From front row to front bench? Why not? It's time we stopped considering fashion as simply fluffy. The industry is a giant global employer with serious impacts on the environment, and yet it is not traditionally associated with being active in the political arena or central to government policy. Our guest this week, on the final Episode of Series 2, is Londoner Tamara Cincik, founder of the British policy organisation Fashion Roundtable, who is determined to change this.

Catherine Teatum and Rob Jones, are the London creative partners behind Teatum Jones - an inclusive, though-provoking label challenging fashion’s norms. What role can fashion play in empowering women and girls? How can we modernise fashion and make it way more inclusive? How do we smash the idea that you have to look and be a certain way to qualify as beautiful, stylish, in fashion? How come fashion ignores disability - and keeps on getting away with it? Why do designers have a responsibility in this area, and how can they maximise their positive impact?

Meet Indian designer Ruchika Sachdeva of Bodice Studio, the Delhi-based label that took out the 2017/18 International Woolmark Prize . She trained at the London College of Fashion and interned at Vivienne Westwood, before returning home, where she showed as a “Gen Next Designer” at Lakme Fashion Week in 2010. A year later, she launched Bodice Studio. Her idea? To make thoughtfully designed modern classics with integrity, and a respect for artisanal producers.

Let’s get ethical. Paul van Zyl is a human rights lawyer and ethical fashion entrepreneur. He grew up in South Africa during the apartheid era, and served as the Executive Secretary of South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1995 to 1998.

In 2009 he founded Maiyet, a luxury fashion brand with a social impact purpose. The idea? “We incorporate ancient traditions in untraditional ways by partnering with artisans in developing economies and by sourcing material in ethical ways. We create limited exquisite product in limited editions. The hope is that by doing so we promote entrepreneurship, prosperity, and dignity in places that need it most.”

How about we stop throwing clothes away?

Stats vary. Does the average woman discard a piece of clothing 4 or 7 times before she gets rid of it? Depends who you listen to, but it’s never good. Everyone agrees that clothing production is rising while usability is declining.

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used has decreased by 36% compared to 15 years ago. In the US clothes are only worn for around a quarter of the global average. The same pattern is emerging in China, where clothing utilisation has decreased by 70% over the last 15 years.

Despite this, clothing production has about doubled during this time. We now produce around 100 billion garments a year, and of this total fibre input that is used for clothing, 87% ends up landfilled or incinerated.

Iconic Australian fashion designers Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson and their Easton Pearson label were known for their slow fashion approach. Think artisanal fabrics and embellishments, ethical production and made in India. But could they survive in the new fast fashion era? A frank discussion about the challenges of running an independent, slow fashion business in a fast fashion world.

Who is on next? Meet Sara Maino, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of VOGUE ITALIA, and the fashion force behind Vogue Talents. A stylist and talent scout, she is a tireless supporter of new generation designers focused on sustainability and a guiding light for creativity in the fashion industry.

In this podcast, Wardrobe Crisis presenter Clare Press talks sustainability, planetary boundaries and activism with legendary educator and London fashion fixture, Dilys Williams - founder of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion.