The Fashion Revolution

Have you ever heard of the Fashion Revolution Campaign?

Last week it was mentioned to me by two people in two different occasions so I went online to find out more.. and I am so glad I did.

On April 24th 2013, 133 people were killed and over 2500 were injured when the Rana Plaza factory complex collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was a social and environmental catastrophe.

On the same day the following year, 60 countries and ten thousands of people decided to stand together to declare that the fashion industry needed to change and time had come for more transparency and sustainability. Consumers around the world were asked to wear their clothes #insideoutand asked retailers and fashion labels where their clothes where coming from. Very few responded.

"We have lost the connection with the clothes that we wear. The farmers do not know where their cotton goes; the producers no longer make entire garments, they are just line workers; and the end consumer rarely knows where their clothes were made."

WE CAN CHANGE THIS!

Through small actions and more awareness we can slowly start to reconnect those broken links in the supply chain. Start by asking the people around you: "Who made your clothes?". Get people to think. Get people to act.

To find out more about the Fashion Revolution Campaign visit http://fashionrevolution.org/

Matik empowers women out of poverty by creating a market for their products through direct trade. Follow our adventures here!

The powerful message of a simple object.

I definitely recommend the 'Disobedient Object 's exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, on until February 2015. This is the first exhibition to examine the powerful role of objects in movements for social change.
Most of the stuff exhibited were made by people collectively taking design into their hand to make a change in the world. From giant puppets representing the pain of Iraqi mothers to provocative counterfeit machines, there are some very interesting pieces that even taken out of their wider context have a really strong impact.
There was a pair of two left-footed trainers, allegedly stolen by DC, 19, during the 2011 London riot. She entered a shop, took the shoes and left them outside the same shop ten seconds later.
A simple pair of shoes, briefly stolen, costed her 10 months in prison.
There were mannequins wearing big gorilla masks - those you often find in dressing up shops - but in this case their meaning was less of a joke and more a provocative call to highlight gender and racial inequality in the art world. They were part of a stunt launched by the Guerrilla Girls in response to an exhibition organised by the Museum of Modern Art, featuring 169 of the most important contemporary artists. Of these only 13 were female.
However, the piece that strake me the most - because close to issue that inspired me to set up Matik - was the 'Nike Blanket' by Cat Mazza: a huge blanket made by tiny knitted squares, each made by Nike garment workers to call for better labour conditions and fairer policies in Nike's factories.
The Nike blanket project was created to 'unify disparate global craft communities in an anti-sweatshop project in order to promote micro craft economies and small act resistance to the feminization of labour'. Amazing to think the strong power a simple blanket can have.
I like to think that in their own way Matik's quilts are a bit the same, but instead of telling about someone's struggle, they tell about someone's victory.

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