What do you think the perfect clothing and textile economy would look like in 10, 20 years time?

Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas

Professor of Marketing & Sustainable Business at British School of Fashion

I think that it is a very big question, and I think that it is interesting that you have framed it around an economy because fashion and textiles are a really important source of economic input into various different economies. I think one of the main things for me is that it would probably be smaller, in terms of production, and it would be a kinder place, so it would be more ethical. I think one of the things that I struggle with is working aligned with an industry that has so many negative points, which means we've got away from my initial love of fashion and textiles, which is all around creativity and the positives, so I think it would be nice to see more of that emphasised, there being space for the creativity, time for creativity. So slowed down, smaller, and more ethical, that’s very very broad brush and then I guess we could maybe go into details of how some of that could happen but that would be like an ideal, and that we didn’t have to keep having conversations around negative impacts.

Rachel Sheila Kan

Fashion Circularity Specialist (Author & Troubleshooter at Circular Earth, Ecosystem Architect at The Ecosystem Incubator)

For me, what I see coming forward is in 20, 30 years probably - hopefully ten. I'm going towards ten - is a more decentralised economy in terms of fashion and everything. Everything will be localised, especially on the system side as well, where we're looking at how we resupply, waste and things like that. Maybe that can't be centralised because it defeats the object of doing it in the first place. When I'm looking at circularity, when I'm looking at regenerative principles, when I'm looking at the way that we work in our new economies, it has to be a decentralised, localised economy and utilising the benefits of each place. I'm looking at the bio region in that place, how we are working with that, how we are making sure that our ecosystems are taken care of, knowing that the health/help of our place, of the places that we work in is to help us. So, for me it is really about that decentralisation coming together, recreating over and over - second use, third use, fourth use until you can stem circularise that.

Natalie Binns

Sustainable Fashion Consultant & Freelance Head of Buying

I definitely echo all of those points about it being ethical, local, zero waste. Ideally, you know, recirculating everything, but also, I'd like to see there be less focus on profit and more focus on need. We have what we need. We all need fashion, we all need to cover up, I guess. But also, you know, the creativity of fashion, we will need that as well. But less focus on profit. And the only reason to create all of this is for profit. And how else can we measure success in this economy? Putting things back into the local economy, highlighting artisans and…keeping artisanal values in the economy as well. Just thinking about not just making money but doing good in other ways.

Rachel: I’d add a point as well. It really, really resonates, and what I am about is realigning our economies, not just in the UK, in the West or in the global south, like actually create local economies that work in place and don't have to work as part of a global system.

Jo-Anne Godden

Founder RubyMoon (the world’s only not for profit gym to swimwear company) and Circular Specialist & Mentor: Circular Product & Textiles Development & Design.

I’d definitely like to echo all of those points. It definitely will be local, it definitely will be circular. The most important thing, though, is to reintroduce value into clothing. So right now, we don't value or the fast fashion system does not value clothing because it's so cheap and disposable. So until we get that reintroduction of value, which will come through taxes, because that's the only way that we can effectively do this quick enough…until we introduce that value and that upgrading of product. Which also comes through the localise because it's going to be more expensive and higher quality garments because it's going to be local. When that value comes back into clothing, we start to cherish that clothing more. So it's not just a financial connection. It's also a almost spiritual connection to our clothing. So I think Natalie mentioned artisanal. It is giving people the opportunities to form emotional attachment with their clothing again through local circular centres for textiles. I think I think the value…unfortunately this has to be driven a little bit by profit. I mean, I run a not for profit, but increasingly I see that the only way that gets people interested is if they can make some money out of the textile industry. Is higher profit margins or lower amount lower quantities of goods. So if you make ten pieces a £1 profit instead of one piece at £10 profit.

I mean, it's just changing our mentality about what good clothing looks like and why we value it. And let's put things on our body that we love to wear again, as opposed to things we just put on for 5 minutes. Not me personally obviously - but most people put things on for 5 minutes and then throw it away. It's actually forming that emotional attachment. Less pieces, more quality, more pride in what we wear again. And that localised connection of “my friend made this,” or “I made this.” I do see small centres of circular textile production where you might go and…you might get help to make something yourself from recycled textiles. So I do see it sort of really getting small. It’s almost like going back in time to when people did make their own clothes. I mean, we've completely destroyed indigenous clothing production throughout Africa, for example. And the far east. Because textiles actually meant something then. They were tribal and all sorts of motifs were woven into clothes that meant something. And we need to find that attachment again to what we wear.