Join the Fashion Revolution!
You may have seen our latest posts about Fashion Revolution Week and the Mending in Public Day event taking place on Saturday 25th April (if not, check them out now!) – but what is the week about, who exactly are Fashion Revolution, and why should you care?
Jax Temple-Smees, Horsforth-based artist, upcycler, maker and Fashion Revolution supporter is here to fill you in.
The Rana Plaza Disaster
On the 24th April 2013 at 9am local time the eight-story Rana Plaza commercial building in Savar Upazila, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed due to a structural failure. The building housed five garment factories along with a bank, shops and apartments, but was constructed without permits and with no supporting walls used on the upper floors.
On 23 April, large cracks had been discovered in the building, and while the shops and the bank on the lower floors immediately closed, the garment factory owners on the upper floors ignored the warnings and the workers returned to work the following day.
The confirmed death toll stood at 1,134 and approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the ruins. It is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory disaster in history.
Source: Rana Plaza collapse – Wikipedia
Fashion Revolution begins!
Inspired to act after the Rana Plaza disaster, sustainable designers Carry Somers and Orsola de Castro came together to create Fashion Revolution, now the world’s largest fashion activism movement.
This global network of designers, academics, writers, business leaders, policymakers, brands, retailers, marketers, producers, makers, workers and fashion lovers aims to create “a global fashion industry that conserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit” (Fashion Revolution, n.d.) through collaboration, education, research and advocacy.
Source: Fashion Revolution
Fashion Revolution Week + Mend In Public Day
Fashion Revolution Week is an annual global event which takes place in the week coinciding with the 24th April – the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster. Activists and citizens come together to raise awareness and challenge how fashion is made and consumed.
Mend In Public day is the annual day of collective action against fast fashion waste and a celebration of repair and reuse. Communities around the world host events to engage consumers and encourage conversations around the issues of over consumption and disposable fashion, sharing skills that are in danger of being forgotten such as hand sewing, embroidery, and darning. With so much poor quality fashion being produced and discarded each year it’s more important than ever to buy wisely and repair or upcycle as much as possible.
So bring your repair pile or upcycling project to The Old King’s Arms in Horsforth on Saturday 25th April and be a part of the Fashion Revolution!
Other ways to get involved with FRW 2026
