WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

Why does so much fashion still cling to strict men's and womenswear codes? Is the industry finally ready to shake off 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 is in charge.She's interviewing 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."It's time for all of us to start askin

For this week's #sharethepodcastmic episode, Aja Barber is in charge.She's interviewing her friend, Kalkidan Legesse, 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? 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.Here's Aja on IG.Here's Kalkidan's own website. Here's Sancho's on Instagram.www.sanchosstore.coFind all the notes www.thewardrobecrisis.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A note from Clare: Welcome to Series 5, Share the Podcast Mic. After everything that's happened this year, we wanted to shake things up and share the power of this beautiful platform with some of the BIPOC voices leading the conversation in sustainability and ethical fashion. So after this episode, I'll be passing the Wardrobe Crisis mic onto them. Each will interview a person of their choice. Your guest hosts are some of the most exciting, dynamic, inspirational voices working in this space today - as are their guests. I couldn't be more grateful to them all for sharing their experiences with us, and being part of this project. I'm excited to bring you this contextual episode with the brilliant sustainable fashion writer, activist and stylist Aja Barber, before I pass the mic on to her as our very first guest host next week.It's all up discussion today: from allyship (when brands get it wrong & how to get it right) to fashion billionaires; white fragility, the dreaded Karens, and coddling vs. d

For all the talk of inclusivity finally being taken seriously by fashion, the industry is way behind on many fronts. It basically ignores entire sections of the market, which makes no sense from a business perspective, and let alone a social one.Adaptive fashion is both an opportunity and a necessity - as this week's brilliant guest, author Keah Brown says, disabled people love clothes too. And they're tired of having to alter things that don't work for them. Accessible, adaptive design is the future, and forward-looking brands are taking note.Our chat covers everything from Keah's New York Fashion Week debut and how her hashtag #disabledandcute went viral to writing her first screen play and the finding joy in the everyday. This is an enlightening, bright interview full of inspiration. What a treat to have Keah on the podcast.Let us know what you think. You can find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.Keah's website is here.Do you follow us at @thewardrobecrisis ? Remember, you can read our magazine at www.thewar

Philosophy! The Internet of Things! Irvin Penn! From not being Mozart to designing outfits for The Muppets, as a kid... It's all up for discussion in this week's ep with Levi's Vice President of Global Product Innovation, Paul Dillinger. Paul drove Jacquard by Google, so of course we talk about that, and the future of tech innovation in fashion particularly around wearables. But fundamentally, this is a conversation about why we wear what we wear, what fashion means and how we've used it across time to craft our identities. Oh, and sustainability.Basically, this is why we love to make podcasts. And Paul is the greatest. Enjoy!Got feedback? Find us at www.thewardrobecrisis.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"You can't farm spiders!" says this week's guest, scientist David Breslauer.You can keep more them in serious numbers spinning webs off hula-hoops suspended from your office ceiling though...Enter Bolt Threads, the Californian biotech company behind Microsilk - a bioengineered sustainable fibre used by Stella McCartney. Find out how they did it, where the science is headed, and what's next (hint, it's involves mushrooms). Just don't call David Spider Man.Find our more at www.thewardrobecrisis.comLove the show? Don't forget to hit subscribe. You can contact host Clare Press on Instagram here, and follow the show here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How did denim get so unsustainable? And did it all start with stone washing? Our guest this week accepts responsibility for the industry going so hard on that.Francois Girbaud was there at the start, when, as he says “I was just a stupid guy” - and didn't know about the environmental impact of stone washing. After that, of course, came acid wash, sandblasting, all the rest of it.So, yes, we discuss all the important environmental stuff, but this is an epic interview about Paris, the history of fashion, and the birth of cool - with a great many pinch-me stories!Outspoken, unafraid, and a true original, Francois Girbaud is fashion pioneer.Meet the man who brought denim to Paris in 1964 with his boutique Western House, who dressed Jimi Hendrix, counted Brigitte Bardot as a customer, and wanted to be a cowboy like John Wayne.This is a rare chance to hang out with one of the great fashion characters. ENJOY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-ou

What's in my clothes? If you're asking that question, you probably expect the answer to be about fabric content. Polyester? Cotton? Wool maybe, or silk. But what about chemicals? You won't find these listed on your typical garment label.Last Series, Clare interviewed Greenpeace activist Kirsten Brodde, who led the Detox My Fashion campaign, launched in 2011, to force fashion to wake up to the toxic trail of textile production. So what's changed since then? Chemistry in fashion is still not a mainstream topic, and most people have no idea about chemical use in clothing production. But the fashion industry has made headway.The Greenpeace campaign succeeded in making fashion take action. Initially 6 brands got behind the formation of the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) programme, with the aim of removing hazardous chemicals from apparel and footwear supply chains by 2020. It's called Roadmap to Zero. Discover how it works, learn about the wins and find out what's left to be done.www.thewardrobe

You know those people who are always ahead? The true originals no one can catch? Helen Storey is one of them. This British former runway designer and current Professor of Fashion & Science uses fashion as a trojan horse for big issues. Ten years ago she collaborated with a chemist to make garments that filter pollution from the air. She's made dresses that dissolve to show how we destroy what's beautiful.In 2015, in the run up to the COP15, she turned a decommissioned refugee tent, that had once housed a family in Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, into a travelling fashion statement on climate change. She called it Dress For Our Time, and debuted it in a London railway station. That dress has since travelled to the UN in Geneva, the climate strikes, and even been on stage at Glastonbury. But it is Helen who has travelled the farthest. Today she is the UN Refugee Agency's first ever designer-in-residence. Hear how she works in Za'atari, which is home to more than 75,000 displaced people. Reco

“I don't give voice to anyone, but I have a really amazing tool and that's my camera. I use my camera to amplify the voices of people who feel unheard.”Today photographer Giles Duley is the CEO and founder of the Legacy of War Foundation, and an activist for the rights of those living with disabilities caused by conflict. But he started out working in music and fashion, shooting for magazines like Vogue, GQ and Arena.Since 2004, his portrait photography has taken him all over the world, from Iraq and Jordan to South Sudan and Angola, documenting human stories, often in post-conflict zones or crisis situations. In 2015 he was commissioned by UNHCR to document the refugee crisis across the middle east and Europe. In 2011, while working as a photographer in Afghanistan, Giles himself was injured by an improvised explosive device (IED). He is now a triple-amputee. He was back taking photographs the following year.The legacy of war is violent and harrowing. Be warned, some of the stories Giles tel

Can fashion really make a difference? Can artisans be agents of change? Could a humble bangle help make post-conflict land safe for the people who live there?It sounds crazy to be talking about war and bombs in the same sentence as fashion and jewellery. But that's exactly what Article 22, a New York-jewellery brand and social enterprise that's handmade in Laos, seeks to do.They upcycle shrapnel and scrap metal from The Secret War into jewellery, and they called their first collection Peace Bomb. For every jewellery item they make, Article 22 donates to MAG, the Mines Advisory Group - an NGO that's on the ground clearing undetonated bombs so that local families can live and farm in peace.Why are the bombs still there? From 1964 to 1973, the U.S. dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos during 580,000 bombing missions - equal to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years. Then acted like it never happened. It took 45 years for an American President (Obama, in 2016

On World Oceans Day, we meet Australian big wave surfer Laura Enever.Laura started surfing as a kid in Sydney. She spent 7 years surfing professionally on the Women's World Tour . Now she's decided to reinvent herself as a big wave surfer.And we mean seriously big - these waves are scary, dangerous and remote, they break way out to sea, or on shallow rock ledges and only a few times a year.What has the ocean taught Laura about resilience and conquering fear?Find the shownotes on www.thewardrobecrisis.comTalk to Clare in Instagram and Twitter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we're hanging out on the Copenhagen kitchen of the brilliant "insecure overachievers" behind GANNI.Married couple Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup are the force behind the cult Copenhagen label and they've have made it, according to Vogue, a "stratospheric success" beloved of #GanniGirls all over Instagram. Just don't call it sustainable fashion."A brand might do one organic T-shirt and call themselves sustainable," says Nicolaj. "We just do what we do, and try to do better every day."They say their "mission is simple: We fill a gap in the advanced contemporary market for effortless, easy-to-wear pieces that women instinctively reach for, day in, day out." But they're also mapping their carbon footprint and trialling rental while trying to leave their kids a healthy planet. Oh, an hoping the women will take over soon.Love the show?Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.www.thewardrobecrisis.com   S

Friday May 22nd is the International Day for Biological Diversity. Actually this whole year was meant to be about that. The World Economic Forum named 2020 the Year for Nature Action. It was to culminate in a big conference about the UN convention on biological diversity in Kunming, China in October. But the coronavirus pause doesn't mean we get to hold off on action to protect Nature.This week's guest is Helen Crowley, Kering's head of sustainable sourcing and innovation, where she works with brands like Gucci , Saint Laurent and Balenciaga. She lives in France, but she's an Aussie with a PhD in zoology. And this year, she's on sabbatical with Conservation International, and is an advisor to the World Economic Forum.What is the New Nature Agenda? How can fashion take action to not just protect biodiversity, but help regenerate it? We cover all this and more in this episode.Love the show?Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and

Welcome to the second of our special reports about the fashion industry and COVID-19. This one is about how designers, makers and manufacturers are responding to the shortages of PPE - personal protective equipment - and scrubs for frontline workers, as well as masks for all.What is PPE? Why are there shortages? How have fashion designers and industry leaders around the world stepped up to produce PPE for frontline workers?Featuring Shibon Kennedy, founder of PPE Volunteer; Emergency Designer Network's Phoebe English and Holly Fulton; Jayna Zweiman of Masks for Humanity, fashion educator Timo Rissanen and Aleksandra Nedeljkovic from Australian social enterprise The Social Studio.Love the show?Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.The shownotes are on www.thewardrobecrisis.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You probably already know that industrialised farming is chemically intensive and a big greenhouse gas polluter - but how much do you really know about animal agriculture? About its enormous scale, the waste and the way we treat the animals that feed us, and provide leather for the fashion industry?In this interview Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming and author of Farmageddon, provides a powerful argument for a system reset.Love the show?Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.The shownotes are on www.thewardrobecrisis.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you've listened to Episode 115 on how garment workers are being impacted by COVID-19, try this one next. It's an edited version of a story we ran back in 2017, about living wages. Many of the women who make our clothes in countries like Bangladesh still fall far short of earning a living wage. April 24th is the anniversary of the Rana Plaza garment factory disaster. Join Fashion Revolution, and keep asking #whomademyclothes?Don't forget to subscribe to Wardrobe Crisis!The shownotes are on www.thewardrobecrisis.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to this special report on how garment workers around the world are being impacted by COVID-19. Fashion is being severely impacted by the shutdowns. You might argue, the sustainable business is the one that survives this. But as usual, it is the worst off who bear the brunt, because they don't have safety nets to catch them. How is coronavirus impacting garment workers around the world?Why are activists calling for brands to #payup as factories reel under the strain of cancelled orders? And what's the outlook for a sustainable fashion industry long-term?Featuring Remake's Ayesha Barenblat, journalist Elizabeth Cline, union and NGO leaders Kalpona Akter, Rubana Huq and William Conklin, and factory owner Mostafiz Uddin, as well as the first-hand experience of a garment worker who's been laid off, this episode is a call for brands to act responsibly. Love the show?Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.Th

What kinds of products do we want to put out in the future? How can we rethink our design practices and material choices - and persuade the customer that it matters? Once we get to the other side of the COVID-19 crisis, circular and regenerative systems are going to be even more important. But how do we do it case by case? This week's guest British accessories designer Anya Hindmarch has already started. In 2007, Anya launched her famous "I'm not A Plastic Bag" to raise awareness of how much single-use plastic goes to landfill. Now she's back with a new version, and this one's recycled.Find links and more info in our shownotes here.Love the show? Get in touch in IG @mrspress & @thewardrobecrisisTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"We are at one of those pivotal moments when it feels like the world is coming undone," wrote David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific in a recent newsletter. "But the best of humanity comes out in moments of crisis. It's a phenomenon that we saw in the [recent Australian bush] fires, and which we are seeing again in the face of the pandemic."Can we take this enforced pause to design a better way of relating to each other and the natural world? How can we use compassion in our activism? Where can we find solidarity in solitude?This week's Episode is a must-listen and a balm for the soul at the increasingly bizarre time. Like it? Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.The shownotes are on www.thewardrobecrisis.com   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.