Over 60 people attended a highly successful event at DMU on Tuesday 15th October 2019, looking at the Circular Economy concept in relation to Fashion. The event was jointly organised with the RSA through the Leicestershire and Rutland RSA network of which organiser Dr Andrew Reeves is a member. RSA’s ‘Make Fashion Circular’ project coordinator Josie Warden providing a keynote talk and Dr Claire Lerpiniere led on integrating the RSA visit to DMU’s taught courses.

The discussion highlighted many of the key challenges of moving towards a truly sustainable fashion industry. These included cultural issues which enable clothes to be worn and valued over the long-term, social justice questions of how a circular economy can guarantee good workplace conditions for textile industry workers and technological changes, such as the potential of enzymes to be used to reduce pollution from dyeing fabrics.

The event was one of a series of speaker events organised by Leicester-area RSA Fellows in collaboration with local organisations.

Presentations and resources from the event are available below. If you have any follow-up queries about the event, please contact Andrew Reeves on areeves@dmu.ac.uk

Presentations

Audio and slides of Josie Warden’s Keynote talk (26 mins)

Audio and Slides of all talks and Q&A (1hr 29 mins)

Josie Warden, RSA: Make Fashion Circular

Dr Claire Lerpiniere (DMU): Stories of Textiles and the Circular Economy

Dr Nicola Thomas (DMU): Can Circular Fashion Leverage Systemic Change in the Global Fashion System?

Dr Chetna Prajapati (Loughborough University): Enzymes: Old Tools, New Possibilities

Further Resources

Ellen MacArthur Foundation Learning Hub: accessible resources to learn more about the circular economy, applied to fashion and others sectors

DMU Enactus Society: collaborative group projects over an academic year, potentially addressing circular economy issues

The RSA: a network of creative problem solvers tackling societal challenges