Fashion, social awareness on Main Street

by MIKE CHAIKEN

CTFashionMag.com

Social consciousness and fashion converged on Main Street in Danbury April 27 as Workspace Collective participated in the international event Fashion Revolution.

Inside Workspace Collective, local designers showed their locally made clothes. Outside, models – wearing the clothing of the local designers– stood along Main Street and inside the display window at the Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut (which houses Workspace Collective and held signs asking the question, “Who made my clothes?”

Fashion Revolution, according to press materials from the international organization, “is a global movement that works for a more sustainable fashion industry, campaigning for systemic reform of the industry with a special focus on the need for greater transparency in the fashion supply chain… Our vision is a fashion industry that values people, the environment, profit and creativity in equal measure.  Fashion Revolution works all year round to raise awareness of the fashion industry’s most pressing issues, advocate for positive change, and celebrate those who are on a journey to create a more ethical and sustainable future for fashion.”

This year, said Fashion Revolution, “is the 5th year anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse … when Fashion Revolution was born.”

The organization’s press release explained, “On 24 April 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed. 1,138 people died and another 2,500 were injured, making it the fourth largest industrial disaster in history. There were five garment factories in Rana Plaza all manufacturing clothing for big global brands. The victims were mostly young women.”

The event in Danbury was the local effort to commemorate that disaster and to get consumers to think about “Who made my clothes?”

For more information about Fashion Revolution, go to www.FashionRevolution.org

For more information about Workspace Collective, go to www.workspacecollective.co

PHOTOS by MIKE CHAIKEN