WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

If you listened to last week's interview w. Jem Bendell and wondered, "What on Earth do I do now?" And you weren't up for moving to Bali and getting collapse ready by starting a self-sufficient permaculture farm...we've got you!

This week's episode is about practical action being taken right now to protect the rights of Nature.

Clare is sitting down with two can-do women, fashion designer Lucy Tammam and Stop Ecocide International's Jojo Mehta to decode one of the topics of the moment, ecocide law.

You might have noticed this idea gaining momentum. Ecocide refers to the mass damage and destruction of ecosystems – severe harm to nature which is widespread or long-term. The idea is to criminalise it. And it's happening! It's become national law in several countries with many more discussing it. In March, the EU passed a law that criminalises actions 'comparable to ecocide' - a revolutionary legal development; the first law of its kind to be adopted by a political entity with substantial global influence. In September, Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa submitted a proposal to the International Criminal Court for recognition of ecocide as a crime.

What does all this mean for fashion? Listen to find out!

Okay, brace yourselves...

Brands love to set sustainability goals. But what if it's all nonsense? What if net zero, the obsession with carbon, and the idea that renewables are taking over from fossil fuels, are all part of a fake green fairy tale that we tell ourselves because the alternative is too difficult to imagine. Or that corporations tell us so that they can keep on with business as usual.

WTAF? We know. It's... a lot.

Is it true? You decide, after listening to this week's guest.

Jem Bendell is an emeritus professor of sustainability leadership at the University of Cumbria, the author Breaking Together and founder of the Deep Adaptation movement, as well as Bekandze Farm school and folk band Barefoot Stars.

If it sometimes feels like everything's collapsing around us, Bendell argues that's because it is. From the climate and cost of living crises to rising geopolitical tensions, and don't get us started in the widening gap between rich and poor. He says, it's not a sudden thing, like we see in Hollywood movies about the end of the world. Rather, he argues, collapse is a process, and one that's already begun. The question he's asking is: what can we do on the other side?

Some people, he writes, are already: "dramatically changing their lives to prioritise creativity and social contribution. They are worrying less about their career, their financial security or following the latest trend. They are helping those in need, growing food, making music, campaigning for change and exploring spiritual paths. That is happening, because they have rejected the establishment's view of reality and no longer expect its officers to solve any of the worsening problems in their society." Others are just pretending nothing's wrong.

Can cats help? Do doomsters really have more fun? Where does hope come into all this? Clare sat down with Professor Bendell after his keynote at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney to ask all this and more. 

What is the role of a fashion designer today? Thinking purely about gorgeous clothes is so last season. Gone are the days when designers could consider only a collection, how it will sell and what the customer might be looking for.

Forward-thinkers are already beginning to take more holistic view and adopt a living systems approach. They’re asking questions such as, Can we make like Nature makes? How might fashion create nutrients instead of waste? How can we use biomimicry in sustainable ways? Program living systems to produce bespoke products? And, how can we build a truly regenerative system in place of the current degenerative one?

“We won't have a choice in the future. We will all have to include sustainability in everything we do,” says this week’s guest Carole Collet - a bio designer, professor of textile futures and the director of LVMH’s Maison/0 incubator for emerging talent focused on regenerative luxury.

Carole was raised in Burgundy, France, to respect Nature. Her mother worked in a flower shop, her father in a greenhouse. In 1991, she was in London studying for her Masters in textiles when she had a revelation: “It’s in biology that the answers will be.” Traditionally, textile design education focuses on weaving, knitting or maybe printing. “It's very craft based,” says Carole says, “and I love craft; I think it’s justified. But at Masters level, I felt like it was too restrictive.” She went on to set up the first Material Futures program at Central Saint Martins “to explore what textiles could be”.

A philosophical conversation that extends way beyond fashion, encouraging us to ask the big questions about what sort of world we want to build - and our responsibilities in doing so.

We might begin, suggests Carole, by challenging our anthropocentrism, and ask, "What does a bee want? How about a fish?"

Thought-provoking!

Can you help us spread the word ?

Happy Secondhand September! Six years ago Oxfam UK came up with the idea of using September to encourage people to: "Shop second hand to take a stance against fast fashion and dress for a fairer world." They say it's a moment to come together “to choose a more planet-friendly way to shop, and dress for the world you want to see."

How does preloved help with that? We all know that fashion waste is a problem, that new clothing and textile production is a serious contributor to the climate crisis. According to ThredUp, if every consumer bought just one this year secondhand garment instead of a new one, it would he like equal to taking 76 million cars off the road for a day.

Plus by shopping with Oxfam, and other charity shops, you’re investing in the vital work in local communities.

This week Clare sits down with mega multi-tasker Eunice Olumide MBE - model, environmentalist, broadcaster, DJ, author, curator now filmmaker (phew!) - ahead of Oxfam’s London Fashion Week show, to discuss thrifting, her new documentary about the history of British hip hop, moving beyond performative activism, and the challenges of championing secondhand in a world still dominated by the business model of new...

Can you help us spread the word ?

Fashion month is about to kick off again, with all eyes on New York, London, Milan and Paris. But the obsession with the so-called fashion capitals has long seemed out of touch. Yes, that's where the money is (well, Paris is anyway), but in our globalised world, there are many more fashion capitals that should not be overlooked. There are fashion weeks all over the place, all year round. But while Lagos, Melbourne, Berlin and Copenhagen deserve their place in the fashion spotlight, what happens when you're well off the beaten fashion track?

East Arnhem Land, for example...

These days, rising Australian fashion star Liandra Gaykamangu calls Darwin home, but that's the big smoke compared to where she grew up in Milingimbi (Yurruwi) in the Crocodile Islands - albeit with a sojourn to the Wollongong surf coast. Now her print-led namesake brand is making waves in fancy places. This mum of three used to be a high school teacher and her fashion-forward design is winning her prizes.

A beautiful, far-reaching conversation the covers a lot of ground, from creative life in Australia's remote north, caring for County, and tuning into nature (what are the frogs telling you?) to mentoring nex gen Indigenous entrepreneurs, and what it takes to break through when you're outside of circles of power.

Can you help us spread the word ?