We have picked out two great stories for you this month (May 09)
Each demonstrates a different approach to how we can make ourselves more ethically fashionable. We hear from the Swishing gang - recycling in the form of giving to others & having a great fun night out. For those who like a more direction action approach we have the student group People & Planet & their peaceful protests against Top Shop.
FUTERRA AND CANCER RESEARCH UK JOIN FORCES AT FIRST ACCESSORIES SWISH
Futerra Sustainability Communications and the Shoreditch Women’s Institute hosted the first accessories swishing party on Friday, 22 May at The George pub near Shoreditch in aid of Cancer Research UK.
Swishing, which generally involves women getting together and swapping clothes, expanded for the first time to include accessories! Guests (swishers) were encouraged to bring at least three accessories to swish (belts, jewellery, sunglasses, bracelets, necklaces, scarves, hats, shoes, handbags, etc.) or clothing if they didn’t have any accessories they wanted to part with!
Items swished on the night included Vivienne Westwood jewellery, vintage tea dresses, leather boots and bags (many with the tags still attached) and vintage costume jewellry. Swishers experienced a plethora of activities from a fashion sins confessional booth, entertainment by an indie band (do we know the name or can we find out as they might be well known!), and of course, swishing!
All of the unswished clothing and accessories at the end of the event went to Cancer Research, who took away numerous bags of goodies, which will be sold in Cancer Research UK shops.
Lucy Shea, the founder of swishing and director at Futerra Sustainability Communications, said, “With the recession starting to bite, swishing is a great example of the ‘new austerity’: save money, save the planet, have a party. We are thrilled with the success of the event and are in the process of planning more fabulous swishing parties for the coming year, so be sure to visit our website ( www.swishing.org) to find out about our upcoming events”.
What is the definition of swishing?
Dictionary Definition: To rustle, as silk
Lucy's definition: To rustle clothes from friends The Art of Swishing involves getting your friends together to swap gorgeous clothes and party at the same time. Every lady must bring at least one good quality, clean item of clothing, or an accessory, that she’d feel proud to hand on.
Topshop falsely imprisons ethical clothing protesters
Protesters from student campaigning group People & Planet were falsely
imprisoned by a Topshop store manager in Edinburgh as part of
national strategy of detaining peaceful protesters on 1st May.
The students were demonstrating as part of a national day of action against the documented abuses in Topshop's supply chain and the fact that Topshop and its parent company Arcadia are the only high street retailer not to sign up to the Ethical Trading Initiative.
Staff at the store manhandled five of the peaceful protesters and detained them in the basement against their will for over an hour until police arrived and released them.
The store manager stated that they had
been warned to expect protests in a document entitled "Protest escalation procedure" and the reason that he was detaining them against their will was that he'd been told by 'people higher up than me' to deal with protests in that way.
Police who arrived at the store said that it was wrong to use force to
detain peaceful protesters and that the shop ought to discriminate
between violent criminals and peaceful protesters and it was very clear
that they weren't violent.
Daniel Abrahams, one of the students, said "I can't believe I was
falsely imprisoned for over an hour and half by Topshop for simply
trying to promote the rights of workers. I am shocked and saddened that
Topshop reverts to these illegal and repressive tactics of imprisoning
people who criticise their treatment of workers in their supply chain.
We are not demanding the impossible. Most other high street retailers
have signed up to the Ethical Trading Initiative and at least made some
attempts to clean up their act".
