Keep Pulling At Your Thread...

"...it's helping unravel the whole damn cloth"

Welcome back to Slowly Does It, a newsletter focussed on fashion and sustainability, with some joy and frivolity thrown in for good measure.

I wanted to start by sharing something that I have found incredibly helpful this past week:

It can be overwhelming to witness/experience/take in all the injustices of the moment; the good news is that *they’re all connected.* So if your little corner of work involves pulling at one of the threads, you’re helping to unravel the whole damn cloth.

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Gorgeous Gorgeous Girls Hate Sweatshops
Earlier this month, my friend Mayisha and I organised a protest outside the PLT show in London . Although we felt nervous about what would happen, it went better than we could have ever anticipated. It went viral and created a bit of a media storm. For the first time in a long time, it truly felt like we broke out of the echo chamber.

We were joined by eight other concerned allies, a badass photographer and Brett Staniland (a model/sustainable fashHUN/). His appearance on ITV reality show Love Island last summer helped garner a fair amount of mainstream press attention, thanks to the tie with PLT’s creative director Molly Mae, who rose to fame on the show back in 2019.

Although Mayisha and I had been talking about doing this for a few weeks, the planning itself mainly happened in the final 24 hours (appropriate), as it was near impossible to find the location of the show (PLT kept it under wraps, and for good reason). We made the decision to keep it small for security and safety reasons, and this resulted in us not being moved once. For a solid 45 minutes in the blustery wind and pouring rain, we stood firm outside the venue, holding our placards and giving talks to the attendees.

I felt over-exposed and anxious in the days after, but overall I feel incredibly proud of what we achieved and I am so grateful to Mayisha, Brett, Holly, Georgia, Nav, Georgie, Brittany, Hannah and Stevain for being so bloomin’ incredible.

When we do similar actions in the future and it feels safe to do so, we will of course spread the word. In the meantime, if you’re keen to do something of your own - consider this a sign! Could you stage a disruption where you live? Do you have friends who could help you organise? Reach out to them and start planning.

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F E B R U A R Y A C T I O N
Can you help get this petition to 20,000 signatures?
Multi-billion dollar earth polluters ZARA are taking legal action against small artisan clothing business Tara Sartoria who support independent artisans and women. Please sign and share this petition to demand ZARA withdraw their legal opposition to the TS trademark.

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This month I’ve been…

In awe of
Charlie Craggs. If you’re new to Charlie, you can learn about her work via this podcast we recorded together last year, then do have a read of her latest posts.
If you have a spare pound or two, please do donate to her fundraiser for free self defence classes for trans people.

Reading
Violence against women garment workers increased during pandemic
Fast fashion’s sustainability drive is a sham
Brands are moving from fast to ‘forever fashion’ – but are new clothes ever sustainable?
How fast homeware became the new fast fashion
The Fashion Industry Called for Diversity, But Has It Changed?
Portugal Has Banned 'Vegan Leather'. Should we?

Double Tapping
Hassan Akkad on “selective sympathy”

Eating
At the new and divine Mallow

Watching
Pam and Tommy (Disney +) j'obsessed.
Euphoria Season 2 (Sky Atlantic)
Dating No Filter (SKY)
Finding Anna (Netflix)
Sarah Jessica Parker Breaks Down 17 Looks From 1987 to Now

Slathering on
Velvet moisture body cream
One of my favourite eye creams
Cream blusher in shade Devoted

Listening to
The Doctor’s Kitchen on The Diversity Diet with Dr Megan Rossi

Thanks for being here.

Venetia x