A Day At Printwear Live!

Ten o'clock on a Sunday morning, when all right-thinking people are contemplating a second coffee and a bite of breakfast. So, why then did I find myself...here?

What madness is this? Wait, though, there's a clue, way off there in the distance. Time to do a CSI-style zoom and enhance...

Aha, now that makes a bit more sense. Guru Ian dragged me and Pier Mascot Ali along to Printwear Live. It's the one point of contact in the year for the clothes customisation industry to meet, network and maybe do a little business. All the big distributors and brands are here, so it's important for Pier32 to get in and touch base.

Hall 20 at the NEC (for yes, readers, we were on the outskirts of Birmingham, the Midland's shining jewel) is stuffed to the gunwales with huge stalls and marquees, offering a ton of new clothing ranges and customisation technology. We were all pleased to see that organics made a strong showing this year. Well, we would be. It's how we roll.

So a visit to Stanley Stella would always be first on the agenda. A new kid on the block, they've gone all out for organic and sustainable fabrics. But they also have a keen eye on modern trends and designs.

I was especially taken with the tops made from Modal–a silky, luxurious fabric that's made from birch. It holds colour for longer than cotton and keeps that colour more intensely.

Ian also pointed out a clever design detail on a lot of clothes designed for the customisation market. Size tabs are offset from the centre of the collar or area designed to rip out, allowing you to put your own branding on the item. Neat thinking.

Another must-stop on the tour was Continental, who while independent are still able to make a big noise against the conglomos at the front of the hall. Their commitment to ethical and sustainable ranges has always made them a favourite here at The Pier. Their Salvage (made from recycled fibre) and Fair Share (paying above market price to the workers that make the clothes) ranges are tremendously popular with our clients. It helps that they've been pals of ours for years, of course!

It's always fun to wander a show and just soak up the weird and wonderful sights. If, like me, this is your first time at a particular show, there can be some real surprises. Take, for example, the guys at Oku, who had an honest-to-Betsy eagle on their stand...

Or the full-on, properly choreographed street-dance fashion shows that featured clothes from brands like Regatta and Trespass - you know, the mid-range brands you'd normally see halfway round the Snake Pass or in a tea shop somewhere in the Dales...

(OK, and AWDI, who do know their street wear).

A real eye-opener for me were the robot embroidery machines. Feed art in one end, and they'll kick into life and stitch that design onto pretty much anything. The end results can be insanely complex.

It was, to be honest, a pretty overwhelming day with lots to see and do. Guru Ian was in his element and walked away carrying his own body weight in brochures and giveaways. New trends for the coming season? Look out for retro styles that harken back to the 80s, with contrast-colours on sleeves and collars.

But the real big thing will be hexoflage–camo styles overlaid with a hexagonal grid in hot colours. Imagine future military livery. Blend in? No chance. This is the sort of colourway you slather over your Titanfall custom loadout before you stomp off to frag alien hordes.

A madcap day, then, but I walked away with a few treats (including a bottle of prosecco in a raffle–thank you, Pencarrie!) and a renewed respect for the complexity of the industry into which I dangle my writerly toes.

There are worse ways to spend a Sunday, that's for sure.

A Sustainable New Year From Selfridges

You may recall that this time last year Selfridge's flagship London store gave over its iconic window display to sustainable fashion. The Bright New Things promotion sought to highlight emerging designers and the work they were doing to support sustainability.

For 2017, they're at it again, with a whole new range of designers–and a clever hook to show just how broad a church the field has become. Material World takes eight different fibres and fabrics, and presents designers that are doing fascinating and innovative work with them.

For example, leather is represented by Swedish brand Deadwood. They specialise in recycling, taking inspiration from vintage styles to come up with a new take on an old classic: the leather jacket. Showing respect for the material while exploring the possibilities of its durability are good, strong ticks against a sustainability checklist.

On the subject of thinking laterally, Tengri, representing luxury fibres, have come up with a new twist on the usual suspects. Cashmere and angora have come under fire over the past few years with accusations of animal cruelty and over-farming of pastureland. Instead, founder Nancy Johnston has discovered the incredibly soft fibres of the Mongolian yak pelt have a decidedly luxurious feel. She calls the resultant fabric yakshmere, and it needs to be felt to be believed.

Material World is all about taking on the challenges we face in using the world's most popular fabrics and fibres, treating them with respect and finding innovative new ways that are less cruel, greedy or polluting. There are some really interesting ideas on display in the windows of Selfridges right now until the end of March. If you're in the area, go and check them out.

Or just have a look at the collection via the Selfridges Material World site here.

A Beastie Of A Shoe. At Least It's For A Good Cause.

There are fascinating examples of fans buying products designed or promoted by their favourite brands or celebrities with little thought given to whether it's worth it. You could argue this goes all the way up to the week-long queues we used to see outside Apple stores for the latest iProduct. When I used to work in London's trendy Soho, I regularly witnessed block-long lines at cult streetwear store Supreme. Famously, once people queued for a Supreme-branded brick. Yep, a regulation-sized house brick stamped with the Supreme logo.

You do have to wonder if there's some sort of bet in place amongst certain well-placed designers as to what people will fork out on, and how ugly a design has to be before they will walk away. Case in point: the new sneaker endorsed by Beastie Boy Ad-Rock, which is now available for pre-order. Created in conjunction with vegan footwear company Keep, net profits from the sale of the shoe going to Planned Parenthood. Ad-Rock says:

“Given the outcome of our current election, it’s gonna get a lot colder before we can feel that summer sun again. So I collaborated with my friend, [Keep Shoes founder] Una [Kim], not just because I wanted warm sneaks, but because I support small business. I support women-run business. I support Asian-American-run business. Net proceeds of this shoe will be donated to Planned Parenthood because I support a woman’s right to choose and feel that women should not be punished for making decisions about their own lives and bodies.”  

All very admirable. Keep are well-known as a highly ethical, worker-supporting company, and Planned Parenthood are an exceptionally worthy cause. However, the problem is in the shoes themselves. They are pretty darn ugly. Made of nylon and cordura, with bungees instead of laces, they look more like nan-shoes than anything you'd want to be seen in on the street.

Here's the issue, then. Should you buy the shoe, or others like it, if you support a cause or like the endorsing artist, regardless of whether the item itself is unpleasing to the eye? Is this just a matter of taste, and I'm sneering at the Keep X Ad-Rock Ramos simply because they aren't to my taste? I mean, I'm hardly an exemplar of street style. But I fail to see how anyone would want those within safe minimum distance of their feet. 

Fashion and causes and celebrity endorsements have always been bedfellows, and the resultant offspring have frequently been a bit odd-looking. The Keep X Ad-Rock Ramos is just the latest example of that trend, and they're at least born out of the noblest of intentions. I just hope they're more comfortable than they look. 

A Europe-Wide Plan For Sustainable Change

We need to get a handle on waste and sustainability in the fashion industry. Recent figures show that we throw away the equivalent of seven tonnes of unwanted clothing in the UK every ten minutes. The sector takes up five per cent of our carbon and water footprints, and is a massive hog on resources. We need a plan.

The thing is, we may just have one. The Waste And Resources Action Plan, better known to us as WRAP, have just signed five major clothing manufacturers to ECAP (European Clothing Action Plan), a Europe-wide initiative to reduce waste and work towards a more sustainable future. One name in particular stands out in the list of participants: Primark.

There are four main points to ECAP: designing and specifying products for longer life and closed-loop production; ensuring that less clothing goes to incineration and landfill; encouraging customers to buy less clothing and use it for longer; and improving innovation in resource-efficient design and service models to encourage business growth in the sector. All of these are fairly basic tenets in sustainable fashion. How long have we been talking about Buy Less, Choose Wisely?

The plan is for ECAP participants to divert 90,000 tonnes of clothing waste from landfill and incineration, save 1.6 million tons of CO2e, and make 588 million cubic metres of water savings. Help will come in the form of education into the current impact of their business models, and aid in development of new products using more sustainable resources.

Sarah Clayton of WRAP says:

“As the first participants of ECAP, these organisations are championing sustainable clothing across Europe. The wheels are in motion, but more can be done – we are looking to welcome and involve more brands, retailers, manufacturers, reuse and recycling organisations, charities and consumers in the plan to drive greater sustainability of clothing across Europe.”

ECAP aims to build on the success of WRAP's UK-based Sustainable Action Clothing Plan (SCAP2020), which has 82 signatories all working to reduce the environmental impact of the clothing industry. That plan has already had some astonishing successes–in the first year of operation, there was a 12.5% reduction in water impacts, and a 3% drop in carbon emissions.

Involving big names in an ambitious plan is great news, of course, but it remains to be seen how much of a success ECAP will be. But the will and enthusiasm to change from both business and government does seem to be in place. And that can only be a good thing.

Why See Now, Buy Now Is A Bad Idea

Fast fashion: it's so much a part of our 'buy cheaply and often' culture that we don't even stop to think about it. The whole notion of 'buy one, get one free' has encouraged us to spend on items we don't even need, satisfied that we've got a bargain.

This conspicuous consumption is a huge issue and it's not getting better anytime soon. If anything, innovation in prototyping and digital ordering is leading us further down the slope. The latest idea, launched at this season's fashion shows, is 'see now, buy now'. You don't have to wait for the newest designs to roll out to the shops. If you like what you see on the catwalks, you can order it and get it delivered there and then.

This, of course, puts enormous pressure on already maxed-out fashion factories, who are now expected to deliver just-in-time orders of new designs at an acceptable level of finish. What does this mean for the workers who are at the sharp end of the deal–who have to make the clothes in the first place?

The Fairtrade Foundation recently talked to garment worker and activist Nazma Akter, who has long fought for worker's rights in the harsh environment of Bangladeshi fashion factories. The whole interview is a must-read, but of particular interest are her views on the ever-increasing velocity of fast fashion. She says:

'Consumers have been encouraged, through a culture of “buy one get one free” deals to want ever-cheaper products and to want them now. But nothing in life comes for free. At the moment, women and workers are paying with their blood and sweat so consumers can enjoy cheap fashion. I don’t believe anyone really wants that. We all need to be able to eat well, have a decent life with access to education and healthcare. Let’s slow fashion down, and transform the industry to change people’s lives for the better.'

Sadly, many people simply can't see past the allure of instant gratification. Emma Watson, who has become something of a spokesperson for sustainability, recently launched a range of capsule clothing. That range was available on launch, and the publicity she gained from a big wave of press coverage ensured a quick sellout. This is exactly the problem that workers like Nazma have with western fashion, and it's certain Watson's suppliers would have been under intense pressure to deliver on time and budget. This is hardly a good example for a public figure who claims to care about worker's rights.

Our View: Nazma is a figure whose bravery and tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds should be celebrated. She's absolutely right about how our greed for more stuff, right now, has cheapened and marginalised the people who work so hard to deliver the clothes we covet so badly, and need so little. Emma Watson, sadly, is sending the wrong message to her legions of fans. The last thing we need is another collection of celebrity-endorsed clothing that we can buy without thinking about it.

How Asos Treats Its Workers–And Why You Should Care.

Ten years ago, the notion of mail order was deeply untrendy. It involved the use of a catalogue as thick as a phone directory, and clothing lines that never came close to being on trend.

In the Age Of Amazon, of course, everything has changed. Small ethical retailers are able to advertise and sell their wares to customers across the globe. A world of fashion is at our fingertips. Choice and price has never been better.

But there's a darker side to the retail revolution. Slaking our thirst for online purchases has meant the growth of gigantic fulfilment centres where the items we order are picked, packed and despatched. Fast turnaround of orders means tight picking targets. For the people that work in these centres, that can mean a working day where breaks are discouraged, and any infraction can lead to a loss of earnings.

Buzzfeed News has just released a scathing exposé of the fulfilment centre for online fashion giant Asos, based in Grimethorpe, Yorkshire. It reveals a world where deadlines are the only metric for success, and that workers that cannot maintain the blistering pace find themselves 'deselected' for shifts. In an economic climate where Asos is the only game in Grimethorpe, that can mean facing a very uncertain future.

Picking targets can be as high as 160 items an hour, from a warehouse that has nearly 26 miles of walkways. Failure to meet those targets will frequently see workers pulled up to management offices to explain themselves. If that target line slips further, supervisors discourage staff from taking tea or toilet breaks.

The uncertainty of the so-called 'flex' system run by Transline, who employ agency workers for the centre, is another source of tension. Asos employees can be stood down or expected to work overtime at very short notice. Workers claim it's a one-way street–many have 40 hours or more overtime in the bank, with no sign of it being reimbursed either in payment or time off in lieu.

Monitoring of staff is both pervasive and invasive. CCTV is everywhere. Staff are subject to mandatory searches, and even random pat-downs from security personnel. ASOS claims this is because of the high value of some of the items that pickers will handle. But that culture of mistrust rolls both ways. As one worker at Grimethorpe says:

“We are all being treated like thieves, from the start and all the time. Higher management and HR seem to say, ‘We’ve got 4,000 employees so probably we’ve got 4,000 thieves.”

Asos argue that they have invested massively in an area that has suffered from unemployment following the closure of the Grimethorpe pits in the early 90s. They also shrug off complaints as coming from a tiny percentage of disaffected staff.

This is not the story told by service worker's union GMB, who have a strong presence on the site. Deanne Ferguson for the organisation says:

“I say to people when they get a job at Asos that they’ve left their ambitions at the door, because you go in and you’re worked like a robot. Transline are churning out workers like you would not believe. There are hundreds of hundreds of people in that place – thousands – and they’re just not treated fairly.”

Our View: every Christmas we see horror stories coming from the huge fulfilment centres that feed online retail giants like Amazon. We know that staff are treated without respect, and expected to work long but uncertain hours for little more than minimum wage.

But it's a complex situation. As consumers, we blithely expect items to come through the door with no more effort than the poke at a tablet screen. The power of a piece like the Buzzfeed News exposé, which I urge you all to read, is that it makes us think a little about the complex systems that go into something that we all take for granted. Above all, it gives us a reason to care. We simply can't use the excuse that worker abuse means nothing to us for cultural reasons, or that it's so far away. The poor treatment of ASOS employees is right here, right now. And we need to give a damn about that.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/saraspary/these-asos-workers-are-paying-the-true-price-of-your-order?bftwuk&utm_term=.cbYV8QwRG#.tpe0arXwM

Challenge Accepted!

As the autumn edition of London Fashion Week rolls around, so too does the Green Carpet Challenge. Launching in 2013, the annual event is designed to show how sustainable fashion can hold its own on the red carpet.

This year's event, sponsored by BAFTA, was the most glamorous yet, with a ton of fashion icons and movie stars showing up at British film's Piccadilly HQ. Host and queen of the scene Lilia Firth welcomed guests in a stunning William Vintage gown, along with her husband, actor Colin Firth.

And what a rollcall! Victoria Beckham and Vogue editor Anna Wintour hoofed it to London fresh from New York Fashion Week, while Keira Knightley and Helena Bonham Carter brought a shot of Hollywood sunshine to the proceedings. Keira teamed her cream dress with a fairly-mined gold ring from Chopard's Green Carpet Collection.

But the hit of the show for some, including ethical fashion writer Lucy Siegel, was the launch of a new range of bio-degradable mannequins from Italian company Bonaveri. Made from a sugarcane derivative called BPlast, the mannequins look and feel just like traditional dummies, but are made using a significantly smaller carbon footprint. Bonaveri says:

“It has been a difficult path full of surprises; but thanks to commitment and expertise we are able to offer our customers a product which is environmentally conscious and aesthetically impeccable."

The Green Carpet Challenge event, which also included a screening of The Last Monday In May, is another step up towards the influence of ethical fashion on the mainstream. It attracted gushing headlines across the planet, and highlighted how Livia and her company Eco-Age are luring in an audience with a little dose of glamour.

For more, and to check out a slideshow of images from the night, do slide over to Vogue, darling.

Sing A New Song

In what seems to be turning into the Start-up Of The Week slot, let's take a look at a new initiative that's seeking to freshen up the image of sustainable fashion.

Birdsong aims to be different in every way. The brand has built a network of artisans from across the globe that have one thing in common: they're groups of women who are using their skills to fight for a better way of life. Birdsong currently work with 17 women’s organisations, reaching 483 female makers on the margins of society. This includes elderly, migrant and low income background women, women recovering from addictions, single mums, and survivors of human trafficking who are finding a new trade as goldsmiths.

By teaming these women with contemporary designers, Birdsong are able to produce modern clothing with a story, that helps to give a life and purpose back to the most down-trodden. But don't assume this is just a charity exercise. The items that Birdsong sell are designed to transcend the seasonal trap, and built to last for years. Using short lead times and limited runs, they can move quickly, respond to customer demand and still keep costs to a realistic level.

The Birdsong ethos even extends to the marketing. Their mantra is 'no Sweatshop, No Photoshop.' Instead of the usual over-glossy shoots common to the industry, Birdsong use models they find on the street, in shoot them in a natural way that includes no re-touching in post. It's all about celebrating the natural beauty all around us, and walking away from toxic, unreachable images that tell girls that they can never be pretty enough.

Birdsong's online platform has helped them to reach a solid base of fans, including celebrities like Bake-Off's Ruby Tandoh. But there's always more to be done. Founders Sophie and Sarah are fundraising to launch a pop-up shop, showcasing the quality of Birdsong's clothes. The good news is that they're already nearly two-thirds of the way there. Why not take a look, and see if you can help spread the word?

Birdsong's Crowdcube campaign is here: https://www.crowdcube.com/birdsong

Or check out the video below.

In a sidebar, I'm happy to note that this entry marks our 700th blogpost on The View From The Pier. We'd like to thank everyone that reads and helps to share our work. It's very much appreciated.

Stella Flies The Flag For TeamGB!

What an Olympics for TeamGB! From the starting pistol everyone at Rio has performed above expectations, staying ahead of the impressive rate of medal winning that we achieved during the London Games. From the champions we knew would deliver like Mo Farah and Sir Bradley, to the surprising number of new faces stepping up to the podium (amazing achievements by the gymnastics team this time around) everyone has performed out of their skins and done their country proud.

As ever, our Olympians have presented a sharp, smart image at the Games, helped by graphic t-shirts and warmdown wear in bold, bright designs. Which is where events enter the remit of this blog, of course, as those garments were designed by a favourite of The View: Stella McCartney.

A standout feature of the new kit is the Olympic Coat Of Arms, designed by Stella in conjunction with the Royal College Of Arms. Featuring lions, the national flowers and a crown of medals, the design is celebratory and unashamedly patriotic. That didn't mean Stella had an easy ride with it, though. She told Vogue:

"I really fought for the coat of arms. I had to go through so many governing bodies, BOA, BPA, to get approval - and I'm not used to that. It's a bit like being back in school. But I wanted to gift the nation."

The boldness of the design, which could be mixed up and reincorporated into other elements, gave Stella the freedom to present a range that was never boring while presenting a unified front. This was important. She explains:

"The obvious thing is to work with the Union Flag. But what I wanted to do this time was to have imagery and icons within the treatment that felt individualised. So every single piece of the kit is different - different pieces of the design have been pulled out and blown up - and that meant that we had to style it more, create outfits from different pieces. Whenever I talk to the athletes, they say they want to feel like a team. I wanted them to feel like one."

The kit is technologically advanced as well, with innovations from team supplier Adidas meaning that the clothes are lighter and more capable of keeping athletes cool during events. It's the perfect balance of style and function, and has helped Team GB to present themselves at their very best.

You can buy Stella's designs, and at least pretend that you're an Olympic athlete. On your marks, get set, go to the TeamGB shop and fly the flag!

 




 

Polling Clean And Buying Dirty: Why We Say One Thing And Do Another.

There is a problem with ethical consumers. Polls and research make it clear that we want to buy in a way that rewards companies who look after their workers and the environment. But, when it comes down to it, those good intentions don't match what goes on in the marketplace. We still massively support brands with proven ethical issues.

It's called the Attitude-Behaviour Gap, and it's a real stumbling block to getting a clearer idea into how ethical shopping can become more mainstream. To put it simply: we say one thing and do another. Why is that?

A short article over on the Ethical Trading Initiative website digs into the problem, and comes up with some interesting conclusions. There are a number of factors at play which, when put together, means that we're not quite as ethical in action as we are in intent.

The first issue is that of information overload. Anyone that spends an amount of time a day on the interwebs can sympathise with that, of course. An acquaintance of mine often says 'the more I research, the more confused I get.' And therein lies the problem. Contradictory reports, the lack of clarity as to what action to take, or even how effective that action can be, leads us to make a lot of encouraging noises without actually doing that much.

Then there's the problem of what to do when you actually need a new outfit. You may head to the shops with the best of intentions, but the fact remains that ethical choices on the high street are still thin on the ground. Even brands that make a big noise about their conscious standpoint like H&M only stock a limited range of ethically-sourced products, with a tiny selection of colours and sizes that shrinks the choice still further. What you want to do and what ends up happening may diverge simply because the items you have in mind aren't available. This doesn't just apply at an individual level, either. You're just as likely to be buying for a friend, child or loved one as for yourself. How easy is it to buy ethically then?

Social pressures play a part as well. Fitting into a group can mean dressing in a certain way or spending time and money in certain shops. What if someone you want to impress drags you along to Primark on a Saturday afternoon? How do you say no to that based on your conscience? If your moral judgements and those of a larger societal group are different, it becomes that bit harder to make and stick to the right decision.

It's clear that this disconnect works across the board: look at the surprising results that have come out of big political events like the Brexit vote, which most polls indicated would be a whitewash for the Remain camp. If we're not telling the whole truth when we talk to researchers or fill in an online survey, then we shouldn't be surprised when results don't match up to expectations. Does this mean the whole idea of the 'ethical consumer' is largely fictional?

Well, no, but with caveats. We've seen how easy it can be for fashion brands to roll back on controversial decisions with a well-aimed dose of Internet ire. People, at heart, want to do the right thing by garment workers and the environment. But the terrain is still dense and difficult to navigate, and it shouldn't be surprising if our best intentions can be overridden by the choices we have to make in the real world in order to get things done.

 

The End Of Cashmere?

Cashmere. It's one of the world's most luxurious fibres. Its softness is legendary, and clothes woven from the fine fleece of the Mongolian Hircus goat have been worn by the well-to-do for thousands of years. But now, as the Business Of Fashion warns, that legacy is under threat.

Part of the draw of cashmere is its rarity. Drawn from the winter undercoat of the Hircus goat, the fibre is hard to get at and only available for a short period. In a good year, the global cashmere yield will be around six and a half thousand tonnes. But that supply is dependant on a finely balanced array of environmental factors. As climate change bites, those factors are shifting.

The Hircus goat lives and feeds on remote grasslands in China and the Mongolian steppes, which are suffering from brutal degradation. Harsh winters and summer droughts have decimated the herds, with some estimates putting the total at 9 million head lost over the last year.

At the same time, brands like Uniqlo are selling cashmere at bargain prices, which bumps up demand. In response, farmers are increasing the size of their herds–which of course puts further pressure on the spare pickings on the grasslands. An unexpected side effect is that the goats that do survive are becoming tougher, the essential fine winter under-coat becoming coarser and less attractive to buyers. With rising temperatures further affecting that insulating layer, some industry experts are gloomily predicting a major fall-off in the supplies of good-quality cashmere.

This is a concern throughout the fashion industry, and in part explains the stance that it is taking on climate change. You can control the look, the marketing, the way the shops sell your goods. But a threat to the raw materials on which everything is based is a business-ending crisis.

So there's something of a fight-back on the cards. The Sustainable Fibre Alliance (SFA) was launched last year to protect the animals, pastors and the environment on which they depend. The Chinese government has applied embargoes on herd size. Meanwhile, a selective breeding programme backed by money from luxury brand behemoth LVMH aims to boost the quality of that all important undercoat–leading to smaller herds but a higher yield of gold-standard cashmere per animal.

There's a possibility, of course, that this could be too little, too late. If so, then the luxury brands will no doubt have a strategy in place for the shrinking supply as cashmere becomes ever rarer and more desirable. But the impression I get is that no-one wants that, and in fact the big names are working hard to protect the herds. It's a good sign that the fashion industry is starting to realise they have a duty of care to the environment, and that responsible stewardship could mean that we can all enjoy the softness of cashmere in the future.

 

 

How To Build A Pair Of Shoes

It's Friday, and I'm on my hols, apparently. Busy old week, with trips to That London (we strongly recommend the new Switch Room galleries at Tate Modern) and Countryfile Live (some good foodie stuff, but any event that depends almost entirely on road transport for access will have problems–a seven-mile tailback to get into site takes some of the fun out of the day). Fresh air and a lot of exercise. Frankly, I'm cream-crackered.
So, something light and simple for our Friday post. I'm a big fan of Tricker's Shoes. Sturdy, hand-made items that are designed to last for more than a lifetime. Seriously, Tricker's footwear is handed down from father to son. Sure, they cost more. But they're not throw-away items. And as locally-made items that support British artisans, they're a brand to celebrate. One day I shall own a pair. Oh yes, one day.
I came across a short video that looks into the hard work and attention to detail that goes into the creation of a bespoke pair of Tricker's shoes. If you're a fan of process videos or the slow shows on making chairs or kitchen knives that BBC Four does so well, then you're in for a treat here. Take a couple of minutes to enjoy this.

Who Really Pays For Cheap School Uniforms?

The school holidays have started, which means that, to the despair of kids everywhere, the shops are full of Back To School specials. That's the last thing they want to be reminded of during the long weeks of summer, surely.

A price war has kicked off around the most important item of any new school year: the uniform. Most supermarkets are offering full uniforms at prices that are not just knock-down, but fall-off-a-cliff. As The Guardian reports, if you shop at the right store, you can kit out your little darling for as little as £3.69.

Now, we've been down this road before. Long-time readers will remember the furore over the 99p dress, for example. Price wars are all about publicity (that Guardian article helpfully give a full lists of what shops are offering which bargains) and they're part of the dark art of getting customers in the door so they can spend more. Cheap school uniforms are a loss leader, timed to hit the shelves at the perfect point where worried parents are looking at the expense that comes with new gear for the new year. Anything that helps cut the price at the checkout is welcome.

The ethical cost is a different matter, of course. Encouragingly, consumers are becoming more savvy about how their cheap clothing items are sourced. There's an opportunity here. School uniforms can become a great educational tool. A gentle way of getting kids thinking about the thorny subject of global supply and demand, and how the people who make their clothes need to be paid and treated fairly.

Schools can help in more practical ways as well, by pointing out the places where parents can buy ethically sourced uniforms. They may be a little bit more expensive, but they're also more likely to last until your kids actively grow out of them. Second-hand and exchange schemes are also a great way of keeping uniforms in circulation and out of landfill.

I'm not saying that the cheap school uniform is a bad idea, of course. Morrison's offering has a 200 day guarantee on it, for example, which is hardly the action of a shop that doesn't have confidence in the quality of its wares. But, as ever, it's important to realise that cheap clothing has hidden costs. It's always worth asking how the supermarkets can afford to sell a full uniform for significantly less than a fiver, and who may be suffering to make British parents' lives that little bit cheaper this summer.

Brexit And Fashion

In the last of our post-Brexit articles, we'll take a quick look at what the UK's move away from the European Union could mean for the world of fashion.

To a certain extent, a lot of the points I've already made this week apply equally to the fashion world. Britain's tanking markets and currency are a sign of instability that multinational companies are not happy to see. I've already heard of big brands notifying their UK employees that their positions are under review. The weakened pound also makes British based companies less able to source the materials they need from abroad. For the big fashion brands this could mean anything from fabrics and fittings to finished garments.

Meanwhile, smaller companies, which make up a large swathe of the ethical market who depend on EU trade, are going to find life more difficult. Reports are already coming in of cancelled orders and contracts from European buyers unhappy with the new landscape. How soon will we start to see companies go under as their order books empty? It can only be a matter of time. From Harris Tweed to innovative 3D-printed jewellery projects, the future for British ethical fashion just got a lot more uncertain.

Major fashion names have been united in early, loud denunciations of Brexit. Style icon and possible android Karl Lagerfeld called the vote "a moment of madness". Adrian Joffe, head of Comme De Garçons was even more forthright:

"It’s not the modern world. The modern world is about being together and working together. I’m devastated. I want freedom of people, freedom of movement. For me, it’s anti-creative thinking.”

There are arguments that a move away from globalisation, triggered by a shrinking of associations like the European Union, might not be such a bad thing. After all, it's the ability to sell clothes cheaply across a vast single market that has given the fashion industry the excuse to behave so badly. From exploitation of third-world workers to endemic pollution, everything that ethical fashion kicks against is down to the fast fashion model brought into being by free trade and relaxed environmental legislation.

But burning everything down is not the answer either. Millions of jobs and billions of pounds depend on the industry, and for ethical fashion in particular the inability to trade with a global or even continental market is a disaster.

 

Our View: these are worrying, uncertain times for everyone, and I apologise if I've painted a bleak picture of the future this week. The fact is, though, that there is little reasoned argument based on proper, attributable figures that point to brighter days ahead. Instead, economists across the spectrum predict a gloomy forecast.

As I said earlier in the week, though, no-one knows for sure what's going to happen over the next couple of years. Or months. Or days, frankly. Things are moving that quickly.


I hope that in time I'll be able to look back on these posts and laugh at how out of touch and laughably pessimistic I was about the whole situation.

I really do.

See you next week.

Make Room In Your Wardrobe

A fascinating article in the Guardian recently took a peek into journalist Chitra Ramaswamy's wardrobe, and came to some interesting conclusions.

Recent studies undertaken by Marks and Spencer in association with Oxfam found that we're really good at buying clothes, but not so great at wearing them. In fact, there are an awful lot of items in British wardrobes that are purchased, then never worn at all. 44%, in fact. That's pretty un-nerving, if the nation's wardrobes are as overstuffed as mine.

Andrew Soar, campaign manager for the M&S/Oxfam joint venture Shwopping aims to get those clothes back into circulation. For one thing, there's a lot of money tucked away doing nothing. He estimates that we have £2.7bn worth of garments hanging dormant. The simple conclusion? All of us could do with a bit of an audit.

So where do you start? Chitra lays out the simple steps to releasing space in her wardrobe:

In an attempt to “release the power” of my threads, I begin by counting clothes, which is surprisingly fun. I have 164 items – more than I expected. On average, each wardrobe in the UK contains 152 items, of which 57 are never worn or haven’t been worn in the past year. I more or less stopped buying clothes three years ago when I had a baby and took voluntary redundancy. Since then, my clothes have come from charity shops – with the odd Uniqlo splurge. I soon discover that there is something particularly sad about an unworn item of clothing originating from a charity shop. Twice as rejected, twice as pointless.

We're all guilty to some extent of falling in and quickly out of love with a garment. The trick is to realise that the affair is over and it's time to move on. You could find some items are worth more than you think–Soar estimated Chitra's rejected items having a resale value of over £600. There's no need to fire up your EBay app, either. If you donate M&S clothes to Oxfam, you'll get money-off vouchers for new items in store as part of the Shwopping initiative.

A twice-yearly edit of the items in your wardrobe can make all the difference, and stop you feeling as if you're drowning in clothes. A good rule of thumb: if you haven't worn it in a year, you probably won't ever again. Set it free, and let someone else love it.

All of this gives me an excuse to post a video, and air out my prog rock tendencies, for which I make no apologies. Use it as a soundtrack for your own wardrobe exploration. You know what you like.

Making It Socially with Simon James Cathcart

Ethical fashion would not be the growing phenomenon it is, I think, had a couple of factors not come into play within a short period. The first, of course, is social media. The ability to talk to a wide audience, to share news and ideas with like-minded people across the globe has been a huge boon for the cause, opening up closed and opaque systems and letting us see the truth behind the fashion industry spin.

With social media comes the idea of community. A shared set of interests will always have us gathering in groups. From there we can see the short step it takes to using the influence that many people can have when they work together in new and interesting ways. In the 19th century, with the advent of cheap publishing, we ended up with the union movement. That great push for change still resonates today, and indeed social media has had a hand in bringing unionisation to previously closed shops in the Third World.

In the 21st century, crowdfunding has become a way to get products and services onto a global stage in a way that could never have been imagined even forty years previously. If you have a good idea and the potential to get it to market, it’s easier than ever to get the funding you need by effectively selling the product in advance. Obviously there can be downsides to this approach, and it’s a rare Kickstarter customer that hasn’t been burned with a late or non-existent product. That’s part of the risk, but the rewards benefit everyone.

Which brings us to Simon James Cathcart, who has taken the best of both social media and crowdfunding to bring his sharp spin on contemporary men’s clothing to light. Simon uses his enthusiastic band of followers to help dictate the path of his seasonal collections, with the understanding that they will then pledge to get them to market. He uses a good old-fashioned forum on his website to help build that sense of community and interest in the clothes. Users chat, share ideas and enthusiastically get involved.

In some ways, what Simon does works in the same way as bands and artists like Marillion or Amanda Palmer, embracing a core audience with the understanding that they will cheerfully invest in any new project. It’s a concept called The Long Tail, and if you have or can develop a fan base it works brilliantly.

It helps, of course, that Simon has already made a name for himself with his sharply-tailored modern takes on classic men’s apparel. He’s taken a smart approach to building on the momentum, striding off in a direction that other creative types in the fashion field could do well to emulate. After all, why give a chunk of your profits to Kickstarter when you can do it all yourself? For more, and to perhaps express an interest in Simon James Cathcart’s A/W 2016 collection, hit up

http://www.simonjamescathcart.com

Riding The Road To Smart Wearability

The trick to making an item of clothing sustainable is building it to last. If you don't feel the need to throw it away, you won't. If that item becomes as indispensable to you as, say, your mobile phone, then you'll be more inclined to look after it, and make it last.

That makes the new collaboration between Levi's and of all people Google so interesting. The two giants have been working on the concept of smart clothing–items that do more than keep you warm and dry. WIth their Project Jacquard, they might have hit the jackpot.

The first iteration of their team-up is the Commuter Trucker Jacket, a sturdy denim number that looks and wears just like a classic piece of Levi's clothing. But it's loaded with electronics, and the yarn it's made from is interwoven with conductive fibres. This means that it can connect with mobile devices, and allow the wearer to interact with them using swipe and tap gestures.

The target market for this prototype is urban cyclists. The sort of rider who doesn't like to go to the office in Lycra. Wearing the Commuter Trucker Jacket, you'll be able to skip songs, or reject an incoming phone call with a simple tap on the sleeve. It's a good idea, meaning that cyclists can concentrate on their ride more safely without needing to fiddle with their phones.

Most importantly, though, the jacket is designed to fit neatly into everyday use. It's waterproof (again, an important consideration for cyclists) with the exception of a detachable electronic tab that sets up the connection between the garment and your phone. If it gets dirty, take out the tag and sling the jacket in the washer. No muss, no fuss (although as someone that regularly leaves keys, change and pens in his pockets pre-wash you'd like to hope the tag is robust enough to survive the occasional accident).

Our View: There's no doubt that the Commuter Trucker Jacket is a desirable item, and here at The Pier we'll be interested to see what comes out of Project Jacquard over the next couple of years. The balance of price, utility and wearability is one to get right if smart clothing is to take off in the way that wearables have with the advent of Fitbits and the Apple Watch. I have to admit, though, this particular item is right up my street and I hope it becomes more than just a proof of concept.

 

Sparking Joy In My Sock Drawer

Over the weekend, I realised something had to be done. The situation was out of control. I'd let things slide, and now I had to fix the problem before it became unworkable.

It was time to sort out my sock drawer.

Long ago, I developed a strategy for socks which basically went: buy and wear black socks. It doesn't matter if the pair you wear don't match, because they're the same colour. The problem is, of course, that any plan only survives as far as first contact with reality. I ended up with an undifferentiated mass of socks that had worn differently. Some were on the verge of falling to bits, and the only way I'd know is when I pulled them on in the morning and my toe went through a hole. Clearly, the situation was unsustainable.

My wife, love of my life, fount of all wisdom, shoved a book called Spark Joy into my hands and told me to sort myself out.

Marie Kondo's Spark Joy has changed the lives of millions. By providing us with the simple steps we need to declutter and tidy our chaotic lives, she offers a little zen calm that can be applied to every aspect of our lives. Personally, I found the whole thing a little too neat-freaky, but I was prepared to take on Marie's lessons in sock folding if it meant I didn't have to fight through the tangle of old and new to find a pair I could wear for work.

I emptied out the drawer and set to work.

Like any job that you've been putting off for ages, the whole process was much easier and simpler than I'd led myself to believe. Within twenty minutes, I had a tidy sock drawer filled with serried ranks of neatly folded matched-up pairs. At a glance I could see what I had. I realised that I had more coloured socks than I thought, and that a nice pair of alpacas that I'd got for Christmas had worked their way to the bottom of the pile. The orphans, worn out and crusties went in the bin, but there were much fewer rejects than I'd thought. The end result may not be a tidy mind, but at least I can see what I have now, and can choose what to wear in an instant.

There's a lesson to be learnt here, of course. Most of us are guilty of buying clothes without considering whether we need them, and some of that is down to not being able to see what we have in the first place. Organising your clothes stash gives you the opportunity to find hidden gems you'd forgotten about, or make space for a couple of carefully-considered new purchases. It's a small step towards a more sustainable you. As for me, I found room in my sock drawer for a nice colourful three-pack of bamboo socks that look great and will last for a good long while.

Did the whole process Spark Joy? Well, maybe just a little...

If your sock drawer could use a little organisation, Marie Kondo's book is a great place to start. Check it out here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spark-Joy-Illustrated-Organizing-Tidying/dp/1607749726

A 12 Hour Day, A Four Hour Commute: The Hidden Consequence Of Fast Fashion

The work day is often long and tough, and the worst aspect of it can be the bit that isn't reflected in the pay packet: the journey to and from the office. You can see why the idea of "working from home" becomes so attractive as train fares spike and the roads jam to a halt.

But we have it lucky compared to the garment workers of Cambodia. They often have to endure multi-hour journeys to and from their factories in overcrowded and unsafely driven lorries and minibuses. Some women face a two-hour trip each way, with a gruelling twelve-hour shift on top. The maths don't seem to add up–there's no time for family, little time for sleep. But for these workers there is no other choice.

Vice's Poppy McPherson profiles the commuter's journey in an article for Broadly that hammers home just how stark those choices are. It's uncomfortable reading, and highlights the plight of the garment worker as clearly as anything else I've read this year.

It certainly puts our grumbles about the 7:05 to Paddington into perspective. The workers, mostly women, don't get enough to eat and the drivers are reckless to the point of being dangerous–in fact, there are frequent crashes. More than 7,000 workers were injured and 130 killed in 2015 in accidents on the commute run. Sick, dizzy and bounced around on the back of an open-topped truck, the women are also unprotected from the wild extremes of Cambodian weather. The sticky, oppressive heat of April, the brutal downpours of monsoon season–they have to endure it all.

Little wonder, then, that some women choose not to face the journey at all, and stay in dormitories at the factory instead. One worker called Jeang puts it best, saying:

"I have elderly parents but I'd better stay alive and send money to them rather than take a risk."

It seems appalling that these women can face up to four hours a day on the trucks on top of a brutal working regime, but the factory owners claim that their responsibilities have been fulfilled. After all, they pay their workers a travel allowance–how they choose to spend it is up to them. This ignores the fact that the buses often cost significantly more than the payment covers, and choices of transport are limited.

For the women who work in Cambodian garment factories, life is a long grind. Work in the factories is easily found, but is often the only option in a shifting economy for those with little education and plenty of family responsibilities. We talk about their hard life as if it starts and ends at the factory gates. The reality is even more shocking.

I recommend reading and sharing Poppy's post, which shows us a hidden consequence of fast fashion that should encourage us all to do better by the women who make our clothes.

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/the-hellish-commute-of-the-women-who-make-your-clothes


 

An Ethical Foundation To Your Wardrobe: Mighty Good Undies!

Pants. We all need them. We all wear them. They're the bedrock of any outfit.

And yet, for the most part, we don't think about them. Once they wear out, we bin them and buy a new pack in M&S. Job done. Which is a worry of course, as pants are as much a part of fashion as any other garment, and equally a factor of the ethical and environmental challenges fashion faces. So it's in our best interests to look at our pants drawer and think... could we do better?

That is a question asked by new start-up Mighty Good Undies, who are into the last week of a fundraising campaign through StartSomeGood. The founders, Hannah Parris and Elena Antoniou, wanted to put the same focus and attention that is placed on the more glamourous items in our wardrobe and apply them to an everyday clothing staple.

Mighty Good Undies are starting with a core range of styles, (men’s trunks, women’s boy leg and the women’s granny (full) briefs) all of which are made from organic, fairtrade cotton. They are designed to be soft, comfortable and long-lasting. And looking good, of course. Well, you never know, right?

The ethical impact of Mighty Good Undies is just as important as the looks, though. Hannah’s first-hand experience with ethical fashion design and supply-chains in India led her to an internationally recognised supplier of organic and Fairtrade produced cotton, Chetna Organics and its production partner, Rajlakshmi Cotton Mills. Teaming up with Chetna meant the Mighty Good crew could get their cotton at a good price, and be sure that the supply chain it came from paid its workers fairly.

There's a bigger vision at play with Mighty Good Undies, though. They're after change at the mainstream level, demonstrating to the mass market that comfortable and ethical underwear can be affordable. Currently we produce 24.5 million tonnes of cotton. About 0.5 tonnes of that total is ethically produced. That has to change. It's a big job, and you may as well start doing it in a good pair of pants.

 

With less than a week to go on their crowdfunding campaign, there's still time to show your support for Mighty Good Undies and pick up some early bird bargains. For more info and to snag a pair (or two), head over to https://www.startsomegood.com/mightygood