January 13, 2009 by nina
Over the coming term, second year LCF students on BA (Hons) Fashion Studies, Womenswear and Product Design courses will be involved in a project to promote sustainable Indian textiles funded by DEFRA. Students will be asked to design, market and promote innovative and inspiring garments made from a selection of sustainable textiles sourced from India. Communication students will document the process in both film and image to promote the use of the textiles and their possible fashion applications. Selected students will be chosen to take part in the Shared Talent India project, which will be launched in February 2009. The shared talent project will bring together UK and Indian designers to take part in a programme of activity that will including workshops and active design collaboration to showcase sustainable Indian textiles. The design concepts, a promotional film and photography exhibition will be showcased at a prestigious event at London Fashion Week September 2009 . The event will then travel to Indian Fashion Week.
Keep an eye on the CSF blog for more information about the Shared Talent India project.
January 6, 2009 by nina
Well 2008 has been quite the year for us here at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion. Our very first year as a centre in fact! We are very proud of our achievements to date through this very busy but productive year.
To give you a taster of what we have been up to, 2008 in the CSF saw:
- the launch of Volume 1: Fashion & Sustainability A Snapshot Analysis,
- the appointment of our Reader in Sustainable Fashion Dr Kate Fletcher,
- a successful Shared Talent trip to South Africa with eight LCF designers and enterprise charity Tabeisa,
- the intake of fourteen students on the brand new MA Fashion & the Environment,
- the launch of Sandy Black’s book Eco Chic: The Fashion Paradox,
- a collaboration with the new Oxfam boutiques enabling four LCF designers to launch collections in store,
- the staging of Fashioning the Future – our groundbreaking summit showcasing innovative work that redefines sustainable fashion, and inviting changemakers from industry to debate current practices and design a new model. Alongside the Summit we published Volume 2: Fashioning the Future.
We are champing at the bit to get 2009 underway and have many exciting projects in the offing. This includes working more closely with Defra on their Clothing Sustainability Action Plan (to be launched on 20 February at London Fashion Week), delivering a project to promote Indian sustainable textiles (opportunities for designers will be announced in the coming weeks), setting up a series of workshops to support London-based design businesses, and launching Volume 3 – the findings of the Fashioning the Future Summit. Through these and other projects we are committed to identifying and minimising the negative effects on the ecological, social and cultural balance of the fashion industry.
Alongside these activities we will be working on our website which will launch in the first half of this year and growing the team! So a big welcome to Alex McIntosh, Hannah Higginson and Adam Swinnerton who are all joining us to work across various projects.
We are now building our database of contacts, please email sustainability@fashion.arts.ac.uk with Mailing List in the subject field if you would like to be added.
Here’s to a fruitful and positive 2009.
Dilys & Nina
