8
sustaInaBlE FashIon : a handBooK For Educators
Between June 2008 and May 2010, the European Union
are funding a European Fashioning an Ethical Industry
project run by project partners in the UK, Poland, Austria
and The Netherlands. The partners are also working to
share their learning across other European countries during
the course of the project. The project aims to support
university, college and high school educators on fashion
related courses to incorporate social responsibility issues
into their teaching – so that their students develop a sense
of social responsibility towards garment workers and
are equipped to contribute to more socially responsible
policies and practices in the industry.
The project partners are Südwind Agentur (Austria),
Schone Kleren Campagne (Netherlands), Polish
Humanitarian Organisation (Poland) and Labour Behind
the Label (UK).
European-wide Fashioning an Ethical Industry website:
http://www.fashioninganethicalindustry.eu
austria: My design. My responsiblity.
- südwind agentur
Südwind Agentur coordinate the Clean Clothes Campaign
(CCC) in Austria, which focuses on improving working
conditions in the global garment and sportswear industry
and empowering the workers in it. The Südwind Agentur
project, ‘Mein Design. Meine Verantwortung’ (My design. My
responsibility.), builds on the aims of the CCC by working
with fashion schools and fashion educators on social and
environmental responsibility in the clothing industry. The
project provides a variety of opportunities for educators and
students. Together with fashion educators, we develop new
study units and run training sessions for educators about
social responsibility and methods of teaching. We support
fashion educators with their projects, give lectures and
run workshops in schools. We also produce regular email-
newsletters and provide a web-page to disseminate news
and information about teaching materials and projects.
As well as participating in the European Fashioning an
Ethical Industry project, Südwind Agentur coordinates
global education centres and activities across Austria,
produces international development media, and lobbies
decision-makers on a variety of global justice issues.
http://www.mode.cleanclothes.atthe netherlands: Fair Fashion- schone Kleren campagne
Fair Fashion: naar een eerlijke kledingindustrie (Fair Fashion:
towards a fair garment industry) is a Schone Kleren
Campagne (Clean Clothes Campaign) project designed
for students at fashion colleges in The Netherlands. In all
our activities, we focus on the social aspects of garment
production and, by doing so, contribute to fairer working
conditions for the workers that stitch our clothes. Fashion
students have the opportunity and responsibility to design
and do business in a fair way. We provide them with the
tools and knowledge they need in order to locate their
role in cleaning up the international fashion industry. Hence
our slogan: Upgrade your ethical fashion skills!Fair Fashion works mostly with colleges that provide
undergraduate and postgraduate courses at a polytechnic
level, such as fashion branding, fashion management and
fashion design. In the coming period, we are looking to
expand our activities to the different art academies and
other educational institutions that offer fashion related
courses, and the community colleges (MBOs).Our website, http://www.fairfashion.org, is designed to be a
starting point for all students interested in fair fashion.
Another important tool in the project is a publication, Fair
Fashion Files, a practical manual about what students can
do while at university and college, to engage with ethical
issues in the fashion industry so that they – as the next
generation of industry players – can fashion a more ethical
industry in the future. The manual is accompanied by a cd-
rom for educators, containing a PowerPoint presentation,