Fashion doesn’t exist in a vacuum. As Coco Chanel once said, it’s “in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what’s happening.” So how, as a designer, you do respond to what’s going on in the world when that's a tragedy close to home or heart?

Do you try to compartmentalise, or block it out, or use your platform to speak out and raise money? Probably all of the above, at the same time! There’s obviously no correct answer, but these are the questions. And also, the context for this week’s interview with London-based Turkish designer Bora Aksu, who shares candidly about what it means to be a creative trying to navigate all this.

How do you feel about trends? In sustainable fashion circles, that word can have negative connotations. After all, it's the sped-up trend cycle delivers us fast fashion. But mapping cultural, lifestyle, economic and societal trends helps us form a picture of where we are headed and shape our strategies for everything from new business models to reaching our chosen audiences. How do the professionals do it? Could you?

No doubt you’ve heard the buzz about regenerative agriculture. But who’s actually putting it into practice for the textile sector? At the soil level? Brands can say they want it, regulators can try to incentivise it, chemical companies might resist it, but at the end of the day, it’s the grower who has to actually do it.

What’s it really like for a small-scale Indian cotton farmer trying to make a living? What challenges do they face? And what’s in it for them if they do decide to transition their fields and methods back to the old ways? Yes, the old ways... because, guess what - regenerative agriculture is not at new idea!

As New York Fashion Week rolls around again, it’s the perfect time to listen to this interview with Hillary Taymour, founder of the much-talked-about NYC label Collina Strada. This is a candid conversation about going your own way, finding joy on creativity, and the frustrations of trying to be a sustainable fashion designer inside an unsustainable system.

On the surface, this is the story of Samorn Sanixay’s epic adventure to map Australia through a colour study of its natural eucalyptus dyes. Last year, she set out to do just that, spending a year travelling around the country collecting leaves from these wonderfully diverse trees wherever she went.

But that's just the starting point of this feel-good interview with the natural dyes expert and co-founder of artisanal weaving studio Eastern Weft in Vientiane.

Forget Vogue. Sourcing Journal is required reading of you really want to know how the business of fashion works. This week on the Wardrobe Crisis podcast, host Clare Press quizzes fashion industry insider, and former sourcing professional Edward Hertzman on what it would take to fix fashion's supply chains - and move the sustainability agenda beyond talk.

What does it mean to thrive in your career? How do you define success? Is that the same way that society, or your industry, defines it? Chances are there’s a disconnect. Because capitalism has been telling us for so long that it’s all about the hustle and the speedy output, that's become the dominant narrative. It's time you set your own pace. Fashion has a pretty terrible record on this, says Georgina Johnson, but it doesn't have to be this way. This inviting interview with the author of The Slow Grind is full of wise insights and practical inspiration.

Andrew Logan is an artist, sculptor, jewellery-maker, yoga devotee and one of legendary English counter-culture fashion eccentrics. A high jinx conversation about finding and following your creative calling, fashioning the self with joy in your heart, and bringing the fun back to dressing up.