Collab with University of Bristol Students
We’ve teamed up with students from the University of Bristol’s Engaged Learning team to run a survey about what barriers to participating in sustainable fashion people might experience. We’re keen to get a sense of what support people in the community might need to help them make positive changes in their fashion habits. We’re going to look at the team’s progress as they go along, but here’s a little introduction to the students and their backgrounds…
We are a group of 2nd year politics students who are working with SFW as part of our NGO development and practice module. Throughout the last semester, we have learnt a lot about how NGOs make change and we are excited to put this into practice by supporting the work of SFW. We will primarily be exploring the barriers to participation in sustainable fashion in underrepresented communities in Bristol, through a mix of quantitative and qualitative research.
Get to know us:
Eva
Hi I’m Eva. Working with Sustainable Fashion Week is a great opportunity and I’m thankful to the team for taking us on! Personally, I have a huge interest in sustainable fashion, particularly second hand shopping; that you get to bring life once again to something pre-loved is really exciting to me and I enjoy the buzz of a successful second hand purchase! Academically, it’s really useful to understand how a small NGO works and, in the case of SFW, plans for events. Hopefully, the survey we develop and run will be useful to SFW and can help the organisation in their next steps.
Hannah
I’m Hannah, a second year Politics and Spanish student at the University of Bristol. I’m excited to work with SFW as sustainable fashion is very important to me, and it's been wonderful to learn more about how to make it more accessible and affordable to all. Through putting together the questionnaire, I have already learnt so much about the barriers to sustainable fashion. Through being a part of this important research, we hope to provide a deeper understanding into the voices of underrepresented communities and help SFW to form solutions.
Estelle
Hi I’m Estelle and I study Politics and International Relations. One of my first loves was definitely fashion, I remember my six year old self carefully curating a wardrobe made entirely of pink. I discovered my love for Politics later on, and though my love of pink may not have changed, my passion for environmental causes has definitely grown. The beauty of sustainable fashion for me is that it combines these two things. I am excited to be working on this new project, surveying people and using their input to find out how we can make sustainable fashion available to everybody.
Liv
Hi I’m Liv, a politics and international relations student. I grew up in Edinburgh exploring the charity shops with my mum, finding a love for second hand fashion and vintage clothes. Since then my intrigue has only gotten greater, growing alongside a heightened awareness about my impact on the state of the environment. Upon this realisation, I made a pledge to myself this year to no longer buy brands that do not consider their damaging practises on the environment. So, when we were offered the opportunity to work alongside Amelia and team at SFW I felt humbled to contribute to the project.
Documenting our progress: Introducing the questionnaire
In order to explore barriers to participation in sustainable fashion, we have put together a questionnaire which we hope to use to gather the perspectives of underrepresented communities- firstly in Bristol, as well as potentially extending our research to other parts of the country.
We were mindful for the language of the questions to be clear and free from academic jargon. Most of the questions are quick to answer, through a tick box format. However, we have also included some longer form questions for respondents to elaborate upon their feelings about sustainable fashion as much as they wish- such as ‘Is sustainability important to you’ and ‘Do you see yourself represented in sustainable fashion?’
Here are some of the core questions we hope to investigate:
How have you previously engaged with sustainable fashion?
After establishing basic demographic information about the respondents, we start by asking in what ways they have previously engaged with sustainable fashion. We felt that, in addition to exploring the challenges, we also find out in what areas respondents feel they are already engaged in sustainable fashion.
What factors stop you from engaging in sustainable fashion?
This is the central question of our questionnaire, and crucial for knowing which areas to target in increasing participation. We hope to find out where respondents may feel excluded, whether it be time, cost, knowledge, sizing or other factors.
What would make you more likely to shop sustainably?
We ask respondents what support they would find most beneficial, to help inform where SFW should focus future initiatives and push for change.