When it comes to the fabrics we make our clothes from, there’s much confusion. Many of us don’t have a clue what textiles we’re buying and wearing; we’re not really teaching it in schools and brands don’t tend to talk too much about it, not least because so many of the textiles they use are unsustainable synthetics. But materials matter, and they are all around us. Getting back in touch with them can be really satisfying. And when it comes to creating a more sustainable fashion industry, their i...
Jun 15, 2023•56 min•Ep 188•Transcript available on Metacast Why are animals so often left out of the conversation about sustainable and ethical fashion? We talk about people and planet, but less often about our fellow living creatures. This week's guest Emma Hakansson wants to change that. She challenges us to rethink the idea of animals as commodities - they are, she says, some one , not some thing . Emma is the founder of Collective Fashion Justice, an organisation that puts animals as well as people and planet at the heart of an ethical fashion indust...
Jun 08, 2023•50 min•Ep 187•Transcript available on Metacast You might know her from the cover of Italian Vogue , campaigning against Victoria's Secret for its lack of diversity, or her role as ambassador for organic beauty brand INIKA, but what Robyn Lawley wants to talk about is spinach. In this candid interview, she tells her powerful personal story of overcoming some pretty scary health issues, and challenges us all to rethink our relationship with meat and dairy products. We're used to talking about vegan diets as planet-friendly and cruelty-free, bu...
May 26, 2023•42 min•Ep 186•Transcript available on Metacast This week Clare sits down with legendary Aussie Greenie, Bob Brown to talk Tasmania’s old growth forests - where towering eucalypts that have been standing for centuries are threatened with the chainsaw, thanks to government short-sightedness and corporate greed. The good news? Grassroots action is rising, as the numbers of tree-appreciating citizens swell, helped by a glowing new documentary, The Giants , by Rachel Antony and Laurence Billiet. The film's subjects are indeed giants - not just Bo...
May 18, 2023•58 min•Ep 185•Transcript available on Metacast Ten years ago, the devastating Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka proved just how deadly the business of making clothes could be for marginalised garment workers. In countries like Bangladesh where cheap clothing is produced at high volume, and wages are kept low, it’s these workers - mostly young women - who face the greatest exploitation and vulnerability. As a result, a new consumer movement was born in the form of Fashion Revolution. New agreements, like what’s now known as the International Accor...
May 05, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep 184•Transcript available on Metacast Psst! Mushroom leather is not actually made from mushrooms – but it is fabulous! Much Like our guest this week. Merlin Sheldrake is the biologist and author of the extraordinary book, Entangled Life, How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures. You might not give fungi much thought, but mycelium networks are working their wonders all around us. And we need them! Together with bacteria, fungi are responsible for breaking down organic matter and releasing carbon...
Apr 21, 2023•51 min•Ep 183•Transcript available on Metacast Whether it’s the joy of dyeing cloth with pomegranates, the age-old practicality of turning sheep wool into felts and knits, or the rich legacy of complex embroideries and silk Ikat weaving, Central Asian textile traditions are bonded by cultural meaning and a respect for the natural world. And resources: nothing gets thrown away, as this week’s guest Aigerim Akenova explains through her love for patchwork - her nomadic ancestors' answer to upcycling. Aigerim is the country co-ordinator of Fashi...
Apr 13, 2023•48 min•Ep 182•Transcript available on Metacast How much do you know about the chemicals you're exposed to through every-day things like cosmetics and skincare, clothing or even food packaging, and food itself? How about what chemicals might be contaminating air, soil and water from industrial processes? Do you ever even think about it? We often presume governments and companies will protect from harmful substances, but history is full of examples where the advice over what's safe and what's not changes over time (from asbestos to cigarettes ...
Apr 06, 2023•49 min•Ep 181•Transcript available on Metacast A year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, over 8 million Ukrainian refugees have been registered across Europe. According to UNHCR, the vast majority of civilians who have fled the war are women over 35 with one or more children. Men aged between 18-60 are not permitted to leave (except under special circumstances). This week, instead of the regular fashion angles, I’m bringing you this very personal conversation with Olena Braichenko , a Ukrainian refugee who, with her six-year-old daughter, i...
Mar 29, 2023•42 min•Ep 180•Transcript available on Metacast 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? On February 6, 2023 a magnitude 7.8 earth quake hit south-eastern Türkiye, and northern Syria. It was catastrophic - causing unfathomable damage and loss of life. Official figures put the death toll beyond 50,000 peop...
Mar 15, 2023•46 min•Ep 179•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Flipping between different, and often conflicting, fashion trends, it's easy to lose control, buy and waste too much. But there's more to trend forecasting than predicting that next week you'll be wearing blue. Or Barbiecore. Or whatever momentary madness TikTok is serving. Mapping cultural, lifestyle, economic and societal tren...
Mar 03, 2023•39 min•Ep 178•Transcript available on Metacast 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 the...
Feb 16, 2023•56 min•Ep 177•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Collina Strada is produced locally in small runs, using mostly deadstock. They’ve been working with the Real Real to upcycle unsold items, and with Liz Ricketts at the Or Foundation to upcycle and divert T-shirt waste in America before it heads offshore, and ends up in places like Kantamanto Market in Ghana. Known for sha...
Feb 08, 2023•45 min•Ep 176•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Ultimately, this is a conversation ...
Jan 25, 2023•45 min•Ep 175•Transcript available on Metacast Forget Vogue . Sourcing Journal should be required reading of you really want to know how the business of fashion works. Clare’s guest this week Edward Hertzman founded this trade journal (now part of FairChild, which owns WWD ) out of frustration that no one in media was telling the full story about how supply chains operate. A former apparel sourcing agent himself, with a degree in economics, the tough-talking New Yorker tells it like it is. In the garment game, suppliers and manufactures take...
Jan 18, 2023•51 min•Ep 174•Transcript available on Metacast In our first interview for 2023, we make the case for why Fashion’s New Year’s Resolution should be to slow the f*ck down... 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...
Jan 11, 2023•49 min•Ep 173•Transcript available on Metacast Turn it up for the holidays! As he publishes his latest book, Reflections , Clare sits down with the colourful genius behind Alternative Miss World , who believes life is too short for muted tones... Andrew Logan is an artist, sculptor, jewellery-maker, yoga devotee and one of legendary English counter-culture fashion eccentrics. He's also the founder of the Alternative Miss World event, which turned 50 in 2022. Billed as "a celebration creativity and beauty that goes beyond gender, age, race an...
Dec 21, 2022•53 min•Ep 172•Transcript available on Metacast Ever worry that sustainability talk is so much hot air? Us too. So this week, we're focusing on... BURPS AND FARTS! Now that we've got your attention, this is serious topic. According to UNEP, methane has accounted for roughly 30% of global warming since pre-industrial times and is proliferating faster than at any other time since record keeping began in the 1980s. While it hangs around in the atmosphere for less time than carbon does, while it is here, it's more potent. Wher...
Dec 14, 2022•41 min•Ep 171•Transcript available on Metacast We hear so much about product in fashion; about the clothes, and the brands. Thankfully, we’re now starting to hear more about the makers, garment workers and skilled artisans behind the manufacturing scenes. But we still hear very little from the people and processes behind the raw materials. This week, we’re looking at wool, with a lovely interview with Tasmanian woolgrower Simon Cameron , who Clare met seven years ago while writing Wardrobe Crisis . Simon manages Kingston in the northern Midl...
Dec 07, 2022•50 min•Ep 170•Transcript available on Metacast The race offshore hollowed out the fashion and textile industries in much of Europe, the US and Australia. But if you happen to live there, chances are you've got amazing fashion skills on your doorstep but you just don't realise. While much of the infrastructure has disappeared, the talent is still there. And still coming through. When Yoox-Net-A-Porter execs visited Dumfries House, Scotland to see how The Prince’s Foundation is working to inspire and upskill young people in the textiles...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep 169•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome back! Series 8 is here ... finally! We're kicking off with a fascinating conversation about greed, excess, imagination, innovation, education and redefining sustainability for fashion. Phew. More exclusive than Chanel - because they barely produce anything you can buy? An anti-establishment fashion duo that works with royalty? Why not? Vin + Omi rewrite all the rules. They call themselves ideologists. They're also fabric inventors, creative thinkers and system-challengers. Now also featu...
Nov 23, 2022•49 min•Ep 168•Transcript available on Metacast Fancy wearing a dress coloured sunny yellow by daffodils or a shirt dyed blue with woad? This week we're talking natural dyes and the magic of textiles derived from plants for a special episode produced with Fashion Revolution and guest-hosted by Carry Somers. Carry's talking with garden designer Lottie Delamain and natural dyes expert Kate Turnbull. Together, they've created a garden for Chelsea Flower Show "to inspire visitors to re-imagine the link between what we can grow and what we we...
May 25, 2022•50 min•Ep 167•Transcript available on Metacast What comes to mind when you hear the phase: power dressing? In the 1980s, it was big news in the corporate world - with woman in big-shouldered designer suits, showing the men who was boss. But using clothes to communicate your status goes back as far as fashion does. In Ancient Rome, it meant the right to wear purple. If you were a courtier at Versailles, it meant the finest brocades. Today, you might think that if you can afford it, you can have it, but as Kim Kardashian proved at...
May 12, 2022•48 min•Ep 166•Transcript available on Metacast Earth Day is not about buying eco-friendly stuff. This year, we challenge you to put your feet in the grass or the ocean, and your credit card away (unless you’re using it to donate to an environmental charity). Let’s make Earth Day about raising our voices for better government policies to protect biodiversity and act on the climate crisis. Let’s make it about communing with the birds, insects, animals and the trees. Start here! Meet Dr Greg Moore - a botanist and ' plant mechanic ' at the Univ...
Apr 20, 2022•59 min•Ep 165•Transcript available on Metacast Fashion Revolution Week 2022 begins April 18th. This year's theme is Money, Fashion, Power. Why? As Fash Rev's communications manager Ruth Macglip says in this Episode's intro: "The mainstream fashion industry is built on the exploitation of people and the planet, with wealth and power concentrated in the hands of a few. Basically, it’s time to reimagine the values at the heart of the fashion system and scrutinise what it is we’re really paying for.” You probably already know that the fashion in...
Apr 13, 2022•47 min•Ep 164•Transcript available on Metacast What Can Fashion History Teach Us About Sustainability? Which fashion figures tower over the history books? Who’s fame stands the test of time, and who gets forgotten - and why? What can we learn from wartime rationing and the Make Do & Mend movement? How was life when home-sewing used to be the norm rather than exception? What new materials rocked the runways in the 1960s, and did disposable fashion originate with a faddish paper dress? This week, we take a look at some of the sustainabilit...
Apr 06, 2022•54 min•Ep 163•Transcript available on Metacast How one company is turning greenhouse gases into a plastic alternative that biodegrades. As Scientific American points out, "carbon is the giver of life - your skin and hair, blood and bone, muscle and sinews all depend on carbon. Bark, leaf, root and flower; fruit and nut; pollen and nectar; bee and butterfly; Doberman and dinosaur—all incorporate essential carbon. Every cell in your body—indeed, every part of every cell—relies on a sturdy backbone of carbon." Carbon isn't a monster - although ...
Mar 30, 2022•52 min•Ep 162•Transcript available on Metacast We love to talk about our 2030 goals, but climate change is not some future worry – it’s here today. It’s already bringing more frequent extreme weather events, as we’ve seen in Australia recently. In late February, early March, catastrophic floods hit northern NSW and southern Queensland, after intense rain fell over the eastern seaboard. Rivers burst their banks, sending houses, roads, farms, and public buildings underwater. People died. Communications were a struggle. It some cases, it took d...
Mar 23, 2022•57 min•Ep 161•Transcript available on Metacast Have you bought digital garments for your avatar yet? Would you like to? You need to listen to this! Moin Roberts-Islam is the Technology Development Manager at the Fashion Innovation Agency, at the London College of Fashion, and he’s here to answer all our questions. In this riveting interview, you’re going to hear him explain pretty much every entry level thing you need to know about how digital fashion works , why it’s exploding, what brands are doing, how gaming is involved, who is buying di...
Mar 16, 2022•45 min•Ep 160•Transcript available on Metacast On February 24th, Russia invaded Ukraine. The news headlines filled with terrifying stories of missile strikes on residential areas, hitting apartment buildings and killing civilians; of nuclear power plants being attacked and 1 million people fleeing country. What has fashion to do with all this? The morning that Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war was also the first day of Milan Fashion Week. And as the violence continued, so too did the fashion shows, next in Paris. Fashion’s Instag...
Mar 09, 2022•50 min•Ep 159•Transcript available on Metacast 
