Showing posts with label made in Britain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label made in Britain. Show all posts

Sunday 7 April 2019

Committed to Concious Fashion - #ZeroWaste #FashionRevolutionWeek



In today's fashion industry; each season new clothing lines are brought out so quickly; building up to an 'An estimated £140 million worth (350,000 tonnes) of clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year. Extending the average life of clothes by just 3 months would lead to a 5-10% reduction in the carbon, water and waste footprints.'








We are working with London Organic and Kindred with Cocktails & Conversation for a Fashion Show & Networking Party. This spectacular event aims to bring together people who make the fashion industry work to support Fashion Revolution Week join us from 7pm to 11pm for a catwalk event. 

Kindred, Kindred, Bradmore House, Queen Caroline Street, London, UK







OUR MISSION

Is to highlight sustainable, ethically made fashion that is honestly priced with qualitity in mind over quantity. 

The show will highlight the creativity and flair of London based designers who make clothes in an ethical and sustainable way. Our stunning and diverse models will be made up from organic and fair trade beauty products.
After the show you will be able to network and enjoy drinks and a DJ till 11.30pm.
There will be press and photographers in attendance so please do dress to impress.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Arrival and welcome drink from 7-8pm
1st Fashion Show 8pm
Break
2nd show 9pm
After party and DJ with live fashion shoot 9.30pm until closing
PLEASE NOTE
We have a limited amount of tickets available to Kindred Members which you can purchase on our website (you Must be a member). If you require further tickets or if you're a non-member, please purchase a ticket on Eventbrite here


























Fashion Revolution is a global movement that runs all year long. Fashion Revolution week (22nd - 28th April 2019) and the #whomademyclothes campaign falls on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, which killed 1138 people and injured many more on 24th April 2013. That is the day Fashion Revolution was born. During this week, brands and producers are encouraged to respond with the hashtag #Wemadeyourclothes and to demonstrate transparency in their supply chain.








Wednesday 12 September 2018

The Effects of Fast Fashion - Culture

As fashion week is in full swing we thought we would take a look at the processes behind Fashion Trends & consumers desires for new convenient collections. 





What is Fast Fashion?
It’s astonishing how quickly ‘fast fashion’— a low-cost, speedy way of shifting massive amounts of clothing from
stores world-wide— has taken over the globe. First conceived in the ‘80s, the concept has gripped the planet in a
way which has caused us to lose sight of how precious our natural resources are. Fast fashion runs on two basic
principles: low cost of production and at the time of selling, and speed of manufacture. The last is important as it
enables retailers to jump on the bandwagon and produce clothing in time for each new celeb/catwalk trend, as it
happens. Along the way, textile production has been outsourced to developing countries (the poorer the better).
All too often we know nothing about who makes our clothes, and we rarely hear about the impact this industry has
on workers and the environment. Is it really out of sight, out of mind? Not quite. Many organisations such as
Love Your Clothes and Remake work tirelessly to shed light on the effect our insatiable desire for fast fashion has
on both people and planet.




So what’s really so bad about Fast Fashion? Let’s take a look, from the production of weavable fibres to the factory
workers who stitch them together.





Fabric Production and Treatment
Fibre production and fabric manufacturing, regardless of whether it’s natural (plant/animal based), man-made
or synthetic, uses a vast and colourful array of insecticides, petroleum derivatives and processing chemicals,
at almost every step of sourcing and production. It uses a lot of energy and natural resources including water,
chemicals and oils. Cotton farmining particular utilises an enormous amount of fertiliser chemicals, along with
a staggering 25% of insecticides used worldwide.
It’s also estimated that genetically modified cotton occupied 43% of cotton-growing areas across the planet, as
of 2007. This figure has undoubtedly risen since. The fast fashion trend puts an enormous amount of pressure
on this process, increasing the number of chemicals used and resulting in some manufacturers cutting corners
on the safety of their workers.


Most people aren’t aware of the number of potentially hazardous chemicals used to make their clothes. These
chemicals put the manufacturers of textiles at risk of many serious health problems, such as cancer, infertility,
allergies and diabetes. For more information on the ways textile manufacturing harms people and communities,
check out fast fashion documentary The True Cost on Netflix, directed by Andrew Morgan.





An Environmental Disaster
“Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, after agriculture”, according to
Patsy Perry, writing for The Independent.
For those in developing countries, who sometimes have difficulty in securing clean drinking water, this
is a dire issue. Poisonous cleaning and processing chemicals are released into the water and often leach
into rivers traditionally used as a source of drinking water.

The True Cost cites the leather industry as one of the worst contributors to this. Kanpur, India, supports
the production of cheap leather. The chemicals used to tan, treat and colour these products are often toxic
and can easily run into water used in agriculture, or even drinking water. The biggest culprit here is chromium-6,
a toxic chemical and confirmed carcinogen, and many of the people who live in close proximity to sites of leather
processing suffer from a number of issues caused by its contamination of groundwater and soil.

On another note, the fashion industry’s CO2 emissions are predicted to increase by 60% by the year 2030,
to a rate of nearly 2.8 billion tons per year.







The Human Angle
The fast fashion industry is extremely problematic and riddled with complex environmental and humanitarian issues at every turn.
Ayesha Barenblat, founder of Remake, (mentioned above), reveals that 80% of clothing worldwide is made in developing countries by
women between the ages of 18 and 24 years of age, and that “the biggest corners fast fashion cuts are human”. Many people heading
up big corporations argue that the practices they display and their attitude to human labour in factories is beneficial to communities.
They justify their actions using excuses like, “A job is a job, regardless of working conditions or relative pay. We are fighting unemployment
in underprivileged communities”. When governments attempt to pass bills which will outline a specific code of conduct, calling for a set living
wage to be paid to all garment workers, for example, the companies who rely on the cheap labour of the workers will nearly always oppose it. John Hilary was until recently the executive director of War On Want, which describes itself as being “against the root causes of global poverty, inequality and injustice”. Hilary comments during The True Cost that, “when everything is concentrated into making profits for the big corporations, what you see is that human rights, the environment [and] workers’ rights get lost altogether. You see that workers are increasingly exploited because [labour costs] are pushed down and down and down, just to satisfy this impulse to accumulate capital”.



Pic from Madia & Matilda - photography Kathy Anne Lim





What Can I Do?
Head over to Love Your Clothes for loads of amazing tips on how to recycle, reuse, alter or mend your clothes!
An estimated three quarters of people in the UK throw away old clothes rather than recycle or donate,
so it’s important that you avoid putting clothes into landfill as much as possible. Ways of avoiding this may include:
  • Buy clothing made from pre-used garments or textiles
  • Mend old clothes
  • Buy second-hand or vintage
  • Avoid buying polyester or similar, where possible. Polyester is a synthetic fibre which, when washed, sheds
microparticles which don’t biodegrade and cause widespread oceanic pollution. Plankton ingest these fibres and
pass them up the food chain, where many of them eventually end up in us after we eat fish or shellfish
  • Shop at Madia & Matilda! We use end-of-line or second-hand fabrics where possible, helping to reduce the
volume of textiles which go into landfill. All our original garments are made by our little team in the Cotswolds, so we
know exactly who makes each garment. Traceability and ethics are paramount to our business model!


If you have any comments, insights or ideas on the subject of fast fashion, please get in contact!


Sources:


Infographics from Remake website


Sincerely Madia & Matilda

Saturday 14 April 2018

Fashion Revolution Week - Meet The Team




Discover Madia & Matilda at the Ethical Fashion & Lifestyle PopUp. 



                We will be showcasing our collections at 
               39 Pepper Street, London, E14 9RP, UK.

Madia & Matilda is designed and produced in the beautiful Cotswolds by Shalize Nicholas. Shalize graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University after working within the industry for retailers and designers, such as Mary Katrantzou in Paris, Tesco's and Littlewoods. 





Set apart from the 'fast-fashion' industry, Madia & Matilda's chief objective is to create using zero waste ethics. Unfortunately, the fact that most fashion retailers view wearing the same clothes more than once as 'uncool' has negative effects on the environment. Clothes put into landfill create waste which takes years to biodegrade. We at Madia & Matilda oppose the rule that fashion is transient and disposable, and aim to produce garments with the lowest environmental impact possible.



What we are doing differently
Our brand was born from a wish to contribute positively to the idea of “slow fashion”. This view of fashion emphasises the importance of respect for the planet and the sources of the materials we use to make our garments. We hand-make all our clothes and have the greatest respect both for our workers and the materials we use. The clothes are made from recycled fabrics which might normally be thrown away. Some garments are up-cycled: transformed from old or unwanted garments to beautiful new ones. 




We also offer an alterations service in our shop, mending and adjusting customers’ worn and torn clothes to give them a new lease of life. 

Our clothes are intended to be timeless pieces to add to the customer’s existing wardrobe. In this way we like to think of our business as a kind of antidote to the rigid seasons-based fashion industry we are urged to subscribe to on the high street today.

Check our website for a general overview of what we do and to stay updated on our press releases. www.madiamatilda.co.uk





Opportunities 
Madia and Matilda provide opportunities for local and young people, encouraging them to gain experience. We work with universities and local colleges and initiatives, bringing production back to Britain. 


All our packaging is biodegradable and we recycle where ever possible.
Free registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/kitty-ferreira-friends-ethic…to be kept up to date with in store events, from swishing to workshops.

Connect with our in store seamstress for repair, mend and alterations and details on each brand will follow shortly:) #whomademyclothes#fashionrevolution


Monday 5 February 2018

Five Years in The Making - Madia & Matilda


Celebrating 5 Years of Madia & Matilda!

Isn't it incredible to look back and realise just how far you've come? As a business, we have accomplished a great deal through these years of development, including working or collaborating with many influential local businesses and an education team who are shaping the future of fashion and presenting in Empire Casino, St Martin's in the Fields and London Fashion Week. We feel ultimately #blessed for the fantastic opportunities we have had on our journey so far!

Below is a small selection of pictures from over the years. 




Our peerless pioneer Shalize Nicholas (above; ain't she gorgeous!) started Madia & Matilda with the goal of making a difference in fashion: contributing positively to a less wasteful world. We are grateful to have grown as much as we have over this past year!




Our ShopUnique section is made up of carefully selected likeminded businesses who craft their products using sustainable materials or upcycling wherever possible. The concept behind ShopUnique strictly adheres to our principles, and those of other small businesses which regard sustainability and ethics as important solutions to the widespread problem of excessive consumerism in the fashion industry. We make handcrafted and locally produced items the stars of our show.
We really look forward to what is to come and hope that you will be with us all the way!
















A big thank you to all who have followed and supported us over the years! As it's our
5th birthday this month we thought we'd show our appreciation to you, our beautiful customers, by adding free Worldwide delivery for the rest of the month! 





Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Youtube
#madiamatilda 












                   
                                      
Sincerely Madia & Matilda