About Fashion Revolution Week
Subject: Manifesto for a fashion revolution
Concept: We love fashion. But we don’t want our clothes to exploit people or destroy our planet. We are joining forces as a global community to make our manifesto a reality.
Key messages: Think globally, act locally. April 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy. Using the 10 points of our manifesto as building blocks, the global network of fashion revolutionaries in 88 countries is bringing people together to build a vision for radical change.
Larger key messages
The theme of this year’s Fashion Revolution Week is Manifesto for a Fashion Revolution. In 2018, we created a 10-point manifesto that establishes our vision of a global fashion industry that preserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit. Since then, over 14,000 people around the world have signed their names to support our vision of turning that dream into reality.
As we approach a decade of campaigning for systemic change in the fashion industry, we are bringing our global community together to be curious, learn, and do something around each manifesto point. From supply chain transparency to living wages, textile waste to cultural appropriation, and freedom of association to biodiversity, we’re sharing solutions to fashion’s most pressing social and environmental problems. And we need you to join us.
Over the last ten years, the buzz around sustainable fashion has gotten louder. But in the meantime, real progress is too slow in the context of the climate crisis and growing social injustice. That’s why we’re making Fashion Revolution Week 2023 an action-packed, future-focused campaign that amplifies solutions from historically neglected places. In our process, we are guided by the plurality and diversity of our global network, passing the mic to fashion revolutionaries from around the world
We believe that while fashion has a colossal negative impact, it also has the power and potential to be a force for change. Join us to expand the horizons of what fashion could – and should – be.
About Fashion Revolution
Fashion Revolution is the largest global movement, for almost 10 years, we have been passionately fighting for a clean, safe, fair, transparent, and responsible fashion industry. We believe in a global fashion industry that preserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit.
Fashion Revolution was founded by Carry Somers and Orsola de Castro after the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013. We have grown into the world’s largest fashion activism movement, mobilizing citizens, brands, and policymakers through research, education, and advocacy.
We are a global movement of people making the fashion industry work. We are the people who wear the clothes. And we are the people who make them.
We are designers, academics, writers, business leaders, policymakers, brands, retailers, retailers, merchants, producers, manufacturers, workers, and fashion lovers. We are the industry and we are the audience. We are citizens of the world. We are the Fashion Revolution.
OUR VISION
A global fashion industry that preserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit.
OUR GOALS
- End human and environmental exploitation in the global fashion industry
- Safe, decent working conditions and living wages for all people in the supply chain
- Redistributed and more equitable balance of power across the global fashion industry
- A bigger and stronger labour movement in the global fashion industry
- A global fashion industry that works to conserve valuable resources and regenerate ecosystems
- A culture of transparency and accountability throughout the value chain
- An end to the culture of waste and a transition to a system where materials are used for much longer and nothing is wasted
- Intangible heritage, craftsmanship, and local wisdom are recognized and valued
HOW WE WORK TO ACHIEVE CHANGE
CULTURAL CHANGE
- Raising public awareness and educating citizens about the systemic challenges facing the global fashion industry
- Create a diverse movement, mobilize communities, and bring people together around the world to take collective action
- We help people understand the impact of their clothes and how they can influence the global fashion industry
- We work with artists and activists to reshape powerful narratives embedded in fashion culture
- We create tools for people to use their voices and make changes in their personal lives and work
- We inspire people to consume less, value quality, and take better care of their clothes
- We provide a platform that allows for greater visibility and fewer barriers between consumers and producers
INDUSTRY CHANGE
- We conduct research that sheds light on the social and environmental impacts of the global fashion industry
- We highlight where the industry is moving too slowly and push for faster change
- We influence brands and retailers to change through consumer pressure
- We provide incentives to promote transparency and accountability throughout the supply chain
POLICY CHANGE
- We support policy change and influence governments to play a more active role in better enforcing laws and regulating the industry
Why we need Fashion Revolution Week
There is no sustainable fashion without fair pay. Throughout the pandemic, fashion brands have made billions while the majority of workers in their supply chains remain trapped in poverty.
Currently, there is a lack of understanding and appreciation of the true cost of clothing. Price labels do not reflect the social and environmental costs of production, and as consumers, we do not always care about our clothes the way we should.
We need to look closely at what we are actually paying for. Throughout Fashion Revolution Week, we are educating and inspiring our global community about the true value of what we buy and wear.
We’re calling for new laws that require businesses to provide fair living wages. This will transform the lives and livelihoods of the people who make our clothes and help redistribute money and power in the global fashion industry.
Fashion Revolution co-founder and artistic director Orsola de Castro has stated:
“It has never been more important to demand accountability and adherence to fundamental transparency standards from the brands we buy from and to change our own consumption habits from excessive to efficient. We hope that people around the world will join us this Fashion Revolution Week (referring to the one in 2023) and demand empathy and respect: empathy for the people who make our clothes and respect for the planet we all share. “
We know that both people and nature are paying the price for the anarchic exploitation and wastefulness of the fashion industry. Brands are avoiding the realities of climate collapse by continuing to pursue extractive business models and washing their way to sustainability. We need brands to radically reduce their environmental impact by shifting their focus away from growth. Small businesses and independent creatives around the world are already practicing these ideals. Their courage and wisdom will show us the way.