Fashion Revolution Day to promote supply chain issues on Rana Plaza anniversary

Leading fashion designers, celebrities and entrepreneurs will join together for Fashion Revolution Day on April 24, in order to highlight serious issues in fashion brands’ supply chains and commemorate last year’s deadly factory collapse in Bangladesh.

Supporters of the initiative include fashion designer Katherine Hamnett, journalist Lucy Siegle, ethical fashion campaigner Livia Firth and entrepreneur Jo Wood.

The campaign asks people from across the world to wear an item of clothing inside out for one day, to raise awareness on issues in the fashion industry, such as transparency and sustainability in the supply chain.

Co-founder Carry Somers, a pioneer in fair trade and ethical fashion, said, “I came up with the idea for Fashion Revolution sitting in the bath.

“I could see that we were at a tipping point, with the heightened awareness around ethical fashion giving us an opportunity to bring about real change and it struck me that fashion is a rare force that can harness the power to make change fast.”

The event has been organised to coincide with the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster, where more than 1,000 workers died in a garment factory in Bangladesh. The event sparked criticism over safety conditions of workers in developing countries where many high street brand products are made.

Orsola de Castro, who also helped set up Fashion Revolution Day, said, “We want you to ask: “Who made your clothes?” This action will encourage people to imagine the ‘thread’ from the garment to the machinist that sewed it and all the way down to the farmer that grew the cotton it was made from.

“We hope that Fashion Revolution Day will initiate a process of discovery, raising awareness of the fact that buying is only the last step in a long journey involving hundreds of people: the invisible workforce behind the clothes we wear.”

Photo: Robert Linder via freeimages

Further reading:

A manifesto for fashion that truly challenges the status quo

Sustainability functions in businesses struggling to engage

The True Cost: the future of fashion is on sale

We are a long way from achieving stability in supply chains

Raising for Rana: marking the anniversary of Rana Plaza