Fashion Revolution Week launches

Fashion Revolution Week is back and demanding greater transparency in the fashion industry to help improve the working conditions and wages of the people who work to make our clothes.

The week-long global campaign runs until April 30 and this year’s theme is ‘Money, Fashion, Power’ exploring the “flows of money and the structures of power across fashion’s supply chains, centring on garment worker wages and the price we pay for our clothes, so that the public can better understand what it is they are paying for,” explains the charity organisation.

Fashion Revolution co-founder Orsola de Castro said: “Have you ever wondered who makes your clothes? How much they’re paid and what their lives are like? Our clothes have gone on a long journey before they hit store shelves, passing through the hands of cotton farmers, spinners, weavers, dyers, and sewers. Eighty percent of them are women between the ages of 18 and 24. Many of the people who make our clothes live in poverty. This needs to change.”

The aim of the campaign is to help encourage people to think differently about the clothes they buy and wear and inspire them to make a positive difference, as well as demand the fashion industry for greater transparency by asking brands and retailers where their clothes are made.

This year’s Fashion Revolution Week kicked off with the annual Fashion Question Time at the Houses of Parliament chaired Mary Creagh MO, and will include various events including the Open Studios initiative, where designers open their spaces to consumers, fashion talks, catwalk shows, workshops and swap shops will be taking place across the country.

The initiative was launched to encourage a more sustainable fashion industry, as well as well as raise awareness about the working conditions and wages of workers in the fashion supply chain following the 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy where 1,138 people lost their lives. This year the global movement will see more than 90 countries taking part.

Image: courtesy of Fashion Revolution Week