Fashion Revolutionaries partnership with British Council

We developed a set of three Professional Skills Toolkits aimed at fashion professionals including designers and creative entrepreneurs. These toolkits were designed as ‘Train-the-Trainer’ resources to equip our Fashion Revolution Global Network with information and frameworks to encourage discussion, debate and skills exchange amongst their creative communities.

The toolkits were piloted in Mexico, Indonesia and Zimbabwe with groups of fashion professionals and were delivered as ‘Train-the-Trainer’ modules to the wider Fashion Revolution Global Network. They can be used to plan workshops, webinars, discussion groups, study retreats and tours and much more.

The Policy Dialogue element of the partnership was facilitated through a Policy Dialogue Toolkit which intended to encourage bottom-up policy research and dialogues. The toolkit was piloted in four countries: Philippines, India, Kenya and Rwanda to generate four policy research reports on topics specific to the local fashion industry. These research reports contain tangible policy recommendations generated through evidence-based and stakeholder led research and dialogue methodologies.

In collaboration with the British Council in the UK and overseas we hosted a series of educational events including:

• An international Study Retreat in Manchester in November 2019, bringing 16 Fashion Revolution Country Coordinators together to develop proposals for two global educational resources
• A dinner on Cyber Monday bringing educators, designers and creatives together to discuss and debate the future of fashion
• A series of international Fashion Open Studio events hosted at 50M in 2019 featuring Duran Lantink, a collaborative project between Bethany Williams and Aratrik Dev Varman of Tilla in India and a panel discussion between Ellen Rock, Alisa Ruzavina on their work with artisan communities
• A conference with the Onassis Foundation in Athens on ‘Crafting the Future’ of fashion
• A programme accelerator in December 2020 with 10 Country Teams from the Fashion Revolution Global Network introducing the resources, toolkits and frameworks to enable them to create project ideas and proposals

In 2019 we partnered with the British Council to launch a Creative Commissions fund across the Fashion Revolution Global Network. Five country teams were awarded with Creative Commissions grants to work with local artists and creatives to explore and articulate issues, challenges and solutions at the heart of their fashion industries.

In the Philippines, Fashion Revolution Philippines presented The Walk-Through, an exhibition featuring work commissioned by artists Tekla Tamoria, Anina Rubio, Pam Quinto, Tanya Villanueva, and Zeus Bascon x Jas Fernandez, which address themes, philosophies, practices, studies, technologies, and socio-economic insight in regenerative fashion. The work invited visitors to walk through, feel and ponder, and included a publication of the artists’ processes and was accompanied by their new fanzine Gossamer.

In Tunisia with the support of Fashion Revolution Tunisia, a group of emerging designers received materials from Denim Company DEMCO in order to explore zero-waste, upcycling and reconstruction in the aesthetic of traditional Tunisian costume.

In Zimbabwe local designers were afforded new opportunities to collaborate with local clothing factories, tanneries and businesses to gather materials that would otherwise be waste and repurposing them into pieces of wearable work. The process was captured in a series of films

In Cambodia, Fashion Revolution Cambodia organised a collaboration with Cambodia Children’s Fund which saw the materialization of the Re-A-Dress Challenge, a 10-week upcycling programme for local high school students in a garment manufacturing neighbourhood of Phnom Penh. “Fashion Packs” were supplied by Fair Sew which comprised of a weighted selection of garment offcuts, thread, needles and instructions. After 10 weeks of experimentation, testing, modifying, constructing and lessons with local craftspeople, new work and concepts were presented in an exhibition.

In Vietnam at the CUC Gallery in Hanoi Women’s Museum, Fashion Revolution Vietnam explored the sustainable fashion movement through a curated programme of workshops and film screenings for local students, and interactive installations presenting the impact of fast fashion in the community. It also displayed an original commission by photographer Le Xuan Phong, capturing sustainable fashion leaders in Vietnam to inspire the audience to be more aware of #whomademyclothes.