Looking Back at Fashion Revolution Week 2022
Held from April 18-24th, this event brought environmentalists and fashionistas together around the topics of Money, Fashion, and Power.
For Fashion Revolution Week 2022, citizens and leaders joined hands to reimagine a just and equitable fashion system for all. Through the themes “Money, Fashion, Power,” we addressed everything from fair pay and big brands to overconsumption and climate change. From global events to community-based actions, our fashion revolutionaries rallied to inform, change and inspire. Below, delve into some of the FR Week 2022 highlights.
Tuesday 19th kicked off with an “Around the World of Fashion Revolution,” Instagram Live chat, with Fashion Revolutionaries around the world. Hosted by Yasmin Jones-Henry, a journalist at the Financial Times, representatives from Bangladesh, Uganda, France, Malaysia, Guatemala, and the US tuned in to discuss local events occurring in their countries for FR Week.
“It was so great to have groups come in together not really knowing what to expect, and leave with a memorable new piece for their wardrobe,” Maggie Barret, Minneapolis City Lead of Fashion Revolution, reflected on the clothing swap that she hosted for FR Week. “I feel grateful that I was able to educate members of my community about the importance of thinking before you buy,” she continued. Clementina Martinez-Masarweh brought her community together through art created from scraps and leftover material from previous works. Inspired by the theme Money Fashion Power, she handpicked pieces to display at this event. Her art sparked conversation and provided an opportunity to explain to others what FRUSA is about. “Some had no idea that we had a landfill problem or that some countries with more leverage or power were dumping clothing, fashion, and textiles into other countries,” Martinez-Masarweh explained. At Virginia Commonwealth University, students created short films, presentations and calls to action on their campus. These local actions left the Fashion Revolution community hopeful that our work does truly raise awareness and catalyze action.
Clementina Martinez-Masarweh’s work from Recycle2 Riches Earth Day Summit X Art Share Los Angeles
Wednesday 20th featured a panel discussion around the theme Money Fashion Power with industry experts. “It’s all about highlighting the power imbalance that persists in the fashion industry, with the industry’s profits being so concentrated in the hands of just a few actors at the expense of the millions of workers who fuel the industry,” panel host and Policy Director at Fashion Revolution, Maeve Galvin, began. This panel included Mario Ivekoci, a clean clothes activist and president of Novi Sindikat; Martina Marekova, the country coordinator for Fashion Revolution Slovakia; Nasreen Sheikh, an international speaker and survivor of modern day slavery and an advocate for global human rights; Wiranta Ginting, the Deputy and International Coordinator of the Asia Floor Wage Alliance; Marissa Nuncio, the Director of the Garment Worker Center in California; Lara Wolters, a member of the European Parliament; and Julia Kirschner, social impact manager of the German fashion label Armed Angels. This panel discussed the importance of living wages, why it’s been difficult to make them a reality, and whether legislation might be able to help.
On Thursday 21th, FRUSA hosted a global policy event with expert panelists to explore why policy matters in the fashion industry. Moderated by Jennifer Fisher Clay, a government affairs professional and founder of The Fisher Clay Group, this panel drove home how policy can help propel a more transparent, fair, and sustainable fashion industry in the United States and beyond. Maeve Galvin, Global Policy and Campaigns Director at Fashion Revolution, Aruna Kashyap, associate director on corporate accountability in the Economic Justice and Rights division of Human Rights Watch, and Marissa Nuncio, discussed key points such as what’s at play at the state levels, how we might learn from legislation proposed by the European Union, worker’s rights, and supply-chain regulation in the fashion industry. This panel provided a glimpse into the promising future that policy could create, empowering participants to enact change and advocate for future policy decisions.
On Friday 22nd, Ruth MacGlip, the London and Edinburgh Communications Manager of Fashion Revolution, hosted a virtual book club, which focused on our fanzine—the inspiration for this year’s Money Fashion Power theme. Joined by Fashion Revolution reps from all over the world, they discussed what the theme meant to them, how they’ve experienced it, and provided actionable steps for citizens.
This FR Week 2022, we provided you with an array of global perspectives, inspiration, and conversation. You, our community, brought an immense amount of engagement and most importantly, action. Bringing the lens of Money Fashion Power, together we used our collective voices to enact changes locally and globally to influence a better future for fashion. We are grateful to our community and revolutionaries in their support for our mission to conserve and restore the environment and value people over growth and profit.
