The catalytic jeans exhibited below show the findings of Tony Ryan and Helen Storey, who discovered that when denim is covered with tiny nano-particles of titanium dioxide, it reacts with air and light to break down harmful emissions in the air; working in the same way as catalytic converters in cars.   Pollutants most often produced by traffic and factories, such as Nitrogen Oxide are then neutralised and simply washed away when the garment is laundered.

Denim For Decades

A manifesto for sustainable fashion within TK Maxx

The relationship we have with our clothes has changed greatly over the last century, we have entered into an era of extreme production and consumption, many of us falling into a mindless cycle of acquiring and discarding garments instead of taking the time to truly value and use them.

But does anybody actually take the time to remember that somebody designed and constructed all the garments that are mindlessly discarded time and time again.

Denim For Decades is a project that sets out to challenge our perceptions of value. We will be collaborating with Tk Maxx to ask: how can we kick start a move from being a fashion throw away culture to a fashion preservation culture?

We ask the public to think more deeply about the life of their clothes by doing something as simple as donating your old denim to Tk Maxx, we want to give our old denim a second chance of a new life, as a bag we can use time and time again.

We want to ‘make it personal’; every bag will have the name of who made it embroidered onto the bag. This should really hit home about the fact somebody made every item of clothes you chuck away.

Disobedient Objects

From a Suffragette tea service to protest robots, this exhibition was the first to examine the powerful role of objects in movements for social change. It demonstrated how political activism drives a wealth of design ingenuity and collective creativity that defy standard definitions of art and design. Disobedient Objects focussed on the period from the late 1970s to now, a time that has brought new technologies and political challenges. On display were arts of rebellion from around the world that illuminate the role of making in grassroots movements for social change: finely woven banners; defaced currency; changing designs for barricades and blockades; political video games; an inflatable general assembly to facilitate consensus decision-making; experimental activist-bicycles; and textiles bearing witness to political murders.

DECONSTRUCTION

Deconstruction Fashion: The making of the unfinished, decomposing and re- assembled clothes by Alison Gill

• “Unfinished, coming apart, recycled, transparent”
• “Analysis/ critique – the undoing of an argument”
• “Amy Spindler (1993) announced “deconstruction” as a rebellion against the 1980’s, the undoing of fashion as we know it, or the “coming apart” of fashions heritage, as it moved into the last decade of the twentieth century”

  

• “Martin Margiela sells linings extracted from vintage dresses, giving these linings a chance of a new old life “on the outside”. A labour stitched these inside as the secrets of a finished garment, Margiela simply brings these secrets to the surface.”

Australia has the knitting nannas who protest about environmental issues by holding “knit ins”.

Their “nannafesto”

Peacefully & productively protest against the destruction of our land, air, and water by corporations and/or individuals who seek profit and personal gain from the short-sighted and greedy plunder of our natural resources.

We support energy generation from renewable sources, and sustainable use of our other natural resources.

We sit, knit, plot, have a yarn and a cuppa, and bear witness to the war against those who try to rape our land and divide our communities.

We want to leave this land better than we found it, for our children, grandchildren and future generations.  They deserve to have a future with a clean and healthy environment, natural beauty and biodiversity.

KNAG’s aims are to bring attention to the issues surrounding unsustainable resource exploitation; to show the people, the media, the politicians and the exploiters just how far from radical the “extremists” who oppose their practices are; to entertain and inform the public, and bring new supporters to the movement.

We aim to make protests and blockades safe, to support people assert their right to protest.  We want to make sure that our servants, the politicians, represent our democratic wishes and know they are accountable – to us.  We are very happy to remind them of this – often.

We represent many who cannot make it out to protests – the elderly, the ill, the infirm, people with young children and workers.

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE:

The Women’s March on London is a women-led movement that brought together people of all genders, ages, races, cultures, political affiliations and backgrounds on January 21, 2017, to affirm our shared humanity and pronounce our bold message of resistance and self-determination.

We are empowered by the legions of revolutionary leaders and ancestors who paved the way for us to march, and acknowledge those around the globe who fight for our freedoms. We honor these women and so many more.
They are #WHYWEMARCHLONDON

VALUES & PRINCIPLES:

• They believe that Womens Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Womens Rights.
• They wish to create a society in which all women are able to care for their family in safe and healthy environments, free from structural impediments.
• Women deserve to live full and healthy lives, free of violence against our bodies and minds, in particular domestic violence.
• Ending racial profiling and targeting of communities of colour.
• No woman or mother should fear being sexually and physically abused at the hands of the State.
• They believe in Reproductive Freedom. They do not accept local rollbacks, cuts or restrictions on our ability to access quality reproductive healthcare services, birth control, HIV/AIDS care and prevention, or medically accurate sexuality education.
• They firmly declare that LGBTQIA Rights are Human Rights and that it is our obligation to uplift, expand and protect the rights of our gay, lesbian, bi, queer, trans or gender non-conforming sisters, brothers and siblings.
• They believe that creating workforce opportunities that reduce discrimination against women and mothers allow economies to thrive. Nations and industries that support and invest in caregiving and basic workplace protections—including benefits like paid family leave, access to affordable childcare, sick days, healthcare, fair pay, holiday pay, and healthy work environments—have shown growth and increased capacity.
• They believe in equal pay for equal work and the right of all women to be paid equitably.
• All care work–caring for the elderly, caring for the chronically ill, caring for children and supporting independence for people with disabilities–is work, and that the burden of care falls disproportionately on the shoulders of women, particularly women of colour.
• They believe in immigrant and refugee rights regardless of status or country of origin. It is our moral duty to keep families together and empower them to fully participate in, and contribute to, our economy and society.
• Every person and every community in our country has the right to clean water, clean air, and access to and enjoyment of public lands.