Do you know who made your clothes?

If you've made a purchase from me then you surely know that I, indeed, made your clothes. I rewrote the intro to this blog post umpteen times because I didn't know where the best place was to start. Talking about the fashion industry is like falling down a rabbit hole; albeit a rabbit hole that I'm quite happy to be falling in. But with so many different topics to talk about I'm just going to start 'here' and open up in future blog posts.

It's Fashion Revolution Week. We can use this week as a time for us to get a little bit educated on where your clothes come from, the impact that fashion has on the world socially, economically and environmentally, and on exactly who made your clothes. As I said, it's a big topic so it's my intention to loop you in with the knowledge that I have and meet you wherever you're at, rather than making you feel like a silly goose for not knowing already (there's still a lot that I don't know too).

Let's start at the start. On 24 April 2013, there was a catastrophic building collapse of an 8 storey garment manufacturing facility in Bangladesh. The 'Rana Plaza' building collapse killed 1,134 people and left over 2,500 people injured. The workers were mostly young women working in terrible, unsafe working conditions for less than fair pay, just to make clothes that we, in the western world, end up browsing through on the racks and overconsuming.

Fashion Revolution was born in the wake of the 2013 disaster and has become the world’s largest fashion activism movement, campaigning for research, education and advocacy in this space.

So, yes, I made your clothes, as sustainably and ethically as I possibly can at this stage of my business. I'm proud to be a sewist with a platform and I encourage you to take a look at the garment labels on your clothes and truly read and understand what they are telling you. Understand where your clothes came from and who made them. Do this with your existing clothes as well as any future garment purchases you will make. Knowledge is power so the more you understand what a garment label tells, the better informed your future purchases will be.

This year's Fashion Rev focus is 'Think Globally, Act Locally.' If you'd like to read further about this, I encourage you to visit their website Fashion Revolution Week 2025 : Fashion Revolution