Brighton Fashion Week: The debate for Knits with benefits

Brighton Fashion week kicked off last Friday with the Sustainability Debate.

The debate pre-empted the sustainability catwalk, showcasing Brighton’s finest knits with benefits.

The debators included Caroline Lucas, elected Green Party MP for Brighton and Purna Sen, opposing MP for the Labour party.

Ben Ramsden “God of Pants”- talking with his models of Pants to poverty- a proto-type business made to crack the economy of the Fashion Industry.

So I hear you ask, “what the hell is sustainable clothing?”

The jist of it was that clothes have a sad history. They are ‘international’, even though they say they are ‘made in china’. They travel loads, creating pollution.

They are knitted weaved and sewn by people paid next to nothing, and in horrible working conditions.

On top of that the person wearing it usually throws it away for the next fashion trend or fix of retail therapy.

“50p is all it takes to make sure someone isn’t dying in the production of our clothes”

Caroline Lucas made it clear she didn’t want “the victim to feel guilty” (i.e us, the victims of consumerism or low income).

However the fashion industry was born in slavery, kept up by production line capitalism, and still runs today by consumerism and modern day slavery.

So how can we still go out shopping without a tinge of guilt?

From left to right: Tamsin Lejeune, Caroline Lucas, Ben Ramsden, Purna Sen, Carry Somers

Take the Rana Plaza. This opened many an eye to the issue. However, all of the panelists agreed that if you went out on the street asking people if they knew what it was, no one would have a clue….

In 2013, 1,129 People died in Bangladesh making clothes for the fashion industry, which then went on to be sold to us.

“Have you ever felt what it’s like to have true power in your pants?”

The debate asked how do we prevent this and change the fashion industry altogether.

The politicians seemed pretty negative about the whole thing. Perna said “I’m not positive- we’ve been trying to make poverty history but we haven’t done that!”.

However the campaigners, who were solely looking at creating a sustainable fashion future, were pretty optimistic.

Ben Ramsden, believed in the next 5-10 years we would have this utopia. “We’ve got to stop all of the language to think we can’t do it”. Adding “the Government has to prove they can do something”.

Tamsin Lejeune was looking to “tap into the social media”, and the “sense of empowerment”, of people and probably us students.

She was hoping to find the fuel for a Revolution of sorts. However on the face of it most of us use social media daily. Perhaps she’s onto something…

Monologue before the debate called ‘Material Fiction’- “churning out cheap clothes for the masses”- I’m just a cheap t-shirt, for all they know I was born this way.

“But what can WE do?”, asked the speaker. The answers ranged from speak to people, empower the maker and buyer, regulatory framework, to just getting involved!

But with the TTIP (Transatlatic Trade Investment Partership) vote coming up. Meaning the US and EU countries will be able to trade so freely, us commoners will have no say on whats going on.

We are really on a tipping point. It could go one way or another.

In the end, they asked that we do battle with these wealthy industrialists, who run the fashion ‘slave trade’.

They didn’t mean all out war at the gates of mordor, but simply making informed decisions about the true origins of our designer clothes.

Because, we came to the conclusion it not a martyr’s cause, and its only 50p more to make sure the industry runs alright.

Pants to poverty Poster

The event was sponsored by Brighton and Hove Fair Trade and supported by The Fair Shop and Long Run Communications.

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