamanto, including market trader Mary and upcycler Latifa - both featured on the podcast. Ultimately this is a story of resilience, entrepreneurship, creativity and skill. Kantamanto is one of the world’s biggest for physical markets for second-hand clothing, receiving an estimated 15 million used garments from the global north, EVERY WEEK. On the night of January 2nd, 2025, a huge fire ripped through 10 of the 13 sections in the market, affecting the majority of the estimated 30,000 people working there. It's a miracle more people weren't killed. Six months later, the market structure has been rebuilt, but there's still work to do. Find out how fundraising has been deployed, improvements have given all stallholders access to electricity and a new association of traders has been set up along with a unified security force trained in fire management. However problems persist around waste, the quality of what's in the bales and the dangerous work of female porters... Find Episode 150 with Liz, here. Read Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com Find all the links for what's mentioned in this episode at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. THANK YOU x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
Over the past few weeks, we've been diving into the world of weaving with natural fibres, exploring local textile traditions and capabilities, and don't get us wrong - we will always love that. But there's also a whole world of sciency possibilities shaking up the future of fabrics and fabulous ways. Pack your (metaphorical) bags for a European innovation tour! And get ready to answer some wild questions, like... What if bacteria could help us co-design a new generation of sustainable fabric dyes? Could we build a machine for that? Where does all the grape waste go from France's vineyards, and hey, what if we turned it into a fancy new animal-free leather alternative? And, how might one creative woman figure that out, DIY style, starting with a coffee grinder in her home kitchen? We all know polyester is plastic, right? So how come we expect our exercise gear to be moisture-wicking, when we're all at the gym encased in what's essentially sweaty, non-breathable, plastic-baggings? Who's ready for the ugly truth about the massive list of potentially toxic fabric finishing agents that fly under that radar? Okay! Don't panic - there's a new generation of clean, safe, bio-based alternatives... Featuring: Charlotte Werth , a bright young German Biodesigner specialising in bacterial dye Samatha Mureau , an almost-French former fashion buyer turned alternative leather pioneer working with waste from the wine industry in the South of France Matthias Foessel, the infectiously upbeat force behind Swiss green chemistry company Beyond Surface Technologies Future Fabrics Expo is on in London now - discover here . Find all the links & further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
Welcome to another episode about why it matters that we can make stuff locally. After last week's ep on Yorkshire's centuries-old wool recycling expertise, this time, as promised, Clare's taking you back to Australia, to see another inspiring mill in action. We're in Launceston, Tasmania to visit Australia's oldest continuously operating weaving mill. Waverley Mills has always worked with local wool, and over the years has woven all sorts of fabrics, from tweeds to flannels, but it's their blankets that made them famous. This is a story of tradition (during WW2 they produced blankets for the army), innovation (think, collaborating with Nudie Jeans to make the world’s first recycled blanket out of old denim), and continuity. But above all, it's about community - who's worked here for decades and who is apprenticing to learn the trade today; who grows the wool, and who has seen the ups and downs of this place over the years, and has a long view on why it matters. It's a story about ethical manufacturing, the possibilities for re-shoring, fibre sovereignty and being able to manufacture textiles where we live - just, all the important sustainability stuff! Enjoy! Find all the links & further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
1 Waste Not, Want Not - Mungo, Shoddy, the History, Process and Modern Times of Mechanical Wool Recycling 30:43
Ever wondered how mechanical textile recycling actually works? What shoddy and mungo is, and why we called it that? What the rag n' bone man collected back in the day and how the trade grew up, then scaled back? And what it will take to bring it back and keep what's already here, going? Wonder no more! John Parkinson has a masterclass for you, complete with magic and secrets. For 200 years, Yorkshire made recycled wool cloth for the world. But don’t think its all disappeared. John’s mill in Huddersfield is aptly called iinouiio - an acronym for It Is Never Over Until It Is Over. With centuries of accumulated of skill and knowledge, they’re doing what they always did, only better. Find all the links & further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
What if the best place was the one you're already in? Meet Julia Roebuck , the powerhouse organiser behind Thread Republic Textile Reuse Hub and social enterprise in Huddersfield, UK. We're talking about textile skills, mending, repair, sewing, the wellbeing economy and what that might look like - at home. What fashion can be when we remove the transactional, when it's not just about shopping. And the immense satisfaction to be gotten from making something with your hands that you’re proud. Discover Thread Republic here: threadrepublic.co.uk Find all the links & further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
How do you feel about competition? Do you think it’s healthy? Natural? Are you that person who has to win at Scrabble or tennis or the pub quiz? Or maybe you've read your Gaia theory and are hooked on the idea of a harmonious, post-patriarchal ecosystem that's all about balance and working together. Many of us have come around to thinking that, at least when it comes to sustainability, it's being hyper-competitive that got into this mess. So you might be surprised to learn that competitive sustainability is the latest thing... we were! This week on the pod, find out what else we gleaned from Australia’s first big sustainable fashion conference. Featuring: New Era Bio, Alt Leather, Wildlife Drones and more. Thank you to the Growth Activists for making this episode possible. Find all the links & further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
Want a side of modern slavery with that? Didn't think so. Modern slavery is organised crime, and no one wants that lurking in their supply chain. Yet fashion and textiles are key industries implicated in this travesty that traps an estimated 50 million people worldwide in forced labour, debt bondage and human trafficking. Twelve per cent of those in forced labour are children, while women and girls are disproportionately affected. And the problem is growing, despite many countries introducing legislation to ensure large companies are taking steps to ensure their supply chains are slavery-free. All this is intrinsically linked to low wages and wage insecurity. As Outland Denim's James Bartle points out: "It isn't possible to make a pair pf jeans for $20, and pay people a living wage." So, where are we at with legislation and reporting on modern slavery today? What steps can brands be taking now to ensure exploitation is part of story of their products. Why do we still have so few brands paying living wages in 2025? And finally: is it time we built the true cost of a product into its final price? Recorded live at the Good For Business Sustainable Fashion Summit in Sydney. With thanks to The Growth Activists , Australia's leading B Corp consultancy, and speakers: Dr Nga Pham , senior Research Fellow, Monash Centre for Financial Studies Fraser Tier, Group Commercial Manager, Active Apparel Group James Bartle - CEO & Founder, Outland Denim Sarah Rogan - Oxfam Australia's Economic Justice & Strategic Lead Find all the links & further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
1 Fab Scraps, Clever Pattern Cutting and Why Apparel Factories Need Design Thinkers, with Industrial Upcycler Agustina Comas 39:43
Continuing our theme of fashion's crazily wasteful ways, and our focus on Latin America, this week, more Brazilian goodness, as Clare sits down with São Paolo-based industrial upcycler Agustina Comas. We're talking fast fashion, big business, athleisure's reliance on synthetics and rethinking pattern-cutting. BTW: how much do you know about pattern-cutting? If you've ever done this yourself at home with paper dressmaking patterns, you'll know that you pin these onto the fabric and cut around them. Sometimes using tailor's chalk to add markings. It's often trickier than it should be! The scraps - or offcuts - are the wastage round the edges. And they can pile up. On an industrial level, technicians also use paper markers. Multiple layers of fabrics are laid on the table, and many garments are being cut at a time, often using computer-controlled machines. Of course brands try to make the most of fabric yields, even if only to save money, so if multiple styles use the same fabric, you might see these placed intricately on the marker to form a complex jigsaw puzzle. At the end of the day, they still sweep the offcuts into the bin. Who cares? It's just scraps. In some cases, these scraps account for 35% of the fabric. Instant waste! Mad! Making new stuff out of wasted old stuff is a noble idea. But wouldn't it be better if we used less in the first place? Agustina's got a plan for that. Also up for discussion - Brazil's mighty craft heritage, and how women are leading the way; Shein's designs on the country (and everywhere else); and which South American designers are pushing innovation. Find all the links & further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
Hello! What are we actually doing? Our unwanted clothes don't belong dumped in Chile's beautiful Atacama Desert... Everyone knows reasons why the global north exports used clothing to the global south - it's because fashion is too fast, quality is too low, volumes are too high, and for rich countries it's often cheaper to export your problem than it is to deal with it onshore. But even if that wasn't the case, even if you had a big dream and deep pockets, that horse has bolted - the system at scale today is about global trade. Certainly, some of it is a reuse stream, some of it does get re-worn and recycled. Also sorted, processed and re-exported. But the fact is, too many of of these clothes become unsustainable waste that, once they reach their final destination, escape into the environment and pollute Nature and communities. According to the UN, about 40% of the clothes imported through Chile's Iquique free trade zone in the northern Atacama, have no value in the local second-hand clothing market and cannot be re-exported. Many end up dumped in the desert. In our annual Fashion Revolution ep, we meet the activists and creatives behind a genius campaign - Recommerce Atacama . Bastian Barria and Angela Astudillo from Desierto Vestido have joined forces with creative agency Art Plan, ecommerce platform Vtex, and Fashion Revolution Brazil to sell these clothes back to where they come from. The price? Zero dollars. The slogan: "Don't buy, rescue!" Clare sits down with Fernanda Simon and Paula Lagrotta to unpack the issues. More info at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
1 "23 billion pairs of shoes every year and we're throwing out 22 billion!" - Chandni Batra on What the Sneaker Giants Don't Tell You 1:05:38
Twenty-two billion! What are we playing at?! Things get worse when we look at the materials most commonly in use. The sports shoe category in particular is a giant, influential sector, yet its waste footprint and chemical inputs tend to fall under the radar. And don't get us started on the Crocsification of everything! Injection-moulded EVA is coming to a clog near you, but don't let's pretend that's sustainable. Increasingly, our shoes are made of frankenstein plastics, and even their creators don't necessarily know what's in them. This week on the podcast, Clare's guest is Chandni Batra , founder of A BLUNT STORY - a disruptive Indian sandals brand on a mission detoxify your footwear, and challenge the industry to stop trashing the planet. This is a gob-smacking conversation full of revelations about how huge numbers of shoes are made today, using oil-based plastics, potentially-toxic foams and petrochemical ingredients for all sorts of uses you’ve most likely never even heard of. Could these chemicals be leaching into our skin? What are their effects on the environment? And on the workers who must handle them? Why are modern shoes to hard to recycle? And what can be done about all this. Chandni has solutions! Ears here! More info at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
1 Everything's Better When the Sustainability Team is in Charge - the Inspiring Tale of Lafaani 38:20
In the third of our four-part mini series on sustainable fashion in India, Clare sits down with Drishti Modi and Rashmick Bose, the duo behind slow fashion brand Lafaani. It's focused handcraft, handloom weaves, and natural dyes, and their clothes are gorgeous - we want them all! But the founders didn't always dream of fashion careers - they're sustainability professionals who met at university studying environmental resource management. At first, it was all about biodiversity, water use in marginalised communities, and regen ag. So how does one move from observing flying lizards in the Western Ghats, or surveying toilet numbers in remote villages, to staging runway shows? And making wonderful trench coats dyed with marigolds diverted from temple waste-streams. Somewhat of a winding road, it has to be said! Was it hard? What drives them? When you haven't been to fashion school, how do you get the design right? Who do you work with? How do you figure it all out, while staying true to your purpose? A warm, inviting conversation that will help anybody with big sustainability ideas trying to do fashion differently. More info at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
1 From Vintage Seller to Artisanal Manufacturer: Is Ritwik Khanna India's Most Promising New Designer? 39:17
More from our visit to India! If you listened to the last episode with stylist Daniel Franklin, you'll have heard Clare promise more to come from India's burgeoning sustainable fashion scene. This week's chat is with one of Delhi's most promising young designers , who's just shown his collection at Lakmé Fashion Week in Mumbai, and who won last year's Circular Design Challenge (run by R/Elan and UN India). He is Ritwik Khanna, founder of the edgy menswear offering and atelier RKive City. He's created a new system of working with post-consumer textile waste (lots of denim and camouflage gear) that he de-constructs, then recuts into brilliant new garments, often embellished with embroideries. The result blends cool modernity with high craft. What's up for discussion? His process, obviously, but this is also a conversation about dignified work, what people don't realise about the second-hand and waste textile supply chain in India, and ultimately - what makes a good life. Fancy your chances winning the Circular Design Challenge? Applications for 2025 close May 8th. Info here. More info at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
Mumbai and New Delhi take turns to host Lakmé Fashion Week, and this season it's the former that will be exploding with creative runways and high-craft fever, starting next week. To get you in the mood, we're bringing you an Indian mini-series of the Wardrobe Crisis podcast, starting with this delightful conversation with stylist Daniel Franklin. Daniel styled five shows last season, and has seven on the go this time, and we can't think of anyone better to contextualise India's new gen talent explosion. So yes, expect to learn the new names-to-know and what makes them tick. But Daniel studied fashion history before breaking into magazines, and this is a far-ranging discussion that gallops through the myth of the Silk Route to the truth of the colonial hangover, via a tour of India's unparalleled craft heritage. Enjoy! More info at thewardrobecrisis.com Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
A disturbing shift away from diversity, equity and inclusion is spreading through the corporate world. Following US President Donald Trump's lead, some of the world's most powerful companies have rushed to dismantle years of positive work that's been done in this area. Race and gender are central to this discussion, but diversity and inclusion programs concern the whole gamut of non-majority groups in any given setting, including sexual orientation, disability and class. So what does mean to be abandoning policies and initiatives designed to make our societies, organisations and businesses fairer and more equitable for everyone ? To remove unjust barriers to entry that have, for too long, locked less-privileged groups out? It’s not like, our work is done here. Take, for example, the continued lack of representation of women in the C-suite. The numbers simply don’t represent broader society - or brands’ stakeholders and customer-bases. Or educational establishments that blatantly favour upper class students from rich families. That’s where affirmative action comes in. Talking about merit-based hires and some lofty ideal of a colour/class/gender/disability-blind world is pure nonsense when some of us clearly get a head start over others. Big questions: what's driving brands to drop DEI programs? Did they ever really care in the first place? How do the culture wars play into all of this? Will what's happening in America spread to other countries? And will more big brands follow suit? Is diversity and inclusion officially dead - or just on life support? Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU. In this episode, Clare gives you a masterclass on the history, context and current state of play , then revisits key messages from previous episodes on this topic, including insights from Aja Barber, Lou Croff Blake, Rahemur Rahman and Junior Bishop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
It's time for some more trashtalk, my friends. Remember plastic pollution ? Of course you do - because it's still with us. According to the UNEP, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic enter the world's oceans, rivers and lakes EVERY SINGLE DAY. And while there was a great deal of excitement around the prospect of a Global Plastics Treaty last year, talks were suspended at the end of 2024 when UN member states failed to reach an agreement on what would have been the first-ever global legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. But it's not just plastic that's littering the environment. You name it; it ends up there - from paper and cardboard to aluminium cans, glass, clothing and fly-tipped furniture. We're all complicit, so we've all got a part to play. The good news is that awareness and community action is growing, and that is the focus of today's interview with the inspiring Ripu Daman Bevli - a Delhi-based environmentalist and runner, on a mission to make picking up litter cool. Meet the Plogman of India... Plog- what?! The term plogging originated in Sweden - it's a portmanteau of the Swedish verb, "plocka upp" (to pick up) and the English word "jogging". In 2019, Ripu ran 1000 km across 50 cities in India, picking up trash - and followers - along the way. As he says, if you want to spark behaviour change, forget shame and berating people - the secret is to invite them to join a fun activity. So don't stress, this is far from a dismal discussion about the waste crisis. Rather, it's a joyful, encouraging story about how to change the world with positivity, recorded on location in Delhi, with a soundtrack of beautiful birdsong. Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
London fashion week spotlight: In a markedly hatless era, forward-marching British New Gen accessories designer Leo Carlton is turning their talents to digitally-printed crowns, elf ears, breast plates and mysterious sculptural masks. Some of these genre-defying fashion artefacts feel a bit witchy, with pagan undertones. Others, firmly futuristic. But how do they make them? Wouldn’t you like to know! Leo trained at Cordwainers, enjoyed a two-year residency at Alexander McQueen's Sarabande Foundation, and studied classical millinery techniques - their first job out of college was with the iconic London hatmaker Stephen Jones, and they used to make showpieces for Dilara Findikoglu, Richard Quinn and Charles Jeffrey Loverboy. But these new VR adventures step beyond the confines of the physical word with mind-bending results. From teaching themselves digital printing via Youtube to sculpting in virtual reality, the only limits are: there are no limits. Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. THANK YOU Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
1 New Gen: Essie Kramer talks Upycling Church Cast-Offs, Mastering the Digital Printer and Nearly Dressing Julia Fox 40:16
Experience matters. Everyone always tells new design graduates that it's best to work for someone else while you find your feet. But at what point do you know that you are ready to strike out on your own? While on the surface this conversation with emerging German fashion designer Essie Kramer seems to be about the joys of sourcing old ecclesiastical textiles and turning them into provocative new ensembles, or how digital printing is democratising object-making, I think it's really about confidence and finding your flow. When you know, you know! Essie is one to watch. I'm always excited to meet next gen fashion talent . Featuring young designers has been a pillar of Wardrobe Crisis from the start. I've been lucky enough to be a judge on many new gen competitions over the years, including Redress in Hong Kong, the Circular Design Challenge in India and Australia's National Designer Award. I got to write a bit for Sara Maino's Vogue Italia Talents project, and covered the BFC's New Gen for years. Every series, we've run at least one (sometimes more) Episodes focused on new designers around the world. Got recommendations? Hit us up! And please share these podcasts. Then re-listen to these treasures from our archives: Ep 61 Vogue Talents , featuring HUEMN and Sindiso Khumalo Ep 65 with Ruchika from Bodice Studio Ep 70 featuring Bethany Williams , Matthew Needham and Patrick McDowell Ep 110 with upcyclers Helen Kirkum and Duran Lantink Ep 139 with Icelandic knitter Ýr Jóhannsdóttir Ep 146 with Joao Maraschin Ep 204 Michaela Stark Happy listening! Clare x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
1 Clare's Take: Dressing Melania - Decoding the Meaning of Big Fashion's Right Wing Power Play 37:42
A note from Clare: This week, I'm experimenting with bringing you something a bit different. I'm calling it CLARE'S TAKE and it's a sort of op-ed slash invitation to start a conversation about a issue in the news. It's just me, no interview this time. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning the interview format! Normal programming will resume next week, but do let us know if you like the idea of adding these editorial takes on topical fashion criticism into the mix, as a bonus. Thank you, as ever, for listening! Clare xx From that hat as a strategic kiss-dodger to mob wife at a funeral, dark MAGA to the spectre of an American state jewellery collection, let's just say there was a lot going on with Melania's fashion optics at the inauguration. But what's the bigger picture of luxury's right wing power play? In a few short years, we've gone from leading fashion designers openly stating that, for ethical reasons, they'd never dress the Trumps - to the LVMH bosses attending the inauguration. When there's money to be made, does anyone remember that Trump is a convicted felon? And with key American corporations lining up to abandon their DEI and climate goals, how will the rest of fashion respond? And what they heck should the rest of us do about all this? Tell us what you think? Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress *Boycotting X since August. _________________ To discover our Sustainable Fashion 101 online course, click here. We're giving listeners who enrol in January 50% off. Apply the discount code - newyear - at checkout to redeem your gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
1 Photographer Axl Jansen on the Coolness of the Berlin Fashion Scene and how “Art is Always a Kind of Danger in Itself” 53:05
Ears here! Do yourself a favour and take a break from doomscrolling Trump... Berlin fashion week is about to roll around again, and we're inspired. Not least because last year Fashion Council Germany became the first to officially adopted Copenhagen Fashion Week's sustainability framework, complete with 20 minimum standards for participating designers. If you don’t live there, what’s your impression of the city's vibe? Dark, grey and dystopian?! In winter, there’s a bit of that for sure, but it also crackles with electric creativity. Largely devoid of corporate nonsense, Berlin's fashion culture fosters indie talent, DIY and sustainability innovation, all mixed up with the underground arts scene. Think fashion as dialogue, self-expression and provocation. Community over ego. And embedding political movements - including sustainability and DIEB - into the shows. Plus, of course, the legendary club scene is never far away. “It is alternative,” says this week’s guest, much-loved fashion photographer, cult magazine maker and adopted Berliner Axl Jansen. “They don’t nip on their champagne and talk about art; they live it. Life is dangerous, you know? As an artist you have to define always new ideas, you have to find new paths of thinking, so it’s always in a kind danger, art itself.” While this conversation isn't really about politics - it's about creativity, fashion, music - Clare's question to you is: Can we disassociate these things? We don't think so. Art reflects the times we live in - and these, once again, are turbulent ones. To discover our Sustainable Fashion 101 online course, click here. We're giving listeners who enrol in January 50% off. Apply the discount code - newyear - at checkout to redeem your gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
1 Meet Mr McCall. A Chance Encounter with Count Buttons (Or, Why You Should Talk to Strangers at Fashion Shows) 45:42
Happy New Year! When was the last time you admired someone's style from afar, say from across the street? Or when you found yourself sitting next to them in a public place, a cafe perhaps, at a fashion show or on the bus? Did you strike up a conversation? Because we mostly don't. Mostly we just think how fab they look and that's that. I like to think of our first Episode for series 11 as an encouragement to talk to stylish strangers , in the very best of ways, because you never know what might come out of it. At London Fashion Week last season, I spotted Beau McCall in the crowd, and thought: Oh my, what a FABULOUS OUTFIT. He was covered, you see, in buttons galore, like a Harlem version of a Pearly King. He'd topped off this look with a Vivienne Westwood Buffalo hat. Next thing I knew, he was making his way over, and sat down next to me. The rest is, if not exactly history, encapsulated in this warm and sparkling conversation. Actually, there is quite a bit of history in it - from the evolution of the button as a fastener /decoration strictly for the well-to-do, to everyman's (and woman's) closure of choice, to the fashion history of NYC in the late '80s. Also up for discussion: why every family should have a button box, the joy of hand-sewing, how fashion can help if you're shy at parties, and what happens when you try and sew hundreds of a buttons onto a bathtub... For pics and links, hop over, as usual, to: thewardrobecrisis.com Beau's website is beaumccall.com For info on The Or Foundation's Kantamanto fund, see here. To discover our Sustainable Fashion 101 online course, click here. We're giving listeners who enrol in January 50% off. Apply the discount code - newyear - at checkout to redeem your gift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
Breathe in deeply through your nose... What can you smell right now? Can you identify it? How does it make you feel? Is it fresh, bright, pleasant? Nostalgic? Disgusting? How often do think about smell? If you only tend to notice when it's something particularly lovely - your favourite dish being cooked, a preferred flower - or horrid (let's not go there); you're not alone. As this week's guest Susan Irvine explains, a couple of thousand years' of western philosophy has conditioned us to prioritise sight and sound, relegating smell to the senses' lower division. Why? Well, short of holding your nose (spoiler alert, there's some of that in this podcast!) smell isn't something we can generally choose to take in or shut out; it doesn't invite us to apply our discernment. But while the art and design worlds have long overlooked scent, that's changing. Agenda-setting creatives are using it in their storytelling - and we're not talking about perfume campaigns. Welcome to the mind-blowing world of smell as material. We'll leave it to Susan to explain. Susan Irvine is a writer of excellent books including novels, short stories and non fiction. A former Vogue beauty editor, she's a current Visiting Lecturer at London's Royal College of Art, where she teaches a course on using 'smell as material' based in the Fashion Programme. Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating / reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Share on socials! Recommend to a friend. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress THANK YOU Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
"Bangladesh has come out of a lot of difficulty in the past. Bangladesh is a place of hope, is a place of resilience ... We could again come together as a nation, with the ertailers and the brands supporting us, and make the transformation. It's a huge, huge opportunity." Rousing words from this week's compelling interview with manufacturer Shafiq Hassan , of the Echotex manufacturing facility in Gazipur, Bangladesh. Last year Bangladesh was ranked the third-largest exporter of clothing globally (after China and the European Union) exporting USD $38.4 billion worth of garments. The nation is home to over 40K garment factories of various sizes, and over 4 million garment workers. A decade after Rana Plaza, much progress has been made, including around environmental sustainability. Bangladesh now has 186 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified factories, and, according to Reuters, lays claim to 9 of world's top 10 'green' garment factories (considering carbon, water and energy footprint, waste, logistics, and using more sustainable materials). Clare interviewed Shafiq in London, in September 2024, a little over month after peaceful students protests in Bangladesh toppled ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, then presiding over an increasingly corrupt and authoritarian regime. Her government's response to the protests - appalling violence - is well documented. This week, a new report by the current interim government, titled Unfolding the Truth, implicates Hasina in as many as 3,500 cases of forced disappearances during her time in office. Warned the Solidarity Centre in August: "The economy of Bangladesh, depends on garment factories, but producers say customers are concerned about violence and disruption." What's more, the previous government's "repression against workers seeking to form and join unions has prevented garment workers from achieving the living wages and safe working conditions they have sought to achieve." So what's next? The Nobel peace laureate and economist Muhammad Yunus (founder of the Grameen bank) is leading the interim/ caretaker government. The factories are back working. Leading facilities like Echotex continue to innovate. What's unfolding is very relevant to the fashion sector, and to all of us who care about ethical production and want to understand the role brands have to play when it comes to what we hope are long term partnerships with suppliers. Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating / reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Share on socials! Recommend to a friend. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress THANK YOU Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
From Victor & Rolf's "Get Mean" frock through Jordan Gogos's radical upcycling projects to Paul McCann's "Sovereignty Never Ceded" gown, certain items of clothing speak loudly - with intention - about the times we find ourselves in. Let's not forget the long traditions of tapestry-making, quilting, embroidery, and the newer but related concepts of stitch-n-bitch craftivism. Cloth can be a radical medium. You might call it soft power, for its undeniable tactility - but don't mistake soft for weak . "Textiles galvanise communities. Through wars, pandemics and disasters, textiles have offered a way to mobilise social and cultural groups and build connections. In the late nineteenth century, British artist and designer William Morris sought to counter the mechanisation and mass-production of the Industrial Revolution by weaving tapestries on a manual loom with hand-dyed thread. Today, many artists are experimenting with the materials and techniques of textile design as a ‘slow making’ antidote to the high-speed digital age." With an introduction like that, how could we not respond? This week, Clare sits down with Rebecca Evans and Leigh Robb, curators of RADICAL TEXTILES - a major new exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Up for discussion: do textiles belong in museums? Is fashion so often dismissed as some sort of lesser art because it's considered unserious women's business? How did political movements of the last century use textiles to get their messages across? What's with Don Dunstan's pink shorts? And so much more! Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating / reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Share on socials! Recommend to a friend. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress THANK YOU Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Forget brands for a minute, the real circular fashion economy is the repair shop on your high street… Do you have a fab local cobbler or clothing alterations service? This episode is a reminder to thank them for being here and fixing our stuff. They are cornerstones of the circular fashion economy, and not some distant future dream - they’re already here, and in many cases have been for decades. Honing skills that simply can’t be learned overnight. They’re the best! Here’s to them! Keep giving them your business, and make sure you tell them you appreciate them. Everyone loves to be appreciated. My local cobbler, Roger of the (locally) famed Roger Shoe Repairs is gold. And this classic Roger conversation is a treat. That’s all. Enjoy! Clare x P.S. Here are the links to the crowdfunder for my documentary, Urban Forest. Your support is much appreciated. https://www.pozible.com/project/urban-forest-a-documentary Got something to tell me? Find me on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Bobby Kolade is the designer behind Ugandan fashion label Buzigahill - which puts the politics of upcycling and waste colonialism at its core with the brilliant, provocative concept: Return to Sender. Buzigahill's collections are made from items of secondhand clothing donated in the global north, and increasingly being dumped on the global south in unsustainable numbers. Why “return to sender”? Because much of Buzigahill’s clientele is in Europe and North America. Like Kantamanto in Accra, Ghana; Owino Market in Kampala receives huge numbers of bales of second-hand clothing every week, from countries in Europe, from the US and Canada. As a result, in 2023 second-hand accounted for 80% of all domestic clothing sales in Uganda. But how much is too much? Who is monitoring for quality and consistency? Are we right to keep talking about "donations" in the context of this undeniably big business ? As Bobby says, it's not charity - it's a trade, and too often an unequal one with many impacts on local economies as well as the environment when it becomes textile waste. So surely it's good, right, when a receiving country finally says: "No more! We don't want your cast-offs." Or is it? As usual, there’s no simple answer... This enthralling conversation was recorded before Uganda’s government announced a ban on second-hand clothing towards the end of last year. A situation that continues to evolve. Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
1 Lou Croff Blake Talks Pronouns, Fashion For Every Body and the Language of Belonging Beyond the Gender Binary 45:45
What do your clothes say about you? Dear listener, I bet you've thought about this before. Fashion is a language in itself. But, what about the language we use to describe - and by extension to include, or to exclude - the people who wear it? Or don't get to wear it? The people we're marketing it to, or employing. Fashion communication isn't just about the clothes. It's about how we talk to each other. Meet Lou Croff Blake , a Berlin-based non-binary fashion practitioner, scholar, artist and community organiser. Their work merges queer theory with community-building, advocating for intersectional equity and amplifying the visibility of marginalised genders. Which sounds like a of words! Because it is. Carefully considered words chosen to challenge the dominant narrative. Open to learn? Join us on a deep dive on DIEB - diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging - as we consider the existential question: do we really want to build a more ethical fashion industry? If so, doesn't that have to be one where everyone can feel a true sense of belonging? Check the shownotes for links & further reading. Tell us what you think! Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Can fashion lift its inclusivity game? When 28-year-old British model Junior Bishop - who just so happens to be a wheelchair user - spoke at the Houses of Parliament recently, she called on the fashion industry to do more to tackle its disability access issues. Levelling the playing field is integral to the wellbeing economy - what’s the point of only some of us get to have our wellbeing considered? “When looking at fashion and media today,” said Junior, diversity and representation are gradually improving. That’s important. “We hope to simply see people who look like us - our ‘imperfections’, our ‘flaws’, the little things that make us who we are.” Also, purely from the economic rationale, how do brands expect to sell to people who don’t see themselves in campaigns? As Junior acknowledged: “The excitement of being able to see someone who is a wheelchair user, a cane user despite their age, has a limb difference, has Down syndrome, has albinism, the list goes on… Having those with disabilities or their family members tearfully say ‘I didn’t know people like us could do that kind of thing’; that is why this movement needs to continue to grow." Representation is an important first step, but we can’t stop there. This inspiring conversation, packed with practical advice and emotional intelligence, comes with a call to action: want to do better on this stuff? Ask disabled people what they need! Check the shownotes for links & further reading. Tell us what you think! Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
1 Are You Posh & White Enough for a Career in the Creative Arts? Rahemur Rahman on Strategies for System Change 55:10
Rich, white and privileged - the creative arts sector has a class problem. Particularly in class-obsessed Britain, where middle-class people are twice as likely to work in creative jobs than their working class contemporaries. According to the Evening Standard , "the worlds of TV, film, music and the arts are dominated by straight, able-bodied white men living in London , despite them only accounting for 3.5% of the [UK] population." Not that this is purely a UK problem. In New York, 85% of artists represented by commercial galleries are white. In Australia, where one in four of us were born overseas, culturally and linguistically diverse creatives are still barely represented in fashion at all. And consider the global luxury brands, with their spate of recent cookie-cutter creative director hires - can anyone actually tell the difference between these men from their photos alone? But, "What about the new editor at Vogue ?" I hear you say. Too often, the celebrated hire is still the only Black or brown person in the room. I bet you can think of a thousand places where career progress is affected by your postcode, where you went to school and what your parents did. And lurking behind all that: race, gender, sexuality, difference, not to mention how much cash you've got... It's time for a power shift! Meet Rahemur Rahman , a British-Bengali artist, educator and designer who is determined to change the system, not simply tinker round the edges of representation. He made it, despite the odds. Raised in working class Tower Hamlets, he studied fashion at Central Saint MartinsHe studied fashion at Central Saint Martins, where he now teaches. Designs from his debut London Fashion Week collection menswear collection were acquired by the V&A Museum. Now, he's the director of training and development at Bari , a new incubator supporting South Asian creatives in East London as part of the British Bangladeshi Fashion Council. This is a lively conversation about what it takes to, practically, turn things around - not just talk about it. Hint: no true diversity and inclusion without addressing the class barrier! We're also talking the creative innovation meets heritage craft, social impact fashion, holidays with friends, and the joy of working on what matters. Check the shownotes for links & further reading. Tell us what you think! Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
We all know clothes have meaning, beyond just looking nice. We’ve often talked on this podcast about the importance of how they are made. This week, we’re considering how fashion’s meaning stretches beyond supply chains and our wardrobes, to shape our culture and the way we see ourselves collectively. How does fashion see itself when it comes to race and privilege? How about the male gaze? Clare sits down with Caryn Franklin , journalist, style icon, fashion citizen (not consumer, please!), one-time presenter of The Clothes Show and all-time national treasure. These days her work centres on education and activism - she’s a visiting professor of diverse selfhood at Kingston School of Art, in London, and gained her MSc in applied psychology specialising in selfhood, objectification, inclusivity and gender bias. Partly, this interview is a personal one about a life in clothes but it’s also a provocation: How can we use fashion as a vehicle for positive self-esteem, rather than allowing it to make too many of us feel small, too much of the time? All up, rollocking good chat with Caryn Franklin, MBE. Enjoy! Check the shownotes for links & further reading. Tell us what you think! Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
How much is enough? How can creatives incorporate the idea of sufficiency in their output? If you make physical objects, what does it really mean to be sustainable in your practice? And, how can you, as my guest this week, Richard Malone , puts it, "do your own thing and stick to it" in the context of fashion's relentless push for newness? Also, where does class and privilege play into all this? Does Fashion with a capital ‘F’ actually want to be more inclusive and welcoming? Or is all the talk of breaking down the barriers just lipservice? The fact is: many of the people who “make it” in fashion have an had a head start. You only have to look at the current obsession with Gen Z nepo babies. Let's not pretend the playing field is level. Richard Malone is queer London-based, Irish fashion designer, artist and maker, whose work challenges subtly a system that's built on unfair advantages. A thought-provoking conversation about everything from colonisation and the loss of Irish craft traditions, to what fashion shows are really for! Check the shownotes for links & further reading. Tell us what you think! Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
1 Magnificent Michaela Stark - From Insta Bans to Victoria's Secret, Meet the Body-Morphing Couture Lingerie Maker 1:01:03
Why does fashion have such a problem in accepting all bodies they way they are, and recognising the beauty in different shapes and sizes? I know, I know, we’ve heard it all before, yet depressingly little changes. Our guest this week has had enough! Self-described as “that body morphing b*tch”, Michaela Starck is a super-talented London-based Aussie creative director/designer/dreamboat who’s beautiful work includes her own glorious self, as well as Paris-worthy, bow-bedecked frillies. A frank convo on fat-shaming, where the body positivity movement fails, and the magical powers of backing your own vision. Even when people in your life keep telling you you’ll never make it? Especially then ! Take that, naysayers! Check the shownotes for links & further reading. Tell us what you think! Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
1 From Natural Dyes to Reading Nature's Signals, Re-Finding Knowledge Disrupted by Colonialism 43:46
If you’re interested in natural dyes , or want to know more about hands-on textile techniques , this episode is a joy. It's also a great one if you are into ideas around seasonality and connection to Nature . Aren't we all?! Continuing our Pacific theme (don’t miss last week’s Episode with Fiji Fashion Week’s Ellen Whippy-Knight) these two stories are also from Fiji, but a long way from its capital Suva. They’re both about different aspects of Indigenous practices , and living in balance with the the land, the oceans, the skies and biodiversity. First, meet Letila Mitchell , a renowned artist, designer and performer from Rotuma . Her work in the fashion space grew out of costume, & has developed into a practice that’s all about revitalising traditional Rotuman textile making, and re-finding cultural knowledge disrupted by colonisation. Our second interview is with Noleen Billings , from Savusavu, on Fiji’s northern island of Vanua Levu. Noleen isn't famous or a fancy expert in anything other than common sense but her simple message is a powerful one: In the busy modern world, it’s easy to forget the Nature usually knows best. Indigenous wisdom is deeply connected with reading Nature’s signals, and we can all learn from that. There are universal lessons in here, as well as some thought-provoking questions. For example, what does it mean to be wise? Where does schooled knowledge, written down in books, fit in - and why do we have to so rigid about it? Knowledge that’s shared and passed down in different ways is just as important… Check the shownotes for links & further reading. Tell us what you think! Can you help us spread the word ? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
When Anna Wintour was introduced to Ellen Whippy-Knight as the founder of Fiji Fashion Week, the Vogue editor-in-chief exclaimed, “Fiji has a fashion week?!” Sure does, Anna. It turned 16 last year, and is an established force in a small yet burgeoning Pacific fashion scene. White sands and turquoise waters. Surf breaks. Rugby. Fiji is rightly famous for these things, it’s also an international garment-manufacturing country with an independent design community, mainly focused on the local market and the Fijian diaspora. Now Ellen, a formidable fashion force in her own right, is determined to bring sustainability and technical design education into the picture... Check the shownotes for links & further reading. Tell us what you think! Can you help us spread the word about Series 9? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Addicted to thrifting? Wondering where all your money’s gone? Feeling the fashion clutter feels? If you answered “yes” to any of the above, it might be time for a fashion detox. From Slow Fashion Season to ReMake’s 90-day No New Clothes challenge to the Rule of 5, more of us are looking for ways to circuit-break bad fashion habits. There’s a real movement going on with conscious fashionistas sharing what’s worked for them when it comes to slowing down, buying and wasting less. Our first guest for 2024 is Jenna Flood , a slow fashion stylist who’s been sharing tips and tricks with her followers around what she calls her Wardrobe Freeze. It all began for Jenna after she created a spreadsheet to track where her money was disappearing to. Turns out she was over-spending on ethical brands and treating second-hand like it was fast fashion – ultra high turnover. It didn’t help that she works in a consignment store surrounded by temptation… What rules did she set for herself? How did she stick with them? And, was it worth it? Jenna says completing her challenge has left her with a thrilling sense of freedom. Now, you can’t buy that! Check the shownotes for links & further reading. Can you help us spread the word about Series 9? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
CONTENT WARNING. A note from Clare: "While in this Episode, we talk about creativity and hope, baking and Strictly Ballroom , and address a wide range of things from the politics of climate action to biodiversity, we also discuss the details of going on a hunger strike. Personally, I would say that bit is not suitable for children, although I suspect Gregory would disagree. I'd also like to let you know there's mention of eating disorders in this interview. It's a compelling listen - there's much to think about and learn from here, and I admire Gregory's stand and his ethics. But do exercise your own judgement with little or vulnerable/ anxious ears around. Thank you, Clare xxx" How far would you go for climate action? Changing your lifestyle? Sounds doable (to an extent!). Divesting from businesses that support the fossil fuel industry, perhaps? Would you consider getting into politics? Or more controversial actions, like risking arrest at a banned street protest, or harbour blockade, for example? Our guest this week embarked on a much more unusual - and indeed dangerous - strategy to spur the government into stronger action on climate issues. Gregory Andrews is a former diplomat, and was Australia’s first ever Threatened Species Commissioner. He worked as a public servant for more than 30 years, including for 15 years in the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Environment, Climate Change, and Indigenous Affairs. Today he's an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Canberra's Institute for Applied Ecology. In November 2023, in the run up to COP28, he stationed himself outside Australia's federal parliament, and staged a hunger strike for climate action. His demands included that the government stop permitting the logging of native forests, and end subsidies to fossil fuels companies. He lasted 16 days before ending up in hospital. This is his story. Check the shownotes for links & further reading. Can you help us spread the word about Series 9? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
It's that time of year again, when world leaders (along with marketers from brands, oil and gas industry lobbyists, celebs on their private jets) head to the UN climate conference to discuss what to do about greenhouse gas pollution and our warming world. Extreme weather! Rising sea levels! Phasing out fossil fuels! Wait, actually, maybe tone that last one down because it's a bit hard, and our mates in the extractive energy industry aren't keen ... okay, how about: Phasing down fossil fuels? That sounds more reasonable... Luckily there are also voices of reason at these events. It's time we listened more to them. As a group of Pacific Climate Activists head to COP28 in Dubai to tell the world what it's really like to live on the front line of climate change in a low-lying island nation when one-in-100 year cyclones hit back to back, Clare sits down with Ni-Vanuatu woman activist Flora Vano, to hear about her work empowering women in the climate movement. Turns out it's going pretty well. Flora is fab, and her message is one of hope and inspiration as well as hard truths. You need to hear her beautiful words about her connection to the oceans and what we can learn from Mother Nature. Plus she's a fashion fan. We start this conversation with the power of visual communications - Flora loves bright colours and often arrives at events with a statement bloom tucked behind her ear. But don't let that fool you into thinking she's not a serious player. She's travelling to COP28 with the demands of Vanuatu's 9,000-strong Women I Tok Tok Tugeta (women talking together) network, demanding gender equality and climate justice. Flora has a clear message to governments and industry: she wants them to start looking seriously at the losses faced by Pacific Island communities, and others, as a result of climate change they did not cause. Check the shownotes on wardrobecrisis.com for links on how you can help Flora and her fellow activists at COP28, and for more info. Can you help us spread the word about Series 9? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple or Spotify. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
“When did we decide we couldn’t make stuff anymore?” asks this week’s guest, Meriel Chamberlin , the textile technologist behind Full Circle Fibres , an Australian startup producing “paddock to product” garments on-shore. We know that the fashion industry’s climate impacts are significant , and that most of it comes down to the textile production stage. So how can we do things differently, close to home? Who needs to come together to make that happen, to share expertise, innovate, and also to fund it? How might fibre production tread more lightly on the land? Protect, or even enhance, biodiversity? These are some of the big questions driving the initiatives we’re talking about on this week’s show. We've often covered the trouble with factories on this podcast; issues around garment worker injustice and unfair conditions. Very important stuff! But we hardly ever hear about the excellent factories. This is an Episode about the opportunities to make fashion more sustainable at the factory level, and the skills and capabilities that already exist. That might mean some re-shoring, but it’s also an encouragement to value what's already in our backyards. Reports of the end of textile manufacturing in so-called consuming countries are exaggerated. We've still got it! Albeit on a smaller scale than when our parents were young. Wherever in the world you are listening, Meriel wants you to look around and recognise what you already have in terms of local skills, manufacturing & R&D capacity. Australia, for example, produces some of the world's best fibre, and there are still production facilities domestically for most stages of the supply chain. Find a gap? Might be worth working to close it. Full Circle Fibres is a recipient of the Country Road Climate Fund. Discover here. Check out the shownotes on wardrobecrisis.com Can you help us spread the word about Series 9? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
1 SPECIAL EDITION (Part 2) Ep 197, Juno Gemes on Photographing the Australian Civil Rights Movement 1:04:26
Our guest for this Special Edition interview is JUNO GEMES , one of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary photographers. Born in Hungary, she moved to Australia as a child. In 1970, then a young artist, she spent six months living on Country with Aboriginal communities at Uluru. She went on to documents First Nations activism and the Civil Rights Movement in this country for five decades. Juno photographed many of the early protests and meetings led by Aboriginal activists in the ‘70s and ‘80s, forming lifelong friendships with key figures in the Movement. She photographed the Uluru Handback Ceremony in 1985; marches and activations around the Bicentennial in 1988, and she was one of ten photographers invited to document the National Apology in Canberra in 2008. Wherever you are listening across the world, these stories are important to discover. It’s obviously not just Australia that grapples with a legacy of colonisation, and you care about sustainability, the questions linked to all this are fundamental ones: how do we want to live, in relation in one another? How can we heal and listen and unlearn to change systems that don’t work anymore? Missed part 1? Do go back and listen. Or find it here. Can you help us share it? These podcasts are in addition to our usual programming and form a 2-PART SPECIAL EDITION ON THE VOICE REFERENDUM IN AUSTRALIA. They came about because Clare kept speaking to people who hadn’t yet read the ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART. We wanted to help with that, and to be active on behalf of our deeply felt support for the YES23 campaign in this referendum. Part 1 is a mini pod on the Uluru Statement and the question of Indigenous recognition in the Australian constitution - it’s under 10 mins, ideal to share! As Juno says at the end of this interview, whatever happens with the Aussie referendum on October 14th, this is part of a long fight for social justice that continues. And there’s hope! “Don’t argue with people who don’t see it yet, because they will eventually … We can see this groundswell of good will, of kindness of wanting to know, to learn, of opening up to each other.” RESOURCES: ulurustatement.org yes23.com.au reconcilliation.org.au The Australian Fashion Council supports Yes - more here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
In this mini pod, which is Part 1 of our Special Edition on the Voice, you will hear RACHEL PERKINS read you the Uluru Statement from the Heart . Rachel is an Australian filmmaker, a proud Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman and the co-chair of the YES23 campaign. She is also co-chair of Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, and is a signatory to the Statement from the Heart. “As the largest consensus of First Nations peoples on a proposal for substantive recognition in Australian history, the road to the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a long one even without mentioning the decades of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander activism that came before it.” Discover more here. It forms the cornerstone the referendum that’s asking Australians to recognise Indigenous culture in this country’s constitution, and establish a body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. “ FOR THE PAST 250 YEARS, WE HAVEN’T PROPERLY LISTENED TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN HERE FOR 65,000. THIS IS OUR CHANCE TO FIX THAT.” Yes23 You will also hear from JUNO GEMES. One of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary photographers, she has been documenting the civil rights movement in Australia since the 1970s. What next? For the full interview with Juno, listen to Part 2. www.thewardrobecrisis.com RESOURCES: ulurustatement.org yes23.com.au reconcilliation.org.au The Australian Fashion Council supports Yes - more here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
It’s fashion month again and the big brands with the big budgets dominate our feeds. But amidst the commercial noise of the contemporary fashion circus, independent gems still exist. There are true artists who go their own way, and often set the future trend agenda (although they tend not to get the credit). Our guest this week is one of them. He’s been shaking up the London underground scene since the ‘90s. Meet Dr NOKI, the original upcycler. Just don’t call him that… NOKI does fashion on his own terms, including the language he prefers to describe his work. He “custom-builds” his “mashups” and “landfill drops”. It’s a practice that owes at debt to dadaism, and made sense of his dyslexia when he was young. The story reaches to back into the ‘90s club scene , through the culture jamming of the No Logo years to end up at the cutting edge where art and fashion collide today. Now, a new generation that’s interested in sustainability is discovering him for the first time. Last year, Hypebeast heralded NOKI as “a tried and true member of the sustainability movement — arguably being a founder of the word before it even really became a thing .” But does he relate to that? How does he see his work? What inspired it all back in ‘90s London’s rave scene? And how does he see the future for fashion’s young waste warrior disruptors? Part fashion history lesson, part provocation to challenge our consumerist culture, this one’s an adventure - enjoy! Check out the shownotes on wardrobecrisis.com Can you help us spread the word about Series 9? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Woolmark 's new ambassador Taylor Zakhar Perez is a rising Hollywood star known for his leading man roles. You might recognise him from a certain rom com that we're not mentioning here (in respect of the actors' strike), or his role in a royal drama based on a cult book (again, not going there). Maybe you know his Paris fashion week looks - snaps of him emerging shirtless from his car outside the Prada’s menswear show went viral in June. But whether you’re one of his 4.7 million Instagram followers, or discovering his work for the first time here, there's no denying Taylor's charm. He's smart, down-to-earth, generous with his time and endlessly curious, and we love that he was up for a conversation about how to use influence for good. In this conversation, we discuss the risks and rewards of daring to talk about sustainability when you're known for something else, why more famous names don't get involved in climate activism or rewear their clothes, and how this former competitive swimmer became a supply chain nerd. For Taylor, if he’s going to work with a brand, he wants to see what goes on behind the scenes. More of that please! Check out the shownotes on wardrobecrisis.com Can you help us spread the word about Series 9? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Series 9 has landed! Our first guest is Cyrill Gutsch, the fascinating founder of Parley for the Oceans . With his partner Lea Stepken, this NY-based designer and branding expert started his global environmental organisation in 2012, after bumping into Pamela Anderson at an art fair. Pammy was wearing a Sea Shepherd T-shirt, and when Cyrill asked her why, she told him Sea Shepherd’s activist-in-chief Paul Watson was in trouble - he’d been arrested in Frankfurt on an international warrant. Cyrill, being German, thought he might be able to help, and went to visit Watson in his lawyer’s office. There, he learned that Watson’s strife was a drop in the proverbial compared with what's happening to the oceans. Plastic pollution! Climate change! Overfishing! Could creativity be the super power needed to turn it around? The rest, as they say is history. Cyrill decided to ditch his regular clients, and donate his time to just one: OUR OCEANS . Specifically, “raising awareness for their beauty and fragility” and “collaborating on projects [to] end their destruction.” Over the years, such projects have included: working with Adidas to phase out single-use plastics; partnering with big-name visual artists on everything from underwater sculptures to sustainable surfboards; funding research into new materials; and setting up programs in schools. On a practical level, Parley’s work is just as likely to play out as beach cleanups in the Maldives as it is to be a new Dior bag. It’s all in the mix, to beat what Cyrill calls “our addiction” to virgin plastic. Next on his To-Do List? Just a total materials revolution. “We need to change the way we make stuff.” Check out the shownotes on wardrobecrisis.com Can you help us spread the word about Series 9? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production. We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free. If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating and reviewing us in Apple. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Danish designer Cecilie Bahnsen studied at RCA in London, and interned with John Galliano and Erdem before starting her own label in 2015. You’ve probably seen her voluminous dresses, or her recent sneaker collaboration with ASICs. Cecilie says she operates at the intersection of couture and ready-to-wear – it’s high craft, she creates her own textiles , and loves to use embroidery and smocking which lends her work a certain whimsey. But although expensive, it’s not untouchable, as you will hear. Cecilie wears hers’ on her bike! A very Danish approach. We talk about the challenges of upcycling precious scraps which defy standardisation. The idea of timelessness in a novelty-obsessed world. Building a creative business, and how Cecile approaches scale and growth. What it takes to make it - determination, for sure, but also a really clear sense of what you want, and how you treat others. Ultimately, though, this Episode is about joy - the pleasure we can find in clothes, even down to the sound of fabric rustling. With all our worries about sustainability, we can easily forget why we came to fashion in the first place. Thank you for listening to the show. This is the last Ep for Series 8. We'll be back in 4 weeks - Series 9 starts September 6! Wardrobe Crisis is an independent creation and we need your help to keep going and grow our audience. Please help by sharing your favourite Episodes. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
1 Danish Design Maverick Henrik Vibskov on Meeting Copenhagen's Sustainability Standards & Why Fashion Needs to Think More 45:49
Meet Danish creative Henrik Vibskov - fashion designer, costume designer, curator, musician and professor. He shows at Copenhagen Fashion Week (which is coming around again next week) but also Paris, and he has a store in New York. A supremely conceptual designer – his last collection, Long Fingers To Ma Toes, was inspired by the tomato in weird and wonderful ways. In this interview Henrik shares his experience of living up to CPHFW's recently introduced 18 Minimum Sustainability Standards. What did find de-motivating about trying to implement sustainability initiatives, and what kept him going? But also, how did he get here? Why the vegetable obsession? Would anyone come to a 3-hour fashion show? (Spoiler alert: they did!) What is fashion actually for in 2023? And what do the next generation of artistic designers need to make it? It's all up for discussion in this charismatic convo. Enjoy the show? Wardrobe Crisis is an independent creation and we need your help to keep going and grow our audience. Please help by sharing your favourite Episodes. Thank you! Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
1 Say What? The UN Wants to Help Fashion Get its Sustainability Comms Right. Rachel Arthur Explains 52:07
ICYMI: fashion has a greenwashing problem. No wonder policy makers, consumer watchdogs and NGOs are taking an interest. According to the UN: “Misinformation and greenwashing are ubiquitous ... As sustainability has grown as a selling point, all manner of vague and inflated claims have appeared across advertising, marketing, media, packaging and beyond.” Enter the UN's new Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook , an open-access guide that seeks to change that, while better aligning how the fashion industry talks with the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. This week, we're delighted to welcome the Playbook's lead author, Rachel Arthur, to the show to deep dive into its recommendations. We're asking: What if marketers, PRs, fashion journalists and photographers used their creative powers to encourage us to live a 1.5 degree lifestyle, instead of endlessly update our consumer goods? (Curious about a “1.5 degree lifestyle”? Listen for the full explainer!) How could professional communicators use their talents to get behind a more sustainable future? Rachel calls them “architects of desire”, and says people who work in advertising, marketing and media play a vital role in persuading us what to want. Which comes with great responsibility… Access the Playbook here for free. Check out the shownotes for more links. Don't forget to tell us what you think! Find us on Instagram @mrspress @thewardrobecrisis Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Hang on, what's the question? Why is everyone talking about regenerative farming , for starters. For fibre as well as food. #regenag is fashion's new favourite hashtag. What if we put back more than we took out? Stopped drenching the land with toxic chemicals? Worked in harmony with Nature ? Could we feed and clothe the world if we produced less, and differently? Would we starve? Would prices skyrocket? How did we get to this place, where no one - not the land, not biodiversity, not the nutritional content of food, and not the farmers who are on the front lines - wins? Oh, and have you heard the one about there being just 60 cycles of soil left on Planet Earth? That's no joke. While this oft-quoted stat has been disputed, there's no denying that intensive, so called "conventional" farming practices are depleting soil health the world over. During WWI, food shortages had us in a panic. No wonder, in the 1950s and '60s, we were obsessed with maximising yields. Through a combination of hectic new pesticides and herbicides, cheap synthetic fertilisers, and tearing out trees and hedgerows to make managing monocrops easier, farmers produced so much, there was plenty to spare - and waste. But the bonanza couldn't last forever... Today, they are experiencing a backlash. Once celebrated for filling our plates, farmers now find themselves vilified for destroying our environment. That many are the very same people who remember when everyone loved and respected them, and are only doing what governments and consumers said they wanted, is not often discussed. Can regenerative farming save them, and our soils? Sarah Langford is the author of Rooted, How Regenerative Farming can Change the World . She’s also a farmer herself, although she didn’t start out that way. A must-listen Episode as a stand-alone, but for maximum inspo, listen back to the Eps on sustainable materials, animal cruelty, and leather supply chains when you're done! Check out the shownotes for more links. Don't forget to tell us what you think! Find us on Instagram @mrspress @thewardrobecrisis Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
There's much debate around the sustainability credentials of leather vs vegan alternatives (most of which are still PU - polyurethane). Is one natural and bio-degradable and the other simply plastic? Sorry, but it's not that simple, not least because today's global supply chains are so long and complex. Then there's all the toxic substances used in conventional tanning. And we haven't even talked about animal cruelty yet. But amidst the confusion, there are obviously better ways to do it than cutting down the Amazon to graze cattle, then drenching the hides in heavy metals. Meet British accessories designer turned local leather supply chain builder, Alice Robinson. With her business partner Sarah Grady, Alice runs Grady & Robinson , a startup that’s trying to rebuild the local leather supply chain in the UK, in a totally traceable way, connecting regenerative farmers with processing and vegetable tanning in Britain. Their goal is to offer a product that traceable to its farm source, made entirely in the UK, and biodegradable at end of life. That’s a big ask, because the industry has all but disappeared in Britain, so if you’re a emerging handbag designer – as Alice was when she was studying at the Royal College of Art a few years ago - and you want to buy single-origin leather locally, you pretty much can’t. This didn’t sit well with her, so as you will hear, Alice decided to do it herself - buying a sheep five miles away from her home in rural Shropshire, and documenting its entire journey from the field it lived in, through its slaughter, through to the tanning processes and accessories production. If you're vegan and don't believe in using animal products, that works. But if you're still eating meat and wearing leather, you need to understand how it's made. Today Grady & Robinson is working with Mulberry and the Institute for Creative Leather Technology at Northampton University, through the government supported R&D project, The Business of Fashion, Textiles and Technology to try to figure out a way to finish leather at a commercial scale in the UK, with ingredients that are known to be sustainable, natural and biodegradable. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
When it comes to the fabrics we make our clothes from, there’s much confusion. Many of us don’t have a clue what textiles we’re buying and wearing; we’re not really teaching it in schools and brands don’t tend to talk too much about it, not least because so many of the textiles they use are unsustainable synthetics. But materials matter, and they are all around us. Getting back in touch with them can be really satisfying. And when it comes to creating a more sustainable fashion industry, their impact is enormous. What we choose, whether as designers or consumers, really makes a difference. Amanda Johnston is an academic and former fashion designer who works on education projects for Sustainable Angle , which puts on the Future Fabrics Expos in London - the perfect person to take us through what’s happening in the world of sustainable textiles today. Think of this as your Sustainable Textiles 101 go-to! We’re answering some of the popular questions we often get asked: How do you choose the most sustainable textiles? Why is the fashion industry still so dependent on polyester, and why is that a problem? What’s the story with MMCs (man-made cellulosics) and new gen feedstocks? Will biotech materials start to take over? And what do we think about the boom in vegan leather alternatives? Check out the shownotes for more links. Don't forget to tell us what you think! Find us on Instagram @mrspress @thewardrobecrisis Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
1 Leather & Animal Cruelty with Emma Hakansson - "If we want total ethics in fashion, we can't ignore animals." 50:16
Why are animals so often left out of the conversation about sustainable and ethical fashion? We talk about people and planet, but less often about our fellow living creatures. This week's guest Emma Hakansson wants to change that. She challenges us to rethink the idea of animals as commodities - they are, she says, some one , not some thing . Emma is the founder of Collective Fashion Justice, an organisation that puts animals as well as people and planet at the heart of an ethical fashion industry. A self-described “activist, passionate about anti-speciesism, autonomy and collective liberation,” Emma is also an author, her books include How Veganism Can Save Us (Survive the Modern World) and she was one of the producers of, and also appears in the documentary, Slay. In this interview, we zero in on leather. “By the time it has been turned into a bag, a pair of shoes, a belt or a jacket, we tend to forget it, leather is skin,” says Emma. “Thanks to long supply chains, the power of the global leather industry and big luxury brands, plus the pretty language used to market fancy handbag materials, most of us never think about how leather is produced. As with supermarket meat and dairy products, we’ve totally disassociated from its origins." Emma believes cruelty should never be in style. She’d like us to check our morals, and ask ourselves how comfortable we really are treating animals as a commodity. Whatever your view on that, the way that most leather is produced in such high volumes today is an environmental nightmare, she says, while its supply chains conceal as much social injustice as cut-and-sew does for the garment industry - it just gets less attention. Check out the shownotes for more links. Don't forget to tell us what you think! Find us on Instagram @mrspress @thewardrobecrisis Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
1 Why Vegan Model Activist Robyn Lawley Eats Her Spinach - “Hyper-Nourishment Saved My Health” 41:40
You might know her from the cover of Italian Vogue , campaigning against Victoria's Secret for its lack of diversity, or her role as ambassador for organic beauty brand INIKA, but what Robyn Lawley wants to talk about is spinach. In this candid interview, she tells her powerful personal story of overcoming some pretty scary health issues, and challenges us all to rethink our relationship with meat and dairy products. We're used to talking about vegan diets as planet-friendly and cruelty-free, but could their anti-inflammatory properties also help people heal from auto-immune conditions? While the studies are scant, and the official line remains that: in general, autoimmune disorders cannot be cured - what you eat obviously plays a role in the body's complex responses. When Robyn was diagnosed, while pregnant, with Lupus, her health outlook seemed bleak. Doing the rounds of hospitals and conventional doctors left her feeling frustrated and hopeless. But as a young mum with a thriving fashion career, she was determined to try everything before succumbing to the suggested chemo treatments. For Robyn, following a strict "hyper-nourishment protocol" (powered by green veg and flax seeds) had far-reaching effects. Today, her lupus is in remission, and she hopes to help others. Going vegan, she says, was a win-win - it also allowed her to reduce her climate impacts and do something about the nagging guilt she felt the more she learned about animal cruelty in the factory farming system. Check out the shownotes for more links. Don't forget to tell us what you think! Find us on Instagram @mrspress @thewardrobecrisis Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
1 How to Build a Movement - Legendary Aussie Greenie Bob Brown on the Fight to Protect our Forests and Last Wild Places 58:21
This week Clare sits down with legendary Aussie Greenie, Bob Brown to talk Tasmania’s old growth forests - where towering eucalypts that have been standing for centuries are threatened with the chainsaw, thanks to government short-sightedness and corporate greed. The good news? Grassroots action is rising, as the numbers of tree-appreciating citizens swell, helped by a glowing new documentary, The Giants , by Rachel Antony and Laurence Billiet. The film's subjects are indeed giants - not just Bob, but the towering Eucalyptus Regnens, Huon Pine and Myrtle Beech trees of the Tarkine forest. As Bob said back in the 1980s when another pristine wilderness in his adopted state was under siege - destroying these natural wonders would be like scratching the face of the Mona Lisa. Don’t worry fashion fans, we do talk about clothes at the end - Bob has thoughts on strategic dressing for getting what you want, including at protests. This interview is both essential and a thrill for anyone who cares about forests and life on this planet. Check out the shownotes for the background on Bob and the Tarkine. Discover the movie at www.thegiantsfilm.com Don't forget to tell us what you think! Find us on Instagram @mrspress @thewardrobecrisis Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Ten years ago, the devastating Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka proved just how deadly the business of making clothes could be for marginalised garment workers. In countries like Bangladesh where cheap clothing is produced at high volume, and wages are kept low, it’s these workers - mostly young women - who face the greatest exploitation and vulnerability. As a result, a new consumer movement was born in the form of Fashion Revolution. New agreements, like what’s now known as the International Accord and Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, were developed. Supply chain transparency became a buzz phrase. We’d entered a new era of scrutiny, spotlighting working conditions, poverty wages and brands that failed to do the right thing. So far so good, but today the power imbalances persist between brands and suppliers that result in unfair purchasing practices persist, the right to unionise is by no means universally upheld and almost no big brands pay a living wage. Events commemorating the disaster’s anniversary went hard on the hashtag, #ranaplazaneveragain - but how much has really changed since 2013? Are factories everywhere safer? How about fairer? To what extent has fashion production really become more ethical? You're going to hear from three people who spend their days advocating for a better deal for garment workers: TAMAZER AMED is ActionAid Bangladesh’s lead for Women’s Rights & Gender Equity. SARAH KNOP is Baptist World Aid Australia’s Advocacy Manager. NAYEEM EMRAN is Oxfam Australia’s Economic Justice Strategic Lead. Check the shownotes for links and further reading. Value the show? Please help us spread the word by sharing it with a friend, and following, rating and reviewing in your fave podcast app. Got feedback? Tell us what you think! Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Psst! Mushroom leather is not actually made from mushrooms – but it is fabulous! Much Like our guest this week. Merlin Sheldrake is the biologist and author of the extraordinary book, Entangled Life, How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures. You might not give fungi much thought, but mycelium networks are working their wonders all around us. And we need them! Together with bacteria, fungi are responsible for breaking down organic matter and releasing carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus into the soil and atmosphere. Without fungi, nothing would decay. We partner up with fungi to make some of the foods and drinks we love the most (hello, bread and beer). And fungi is also causing quite the buzz in fashion, thanks to the invention of new leather-like materials and plastic alternatives derived from mycelium. Forward-thinking designers from Iris Van Herpen to Stella McCartney have been inspired by fungi’s wonderful properties and intriguing life. Prepare to be wowed by this enlightening conversation that might just change the way you think about everything around you. Essential listening this Earth Day! Value the show? Please help us spread the word by sharing it with a friend, and following, rating and reviewing in your fave podcast app. Got feedback? Tell us what you think! Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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