by Cherie Birkner

WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE

On 24 April 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed, killing over 1,100 garment workers. Another 2,500 people were injured. This tragedy was preventable. Survivors reported that they had noticed cracks in the building days before the collapse, and numerous workers had told their supervisors that they were afraid to enter the building and continue working. The businesses on the ground floor, retail shops and banks, closed due to these reasons, but the garment workers were forced to return and work in these unsafe conditions to make clothes that we may have worn. Now 2013 is 8 years ago, and you might think this was a one time thing. Sadly no. Just last month 20+ people were killed, and 24 injured fire broke by a fire which broke out in a garment factory in the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt.

Fashion Revolution is now one of the world’s largest and most established movements. The goal is to improve the circumstances in and effects of the (fast) fashion industry. In the 2020 Fashion Transparency Index 40% of brands have published supplier lists of their first-tier manufacturers. This is an increase of 8% since the 2017 report. Fashion Revolution is a movement made by people from all around the world following the mantra “Be Curious. Find Out. Do Something.”

HERE ARE 5 WAYS YOU CAN PARTICIPATE IN FASHION REVOLUTION

1.

#WhoMadeMyClothes

1. Show your tag

2. Take a selfie

3. Use #WhoMadeMyClothes

4. Tag the brand you are wearing

Additionally, you can also combine this with the Hashtag Revolt campaign. In short: we are hijacking fast fashion hashtag feeds by using the following hashtags in your post: #boohoobabes #prettylittlething #NastyGalsDoItBetter #happilymisguided #F21xe #Zfgirl #NovaBabe #bershkastyle #zarawoman  #lovelulus  #UOonYou #shoptobi  #HM #TopShopStyle #fastfashion. The #HashtagRevolt partner hashtags are: #WhoMadeMyClothes #FashRevUSA #WhatsInMyClothes #PayYourWorkers

2.

FASHION REVOLUTION PROFILE PIC

Use Fashion Revolutions FREE campaign assets to overlay your profile picture with, or simply screenshot the graphic below and use that as your profile pic. This is a great way to get your friends and followers curious about what’s going on and to start asking themselves.

3.

#UseYourWindow

In Berlin we usually have events going on. Such as the Demonstration in 2019 or the Runway Flashmob in 2018. This year, due to the pandemic, we are demonstrating by using our windows and sharing them with the hashtag #UseYourWindow.

4.

FASHION REVOLUTION FACE FILTERS

Find face filters on @fashrev_de.

5.

SEND AN E-MAIL

Notice how I wrote send and not write ;). Of course, you are welcome to write as many individual e-mails as you like, but if you are anything like me, having a nice template is a real game changer. Get involved on the Fashion Revolution website where you can take action by selecting brands to write an e-mail using a drop-down menu. Sign it with your name and e-mail. Sending one email to all 60 brands took me exactly 7 minutes. Voilà! Done deal.