Index

NEWSLETTER 24, Oct 2007 Future Fashion Trend: Ethical!

CCC reaches out to fashion students and educators to raise awareness

CCC coalitions and partners in the UK, Netherlands, Austria, and Poland have all begun to work with fashion colleges.

The aim is "to inspire students - as the next generation of industry players - to raise standards for garment workers in the fashion industry of the future", according to Labour Behind the Label (the UK CCC).

In each country, work has begun to engage not only with students but also those teaching fashion-related courses. The groups are encouraging discussion on the impact of the fashion industry on working conditions in garment manufacture and how improvements can be made to garment workers' lives. Above all, they are hoping to foster a more ethical and responsible approach among the students as they enter the industry.

The UK activities started in 2005; in 2007 they were joined by the three other countries in a joint project funded largely by the European Commission. Within the project, which runs until 2010, they will mainly concentrate on activities in their own countries. But they are also keen to share best practices and will be developing educational resources together. Towards the end of the project, they will host a Europe-wide conference, hoping to attract groups from across the continent interested in learning from their experiences.

In the UK

The UK CCC's project is called "Fashioning an Ethical Industry" (FEI). In the two years since it started, FEI has been running student workshops and training events for educators involved in fashion-related courses. They have been providing teachers with resources to help integrate ethical issues related to garment manufacture into their teaching. The UK CCC ultimately hopes to embed ethical issues into the curriculum of all fashion courses across the UK.

A one-day FEI conference called "Creating an Ethical Future for the Fashion Industry", held in March 2007 at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, successfully attracted students, teachers, and course development teams from twenty universities and colleges across the UK. Speakers included Noemi Flores Rivas of the Maria Elena Cuadra Women's Movement in Nicaragua, Lakshmi Bhatia, director of Global Partnerships for Gap, and Arabella Preston, PR manager for People Tree, as well as other clothing industry stakeholders.

One teacher commented, "The information received from you and the conference has already been of great benefit to our students as I have been able to direct queries to the literature and bring the subject into teaching and discussions I have had with the students".

A previous training event for educators, in December 2006, looked at "fast fashion" and the impact of buying decisions on working conditions within the garment industry. Their next conference, planned for Manchester in March 2008, will be on the theme of the rise and impact of ethical consumerism.

According to FEI's co-coordinator Hannah Higginson, fashion students and teachers are interested in all areas of sustainable fashion, from fair trade to recycling. FEI is supported by a steering group made up of teachers and students of fashion-related courses from across the country. Students are encouraged to become FEI "student reps" to help shape the project and to stimulate awareness among fellow students.

For more information see fashioninganethicalindustry.org or
www.myspace.com/ethicalindustry.
Contact the project at: info@fashioninganethicalindustry.org

In the Netherlands

Since the Dutch CCC (Schone Kleren Kampagne) started working on the Fashion Colleges project (called Fair Fashion) in June 2007, they have been collecting information resources, setting up a website, raising more funds, and developing their contacts among fashion colleges and courses.

The project coordinator, Geert-Jan Davelaar, says they are planning to set up a pilot group of students enrolled at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) and the Rietveld Academy, both based in Amsterdam. In the case of AMFI, they are building on existing links; in the past AMFI students have had internships with the CCC, and some have done their own projects on "clean clothes". Workers' rights issues seem to be new for students at the Academy, however.

Once that work is established, the project intends to broaden out to other fashion courses and colleges across the Nether-lands, and indeed to others being trained for the fashion industry there, including production and retail workers.

For more information (in Dutch) see www.fairfashion.org or contact project coordinator Geert-Jan Davelaar at: geertjan@schonekleren.nl

In Poland

The "fashioning" project has also been getting underway in Poland, coordinated by the Polish Humanitarian Organization (PHO) which has offices in three cities: Warsaw, Kraków and Toruñ. The PHO's mission is to help shape humanitarian attitudes among the Polish public and create a culture of mutual help.

They are currently compiling a list of schools and colleges where fashion courses are run in the country and preparing their website and workshop materials. The first student workshops will be held in October 2007. Also, an exhibition of photographs on the garment industry and sweatshops will tour most of Poland's big cities, accompanied by a presentation and opportunities for discussion.

For more information (in Polish) see www.pah.org.pl or contact project coordinator Anna Paluszek at: anna.paluszek@pah.org.pl

In Austria

As elsewhere, the project in Austria focuses on students doing fashion courses, but also on younger students, from age 15 to18. The project is reaching out to more than 850 college lecturers and secondary school teachers.

In October a fashion show and panel discussion was organised by the Hallein Fashion College in Salzburg. In November, another one will take place in Linz.

The CCC Austria slogan "My Style - My Responsibility" is being used in this project too. Materials developed for teachers and pupils in the UK are being adapted, and a steering group of teachers is being set up to ensure that what is produced is useful. The materials will eventually go up on a special sub-site of the CCC Austria website.

In each project year, there will be a training event and conference for teachers. However, the main focus will be on activities with individual fashion colleges and schools.

For more information (in German) see www.suedwind.at or contact Stefan Kerl at: Stefan.kerl@suedwind.at

Resources for Fashion Students and Teachers

Fashioning an Ethical Industry" has developed a website (fashioninganethicalindustry.org/resources) containing a wide range of educational resources, including: