WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

How did denim get so unsustainable? And did it all start with stone washing? Our guest this week accepts responsibility for the industry going so hard on that.Francois Girbaud was there at the start, when, as he says “I was just a stupid guy” - and didn't know about the environmental impact of stone washing. After that, of course, came acid wash, sandblasting, all the rest of it.So, yes, we discuss all the important environmental stuff, but this is an epic interview about Paris, the history of fashion, and the birth of cool - with a great many pinch-me stories!Outspoken, unafraid, and a true original, Francois Girbaud is fashion pioneer.Meet the man who brought denim to Paris in 1964 with his boutique Western House, who dressed Jimi Hendrix, counted Brigitte Bardot as a customer, and wanted to be a cowboy like John Wayne.This is a rare chance to hang out with one of the great fashion characters. ENJOY!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-ou

What's in my clothes? If you're asking that question, you probably expect the answer to be about fabric content. Polyester? Cotton? Wool maybe, or silk. But what about chemicals? You won't find these listed on your typical garment label.Last Series, Clare interviewed Greenpeace activist Kirsten Brodde, who led the Detox My Fashion campaign, launched in 2011, to force fashion to wake up to the toxic trail of textile production. So what's changed since then? Chemistry in fashion is still not a mainstream topic, and most people have no idea about chemical use in clothing production. But the fashion industry has made headway.The Greenpeace campaign succeeded in making fashion take action. Initially 6 brands got behind the formation of the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) programme, with the aim of removing hazardous chemicals from apparel and footwear supply chains by 2020. It's called Roadmap to Zero. Discover how it works, learn about the wins and find out what's left to be done.www.thewardrobe

You know those people who are always ahead? The true originals no one can catch? Helen Storey is one of them. This British former runway designer and current Professor of Fashion & Science uses fashion as a trojan horse for big issues. Ten years ago she collaborated with a chemist to make garments that filter pollution from the air. She's made dresses that dissolve to show how we destroy what's beautiful.In 2015, in the run up to the COP15, she turned a decommissioned refugee tent, that had once housed a family in Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, into a travelling fashion statement on climate change. She called it Dress For Our Time, and debuted it in a London railway station. That dress has since travelled to the UN in Geneva, the climate strikes, and even been on stage at Glastonbury. But it is Helen who has travelled the farthest. Today she is the UN Refugee Agency's first ever designer-in-residence. Hear how she works in Za'atari, which is home to more than 75,000 displaced people. Reco

“I don't give voice to anyone, but I have a really amazing tool and that's my camera. I use my camera to amplify the voices of people who feel unheard.”Today photographer Giles Duley is the CEO and founder of the Legacy of War Foundation, and an activist for the rights of those living with disabilities caused by conflict. But he started out working in music and fashion, shooting for magazines like Vogue, GQ and Arena.Since 2004, his portrait photography has taken him all over the world, from Iraq and Jordan to South Sudan and Angola, documenting human stories, often in post-conflict zones or crisis situations. In 2015 he was commissioned by UNHCR to document the refugee crisis across the middle east and Europe. In 2011, while working as a photographer in Afghanistan, Giles himself was injured by an improvised explosive device (IED). He is now a triple-amputee. He was back taking photographs the following year.The legacy of war is violent and harrowing. Be warned, some of the stories Giles tel

Can fashion really make a difference? Can artisans be agents of change? Could a humble bangle help make post-conflict land safe for the people who live there?It sounds crazy to be talking about war and bombs in the same sentence as fashion and jewellery. But that's exactly what Article 22, a New York-jewellery brand and social enterprise that's handmade in Laos, seeks to do.They upcycle shrapnel and scrap metal from The Secret War into jewellery, and they called their first collection Peace Bomb. For every jewellery item they make, Article 22 donates to MAG, the Mines Advisory Group - an NGO that's on the ground clearing undetonated bombs so that local families can live and farm in peace.Why are the bombs still there? From 1964 to 1973, the U.S. dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos during 580,000 bombing missions - equal to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years. Then acted like it never happened. It took 45 years for an American President (Obama, in 2016

On World Oceans Day, we meet Australian big wave surfer Laura Enever.Laura started surfing as a kid in Sydney. She spent 7 years surfing professionally on the Women's World Tour . Now she's decided to reinvent herself as a big wave surfer.And we mean seriously big - these waves are scary, dangerous and remote, they break way out to sea, or on shallow rock ledges and only a few times a year.What has the ocean taught Laura about resilience and conquering fear?Find the shownotes on www.thewardrobecrisis.comTalk to Clare in Instagram and Twitter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we're hanging out on the Copenhagen kitchen of the brilliant "insecure overachievers" behind GANNI.Married couple Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup are the force behind the cult Copenhagen label and they've have made it, according to Vogue, a "stratospheric success" beloved of #GanniGirls all over Instagram. Just don't call it sustainable fashion."A brand might do one organic T-shirt and call themselves sustainable," says Nicolaj. "We just do what we do, and try to do better every day."They say their "mission is simple: We fill a gap in the advanced contemporary market for effortless, easy-to-wear pieces that women instinctively reach for, day in, day out." But they're also mapping their carbon footprint and trialling rental while trying to leave their kids a healthy planet. Oh, an hoping the women will take over soon.Love the show?Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.www.thewardrobecrisis.com   S

Friday May 22nd is the International Day for Biological Diversity. Actually this whole year was meant to be about that. The World Economic Forum named 2020 the Year for Nature Action. It was to culminate in a big conference about the UN convention on biological diversity in Kunming, China in October. But the coronavirus pause doesn't mean we get to hold off on action to protect Nature.This week's guest is Helen Crowley, Kering's head of sustainable sourcing and innovation, where she works with brands like Gucci , Saint Laurent and Balenciaga. She lives in France, but she's an Aussie with a PhD in zoology. And this year, she's on sabbatical with Conservation International, and is an advisor to the World Economic Forum.What is the New Nature Agenda? How can fashion take action to not just protect biodiversity, but help regenerate it? We cover all this and more in this episode.Love the show?Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and

Welcome to the second of our special reports about the fashion industry and COVID-19. This one is about how designers, makers and manufacturers are responding to the shortages of PPE - personal protective equipment - and scrubs for frontline workers, as well as masks for all.What is PPE? Why are there shortages? How have fashion designers and industry leaders around the world stepped up to produce PPE for frontline workers?Featuring Shibon Kennedy, founder of PPE Volunteer; Emergency Designer Network's Phoebe English and Holly Fulton; Jayna Zweiman of Masks for Humanity, fashion educator Timo Rissanen and Aleksandra Nedeljkovic from Australian social enterprise The Social Studio.Love the show?Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.The shownotes are on www.thewardrobecrisis.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You probably already know that industrialised farming is chemically intensive and a big greenhouse gas polluter - but how much do you really know about animal agriculture? About its enormous scale, the waste and the way we treat the animals that feed us, and provide leather for the fashion industry?In this interview Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming and author of Farmageddon, provides a powerful argument for a system reset.Love the show?Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.The shownotes are on www.thewardrobecrisis.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you've listened to Episode 115 on how garment workers are being impacted by COVID-19, try this one next. It's an edited version of a story we ran back in 2017, about living wages. Many of the women who make our clothes in countries like Bangladesh still fall far short of earning a living wage. April 24th is the anniversary of the Rana Plaza garment factory disaster. Join Fashion Revolution, and keep asking #whomademyclothes?Don't forget to subscribe to Wardrobe Crisis!The shownotes are on www.thewardrobecrisis.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to this special report on how garment workers around the world are being impacted by COVID-19. Fashion is being severely impacted by the shutdowns. You might argue, the sustainable business is the one that survives this. But as usual, it is the worst off who bear the brunt, because they don't have safety nets to catch them. How is coronavirus impacting garment workers around the world?Why are activists calling for brands to #payup as factories reel under the strain of cancelled orders? And what's the outlook for a sustainable fashion industry long-term?Featuring Remake's Ayesha Barenblat, journalist Elizabeth Cline, union and NGO leaders Kalpona Akter, Rubana Huq and William Conklin, and factory owner Mostafiz Uddin, as well as the first-hand experience of a garment worker who's been laid off, this episode is a call for brands to act responsibly. Love the show?Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.Th

What kinds of products do we want to put out in the future? How can we rethink our design practices and material choices - and persuade the customer that it matters? Once we get to the other side of the COVID-19 crisis, circular and regenerative systems are going to be even more important. But how do we do it case by case? This week's guest British accessories designer Anya Hindmarch has already started. In 2007, Anya launched her famous "I'm not A Plastic Bag" to raise awareness of how much single-use plastic goes to landfill. Now she's back with a new version, and this one's recycled.Find links and more info in our shownotes here.Love the show? Get in touch in IG @mrspress & @thewardrobecrisisTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"We are at one of those pivotal moments when it feels like the world is coming undone," wrote David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific in a recent newsletter. "But the best of humanity comes out in moments of crisis. It's a phenomenon that we saw in the [recent Australian bush] fires, and which we are seeing again in the face of the pandemic."Can we take this enforced pause to design a better way of relating to each other and the natural world? How can we use compassion in our activism? Where can we find solidarity in solitude?This week's Episode is a must-listen and a balm for the soul at the increasingly bizarre time. Like it? Please consider rating and reviewing, share on social media, and don't forget to hit subscribe!Find Clare on Instagram and Twitter.The shownotes are on www.thewardrobecrisis.com   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For 7 years, Fashion Revolution has been asking, #whomademyclothes? on a quest for greater transparency in fashion supply chains.Now, they're asking #WhatsInMyClothes?, and say: "The answer is far more complicated than the composition label on the side seam. This is the starting point, but it doesn't account for the plastics lurking in our clothes, the trees cut down to transform wood into viscose, or the pesticides sprayed on fields of cotton, leaching into waterways."Fashion Revolution's co-founder Carry Somers is focusing on the plastics issue, and has just returned from voyage of discovery to research microplastic pollution in the oceans. Meet the inspiring activist, fair trade fashion pioneer and now explorer!  Don't forget to check the shownotes for all links and further reading.THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO WARDROBE CRISIS.Don't forget to hit subscribe. Can you help us spread the word? We'd love you to rate & review in your favourite podcast app, and share this Episode on social media. Here'

Emily Penn is a British sailor and the co-founder of eXXpedition - a series of all-women voyages exploring the impacts of plastics and toxins in our oceans."The only way to reduce the potential impacts on human health and the environment is to reduce consumption," she says.But where to begin?For the next two years, a total of 300 women will sail around the world on eXXpedition's voyages of discovery, to look deep into what's going on with plastic in our oceans, and try to come up with solutions. Why XX? Women are underrepresented in science and sailing  - the XX in the title refers to the female sex chromosome. But it's the impacts these toxins might have on women that will blow your mind. Could plastic pollution be gender discriminatory? Could women suffer greater effects from it than men? Remember, pollution can bio-accumulate - the fish eat the plastic, and we eat the fish.We know that, but there is much we remain in the dark about. Of the estimated 700 contaminants in our bodies, many have

What's driving the fashion's latest obsession with upcycling? And how far can it go? Might fashion stop using virgin materials completely one day? Upcyling means taking something discarded, usually unloved and considered trash, and transforming into something new and of a higher quality.It's become a major fashion buzz word, thanks to designers like Marine Serre in Paris, and even Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. But it's the next generation that's really pushing it. This week, you'll meet three of them: Londoners Maddie Williams and Helen Kirkum, and brilliant Dutch trouble maker Duran Lantink.THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO WARDROBE CRISIS.Don't forget to hit subscribe. Can you help us spread the word? We'd love you to rate & review in your favourite podcast app, and share this Episode on social media. Here's Clare on Instagram and Twitter. Our detailed shownotes are at thewardrobecrisis.com Get in touch via hello@clarepress.com   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information

The #metoo hashtag was a moment, sparked in when the actor Alyssa Milano used it on Twitter in October 2017 in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations. That tweet went viral. More than 19 million people around the world have since used the hashtag to share their stories of sexual harassment, abuse and violence.But Me Too is a about more than social media. Me Too is a movement, founded by the American activist Tarana Burke in 2006 to help survivors of sexual violence, particularly Black women and girls, and other young women of colour from low wealth communities, find pathways to healing.This is her story...THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO WARDROBE CRISIS. Don't forget to hit subscribe. Can you help us spread the word? We'd love you to rate & review in your favourite podcast app, and share this Episode on social media. Here's Clare on Instagram and Twitter. Our detailed shownotes are at www.thewardrobecrisis.comGet in touch via hello@clarepress.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See aca

London stylist Bay Garnett has magic powers when it comes to finding fashion gems in charity shops. The former editor of Cheap Date magazine (all about thrifting) famously put Kate Moss in the pages of British Vogue wearing vintage. Want to get in her wardrobe?Even better, learn her tips and tricks, hear how thrifting has changed over 20 years, and learn why giving garments multiple lives is more important than ever as a tool to reduce fashion's environmental impact.Go to thewardrobecrisis.com for the shownotes.Follow Clare on Instagram and Twitter @mrspress See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to Series 4! Our first guest is American supermodel Amber Valletta -sustainable fashion's favourite face, using her platform to make positive change in the industry.How did she move from celebrity covergirl (she had her own MTV show in the '90s, and in the 2000s did a Hollywood movie with Will Smith) to fashion's eco conscience? Today Amber is the model most closely associated with eco-fashion, she's fronted the last two Stella McCartney campaigns, and protested on behalf of climate action with Jane Fonda. But can a career in high fashion be truly sustainable? How does she deal with the overwhelm about over-consumption? Could self-care be the answer?Go to thewardrobecrisis.com for the shownotes.Follow Clare on Instagram and Twitter @mrspressSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.