Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester

World Factory Café Conversation, 25th Feb 2015

Watch this automated show for a taste of the topics discussed………

• Up-cycling’ - aim for waste textiles to be used as new products, and given the same value as new products.

• The textiles industry creates methane emissions and toxic pollution. It is chemically and energy-intensive.

• A culture of newness leads to high volumes of waste.

• Is slow fashion an oxymoron or a promise for the future?

• We have £30billion worth of clothing in our wardrobes that’s not been worn in the last year

• There is a ‘Values Action Gap’ – people want to make ethical choices but, when faced with cheaper options, they often don’t. Ethics are often considered a bonus feature

• I am wearing oil and fossil fuels in all of my clothing.

• When I was a teenager, I used to know all of my clothing, but now I am more alienated from it.

• We have to ask ourselves how long we can continue to live in the world as it is now, and start to create the world that we want to live in.

• We live with contradictions every day, so we must know them and understand them. We must become critical citizens.

• It’s important to join up all the little interventions we are making, to get a sense of the alternatives.

• There are no messages coming to us about the alternative. We’re being told all the time that the government want to make it easier for us to “spend money on the high street”.

• We’re told that we are richer because of cheap consumer goods, but we can’t afford our homes. This growth narrative is dangerous.

• The consumer doesn’t always want to be reminded that a real person has made their clothes.

• When you work in fashion and you’re trying to be a creative person, having to remove details to cut costs is soul-destroying

• Multi-nationals will only take inequality seriously when no-one’s in a position to buy their stuff.

• Are we forgetting the media in all of this? And platforms such as YouTube? How do we take back these spaces to push an alternative agenda?

• There may be a quiet revolution in the developing, manufacturing countries. If they keep their materials rather than exporting, where will this leave the non-manufacturing west?

• It is possible to shift our desires with things like swap shops, which can be even more satisfactory than buying new

• What’s the difference between ‘decency’ and ‘ethics’?