The history of Fashion Revolution

The Fashion Revolution movement is one that has reached millions of people around the world and has helped instigate change throughout the fashion industry, but how did it start?

Fashion Revolution was founded in 2013 in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh. On April 24th in 2013, the Rana Plaza building, which contained five garment factories, collapsed and killed 1,132 people and injured more than 2,500 people. This disaster, now marked as one of the worst industrial accidents on record, sparked global attention towards the poor working conditions that garment workers face in Bangladesh. Workers, specifically girls and women, have some of the lowest wages in the world as well as being exposed to unsafe working environments everyday.

Since being founded in 2013, Fashion Revolution has grown to become one of the globe’s biggest fashion activism movements. They have achieved this by mobilising policymakers, citizens and brands through educating the public, advocating for workers’ rights and other causes and researching to stay up to date with current industry issues. In the picture below, you can see Fashion Revolution’s aims!

Rather than making people and businesses feel guilty, Fashion Revolution aims to help brands and consumers recognise the power that they have to make a positive change. I think that this is a great approach to have - it encourages change rather than chastising individuals or retailers for past mistakes which may be ill-received. The movement chooses to celebrate the positive influence that fashion can have, but simultaneously brings awareness to the industry’s most critical problems and issues.

Fashion Revolution is structured accordingly:

• The Fashion Revolution Foundation

• Fashion Revolution CIC

• Fashion Revolution Country Offices

• Fashion Revolution Country Teams

• Fashion Revolution Country Coordinators

Some of the campaigns and topics of discussion that Fashion Revolution runs include Fashion Revolution Week, Good Clothes Fair Pay, Small But Perfectly Formed, Chelsea Flower Show, Restorying Riverscapes, Who Made My Fabric?, Climate Crisis, Black Friday and the Covid-19 Pandemic. You can find out more information about each of them here: https://www.fashionrevolution.org

Although the event that sparked the start of Fashion Revolution was a devastating disaster, the movement has been able to create positive change within the fashion industry that will hopefully eradicate poor working conditions and low wages for garment workers. How have you gotten involved with Fashion Revolution Week this week?

Thanks for reading! :)