A FASHION REVOLUTION CHALLENGE
LOVE STORY
It’s time for a Fashion Revolution
We love fashion. We love how clothes can make us feel, and how they can represent how we feel about ourselves. They’re our message to the world about who we are. Our clothes say a lot about us, but we don’t know all that much about our clothes. It takes a lot to make a garment. Not just the bits we hear about – the designers, the brands, the shops, the catwalk shows and the parties – but also the cotton farmers, the ginners, spinners, weavers, dyers, sewers and other factory workers who make the clothes we love.
Right now, manufacturing clothes uses up massive amounts of water, energy and land. And sadly, so much of our clothing ends up in landfill. In fact, in the USA, about 11 million tonnes of it ends up in landfil. And about 95% of that could have been recycled or upcycled. We need to find new ways to make the clothes we love, without it costing the earth. The average British woman hoards £285 of clothes they will never wear, the equivalent of 22 outfits each that are left hanging in valuable wardrobe space, or, £30 billion of unworn clothes. That’s a lot of unloved clothing.
But the people who make our clothes are hidden. And if we don’t know know who makes our clothes, we can’t be sure that they were made in a fair, clean and safe way. That’s why we’re asking brands #whomademyclothes. We want to know that the clothes we buy don’t come at the cost of people or the planet.
80billion
£30
billion
it takes 2720 litres of water to make a T shirt: that’s how much we normally drink over a 3 year period.
Clothes discarded in one year in the UK would fill Wembley Stadium
The average American throws away about £72 of clothing, shoes and other household textiles each year
It takes 200 gallons of water to make one pair of jeans, the equivalent of 285 showers
95% of discarded clothing can be recycled or upcycled
x6000
x285
£285
It is estimated that 80 billion items of clothing are delivered out of factories annually worldwide
The average British woman hoards £285 of clothes they will never wear, the equivalent of 22 outfits each that are left hanging in valuable wardrobe space, or, £30 billion of unworn clothes
1.5
tonnes Clothing consumption produces 1.5 tonnes of CO2 x household x year, the equivalent of driving 6000 cars
Calling all fashion lovers!
We need to buy less and buy better. Join us by taking a stand against disposable fashion, impulse buys and fast fashion fixes. Let’s take it slow. Commit to a long-term relationship with your clothes. Wear things more than 30 times, and cherish each piece. The more we love our clothes, the more we care for them, and the longer they last. We are asking fashion lovers from all over the world to join the fashion revolution and create a love story.  We hope making this video is a journey that will inspire you and your audience with other ways of buying and experiencing clothes. You can share your love story on instagram, facebook or youtube. This guide shows you how.
What’s your love story? FABIENNE
No one can replace the beautiful jacket that your grandmother wore and gave to you. Or that perfect little dress you found while travelling somewhere special. Rather than buying new, fall back in love with the things you already own. Share a story, or write a love letter about an item of clothing that means a lot to you.
MARIAH IDRISSI
DJ and stylist Fabienne has made a Love Story about her YSL suit. Check out Mariah Idrissi’s Love Story about her Mickey Mouse shirt, and Tolly Dolly Posh’s tells us the love stories behind her favourite Dr. Martens boots, vintage dress and jacket. Tank Magazine’s executive fashion director Caroline Issa dedicates her Love Story to her 8 year old Miu Miu jacket. TOLLY DOLLY POSH
Make your love story
Share your love story on social media during Fashion Revolution Week 23rd-29th April 2018. Encourage your audience to make their own love story, and be part of the Fashion Revolution movement.
Photograph it
Film it
Write about it
Share a photo of the item of clothing you love. Tell us it’s story, the journeys you’ve shared, why you love it. You could make a photo collage of you wearing it.
Make a video introducing us to your item of clothing. You could be wearing it, or pick it out from your wardrobe. You could even share the love stories of an entire outfit!
Share it on instagram or facebook with the hashtag #fashionrevolution during Fashion Revolution Week 24-30th April. We’ll repost our favourites on the @fash_rev instagram feed.
Upload it to Youtube, and include the Fashion Revolution website in the description box: www.fashionrevolution.org
Write a love poem or letter to your item of clothing. It could be as short as a haiku, as long as a sonnet. You could record it for radio, a podcast or interview your friends about their most-loved items in their wardrobe.
Encourage your audience to make their own love story, and be part of the Fashion Revolution movement. We’ll share our favourite love story videos on our Youtube playlist. Make sure we see it by including ‘Fashion Revolution’ in the title.
Check out Collectively’s love letters to their favourite clothes for inspiration. We will select our favourites for the Fashion Revolution blog.
Need some more inspiration?
Check out Collectively’s love letters to their favourite clothes for inspiration.
You could make a collage of photos of you wearing your favourite items of clothing again and again. Here’s @sarahslutsky taking part in the #30wears challenge!
An ode to all of our favourite sweaters on HelloGiggles.
via Collectively: Dear vintage scribbly Jaeger dress… I bought you in Edinburgh in my early teens. I was there for the Fringe festival with my mum. We spent three days running between shows, with the odd interlude of charity-shopshopping in between. You came home alongside a motley array of ball-gowns and blouses. They’ve mostly left my wardrobe, but you stayed. I’m not sure why.
Commit to a long-term relationship with your clothes. Join Livia Firth’s campaign to commit to wearing your clothes for at least #30wears.
Maybe it’s because of your pattern – all those scribbles and dashes of colour on a bright background. From a distance, they suggest the crayoned doodles of an enthusiastic five-year-old. Maybe it’s the shape, which was altered straightaway; it had to happen. You took well to being chopped and re-hemmed to hang above the knee, no longer lingering indecisively somewhere around my shins. This new silhouette is ideal for wafting around on summer days, or wearing over a silk shirt to the library, or huddling in under three cardigans during winter, sleeves garishly peeping out from beneath the layers.
Kim Kardashian, Kate Middleton and Michelle Obama wear their favourite outfits time and time again.
In fact, that’s why I think you’re in this for the long haul. You’re suited to so many situations and so many outfits, always encouraging me to face the day ahead at my best, my brightest, my most joyful. Thanks for being so constant – and making me feel buoyant. Love, Rosalind
Do more Be curious. Join the Fashion Revolution by showing your clothing label and asking the brand #whomademyclothes? Encourage your audience to learn more about where their clothes come from and who made them too. Be a Fashion Revolutionary. Download our ‘How to be a Fashion Revolutionary’ booklet. It’s full of inspiration and ideas about how you can use your voice and your power to transform the fashion industry as we know it. Spread the word. Download our Fashion Facts and Quotes. Perfect for sharing on social media. Read our White Paper ‘It’s time for a Fashion Revolution’. It sets out the need for more transparency across the fashion industry, from seed to waste, and explains how we must all work together towards a safer, cleaner, more fair and beautiful future for fashion
SHOW YOUR LABEL __________ ASK THE BRAND #WHOMADEMYCLOTHES?
BUY LESS, CHOOSE WELL, M A K E I T L AS T.
— V I V I E N N E W E S T WO O D —
C A R E F O R YO U R C LOT H E S , L I K E THE GOOD FRIENDS THEY ARE. — J OA N C R AW F O R D —
T H E R E ’ S N OT H I N G INTERESTING ABOUT LO O K I N G P E R F E C T – YO U LO S E T H E P O I N T. YO U WA N T W H AT YO U ’ R E W E A R I N G TO S AY S O M E T H I N G A B O U T YO U, A B O U T W H O YO U A R E . — E M M A WAT S O N —
FAS T FAS H I O N ISN’T FREE. SOMEONE SOMEWHERE I S PAY I N G — LU C Y S I E G L E —
C LOT H E S A R E N ’ T G O I N G TO C H A N G E T H E WO R L D. T H E WO M E N WHO WEAR THEM WILL. — ANNE KLEIN —
Contact us
Please do keep in touch, we’d love to hear and see what you do for Fashion Revolution: @Fash_Rev fash_rev fashionrevolution.org fashrevglobal www.fashionrevolution.org
T H A N K YO U