66 North and Circularity

My favourite clothing brand is the Icelandic brand: 66 North.

Their gear is 'reassuringly expensive'. It is also designed with the circular economy in mind.

Their website has lots of information on their commitment to circularity, repairs and careful selection of fabrics.

Fast Fashion on Radio 4

A BBC Radio 4 programme which explores the area of fast fashion, which is something we explore with Year 8 students.

People online are debating whether contestants from ITV’s Love Island should be signing mega-bucks deals with clothes companies that sell people stuff cheaply and often - so-called fast fashion. Others claim it's a bit rich for the well-off to lecture everyone else about what's in their wardrobe? We’ll look at how fast fashion got turbo-charged, see if the stats on climate change and fashion add up, explore how fashion and social class have interacted over the years, and ask if “sustainable fashion” is an oxymoron.

Thanks to the Dress Code shirt team for the tipoff here.

Really interesting conversations on @BBCRadio4 #antisocial with @adamfleming examining the facts of fast fashion, environment and class. Well worth a listen. 🌍👍 pic.twitter.com/qFrISCTXZl

— dresscode (@dresscodeshirts) August 19, 2022

There's also a Radio 4 Bottom Line programme on the same issue. 

From the design desk to the shop window, how do fast fashion brands deliver the latest trends in double-quick time? Evan Davis and guests discuss fabric, factories and a nimble supply chain.

Rana Plaza trial about to start

In 2013, when I joined King's Ely, I introduced a unit drawing on the work of Fashion Revolution: an organisation that started on the day of the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh in April 2013.

The owner of the factory fled after the collapse, and was eventually arrested but actually charged initially with tax offenses rather than mass murder...

The Rana Plaza collapse was one of several similar incidents, some including fires rather than collapses, and people trapped by poor attention to health and safety.

Ian Cook et al completed some work exploring the lead up to the collapse, using LEGO reconstructions.

A few weeks ago, someone tweeted from the Dhaka Tribune that the murder trial is finally going to get underway and over 500 witnesses are going to be called.

Megaships and Containers

Thanks to @GeoIanPort for the link below, showing how we moved towards the use of megaships...which can cause problems when they get stuck...

One to remember for the next time we return to Supply Chains and Globalisation.

The story of a Zara Hoody

A site we shall be exploring with Year 8 students in the Lent term...
Exploring the story of an everyday item, the Zara hoody.
Scroll down to reveal the story.

Thanks to Follow the Things for the tipoff to the site. I'm preparing some associated resources, including a Google Form quiz.



In related news, J Williams (@geteach) has been getting active with the new Google Earth Creative tools to produce a new version of the NPR Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt activity.

Ripped jeans... how they get like that...

Starter for Y8 later in the year...

England's £90 World Cup shirt

There was 'outrage' a few weeks ago when it was announced that fans would have to pay £90 for a replica of England's World Cup football shirts.

'The Sun' talked about what a rip-off it was.

However, King's Ely pupils in Year 8 would (I hope) be aware of the real story here.... and the Daily Mirror picked up on that today. This connects directly with our work on the Geography of Stuff, Rana Plaza, Rosa and Annie and the sweatshop improvement activity that we carried out.

This could well be mentioned when we return to school for the Summer term and get closer to the World Cup finals.