Why are animals so often left out of the conversation about sustainable and ethical fashion? We talk about people and planet, but less often about our fellow living creatures. This week's guest Emma Hakansson wants to change that. She challenges us to rethink the idea of animals as commodities - they are, she says, someone, not something. Emma is the founder of Collective Fashion Justice, an organisation that puts animals as well as people and planet at the heart of an ethical fashion...

You might know her from the cover of Italian Vogue, campaigning against Victoria's Secret for its lack of diversity, or her role as ambassador for organic beauty brand INIKA, but what Robyn Lawley wants to talk about is spinach. In this candid interview, she tells her powerful personal story of overcoming some pretty scary health issues, and challenges us all to rethink our relationship with meat and dairy products. We're used to talking about vegan diets as planet-friendly and cruelty-free,...

This week Clare sits down with legendary Aussie Greenie, Bob Brown to talk Tasmania’s old growth forests - where towering eucalypts that have been standing for centuries are threatened with the chainsaw, thanks to government short-sightedness and corporate greed. The good news? Grassroots action is rising, as the numbers of tree-appreciating citizens swell, helped by a glowing new documentary, The Giants, by Rachel Antony and Laurence Billiet. The film's subjects are indeed giants - not just...

Ten years ago, the devastating Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka proved just how deadly the business of making clothes could be for marginalised garment workers. In countries like Bangladesh where cheap clothing is produced at high volume, and wages are kept low, it’s these workers - mostly young women - who face the greatest exploitation and vulnerability. As a result, a new consumer movement was born in the form of Fashion Revolution. New agreements, like what’s now known as the International...

Psst! Mushroom leather is not actually made from mushrooms – but it is fabulous! Much Like our guest this week. Merlin Sheldrake is the biologist and author of the extraordinary book, Entangled Life, How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures.   You might not give fungi much thought, but mycelium networks are working their wonders all around us. And we need them! Together with bacteria, fungi are responsible for breaking down organic matter and releasing carbon,...

Whether it’s the joy of dyeing cloth with pomegranates, the age-old practicality of turning sheep wool into felts and knits, or the rich legacy of complex embroideries and silk Ikat weaving, Central Asian textile traditions are bonded by cultural meaning and a respect for the natural world. And resources: nothing gets thrown away, as this week’s guest Aigerim Akenova explains through her love for patchwork - her nomadic ancestors' answer to upcycling. Aigerim is the country co-ordinator of...

How much do you know about the chemicals you're exposed to through every-day things like cosmetics and skincare, clothing or even food packaging, and food itself? How about what chemicals might be contaminating air, soil and water from industrial processes? Do you ever even think about it? We often presume governments and companies will protect from harmful substances, but history is full of examples where the advice over what's safe and what's not changes over time (from asbestos to...

A year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, over 8 million Ukrainian refugees have been registered across Europe. According to UNHCR, the vast majority of civilians who have fled the war are women over 35 with one or more children. Men aged between 18-60 are not permitted to leave (except under special circumstances). This week, instead of the regular fashion angles, I’m bringing you this very personal conversation with Olena Braichenko, a Ukrainian refugee who, with her six-year-old daughter,...

Fashion doesn’t exist in a vacuum. As Coco Chanel once said, it’s “in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what’s happening.” So how, as a designer, you do respond to what’s going on in the world when that's a tragedy close to home or heart?   On February 6, 2023 a magnitude 7.8 earth quake hit south-eastern Türkiye, and northern Syria. It was catastrophic - causing unfathomable damage and loss of life. Official figures put the death toll beyond 50,000...

How do you feel about trends? In sustainable fashion circles, that word can have negative connotations. After all, it's the sped-up trend cycle delivers us fast fashion. Flipping between different, and often conflicting, fashion trends, it's easy to lose control, buy and waste too much. But there's more to trend forecasting than predicting that next week you'll be wearing blue. Or Barbiecore. Or whatever momentary madness TikTok is serving. Mapping cultural, lifestyle, economic and societal...

No doubt you’ve heard the buzz about regenerative agriculture. But who’s actually putting it into practice for the textile sector? At the soil level? Brands can say they want it, regulators can try to incentivise it, chemical companies might resist it, but at the end of the day, it’s the grower who has to actually do it. What’s it really like for a small-scale Indian cotton farmer trying to make a living? What challenges do they face? And what’s in it for them if they do decide to transition...

As New York Fashion Week rolls around again, it’s the perfect time to listen to this interview with Hillary Taymour, founder of the much-talked-about NYC label Collina Strada. Collina Strada is produced locally in small runs, using mostly deadstock. They’ve been working with the Real Real to upcycle unsold items, and with Liz Ricketts at the Or Foundation to upcycle and divert T-shirt waste in America before it heads offshore, and ends up in places like Kantamanto Market in Ghana. Known for...

On the surface, this is the story of Samorn Sanixay’s epic adventure to map Australia through a colour study of its natural eucalyptus dyes. Last year, she set out to do just that, spending a year travelling around the country collecting leaves from these wonderfully diverse trees wherever she went. But that's just the starting point of this feel-good interview with the natural dyes expert and co-founder of artisanal weaving studio Eastern Weft in Vientiane. Ultimately, this is a conversation...

In our first interview for 2023, we make the case for why Fashion’s New Year’s Resolution should be to slow the f*ck down... What does it mean to thrive in your career? How do you define success? Is that the same way that society, or your industry, defines it? Chances are there’s a disconnect. Because capitalism has been telling us for so long that it’s all about the hustle and the speedy output, that's become the dominant narrative. It's time you set your own pace. Fashion has a pretty...

Turn it up for the holidays! As he publishes his latest book, Reflections, Clare sits down with the colourful genius behind Alternative Miss World, who believes life is too short for muted tones... Andrew Logan is an artist, sculptor, jewellery-maker, yoga devotee and one of legendary English counter-culture fashion eccentrics. He's also the founder of the Alternative Miss World event, which turned 50 in 2022. Billed as "a celebration creativity and beauty that goes beyond gender, age, race...

Ever worry that sustainability talk is so much hot air? Us too. So this week, we're focusing on... BURPS AND FARTS! Now that we've got your attention, this is serious topic. According to UNEP, methane has accounted for roughly 30% of global warming since pre-industrial times and is proliferating faster than at any other time since record keeping began in the 1980s. While it hangs around in the atmosphere for less time than carbon does, while it is here, it's more potent. Where does it come...

We hear so much about product in fashion; about the clothes, and the brands. Thankfully, we’re now starting to hear more about the makers, garment workers and skilled artisans behind the manufacturing scenes. But we still hear very little from the people and processes behind the raw materials. This week, we’re looking at wool, with a lovely interview with Tasmanian woolgrower Simon Cameron, who Clare met seven years ago while writing Wardrobe Crisis. Simon manages Kingston in the northern...

The race offshore hollowed out the fashion and textile industries in much of Europe, the US and Australia. But if you happen to live there, chances are you've got amazing fashion skills on your doorstep but you just don't realise. While much of the infrastructure has disappeared, the talent is still there. And still coming through.   When Yoox-Net-A-Porter execs visited Dumfries House, Scotland to see how The Prince’s Foundation is working to inspire and upskill young people in the textiles...

Welcome back! Series 8 is here ... finally! We're kicking off with a fascinating conversation about greed, excess, imagination, innovation, education and redefining sustainability for fashion. Phew. More exclusive than Chanel - because they barely produce anything you can buy? An anti-establishment fashion duo that works with royalty? Why not? Vin + Omi rewrite all the rules. They call themselves ideologists. They're also fabric inventors, creative thinkers and system-challengers. Now also...

Fancy wearing a dress coloured sunny yellow by daffodils or a shirt dyed blue with woad? This week we're talking natural dyes and the magic of textiles derived from plants for a special episode produced with Fashion Revolution and guest-hosted by Carry Somers. Carry's talking with garden designer Lottie Delamain and natural dyes expert Kate Turnbull. Together, they've created a garden for Chelsea Flower Show "to inspire visitors to re-imagine the link between what we can grow and what we...

  What comes to mind when you hear the phase: power dressing? In the 1980s, it was big news in the corporate world - with woman in big-shouldered designer suits, showing the men who was boss. But using clothes to communicate your status goes back as far as fashion does. In Ancient Rome, it meant the right to wear purple. If you were a courtier at Versailles, it meant the finest brocades.  Today, you might think that if you can afford it, you can have it, but as Kim Kardashian proved at the...

Earth Day is not about buying eco-friendly stuff. This year, we challenge you to put your feet in the grass or the ocean, and your credit card away (unless you’re using it to donate to an environmental charity). Let’s make Earth Day about raising our voices for better government policies to protect biodiversity and act on the climate crisis. Let’s make it about communing with the birds, insects, animals and the trees. Start here! Meet Dr Greg Moore - a botanist and 'plant mechanic' at the...

Fashion Revolution Week 2022 begins April 18th. This year's theme is Money, Fashion, Power. Why? As Fash Rev's communications manager Ruth Macglip says in this Episode's intro: "The mainstream fashion industry is built on the exploitation of people and the planet, with wealth and power concentrated in the hands of a few. Basically, it’s time to reimagine the values at the heart of the fashion system and scrutinise what it is we’re really paying for.” You probably already know that the fashion...

What Can Fashion History Teach Us About Sustainability? Which fashion figures tower over the history books? Who’s fame stands the test of time, and who gets forgotten - and why? What can we learn from wartime rationing and the Make Do & Mend movement? How was life when home-sewing used to be the norm rather than exception? What new materials rocked the runways in the 1960s, and did disposable fashion originate with a faddish paper dress? This week, we take a look at some of the...

How one company is turning greenhouse gases into a plastic alternative that biodegrades. As Scientific American points out, "carbon is the giver of life - your skin and hair, blood and bone, muscle and sinews all depend on carbon. Bark, leaf, root and flower; fruit and nut; pollen and nectar; bee and butterfly; Doberman and dinosaur—all incorporate essential carbon. Every cell in your body—indeed, every part of every cell—relies on a sturdy backbone of carbon." Carbon isn't a monster -...