This week is Fashion Revolution Week.
To celebrate a revolution means that you celebrate the opportunity you have to fight for what you believe to be true. We believe that we can hang on to the right to prove to the world that fashion can do good.
In a world that revels in keeping things hidden, we want to celebrate the freedom that comes from authentic and open processes and people. When it's hard to feel connected to what you own, we want to create a story with you that proves you can know where and how your items are made.
And, best of all, we want to celebrate the lives, stories and talents of those people.
For us, the most important thing about Fashion Revolution is what it stands for.
Here are the 10 main points of the Fashion Revolution Manifesto that we support in Brave Soles:
1. Fashion provides dignified work. It does not enslave, endanger, exploit, overwork, harass, abuse or discriminate against anyone.
2. Fashion provides fair and equal pay. Fashion lifts people out of poverty, creates thriving societies and fulfils aspiration.
3. Fashion gives people a voice, making it possible to speak up without fear, join together in unity without repression and negotiate for better conditions at work and across communities.
4. Fashion respects culture and heritage. It fosters, celebrates and rewards skills and craftsmanship.
5. Fashion stands for solidarity, inclusiveness and democracy, regardless of race, class, gender, age, shape or ability. It champions diversity as crucial for success.
6. Fashion conserves and restores the environment. Fashion protects the welfare of all living things and safeguards our diverse ecosystems.
7. Fashion never unnecessarily destroys or discards but mindfully redesigns and recuperates in a circular way. Fashion is repaired, reused, recycled and upcycled.
8. Fashion is transparent and accountable. Anyone, anywhere can find out how, where, by whom and under what conditions their clothing is made.
9. Fashion measures success by more than just sales and profits. Fashion places equal value on financial growth, human wellbeing and environmental sustainability.
10. Fashion lives to express, delight, reflect, protest, comfort, commiserate and share. Fashion never subjugates, denigrates, degrades, marginalises or compromises. Fashion celebrates life.
You should be able to ask and know the story behind what you own. Because you are worth it and because those stories should be worth telling.
So, from all of us at Brave Soles, happy Fashion Revolution Week!
xo
C.