ABOUT : Fashion Revolution

Fashion Revolution was founded by Carry Somers and Orsola de Castro in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013. We have grown to become the world’s largest fashion activism movement, mobilising citizens, brands and policymakers through research, education and advocacy.

We are a global movement of people who make the fashion industry work. We are the people who wear clothes. And we are the people who make them.

We are designers, academics, writers, business leaders, policymakers, brands, retailers, marketers, producers, makers, workers and fashion lovers. We are the industry and we are the public. We are world citizens. We are Fashion Revolution.

OUR VISION

A global fashion industry that conserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit.

OUR AIMS

An end to human and environmental exploitation in the global fashion industry
Safe, dignified working conditions and living wages for all people in the supply chain
Redistributed and more equal balance of power across the global fashion industry
A bigger and stronger labour movement in the global fashion industry
A global fashion industry that works to conserve precious resources and regenerate ecosystems
A culture of transparency and accountability across the value chain
An end to throwaway culture and shift to a system where materials are used for much longer and nothing goes to waste
Heritage, craftsmanship and local wisdom are recognised and valued

HOW WE WORK TO ACHIEVE CHANGE

CULTURAL CHANGE

Raise public awareness and educate people about the systemic challenges facing the global fashion industry
Build a diverse movement, mobilise communities and bring people together around the world to take collective action
Help people understand the impacts of their clothes and how they can influence the global fashion industry
Collaborate with artists and activists to reframe powerful narratives embedded in the culture of fashion
Create tools for people to use their voice and make changes in their personal lives and work
Inspire people to consume less, value quality and take better care of their clothes
Provide a platform that enables more visibility and fewer barriers between consumers and producers

INDUSTRY CHANGE

Conduct research that shines a light on the social and environmental impacts of the global fashion industry
Highlight where the industry is moving too slowly and push for faster change
Influence brands and retailers to change through consumer pressure
Incentivise and promote transparency and accountability across the supply chain

POLICY CHANGE

Advocate for policy changes and influence governments to play a more active role in better enforcing laws and regulating the industry

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR THEORY OF CHANGE

OUR APPROACH

Fashion Revolution strives to be action-oriented and solution focused. Rather than making people feel guilty, we help them recognise that they have the power to do something to make positive change.

We celebrate fashion as a positive influence while also scrutinising industry practices and raising awareness of the fashion industry’s most pressing problems. We aim to show that change is possible and encourage those who are on a journey to create a more ethical, sustainable and transparent future for fashion.

We try to always be bold, provocative, inquisitive, accessible and inclusive. We tend to avoid negative protesting, victimising, and naming and shaming. We do not target specific individual companies because we believe that the industry’s problems are bigger than any one company’s actions.

We very rarely, if ever, encourage boycotting simply because we don’t see it as the most effective way to achieve systemic change. We have heard first-hand from supply chain workers that boycotting can do them more harm than help. In many countries the textile and garment industry is of the few avenues to financial independence for women. They want good jobs and dignity. What they don’t want is a poverty level pay, excessive working hours and unsafe workplaces. This isn’t to say that boycotting never works; it can be used to great effect under the right circumstances and very strategically.

ABOUT FASHION REVOLUTION WEEK

Fashion Revolution Week happens every year in the week coinciding with 24th April, the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh.

The Rana Plaza building housed a number of garment factories, employing around 5,000 people. The people in this building were manufacturing clothing for many of the biggest global fashion brands. The building collapsed and killed 1,134 people and injured more than 2,500 others, making it the fourth largest industrial disaster in history. The victims were mostly young women.

During Fashion Revolution Week, we remember the lives lost and demand that no one should die for fashion.

FIND OUT HOW TO GET INVOLVED

OUR STRUCTURE

Fashion Revolution is represented by Fashion Revolution CIC, the organisation that spearheads the global network of official Fashion Revolution Country Offices and the volunteer Country Coordination teams. All Fashion Revolution organisations work to ensure that our clothing is made in a safe, clean and fair way, but often pursue different activities. This enables the Fashion Revolution movement to pursue all work necessary to change the way our clothes are sourced, produced and consumed.

Fashion Revolution CIC is a not-for-profit social enterprise (Community Interest Company No. 8988812). The CIC is managed by it’s Board of Directors. The Senior Management Team (SMT) is responsible for organising and managing the primary groups that create, direct and oversee Fashion Revolution globally. The SMT works closely with the CIC members.

Fashion Revolution Country Offices are legally registered non-profit organisations in several countries and form the official, year round affiliation network. The Country Offices work in direct affiliation with Fashion Revolution CIC, they advise and help to develop the global strategy on various levels and they also create, pursue and develop their own regional strategies, for programming and fundraising. There are now 23 Country Offices in: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and USA.

Fashion Revolution Country Teams are voluntary groups coordinated by a Country Coordinator (CC) who voluntarily takes on the roles and responsibilities associated with this position. Voluntary groups are made up of individuals who come from all areas of the fashion industry, give Fashion Revolution its strength and reach and provide people around the world with the opportunity to engage, in particular during Fashion Revolution Week. From 2020 these voluntary groups will establish simple group constitutions which help them to operate as a collective while sharing common values and principles with the rest of the global network.

Fashion Revolution Country Coordinators (CCs) are the leaders of country teams. There is usually one CC per country elected by their group and then appointed by the CIC. They liaise with the CIC and coordinate a team to carry out important functions such as: to facilitate and distribute Fashion Revolution campaign materials, communication strategy and policy asks; coordinate and activate all the stakeholders within their country to engage with Fashion Revolution in accordance with the global guidelines; compile and submit annual reports on their impact, progress and feedback.

FIND YOUR COUNTRY

HOW WE ARE FUNDED

We rely on support from citizens around the world to help us create free and accessible resources and impactful campaigns to demand a clean, safe, fair, transparent and accountable fashion industry. We do this through research, education, collaboration, mobilisation and advocacy.

As stated in our Ethical Funding Policy, we follow strict and transparent guidelines about the funds we receive.

We are grateful to the following organisations for their support for Fashion Revolution in the past year:

British Council
European Union
Laudes Foundation

Our Fashion Open Studio programme is sponsored by:

Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Businesses
British Council
Mayor of London
Mercedes-Benz

We are grateful for pro bono support from:

Winston & Strawn LLP

McGrory Communications led by Geraldine McGrory

Fashion Revolution’s Country Offices and Country Teams raise funds independent of Fashion Revolution CIC for activities in each of their own countries but are required to abide by the Ethical Funding Policy.

Please note: We are currently funded by Laudes Foundation for core activities as well as special projects such as the Fashion Transparency Index. Laudes Foundation is an independent foundation and part of the Brenninkmeijer family enterprise, alongside COFRA Group businesses and the family’s other private philanthropic activities, including Porticus, Good Energies Foundation and Argidius Foundation. The Foundation is independent from the Group and works to influence all of the garment industry, including the COFRA group businesses which includes C&A. The Laudes Foundation engages with the companies within the Group as thought partners, sharing ideas and approaches that can inspire change and challenge the daily norms, as well as learning from their insights and expertise.

Laudes Foundation is responding to the dual crises of inequality and climate change by supporting brave, innovative efforts that inspire and challenge industry to harness its power for good, providing philanthropic capital, expertise and connections to help catalyse systems change and influencing the financial sector to move towards a new economy that values all people and nature. These two strategies are designed to help accelerate the existing movement towards a just and regenerative economy. Find more about how Laudes Foundation operates.

We would like to highlight our fair treatment of fact and our non-biased approach to assessing C&A in the Fashion Transparency Index. We have mitigated any risk of a conflict of interest by the following three methods: viewing and treating C&A and the Laudes Foundation as separate entities; treating C&A like any other of the 249 brands we analysed and not giving C&A any preferential treatment; additional assessments of C&A by our research partners, Mexican NGO Arlenica and external assessment by our technical partner in Brazil ABC Associados.

C&A, along with many other major multinational brands, suspended and cancelled orders during the Covid-19 pandemic. Alongside other organisations, we are calling on brands to immediately reinstate all suspended and cancelled orders and to be more responsible business partners to their suppliers moving forwards. We encourage our supporters to use the ‘email a brand’ template on our homepage and support the #PayUp campaign.