Vive la révolution!

Contributed by Emma Callin

This Friday is Fashion Revolution Day, a global campaign to raise awareness about the social and environmental impact of the fashion industry.  Started last year on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza Disaster, Fashion Revolution wants people worldwide to ask: "Who made my clothes?"  

It's simple to get involved - snap a selfie of yourself and tag the brands that you're wearing (turn your clothes inside out to make the label more visible), then add #whomademyclothes.  The aim is to get a response from the brand and start a conversation about how their clothes are made. Hopefully this will encourage brands to move to more socially and environmentally-responsible methods of production. 

Last year the campaign used #insideout (now associated with an upcoming Pixar film), which made me think about The Shawshank Redemption.  This is not as unrelated as you might think; in the movie the warden calls his convict work program 'Inside Out'.  This also got me thinking about how the character Andy manages to convince the government to fund the prison library through continual letter-writing - one letter a week and then two letters a week!  

If we want to avoid being accused of 'slacktivism' and go beyond raising awareness we need to follow-up on our hashtag - write e-mails to the companies behind the brands we buy, to politicians about legislation on standards for clothing manufacture.  Even easier is voting with our dollars and buying ethically-made, sustainable clothing whether locally or globally made.  

Wearing an outfit by Nicole Bridger Designs with Nicole Bridger herself!  Taken at Sustainable Style.

If you want more information, Chantal and the other panelists from Sustainable Style YYC will be joining Kate Hutchinson on Trending on Shaw to discuss the slow fashion movement and the importance of ethically-made, sustainable clothing.  Tune in this Friday to check it out!