Sancho’s Fashion Revolution Week 2019 Programme Focuses on Environmental Consequences of Fast Fashion

Exeter based ethical retailer, Sancho’s, have launched their Fashion Revolution Week in 2019 Programme in an effort to raise awareness about the cost of fast fashion. Consisting of a series of events, it will inform and educate people on the harmful environmental effects of fast fashion, which has become one of the world’s largest polluters. Through a range of workshops and talks being held between Monday 22nd and Saturday 27th April, attendees can learn about alternative approaches that support a more sustainable wardrobe.

Starting with a Repair Workshop on Monday 22nd April, and ending with a Capsule Wardrobe Launch event on Saturday 27th April, these and all events on the days inbetween are part of a worldwide campaign - Fashion Revolution Week. This pro-fashion protest was founded in the wake of the Rana Plaza building collapse, which happened on April 24th 2013. Every year, Fashion Revolution Week coincides with the anniversary of the tragic collapse in Bangladesh, which caused the death of 1134 people and injury of another 2500. The idea behind the campaign is to get people thinking about #WhoMadeMyClothes, and the conditions they work in, in the hope that nothing like Rana Plaza happens again.

Spurred on by her own first-hand sightings of how devastating the fast fashion industry is on the environment, as well as the makers, Sancho’s owner and Creative Director, Kalkidan Legesse, says “We are proud advocates of the Fashion Revolution and are thrilled to be putting on another week full of events after a hugely successful campaign in 2018. As with last year, our hope is to inspire people to think twice before they buy. Our own spin on Fashion Revolution Week is to #buybetterandmakeitlast - an extension of getting people to consider who is making what they wear, we want people to be thinking about the environmental consequences of fast fashion.”

Referencing a parliamentary report released by the Environmental Audit Committee in February of this year, Kalkidan continues “people are more tuned in to considering fair wages for makers when they contemplate the low cost of an item of clothing. It is unlikely to be in the forefront of their minds the fact that if fast fashion production keeps going at its current rate, it is projected to use 35% more land for fibre production by 2030. That is an extra 115 million hectares that could be left for biodiversity or used to grow crops to feed an expanding population.”

It is for this reason that Sancho’s have carefully crafted their Fashion Revolution Week programme, which includes an exciting Meet the Makers panel event on Friday 26th April. Makers of sustainable brands will come together to share how they have been able to build a successful slow fashion operation. Details of this and all other events can be found at www.bit.ly/frw2019.

As part of a larger attempt to tackle fast fashion, Sancho’s are also launching their new initiative ‘Shwap’ on Saturday 13th April - a shared wardrobe that will be run out of their second store at 126 Fore Street in Exeter. To find out more and join this exciting revolutionary venture, visit www.bit.ly/sanchos-shwap