This year Fashion Revolution Week will highlight how the future fashion industry must respect both people and planet with fair and decent work, environmental protection and gender equality. From Australia to Brazil, Uruguay to Vietnam, more than 275 million people are again expected to take part in Fashion Revolution Week by asking brands #whomademyclothes. 

The campaign will be supported by Jasmine & Melissa Hemsley, Wilson Oryema, @dresslikeamum and Stories Behind Things to urgently demand a fashion industry that conserves and restores our environment and gives people, especially women, a voice. 

Over 1,000 Fashion Revolution events will be held in more than 100 countries around the world, from catwalks and clothes swaps, to film screenings, panel discussions, creative stunts, open studios and workshops. 

The campaign will kick off on Earth Day, Monday 22^nd April, when Fashion Revolution will announce that it has signed the UN Fashion Charter for Climate Action, signalling the start of a greater campaigning focus on educating the public about the devastating impact of the fashion industry on global warming, and offering positive actions we can all take to reduce the carbon footprint of our clothes.  Fashion Revolution will also take a stand against the environmental threat to our planet by declaring a Climate and Ecological Emergency.

A diverse range of designers will be adding their own voice to a Fashion Open Studio 2019, a week of talks, workshops, and studio tours. Building on the initiative which started two years ago, designers including Christopher Raeburn, Teatum Jones, Vivienne Westwood, Phoebe English and Katharine Hamnett  will be sharing their processes, ideas and best practice. This is a platform that celebrates transparency in the industry and shares real and positive solutions to create lasting change in the industry.

We will also be launching this year’s Fashion Transparency Index for Wednesday 24^th  April, the biggest yet, with a listing of 200 brands. 

Fashion Question Time on Wednesday 24^th April will expand as a powerful platform to debate the future of the fashion industry by moving from the Houses of Parliament to the Lecture Theatre of the V&A Museum, and opening to the public for the first time. Chaired by Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey, the panel will follow a BBC Question Time format with a diverse range of leading experts from across government, academia and the fashion and textile industry adding their own voice to the debate about how innovation and sustainability must be accelerated to change the fashion panorama.

On Saturday, April 27th, 2019, Slow Factory will host “Sustainability as a Culture”, the fourth in its critically-acclaimed conference series ​Study Hall​. Hot on the heels of a successful partnership with the United Nations in February, the first international edition will be held in London UK at Central Saint Martins college of art and design, in collaboration with Fashion Revolution. Study Hall creates a unique chemistry, updating the conference from a static to a dynamic and spontaneous experience which relies on multiple points of views to engage its audience into inspiring conversations. 

Orsola de Castro, Co-founder and Creative Director said: “The spirit of Fashion Revolution is to engage in frank and topical dialogue with honesty at its core, and we are excited to be able to use our collective voice to be louder than ever before”.

Carry Somers, Co-Founder and Global Operations  Director of Fashion Revolution said: “Every time we buy, wear and dispose of clothes, we create an environmental footprint and an impact on the people who make them, most of whom are women. That’s why positive change is more urgent than ever if we are to tackle climate change and create a more equitable future for all.”

While the sustainability of the fashion industry is increasingly under scrutiny, human rights abuses, gender inequality and environmental degradation remain rife. Research shows that garments are among the items most at risk of being produced through modern slavery. Sexual harassment, discrimination and gender-based violence against women is endemic in the global garment industry, where women comprise 80% of the global workforce. Global textiles production emits 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases annually, more than international flights and maritime shipping combined. We are producing 53 million tonnes of fibres to make clothes and textiles annually, only to landfill or burn 73% of those fibres. 

Fashion Revolution Week 2019 will encourage people to recognise their own personal impact and value quality over quantity.  It will demand a change in culture where we nurture  dignity in work because we cannot afford to live in a world where our clothes destroy the environment, harm or exploit people and reinforce gender inequality. 

To find out what’s happening in your area this Fashion Revolution Week or to find out more about the campaign, visit www.fashionrevolution.org .