WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

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.com Talk to Clare in Instagram and Twitter. Watch the documentary Undonehere. Read the New York Times story here.

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  

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 Inst

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 clarepress.com/podcasts

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 clarepress.com/podcasts

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! Find all the shows at www.clarepress.com

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 Twitte

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.

"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 clarepress.com/podcasts      

For 7 years, Fashion Revolution has been asking, #whomademyclothes? on a quest for greater transparency in fashion supply chains. Now, they're asking #WhatsInMyClothes?, and say: "The answer is far more complicated than the composition label on the side seam. This is the starting point, but it doesn’t account for the plastics lurking in our clothes, the trees cut down to transform wood into viscose, or the pesticides sprayed on fields of cotton, leaching into waterways." Fashion Revolution's co-founder Carry Somers is focusing on the plastics issue, and has just returned from voyage of discovery to research microplastic pollution in the oceans. Meet the inspiring activist, fair trade fashion pioneer and now explorer!   Don't forget to check the shownotes for all links and further reading. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO WARDROBE CRISIS. Don't forget to hit subscribe. Can you help us spread the word? We'd love you to rate & review in your favourite podcast app, and share this Episode on social media. Here's

Emily Penn is a British sailor and the co-founder of eXXpedition - a series of all-women voyages exploring the impacts of plastics and toxins in our oceans. "The only way to reduce the potential impacts on human health and the environment is to reduce consumption," she says. But where to begin? For the next two years, a total of 300 women will sail around the world on eXXpedition's voyages of discovery, to look deep into what's going on with plastic in our oceans, and try to come up with solutions.  Why XX? Women are underrepresented in science and sailing  - the XX in the title refers to the female sex chromosome. But it's the impacts these toxins might have on women that will blow your mind. Could plastic pollution be gender discriminatory? Could women suffer greater effects from it than men? Remember, pollution can bio-accumulate - the fish eat the plastic, and we eat the fish. We know that, but there is much we remain in the dark about. Of the estimated 700 contaminants in our bodies, many have barel

What's driving the fashion's latest obsession with upcycling? And how far can it go? Might fashion stop using virgin materials completely one day?  Upcyling means taking something discarded, usually unloved and considered trash, and transforming into something new and of a higher quality. It's become a major fashion buzz word, thanks to designers like Marine Serre in Paris, and even Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. But it’s the next generation that's really pushing it. This week, you’ll meet three of them: Londoners Maddie Williams and Helen Kirkum, and brilliant Dutch trouble maker Duran Lantink. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO WARDROBE CRISIS. Don't forget to hit subscribe. Can you help us spread the word? We'd love you to rate & review in your favourite podcast app, and share this Episode on social media. Here's Clare on Instagram and Twitter. Our detailed shownotes are at www.clarepress.com Get in touch via hello@clarepress.com      

The #metoo hashtag was a moment, sparked in when the actor Alyssa Milano used it on Twitter in October 2017 in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations. That tweet went viral. More than 19 million people around the world have since used the hashtag to share their stories of sexual harassment, abuse and violence. But Me Too is a about more than social media. Me Too is a movement, founded by the American activist Tarana Burke in 2006 to help survivors of sexual violence, particularly Black women and girls, and other young women of colour from low wealth communities, find pathways to healing. This is her story... THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO WARDROBE CRISIS. Don't forget to hit subscribe. Can you help us spread the word? We'd love you to rate & review in your favourite podcast app, and share this Episode on social media. Here's Clare on Instagram and Twitter. Our detailed shownotes are at www.clarepress.com Get in touch via hello@clarepress.com

London stylist Bay Garnett has magic powers when it comes to finding fashion gems in charity shops. The former editor of Cheap Date magazine (all about thrifting) famously put Kate Moss in the pages of British Vogue wearing vintage. Want to get in her wardrobe? Even better, learn her tips and tricks, hear how thrifting has changed over 20 years, and learn why giving garments multiple lives is more important than ever as a tool to reduce fashion’s environmental impact. Go to clarepress.com for the shownotes Follow Clare on Instagram and Twitter @mrspress  

Welcome to Series 4! Our first guest is American supermodel Amber Valletta -sustainable fashion's favourite face, using her platform to make positive change in the industry. How did she move from celebrity covergirl (she had her own MTV show in the '90s, and in the 2000s did a Hollywood movie with Will Smith) to fashion's eco conscience? Today Amber is the model most closely associated with eco-fashion, she’s fronted the last two Stella McCartney campaigns, and protested on behalf of climate action with Jane Fonda.  But can a career in high fashion be truly sustainable? How does she deal with the overwhelm about over-consumption? Could self-care be the answer? Go to clarepress.com for the shownotes Follow Clare on Instagram and Twitter @mrspress This series is proudly brought to you by Spell & the Gypsy Collective and the Climate Council as part of their partnership with 1 % for the planet.

Obsessed with Allbirds? Join the club. For the last Episode of Series 3, Clare visits the San Francisco HQ of the hottest comfy shoe brand on the planet, and unpicks what makes it work. On the way, she discovers the secrets of algae as an eco ingredient, asks the hard questions about end-of-life and greenwashing, and decodes the complexity of carbon offsetting. Oh, and sits next to Matthew McConaughey on the plane… Alright, alright, alright! “Phenomenal for customers, and also phenomenal for the planet… that’s a big idea,” says Joey Zwillinger. But what does it look like in practice? How hard was it to make it happen?And where did they fall short? Hear how Joey and co-founder Tim Brown set out to shake up the way sneakers get made and marketed, took on the big guys and won, and where their future challenges lie.  Now, that's a wrap for Series 3 - we're off to the beach. The perfect time to catch up on our monster back catalogue! Get ready for Series 4 - launches February.

Is the Great Barrier Reef dead? Headlines to that effect zoomed around the world after two consecutive coral bleaching events in 2016 and 2017. But Australia’s most famous World Heritage wonder is still very much with us - a vast eco-system, roughly the size of Germany, it teams with life.Threats from climate change and other factors aren't going away though. Find out what is being done to build resilience on the reef. Meet the scientists and activists working together to protect it. Learn what makes coral tick - and how it makes love (seriously!) This week’s podcast invites you on an excellent adventure with Clare, Vogue Homme cover model Jarrod Scott and Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef to discover the full story. Also starring: Andy Ridely, Laura Wells, Professor David Suggett, researcher Katie Chartrand and dive guide Fiona Merida. Don't miss the shownotes on clarepress.com Got feedback? Connect with us on social media - find Clare on Instagram and Twitter. And please consider rating an

Are you into vintage shopping or second-hand style? Join the club. Whether you're glued to Depop, buying high end designer vintage or a committed charity shop trawler, secondhand has lost its stigma in fashion circles.  Recommerce is growing. According to Thredup preloved fashion is on track to eclipse fast fashion within a decade, while 64% of women have either bought or are open to buying used clothes. But... that doesn't mean the world isn't drowning in unwanted stuff.  This podcast goes live on Black Friday. On this holiday and sales frenzy last year, Americans spent $6.2 billion on Black Friday, up 23.6% on the previous year. Much of this haul will end up on the bin. We're still discarding clothing and other unwanted items at a record rate. So what happens to all our stuff when we’re done with it? Meet the recycling obsessive who grew up on a junkyard and now works for Bloomberg. Adam Minter, author of Junkyard Planet, has a new book out. This one's called Secondhand - Travels in the New

What if our buildings weren't just a little bit more energy efficient or decorated with a few extra plants? What if they gave back to the environment instead of taking away from it? Biophilic design is a buzz word, and we're on board! Meet the visionary Canadian architect Jason McLennan, founder of the Living Building Challenge and the Living Future Institute. This Episode is all about how we can not just green our built environment but totally rethink it so that it’s regenerative, and provides havens for other species too. How might we truly live in harmony with nature? And as Jason puts it: “Create places that are not only lovely but express the love we have for people, for animals and for the environment.” Oh, and seriously, we need to fix the toilets! Happy listening!