And that’s a wrap!
Phew, what a week. The dust is still settling, and we’re taking stock - trying to take in the whirlwind that was Sustainable Fashion Week 2022.
As fashion month draws to a close across the globe, we’re proud to see our week of activity beginning to take its little place in amongst the traditional fashion weeks in London, Milan, Paris, NY… With increasing interest across the country and a heart-warmingly positive response from people who took part, it feels to us like SFW 2022 has now established itself as a space for the alternative fashion narrative.
What took place this year? Our programme was split into three parts: The SFW Hub and Catwalk in Bristol (our hometown) and then a country-wide schedule of Community Events.
The Hub
The full programme was SO MUCH BIGGER than in 2021! We packed so many different offerings into two days at the iconic Bristol Beacon.
We saw the return of our sustainable fashion market, with traders showcasing many handmade products using reclaimed or sustainably produced materials. Also returning were our talks and panel discussions – a space to connect with industry leaders and hear about the fashion supply chain, and what we can do to make positive changes in our fashion habits.
And then new to 2022 were a film room - with rolling screenings of documentaries and talks to dip into; free workshops; a clothes swap; styling sessions; a Junk Kouture exhibition and our repair room – filled with repair demonstrations, free repairs for attendees and a unique augmented reality experience.
The Catwalk
Now this was incredible! Four community partners and a bevvy of volunteer models, make-up artists and hair stylists. We took over the Mount Without in Bristol, a converted church and the most incredibly atmospheric space. As the DJ’s tunes reverberated around the eaves, the models strutted up to the fashion ‘altar’ and showcased their outfits which were designed around our four sustainability themes:
Repurpose Rewear Repurpose & Reconnect
It made our hearts sing to see such a range of people demonstrating sustainability on the runway. We had children as young as 13 who were working with our Black 2 Nature community partner, students from the City of Bristol College and then a variety of other professional and non-professional participants… and who could forget our brilliant catwalk host, drag artist Astro Zenica.
We were buzzing afterwards. The evening was seamless and showed how we can put the joy of fashion and style right alongside and hand in hand with sustainability.
The Community Events
We curated a week and more of activity across the UK – and in fact this year we saw our first international community events, in Nigeria, Cyprus and Australia.
The community events programme is designed to let people on the ground take action in a way that works for them, which connects with their networks and communities. We love the idea of supporting community-to-community (that’s C2C) engagement which helps spread the message and share skills at a grass roots level.
The community events took all sorts of shapes… workshops, clothes swaps, fashion shows, brunches & banquets, alterations, activism, mending circles, fashion fairs, webinars, natural dyeing, styling…
The flood of images on Instagram capturing these individual moments of collective action were a thrill.
62 community events last year, 83 this year… how many for 2023?
SFW 2022 in snapshot numbers
37 market traders
10 talks and panels
16 industry speakers
83 community events
26 locations across the UK
4 countries across the globe
99 participants in the SFW Catwalk
65 Catwalk outfits designed, created, styled and modelled by people in the community
85% growth on socials since 2021
2 moments of coverage on the telly
And what was the feedback like?
“I loved the variety of talks, workshops and stalls being held over the weekend. It was so lovely to learn from and connect with so many like minded people!”
“Definitely inspired! Hope you'll do more of these!”
“It's given me confidence in my skills in mending - I should take more risks now to upcycle more second hand clothes.”
“I feel inspired to be creative in what I wear and create even more so than before and feel part of something positive and uplifting that makes me happy.”
“The biggest thing for me was seeing just how many people showed up [runway show]. Sustainable fashion online doesn't feel like it's widely supported and physically seeing so many people made me feel like a change is actually happening”
“I really appreciated the repair room during the event in Bristol Beacon! They were able to repair two items of my clothing that I do not have the skills to repair myself, but in addition while I was waiting they showed me some basic sewing skills and allowed me to practice!”
“I attended the SFW at Bristol Beacon - really good event. Mainly went for the speakers, all of whom I listened to were brilliant. Also participated in the clothes swap which though was done well and unintentionally spent a few hours with the lovely people mending/repairing clothes, just chatting and learning which was really lovely.”
“I loved the fashion show, great to see youngsters being inspired to reuse.”