There is a lot of change and pressure on the fashion industry currently to get them to clean up their act and move away from the fast fashion business model that has dominated our high streets and online retailers in recent years. But what can us sewers do to help with this, and where can I go to get inspiration, ideas and sustainable fabrics. My most recent episode of The Bee Sting (available on my IGTV) spent time talking about this and it certainly hit a chord with lots of you judging by the comments and messages I've received since. So here I’m going to delve into this very subject.

The Problem

The fashion industry is very powerful and have a lot of money to throw at their garments which will include having fabrics and notions specially made, woven or dyed to their exact requirements. But sadly not all of them have a happy ending. It used to be very common for entire bolts of fabric that may have a slight defect or just be last seasons design to be incinerated or sent to landfill to ensure their don’t end up in other peoples hands. But the amount of water and resources that go into making fabric and other items is absolutely staggering and it seems utterly wrong to let all those valuable commodities go up in smoke or spend centuries buried in landfill.

There was a BBC documentary on earlier this year that dug up capped off landfill sites from the Victorian era, 1960’s and 1980’s. Clothes that were popped in the dustbin 35 years ago where dug up in 2021 and perfectly wearable still, if not a little mucky as you might expect. There are lots of very depressing stats on water pollution and the amount of resources needed to make just one pair of jeans or a simple T-shirt. Garments that can be picked up for just a few pounds sometimes, can use as much as 1800 litres of water just to grow the cotton. You can read more on www.thefashionlaw.com

The solution

But there is hope and a glimmer of light, and we can all do our bit to help in turning things around. There are now an increasing amount of charities and companies that offer dead-stock and end of line fabrics you can purchase. One that is very close to me is the Worcestershire Resource Exchange, they are a charity based in Worcester who obtain lots of fabrics and other crafting materials and offer them at cracking prices both in their shop and online. A large number of their fabric comes from companies like Burberry or Paul Smith for example, fabrics that would otherwise have been destroyed.

You can also check out the wonderful guys at Amo Threads who offer a very extensive range of Fabric and Haberdashery, they have a superb website and keep a track on the water saved through the sales of their treasures. So far they have saved nearly 79 million litres of water from the sale of dead-stock fabrics.

Coming at this issue from another angle is the Offset Warehouse. They scour the globe for eco fabrics and haberdashery that doesn’t harm the planet. Set up by Charlie a number of years ago now, and someone who coincidentally went to University with my husband Clive where they both studied fashion at Epsom.

A company I have only recently come across who also offer a wide range of dead stock fabrics are RS Textile. Under usual (non-covid) circumstances, they have a fabulous big warehouse with bolts and bolts of dead stock fabrics for sale that you can have a wonder around. Their website currently does not have the full extent of their range, so if your after something particular then do drop them an email to ask. They source their fabrics from fashion brands such as Paul Smith, Karen Millen, Issey Miyake, Hobbs, Next, Hugo Boss, Escada, Robert Cavalli and many more.

The result

The more clothes I make for myself the more I lose the desire to buy from the high street. Learning to sew and in particular making my own clothes, really did change the way I look at clothing bought off the peg. Why compromise on what I really want when I can make it myself, from the fabric I love and in a style I like. And now from the same if not similar quality fabrics the leading brands would have used too!

For more information on this do visit the Fashion Revolution website where they campaign for a clean, safe, fair, transparent and accountable fashion industry. They do this through research, education, collaboration, mobilisation and advocacy.

Do let me see your up cycled makes and projects made from dead-stock and ethically sourced fabrics and haberdashery on my social media @sewmarkfrancis on Facebook, Instagram and twitter.

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