#insideout – six months on
Part 1: Who Made Your Clothes?
Six months ago today, the first Fashion Revolution Day took place. This year Fashion Revolution asked the question Who Made Your Clothes? We don’t know the true cost of the things we buy. The fashion industry supply chain is fractured and the people who make our clothes have become faceless. This is costing lives. Brands and retailers were challenged to take responsibility for the individuals and communities on which their businesses depend.
The voice of the consumer was loud and clear: we want brands and retailers to tell us Who Made Your Clothes? Tens of thousands of people around the world went #insideout and the hashtag was no.1 global trend on Twitter.
Celebrities who went #insideout included Christy Turlington, Livia Firth, Amber Valletta, Suzy Amis Cameron, Bibi Russell, French singer Zaz, Miss Guatemala, Skyfall Bond Girl Tonia Sotiropoulou, TV presenters, including the production team of Canal+, as well as a number of Members of Parliament. Trevor Leighton photographed British celebrities including Mary Portas, Livia Firth and Louis Smith.
In the UK, Kaper PR reported an 80 million reach through the press which they secured. Every global fashion magazine covered the story, with some great articles in Vogue, Marie Claire, Harpers Bazaar and Dazed. British Vogue even ran an #insideout street style gallery on the 25th April which must be a first! Most of the international newspapers, radio and major TV stations covered Fashion Revolution Day.
Fashion Revolution co-ordinated an online Q&A with global experts: IndustriALL, Greenpeace, Ethical Fashion Forum, Fairtrade Foundation and Centre for Sustainable Fashion.
In the UK, students of University of the Arts London, together with Pants to Poverty, organised a Fash Mob at Oxford Circus and on Carnaby Street. Events took place at Somerset House and at Designer Jumble, there was a SHOWStudio live screening panel discussion on sustainable fashion, as well a roundtable debate on Ethics and Sustainability in the Fashion Industry at the House of Lords.
In Dhaka, Bangladesh the Critical Mass cycle ride went #insideout and Fashion Revolution Bangladesh’s total reach on social media was 300k views. The British High Commissioner to Bangladesh talked about Fashion Revolution Day in his 24 April speech to an audience of heads of mission, NGOs, and the Deputy Director General of the ILO, finishing by telling the attendees to go and check out the hashtag #insideout!
Fashion Revolution Finland organised 32 events
In Barcelona, over 2000 attended an outdoor catwalk. The team created a video which played every 5 minutes on the subway platforms and trains, and received over 100 items of media coverage for their event. In the rest of Spain 1133 white balloons were launched from 12 different cities.
Kenya held a spoken word and poetry competition on the subject of Who Made Your Clothes?
Fashion Revolution Day in Latin America was supported by Cosmopolitan TV and Discovery Mujer who covered events in several countries. Argentina reached 35k people on social media.
The organisers in Swaziland gave cameras to 8 different makers to document their life and work and these images will be shown at the annual Bushfire Festival: Photos and Video
Germany produced the brilliant Bang La Fresh video which has been shortlisted for the Berlin Fashion Film Festival award
Tens of thousands of people around the world found creative ways to ask brands and retailers Who Made Your Clothes?, through events, videos, photographs, Fash Mobs, and social media.
What was the response of brands and retailers to the question Who Made Your Clothes?
Find out in Part 2
