Inside Shein - How the Ultra Fast Fashion Brand Makes Clothes So Cheap
Despite Shein’s new sustainability rhetoric, workers are still paying the price for the ultra-fast fashion giant’s success. To 75-hour working weeks, piece rates and no contracts, we can add secrecy, opaque financial operations and a general air of mystery around its billionaire founder and how the brand does business.This is the story they don't want told.But thanks to Swiss NGO Public Eye's meticulous research and undercover reporting, it's now out in the open. So can Shein change for the better? Or is unethical simply part of the business model?If you find the Episode valuable, please help us share it.Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.comSupport the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.comTell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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"Brands Should Stop Overproduction!" Yayra Agbofah's Advice for Big Fashion
Listen up! Yayra Agbofah is the founder of Ghanaian non-profit, The Revival. He's seriously stylish a poet, a creative upcycler, and one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders, as well a 2025 winner of the H&M Foundation's Global Change Award. And he's got some advice for the global fashion industry...Also covered in this charismatic convo: why wear a hat, the art of knowing yourself, community upcycling at scale, fashion education, how circularity is creating jobs as well as value from waste, and a new vision for the fashion system of tomorrow.If you enjoy the Episode, please help us share it.Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.comRead Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.comTell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspressGot recommendations? Hit us up!And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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She's Serving Fabulous! Notes on Dressing Confidently with Samia Benchaou
We're back! And excited to be kick off Series 12 with this fabulous interview with Copenhagen-based Moroccan Danish stylist, and excellent dresser, Samia Benchaou. Clare and Samia met at fashion week when they got talking about the power of a great outfit. Can you relate? Bet you have a story of someone you met because of what they were wearing! (If so, tell us on Instagram). Clothes speak before we do and fashion is a fun way to connect. But what we wear can also express our politics, culture and identity and belonging.Themes up for discussion? First, confidence! How to get it, how to dress with it, and how it can set you free. We also talk about why you should give more complements to strangers, being a renegade, the influencer economy, and how much some people really get paid, while others miss out. Earnings, value, power imbalance, and how free clothes don't pay the bills. And we talk racism, why representation matters but it can't stop there, and why there aren't more Muslim prominent fashion influencers and stylists. Buckle up!If you enjoy the Episode, please help us share it.Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.comRead Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.comTell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspressGot recommendations? Hit us up!And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Cut Above - Inside Savile Row with Edward Sexton's Dominic Sebag-Montefiore
Construction! Proportion! Craft! What lies behind the enduring power of the suit? Of great tailoring? How is that amplified when it’s bespoke? What makes a good suit? Does it still matter? Why? And how much should it cost? All these questions, and many more are on the (cutting) table this week, as Clare sits down with Savile Row tailor Dominic Sebag-Montefiore, creative director of iconic bespoke house, Edward Sexton.Thank you for listening to Wardrobe Crisis Series 11! We'll be back soon with a new series of inspiring interviews from fashion's front lines.Find links and further reading for this episode at thewardrobecrisis.comRead Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.comTell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspressGot recommendations? Hit us up!And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Trade Secrets - Pattern Making 101 with Glen Rollason
This week's guest, Glen Rollason, describes pattern making as the architecture of fashion. It's the bones, the structure, the technical process that gives our clothes shape, moves them from the 2D to the 3D, and helps them fit. Pattern making is drafting, design, and highly skilled technical process - but it's also team work. No pattern, no coat!From the basics (what is it, where do you begin) to the artistry (fit, form, allure) through Raf Simons, bust darts and the crazy complexity of national sizing standards, we've got it all in this dynamic conversation about this essential fashion ingredient. Plus, why do we need to keep capacity on shore? How might small factories / design labs work in future? What's going on with apprenticeships, and what are we going to do about skilled people ageing out of the industry?Scissors at the ready!Thank you for listening to Wardrobe Crisis.Find links and further reading for this episode at thewardrobecrisis.comRead Clare's columns & support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.comTell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspressGot recommendations? Hit us up!And please leave us a rating / review in Spotify/ Apple & help us share these podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
WARDROBE CRISIS is a fashion podcast about sustainability, ethical fashion and making a difference in the world. Your host is author and journalist Clare Press, who was the first ever Vogue sustainability editor. Each week, we bring you insightful interviews from the global fashion change makers, industry insiders, activists, artists, designers and scientists who are shaping fashion's future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.