The GDST marks Fashion Revolution Week 2022

Monday 18 – Sunday 22 April marks Fashion Revolution Week, an annual global campaign which aims to encourage action to bring about a more just and equitable fashion system for people and the planet. Founded to coincide with and mark the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh in 2013 which killed 1134 people, mostly young women, Fashion Revolution Week is an opportunity to remember lost lives and take action for a more equitable, sustainable and ethical approach to the clothes we design, make, buy and wear. 

At the GDST we are proud to have a number of ongoing projects which encourage our students to take a stand against fast fashion through educating, informing and empowering them to pursue their own initiatives. 

“Fashion is one of the most polluting industries on the planet with a carbon footprint bigger than aviation and shipping combined.”

As part of LEAD, the GDST’s Leadership & Enterprise Advanced Diploma in partnership with London School of Economics, students from across the GDST family started up sustainable businesses. Raphaela Deas, CEO of Team Phoenix from Brighton Girls’, explains why her team chose to upcycle seaglass from Brighton Beach into jewellery as part of their business plan. `We have all grown up watching people throw away perfectly useable items of clothing and jewellery,’ she says, ‘and we believe that reusing and upcycling can make items more beautiful through the care put into saving and repurposing them, as well as the knowledge that it is helping to make our planet cleaner.’

We are delighted to have worked with sustainable fashion expert Lauren Bravo in the run up to Fashion Revolution Week, too. Journalist and author of How To Break Up With Fast Fashion Lauren guested at a Book Club Live event for GDST students, as well as coming on to our Raise Her Up podcast to explain the importance of educating young people about the role fashion plays in environmental and social justice issues. ‘Fashion is one of the most polluting industries on the planet,’ Lauren points out, ‘with a carbon footprint bigger than aviation and shipping combined.’

“We are innovators and we want to find a solution to make ethical fashion something that is achievable for all.”

Y12 student Mia Watson, CEO and Creator Director of The High Boutique at Northampton High School, was keen to base her team’s LEAD business project around sustainable fashion. ‘I am a firm believer that there’s no point in dressing ourselves in something and making us feel good about the way we look if it’s destroying the planet at the same time,’ she states. ‘I love fashion, I think it’s a form of art that lets us express ourselves in whatever way we choose, everyday. However, in 2022 , we must find a way to have this element of self expression whilst being as sustainable as we can be.’

Whilst Fashion Revolution Week has sustainability as one of its foundational values, we cannot ignore the fact that the fast fashion industry has a disproportionately negative impact on women and girls. ‘Less than 2% of fashion workers are paid a living wage and the vast majority of those workers are young women, subject to unhealthy and unstable working conditions,’ Lauren explains. ‘Fast fashion is a feminist issue because it is women suffering to make us these clothes and let’s not forget that at the other end of the ladder only 12.5% of fashion companies have a female CEO.’

“We have all grown up watching people throw away perfectly useable items of clothing and jewellery – when in fact reusing and upcycling can make them even more beautiful.”

Perhaps, then, the key to getting our young people to turn their back on fast fashion is to convince them that it’s uncool – a relic of their parents’ generation at odds with Gen Z’s values of social justice, environmental responsibility and equality. ‘If we fix fast fashion it will make a massive difference,’ concludes Lauren,’ we’ve got to find a way of making fast fashion really lame.’ Mia agrees: ‘We set up The High Boutique with the goal to provide an affordable and convenient clothing service in school to a young generation who have the power to build a sustainable and environmentally conscious future. We are innovators and we want to find a solution to make ethical fashion something that is achievable for all.”

Listen to Lauren’s podcast episode, Fixing Fast Fashion, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Watch the GDST LEAD Business showcase video below: