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Clare Press
Ep 228 What's Going on in Bangladesh? A ...

This week's compelling interview is with manufacturer Shafiq Hassan, of the Echotex manufacturing facility in Gazipur, Bangladesh. Clare interviewed Shafiq in London, in September 2024, a little over month after peaceful students protests in Bangladesh toppled ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, then presiding over an increasingly corrupt and authoritarian regime.

So what's next?

Ep 228 What's Going on in Bangladesh? A Must-Listen Convo with Fashion Manufacturer Shafiq Hassan
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Clare Press
Ep227 Can Clothes Change the World? Radical ...

“Key moments in our lives are charted by the textiles we bring close to our bodies," write curators Rebecca Evans the Leigh Robb in the catalogue to a major new exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia, RADICAL TEXTILES.

Ep227 Can Clothes Change the World? Radical Textiles - From Tapestry to Embroidery, Quilting to Tailoring
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Clare Press
Ep 226, New Gen Talent: Tartan, Tennent's and ...

New York, London, Milan, Paris? So last season! It's time to spotlight less discussed design centres. This time, Dundee, Scotland, which is home the two emerging menswear designers you're about to meet - both recent graduates from the Jimmy Choo Academy…

Ep 226, New Gen Talent: Tartan, Tennent's and Tam O' Shanters - but with a Twist
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Clare Press
Ep225 Jimmy Choo - How to Be Successful: Sage ...

It's not every day you get to sit down with a proper fashion world icon and pick his brains for free! Dear listeners, you're in for a treat this week, as Clare meets the one and only Jimmy Choo. This magic name in shoe design is now professor - he runs his own fashion school, the Jimmy Choo Academy in London's Mayfair…

Ep225 Jimmy Choo - How to Be Successful: Sage Advice from the Iconic Shoe Designer
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Clare Press
Ep 224, Is Fashion Ready for Ecocide Law?

You might have noticed this idea gaining momentum. Ecocide refers to the mass damage and destruction of ecosystems – severe harm to nature which is widespread or long-term. The idea is to criminalise it. And it's happening! It's become national law in several countries with many more discussing it. In March, the EU passed a law that criminalises actions 'comparable to ecocide' - a revolutionary legal development; the first law of its kind to be adopted by a political entity with substantial global influence. In September, Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa submitted a proposal to the International Criminal Court for recognition of ecocide as a crime.

 What does all this mean for fashion? Listen to find out!

Ep 224, Is Fashion Ready for Ecocide Law?

Ep 139, Iceland's Most Exciting Knitwear Provocateur Ýr Jóhannsdóttir

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How big is sustainable fashion in Iceland? You might be surprised to find out. We also nearly called this Episode: The Secret Lives Of Sweaters. Listen and you will see why.

In this fascinating, surprising conversation about funny jumpers and changing the world, we meet Ýr Jóhannsdóttir - a textile designer, artist/activist upcycler from Reykjavik.

With her label Ýrúrarí (and her huge Instagram following) she is making a name for herself using creativity and humour to challenge fashion's unsustainable ways. 

People want to have fun with fashion, she says, and if we can use that to get a serious message across, that's a powerful thing. Also up for discussion: Iceland's craft and wool tradition, appreciating the local, resourcefulness, tool libraries and the future of fashion as sharing. 

Discover Ýrúrarí here.

NOTES

ICELAND dealt with thousands of earthquakes for a few weeks before a volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula exploded on March 19, 2021. Crazy stories here and here. Everyone’s safe tho. Phew.

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SWEATER SAUCE (Peysa með öllu) saw Ýrúrarí and Iceland’s Red Cross collaborate for the 2020 DesignMarch festival. Here is the video of the show.

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Ýr Jóhannsdóttir is currently in residency at the Museum of Design and Applied Art until the end of May. Find out more about her exhibition here.

Iceland produces 20 KILOGRAMS OF TEXTILE WASTE every year. In comparison, Australia produces 23 kilograms per year and North America produces 28 kilograms per year.

Wool has been incredibly important to the history of Iceland, with sweaters being favoured by fisherman and farmers in the notoriously chilly Icelandic weather. Most of Iceland’s wool is being sent to China to be processed. Read more about the struggling Icelandic knitting community here.





Ep 138 Series 5 Finale Listen Stories Part 1 - Vintage, Thrifted and Second-hand

Ep 138 Series 5 Finale Listen Stories Part 1 - Vintage, Thrifted and Second-hand

Vintage and second-hand is in the news more than ever before. It's set to eclipse fast fashion within ten years. The designer re-commerce sector is booming. But as shopping pre-loved becomes more aspirational, are those who rely on thrifted clothes being licked out?

What’s not up for debate, however, is that the piles of discarded fashion and textiles keep growing. The excess is real. Where it ends up, who pays the price, what that price should be, what’s selling, what’s not, what should be ... in this week's episode we address all this and more as our listeners take a seat in the interviewee's chair. Featuring Julia Browne, Liisa Jokinen & Ali Dibley.

Ep 137 The Magic of Plants, Organic Gardening and Why Weeds Are Wonderful

Ep 137 The Magic of Plants, Organic Gardening and Why Weeds Are Wonderful

MEET GREEN THUMBS NIDALA BARKER & KOBI BLOOM. Who else talks to their plants? This week's joyful episode is a love letter to what we grow - in gardens, allotments, veggie patches and pots on our windowsills the world over. But also what grows wild - in the woods, hedgerows, fields and scrub, the verges by the freeways, even the cracks in city pavements.

Kobi is a regenerative forager, gardener and weeds-appreciator based in Byron Bay, Australia.

Up for discussion: How can learning more about plants, and their wonder, help us heal the planet? What exactly is a regenerative farmer or gardener (and how can you be be one)? What happens if we donʼt pull out the weeds? What can we do about food waste? And why is compost so often the answer to life's big questions?

Ep 136 Ayesha Barenblat interviews Nazma Akter - Garment Workers, Raise Your Voice!

Ep 136 Ayesha Barenblat interviews Nazma Akter - Garment Workers, Raise Your Voice!

SUSTAINABLE FASHION IS A LIE WITHOUT THE WORKERS AT THE TABLE. Nazma Akter, founder and Executive Director of the Awaj Foundation, has been fighting to improve workers’ rights in Bangladesh's garment sector for 30 years - and she started out as a garment worker herself, aged just 11. Nazma is also the President of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation, one of the largest union federations in Bangladesh, and co-chair of Asia Pacific Women’s Committee of IndustriALL Global Union. Hers is a powerful, persuasive, brilliant voice from the workers’ side. So why have't you heard it before? Or if you have, why not more?

The answer is because fashion - yes, even sustainable fashion - operates with a power imbalance that too often shuts workers out. We rarely hear from the people who make our clothes, especially those in low-wage countries. Instead, we hear from brands talking about garment workers, or well meaning white people talking on their behalf. Mostly, we hear from those who make the decisions, rather than those who must live with them. But if we are to build a truly sustainable and ethical fashion industry, we must make space for the people who make our clothes.

Ep 135 Jason Hickel on Degrowth & Less is Mor

Ep 135 Jason Hickel on Degrowth & Less is Mor

Everybody's talking about degrowth. Does this mean we’ve finally woken up to the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse? Are we ready to challenge capitalism’s obsession with GDP and perpetual expansion? If so, what’s the alternative? And how can we apply this to fashion, beyond simply "buy less"? How might we reimagine the whole system, and rethink how we measure success?

This week's guest is Jason Hickel author of Less is More - How Degrowth Will Save the World.

Jason is a rockstar economist (no grey suits here) focused on global inequality, political economy, post-development, and ecological economics. He teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London and serves on the Statistical Advisory Panel for the UN Human Development Report 2020, the advisory board of the Green New Deal for Europe and on the Harvard-Lancet Commission on Reparations and Redistributive Justice.

Ep 134 Belinda Duarte - Culture is Life and the Australian Dream

Ep 134 Belinda Duarte - Culture is Life and the Australian Dream

Belinda Duarte is a former athlete and educator, current inspirational leader, formidable female exec, proud First Nations Australian and the inspiration for Series 5 - #sharethepodcastmic

As a sprinter and heptathlete, she trailed for the Commonwealth and the Olympic Games. She was the inaugural director of the Korin Gamadji Institute (more below), and integral to the establishment and development of the AFL SportsReady’s National Indigenous Program. In 2012, Belinda was voted Football Woman of the Year. Today, she is CEO of Culture is Life, working to empower young people through Indigenous-led solutions and cultural connection.

While this Episode is just in time for January 26th - a significant day in Australia; it's time to #changethedate - there is lots more up for discussion: from Belinda's family story, to sustainability and Indigenous wisdom, raising strong young people, ethical leadership and how we can use sport and culture to move towards reconciliation.

Ep 133 GRACE LILLIAN LEE INTERVIEWS CHARLEE FRASER

Ep 133 GRACE LILLIAN LEE INTERVIEWS CHARLEE FRASER

Model mentor. Charlee Frazer is a New York-based Australian model and a proud Awabakal woman from the mid-north coast of New South Wales. In 2016, she made her international debut on Alexander Wang’s runway, after Guido Paolo had chopped her long hair into a chic bob. That season, Charlee walked 40 shows including Prada, Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Lanvin, Givenchy and Céline.

Now Charlee is working with First Nations Fashion & Design founders Grace Lillian Lee and Teagan Cowlishaw to support Australia's first ever Indigenous fashion council. This is a beautiful conversarion about reframing the fashion discourse, connecting to country, and mentoring emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fashion talent.

Ep 132 Yatu Widders Hunt Talks First Nations Fashion

Ep 132 Yatu Widders Hunt Talks First Nations Fashion

60,000 years of sustainability. In this Episode Aboriginal journalist, speaker and advocate for the Indigenous fashion sector YATU WIDDERS HUNT interviews SHONAE HOBSON - a Southern Kaantju woman from Coen, Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland. She is the inaugural First Nations Curator at Bendigo Art Gallery. She catches up with first nations fashion designers JULIE SHAW and TEAGAN COWLISHAW. And explores the vibrant contemporary Indigenous fashion scene happening in Australia right now.

Ep 131 ADITI MAYER INTERVIEWS ALOK VAID-MENON ON DE-GENDERING FASHION

Ep 131 ADITI MAYER INTERVIEWS ALOK VAID-MENON ON DE-GENDERING FASHION

Why does so much fashion still cling to strict men's and womenswear codes? Is the industry finally ready to shake off these tired old binaries and embrace the trans and gender-nonconforming community? Or is Harry Styles' Vogue cover about as far as it goes?

For this week's #sharethepodcastmic episode, sustainable fashion journalist Aditi Mayer interviews Alok Vaid-Menon about their new book, Beyond the Gender Binary. Alok is a gender-nonconforming poet, author, performance artist and designer.

Up for discussion: everything from gender neutral fashion, to the limitations of representation to what it means to truly redefine beauty. Also, fashion has been largely silent on the rising wave of transphobia, says Alok, yet continues to draw inspiration from gender-nonconforming people.

This episode is a powerful call to designers "take it as an ethical imperative to de-gender their lines" and to "everyone, regardless of your gender, to make this an issue."

Ep 130, AJA BARBER INTERVIEWS KALKIDAN LEGESSE - HOW TO BE AN ETHICAL BOS

Ep 130, AJA BARBER INTERVIEWS KALKIDAN LEGESSE - HOW TO BE AN ETHICAL BOS

Kalkidan Legesse is the founder of Sancho’s - a pioneering Black-owned sustainable fashion store in Exeter in the UK. Sancho's sells ethical and fair trade clothing, gifts and accessories from sustainable fashion brands like People Tree, Armedangels, Lefrik and Just Trade. They also really innovate with their pricing accessibility - and you'll hear all about that in this interview.

What else gets unpacked in this important conversation? Kalkidan's Ethiopian roots and how returning to Addis Ababa as an adult sparked the idea for Sancho's. The million racist micro-aggressions people of colour face in the fashion industry (and everywhere else), who gets the power, and how to be an ethical leader.