WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

Obsessed with Allbirds ? Join the club. For the last Episode of Series 3, Clare visits the San Francisco HQ of the hottest comfy shoe brand on the planet, and unpicks what makes it work. On the way, she discovers the secrets of algae as an eco ingredient, asks the hard questions about end-of-life and greenwashing, and decodes the complexity of carbon offsetting. Oh, and sits next to Matthew McCona...

Is the Great Barrier Reef dead? Headlines to that effect zoomed around the world after two consecutive coral bleaching events in 2016 and 2017. But Australia's most famous World Heritage wonder is still very much with us - a vast eco-system, roughly the size of Germany, it teams with life. Threats from climate change and other factors aren't going away though. Find out what is being done to b...

Are you into vintage shopping or second-hand style? Join the club. Whether you're glued to Depop, buying high end designer vintage or a committed charity shop trawler, secondhand has lost its stigma in fashion circles.  Recommerce is growing. According to Thredup preloved fashion is on track to eclipse fast fashion within a decade, while 64% of women have either bought or are open to buying u...

What if our buildings weren't just a little bit more energy efficient or decorated with a few extra plants? What if they gave back to the environment instead of taking away from it? Biophilic design is a buzz word, and we're on board! Meet the visionary Canadian architect Jason McLennan, founder of the Living Building Challenge and the Living Future Institute. This Episode is all about how we can...

Why are the old white men still in charge? What's the system build from, and how might be change it? In A History of the World in 7 Cheap things , Raj Patel and his co-author Jason W. Moore argue that the modern world has been shaped by the exploitation of cheap nature, money, work, care, food, energy, and lives. "Cheap is a strategy, a practice, a violence that mobilises all kinds of work - human...

Have you ever thought about the water footprint of beef or olive oil? Or how far your food has travelled before it reaches your dinner plate? And what has all this god to do with fashion?  Meet Gung-Ho designer Sophie Dunster , food writer and photographer Sara Kiyo Popowa , and chefs Lauren Lovatt and Abi Aspen Glencross . Whether they're vegan or just very excited about colourful vegetables...

IT'S OUR BIRTHDAY! You are listening to the 100th Episode of Wardrobe Crisis - hurrah! Thank you for being part of it. This week's guest is Sinéad Burke , the Irish fashion journalist, activist and inclusivity advocate. Maybe you've watched her TED talk, Why Design Should Include Everyone , or heard about reminding the World Economic Forum at Davos this year, to ask: "Who is not in the room?" Prob...

Why do we need to "fix" fashion? Try because textile production contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined and consumes lake-sized volumes of fresh water. If current consumption levels continue the industry could account for 25% of the world's carbon budget. Because our wardrobes are full of clothes we don't wear, yet we keep buying more and more garments,...

How are you doing with all this climate news? Is it getting you down? This Episode to the rescue! It's all about climate hope and how we can feel more courageous and positive about our activism. Meet climate activist, Anna Rose. She started forming environmental groups when she was a school kid. By the time she was at university, she, and her friend Amanda McKenzie, cofounded the Australian Youth...

This Episode was recorded during London fashion week. Extinction Rebellion is a grass roots activism movement demanding radical action on the global climate crisis. The group formed in the UK in October 2018 on the premise that trying to be a bit more sustainable, tinkering around the edges of the system but essentially carrying on with business as usual, will not save us from climate breakdown. T...

How does colonialism play out in fashion? And how can we encourage the fashion industry in general, and retail in particular, to be more inclusive? And when will fashion finally wake up to cultural appropriation and do better? Join me and Sara Ali, a London-based luxury fashion consultant who focuses on Arabia and Africa, as we decode this sensitive subject and ask, Why don't more conversations fo...

Have you heard the one about denim factories turning rivers blue in China? Horrendous, right? But change is possible. Kirsten Brodde is a former science journalist on a mission to clean up fashion. Meet the Greenpeace activist who led the Detox My Fashion campaign, which spurred an industry-wide commitment to phase out harmful chemicals from clothing production. In this interview, we unpick what i...

The New York Times calls him "the poster boy for zero waste living". He's a florist, artist, restaurateur, architect, inventor and revolutionary thinker. Meet the man on a mission to convince us we can grow all the food we need where we live. In this riveting episode, we discuss everything from how wasteful the floristry industry is to the microbial power of healthy soil to boost serotonin (Yep, i...

Do you have any idea how much it actually costs to make your clothes? Most brands would rather you didn't. Meet the fashion disruptor who is happy to tell you exactly what it costs his company to make its products, and exactly how much profit they make on each style. Michael Preysman founded Everlane on the concept of "radical transparency" and says: “We believe our customers have a right to know...

Did you know that handwork , or craft, is the second largest employer of women in emerging economies? Since a large proportion of them work from home, this is an often hidden and unregulated sector. Post Rana Plaza , there's been more attention on garment factories, but how often do we consider outworkers - homeworkers - who are often contracted by third parties? This week's guest is Rebecca van B...

I'm sure you've heard that sustainable fashion is the thing right now. Searches on Lyst increased by 66% last year. Vogue has a sustainability editor. Slow fashion is so popular that even Zara is trying to convince us they're not a fast fashion brand .  But what does it take to make it as an independent designer working in this space? To cut through the noise to become a sustainable label peo...

Denim is ubiquitous. Almost 2 billion pairs of jeans were sold around the world in 2017. That's a lot of jeans. It's also a lot of jeans waste.  According to  The New Textiles Economy report, less than 1% of used clothing is recycled into new clothing. We're landfilling and incinerating more while at the same time decreasing clothing use over time. The new  Jeans Redesign...

By 2030, we keep going as we are, the fashion industry will manufacture 102 million tons of clothes and shoes. For comparison, that's the weight equivalent of half million blue whales! Growth is not something we like to question in the fashion industry (or indeed any industry). In our capitalist system, commercial success is measured by growth. But, how can we support infinite growth on a finite p...

What drives us to consume, and what does over-consumption do to us and the planet? Twenty-five-old British poet , filmmaker and activist Wilson Oryema describes himself as “a semi-retired fashion model”. He was scouted on his lunch break when he was working a London office job, and walked his first show for Margiela in Paris in 2015. He went on to appear in ads for Calvin Klein Underwear and Hugo...

Cameron Saul is a British social entrepreneur and the co-founder of ethical accessories brand Bottletop . For his next trick, he's teamed up with the United Nations and Project Everyone on #TOGETHERBAND - which is all about spreading awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals - (SDGs) - also known as the Global Goals. “We want solutions, but what most of us don't realise is that there is a...

(Trigger warning: this interview contains a brief reference to suicide.) This week's interview is with brilliant writer and activist Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan . Her memoir She's Not There, A Life in Two Genders is a must-read, as are her New York Times columns. For many years, Jenny was the co-chair of GLAAD's board of directors. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Kinsey Insti...

Blue jeans were invented by Jacob Davis and Levis Strauss in the 1870s. They were worn by gold miners and cowboys, then James Dean, Marlon Brando, American teenagers and rock stars. If you want to talk about the history of cool, Levi's was there. From Debbie Harry and The Ramones to Jim Morrison - they all wore Levi's. And did you also know that Levi's introduced women's jeans in 1934, when skirts...

CHOOSE LIFE, EDUCATION NOT MISSILES, WORLDWIDE NUCLEAR BAN NOW, SAVE THE FUTURE, and more recently, CANCEL BREXIT...just a few of the iconic slogan T-shirts designed by this week's guest over the years. Designer Katharine Hamnett is one of the pioneers of modern British fashion . She invented the much copied slogan T-shirt, was the first winner of the British Fashion Council's 'Designer of the Yea...

We don't talk very much about mindfulness in fashion , but it's not like the two are mutually exclusive. If the opposite of sustainable fashion is thoughtlessly buying more and more clothes and getting rid of them after just a few wears, then mindfulness surely has a place. Fashion journalist Bandana Tewari is a former Vogue India editor who now writes for Business of Fashion , and speaks globally...

In 2011, Arizona Muse landed a Prada contract and a 14-page story in American Vogue, with Anna Wintour comparing her to Linda Evangelista and Natalia Vodianova. She's since become a familiar face on Vogue covers everywhere (including Vogue Paris, British vogue plus she's graced 3 Australian Vogue covers). But these days Arizona has new priorities. Today she is using her platform to help the indust...