10.00 Delia Crowe – Introduction to the forum

10.15 Linda Mackie – ‘Sustainable Studying’

Considerations of Sustainable and Ethical practice within students’ work, across the full scope of the topic, and seeing Ethical practice as a core element, not an added benefit. Designing resourcefully requires skill, innovation and above all a strong understanding of the cycle, the implications of this in the development of their designs will be explored.

10.45 Mei Hui Liu – ‘Working in a Sustainable Fashion’

Questions about sustainability when working in the industry. Including:

>>> How did sustainable fashion brands come to be included as part of London Fashion Week in past years?

>>> How is work different for a sustainable fashion designer?

>>> Does being sustainable affect the size of your market?

>>> What advantages and disadvantages are there to being a sustainable brand?

11.30 Melanie Plank – ‘The Consumer Lifecycle’

With the increasing influence of lifecycle analysis in our understanding of the environmental impact of a garment, the consumer experience is the next frontier for sustainability. How denim brands are using clever marketing campaigns and innovative business practices to win consumers over to the cause, and change consumer behavior will be examined.

12.15 Clio Padovani – ‘Sustainability in the Community’

Teixidors is a socially sustainable cooperative. This presentation will look at why they were formed, their USP, and how they have carved out a devoted following, of consumers and in their community. Their sustainability is in creating a product that is made by marginalized communities and sustains the community through work and integration. W: teixidors.com

12.45 Alison Jane Reid interviewing Lucy Tammam

Journalist Alison Jane, will be in conversation with Made in Britain, sustainable couturier, Lucy Tammam, of Atelier Tammam London, about her journey from fashion undergraduate to ethical fashion trailblazer, making luxury fashion more sustainable, her journey, her challenges, her successes and her inspirations.

13.30 Lunch and networking – Westside Building, downstairs foyer.

14.15 Charty Durrant – The Truth about Sustainability

Sustainability in fashion is a huge and important issue, but one that all too often gets side-tracked by small details and individual agendas. This talk will outline the many large problems faced by those attempting to bring sustainability into the world of fashion, addressing some serious and potentially shocking issues. By tackling them head on, however, the hope is to bring hope and inspiration for the possibilities of a more sustainable future.

15.00 Kate Hills – ‘An insight into truly British brands and the importance of a Made in Britain label’

British-made brands are having a renaissance and now more and more fashion labels are choosing to manufacture in the UK. Find out why this is, and what the many benefits are to a brand of choosing to manufacture locally.

15.45 Mallory Giardino – ‘The Business Case for Sustainability in Fashion’ 

Fashion businesses can actually be more profitable by engaging with ethics and sustainability. This presentation will point out the financial opportunities that come with improving social and environmental standards, as well as three types of business models that are currently being used to achieve commercial success alongside positive impact.

16.30 Jonathan Faiers – ‘Fashion Thinking: Sustainable Systems of Thought’

The methodology of picking and choosing from the sweep of textile and dress history has become a common practice, and fragmented histories have been fundamental to a variety of design practices and sociocultural readings of fashion and textiles. Walter Benjamin’s figure of the rag-picker, which provided him with a model for literary montage, can be usefully employed to consider the relationship between fashion and sustainability and seems to inspire much contemporary fashion and textile design with its assemblages of styles and references from different eras and cultures. This presentation will draw upon Benjamin, alongside other thinkers from Nietzsche to Bourriaud, to explore the sustainability of Fashion Thinking itself and how this is translated practically into fashion design.

17.15 Caryn Franklin – ‘Fashion and Emotional Sustainability’

In the early 80s, fashion editor of i-D Magazine, Caryn Franklin experienced clothing and fashion culture as a liberating space and a tool to investigate personal identity and celebration of uniqueness. The high-street, with its multiple-choice, value-shopping experience or the concept of brand building did not exist. And neither did the Internet. So while the democratisation of both retailing and the publishing and broadcasting sectors is seen as progress, the proliferation of the fashion normative body: tall, thin, white and young together with a speeding up of trends and product life begs the question of who benefits from such progress. Has the status of the individual shrunk while the power of the brand has expanded? Can new generation creatives become part of the solution not the problem by successfully bringing in their own values for emotionally sustainable practice and what will that look like?

10.00 Delia Crowe – Conclusion to the forum

18.00 – 20.00 Drinks reception & networking Westside Building, downstairs foyer

18.30 – 20.00 Film showing ‘The True Cost’ Westside Lecture Theatre