FOS x Maiyet | #LovedClothesLast talk with Orsola De Castro

#Lovedclotheslast. It is a hashtag that defines the behavioural shift, Fashion Revolution has been relentlessly working towards, over the last 6 years. Suffice it to say that when Orsola De Castro, Creative Director & Co-Founder of Fashion Revolution joined a group of fellow-panelists to talk about looking after clothes, the 60-minute workshop seemed like crochet of quotable quotes and handy tips.

Orsola opened the session with a declaration of love for her clothes. She said, “I am the woman who was born to defy Marie Kondo. I have three wardrobes full of garments that I deeply respect and am passionate about. They are rotated among my family and close friends. I don’t deny myself clothes but often hide them away for long periods so that when I open that bag again, they all feel brand new.”

Hasna Kourda, the founder of Save Your Wardrobe, a wardrobe management app, spoke of her inspiring grandmother whose outfits were made to order. Her clothes didn’t seem to have end-of-life as they travelled through a journey of transformation-from a formal outfit to a nightgown to a kitchen towel to pillow filling and then a patchwork carpet, still in use at Hasna’s home in Tunisia. She explained, “my grandmother developed this modular system cum process of repurposing her garments because she had the time, energy and the willingness. We, on the other hand, are time-poor and have a different lifestyle and focus. With our app, we want to replicate her behaviour through tech. SYW offers a range of services that allow users to increaser per garment wears, repair, exchange and donate clothes from the wardrobe.”

Fashion designer, Patrick Mcdowell crafts his creations from reclaimed fabrics, organic yarns, and ethically produced materials. Sustainability is at the core of Patrick’s practice and he wants to see the change at bigger apparel companies. He remarked, “If you made 2000 units that don’t sell, why cannot you give them back to your design team and ask them to make it into something else to be sold. Big luxury brands have highly skilled seamstresses who could take things apart and create something new and beautiful. That is more fulfilling and engaging for me as a designer.”

Maddie Williams is another promising talent, whose graduate collection in 2017 stood out for the intricate textile work using waste and reclaimed materials. Everyone in the audience admired the 2nd hand jumper sported by her, beautifully darned in some places using bright coloured yarns. She said, “It is always nice to see a story in your clothes and know of their life journey. Such mended clothes are like a badge of honour where the value was added through craft and skill.”

Tamsin Blanchard, founder of Fashion Open Studio and also the panel moderator made an observation about an all-women audience in the room and stated, “As mothers, we need to teach our sons how to fix clothes and how to engage with them. Because when they enter adulthood, they will recognise the value in it. It seems that most men heading fashion brands lack that connection with garments. Otherwise, things would have been different today.”

The audience came prepped with clothing repair questions and they received a bunch of maintenance and repair tips. Here’s a selection.

Sweaters suffering from pilling? (A pill or a bobble is a small ball of fibres that forms on a piece of cloth). Invest in a brush or a comb from haberdashery that helps with de-pilling the sweater. Prevention is always better than cure. Freezing cashmere and woollen sweaters for a couple of hours shrink the fibres. This helps to minimise the pilling.

This one is from grandma’s tips. Air dry your garments in the bathroom while taking a hot shower. The hot steam will refresh them in a jiffy.

Check out footwear designer, Helen Kirkum’s work. She restores discarded trainers through a fascinating play of structure and texture. We can hope to find more like Helen, the rescuers of our shoes with holes or broken parts.

If you cannot find a second life for your shoes, say your goodbyes by handing them over to pickup vans from recycling company, Soex.

Have you heard of Sugru? It is like a plasticine for repair. Use it to repair zips, fix holes in your wellies, repair shoes and then some more.

Orsola summed up the playful workshop on a sombre note. She said, “We think of supply chain being far away. Please remember that our wardrobes are in the supply chain too. We need to take equal responsibility to do our bit when the clothes reach us and further.’