FEATURED: MAKING FASHION A FORCE FOR GOOD

Our Founder Elena Todary speaks about going away from disposable consumption and the importance of placing value into everything we own, supporting Fashion Revolution’s key aim to create awareness about real people who make our clothes:

“The trend in slow fashion – decreasing the speed of production and placing greater value and appreciation on every component of the item of clothing – has been gaining momentum for a number of years. Including the people who make the clothes is an important part of this.

“It’s about the stories for me,” says Elena Todary, founder of the London-based boutique The Collaborative Store. “We want to support and enrich the makers who put their soul and love into making products in a good and ethical way, thinking of every person in the supply chain.”

The designers and makers stocked in Todary’s store are working to much tighter margins than high street brands, but the fact that they are small and nimble allows them to start with an ethical supply chain. Todary’s collections are never ‘trend-led’; instead the focus is on designs that can be worn throughout the years.

“Through years of fast fashion, people are used to fast, cheap products, whereas we are trying to build awareness,” says Todary. “I have started to see that customers are really interested in these stor­ies about how and where our products are made and by whom – and it makes the customer feel they have something special.”

These stories will be especially poignant on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster.

“Fashion affects 100% of the population, so we can all do something,” says de Castro. “Your wardrobe is a part of the supply chain. It is between the cotton farmer and the landfill. What you wear is your choice. That, I think, is what makes Fashion Revolution so empowering.”

Read the full feature here