Thank Fashion Revolution Its Friday

Last month we held one of our favourite events at FAIR in a very long time. Organised by FAIR friend and previous self-confessed fast fashion addict Sharronwith2rs, the evening brought together an inspiring group of local artists using music and spoken word to explore overconsumption, power, pressure and the need for change.

There were moments that stayed with us long after the night ended. Sharron’s powerful song Just Say No captured something many are trying to learn again — how to say no to endless pressure to consume, upgrade and keep wanting more. Rhi Kavoc offered a wonderfully simple alternative to the chaos of Black Friday: Natasha Gilbert reflected on “the man at the top who makes her head hurt”, speaking to systems that often feel too big, too loud and too disconnected from ordinary people and the planet. 

Sharronwith2rs

The evening took place during Fashion Revolution Week, which remembers the loss of over 1,000 lives in the factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013. Thirteen years on, Fashion Revolution continues to call for a cleaner, safer and fairer fashion industry. While awareness around sustainability has grown enormously, the industry still faces huge challenges.

Rhi Kavoc

Fashion continues to rely on vast amounts of water, synthetic materials and global supply chains, while many garment workers remain underpaid and unprotected. Clothing prices have been kept artificially low through the exploitation of both people and resources, encouraging a culture where clothes are often treated as disposable. This year one statistic stopped us in our tracks: in the UK alone, 1.4 billion items of clothing are discarded every year. Much of it is never truly recycled and instead ends up exported to places such as Ghana and Chile, creating further environmental damage.

It simply does not add up.

Natasha Gilbert

And yet evenings like this remind us that change is not only possible, it is already happening quietly in communities everywhere. More people are rediscovering second hand fashion, repairing clothes, swapping with friends and questioning the pressure to constantly buy fast fashion.

Second hand fashion is absolutely part of the solution, helping keep clothing in use for longer and reducing waste. But we also know that people will still need and want to buy new clothing at times too. The challenge is making thoughtful and ethical choices when we do supporting brands that value the people who make our clothes, use better materials and work to reduce harm to the environment. Protecting both people and planet has to sit at the heart of fashion’s future.

Perhaps the bigger shift is cultural. Moving away from fast fashion means learning to value clothes again, not as disposable trends but as useful, meaningful items connected to memories, people and stories. It means buying less, choosing more carefully and resisting a system designed to keep us endlessly consuming.

Maybe the future of fashion is not endless newness after all. Maybe it starts with something much smaller and more human: a repaired jumper, a passed-on coat, an ethical new purchase made with care, a shared conversation, a song called Just Say No and a cup of tea instead of consumer chaos.