As we celebrate World Fair Trade Day, we think of our friends and manufacturers in India who are in the midst of disruption caused by COVID-19. The pandemic has threatened vulnerable garment workers around the world, and for us, this is a time when respecting people and our planet has never been more pertinent.
Stacey Cotter Manière is a Poet and Creative Director based in Sydney. She has worked in the fashion industry across Europe, Asia and Australia for the past 14 years. She enjoys storytelling through various mediums and the cross-pollination that happens as a result.
During these unprecedented times, a certain mind-set has surfaced stating that COVID-19 is some form of gift to nature due to the reduction in pollution levels caused by quarantine measures.
Life is the cost that is sacrificed to sustain economic growth, and sustainability has now, in many ways, become a slave put to work to serve the system. I believe that any truly ‘sustainable future’ requires an entire paradigm shift, and in order to think beyond our current paradigm we must first expand our visions for the future of fashion.
Performative sustainability, also known as ‘greenwashing’ occurs when instead of making a tangible change via addressing the factors related to sustainability (e.g. making supply chains and products sustainable, ethical, recyclable and beneficial to underprivileged communities), businesses instead engage in performative actions that appear to engage and action sustainable practice.
Six years ago, I hadn’t planted a single seed. Now I spend almost every waking moment tending to thousands of them. My journey is fuelled by my wonder at the generosity of the natural world. I started with a small 10sqm patch in my first flat, which produced for me an abundance of corn, pumpkins and tomatoes.
To say the last year or so has been weird is perhaps putting things lightly. Weird it has been though, for me, and for many around the world. Talking to musician Stella Rose Bennett — or Benee as we know her — there are levels to this weirdness, and it comes with a kind of conflict.
The word ‘unprecedented’ has been thrown around a lot lately. You can find it everywhere, from social media to corporate marketing efforts and commercials on television. But there is nothing unprecedented — some- thing never done or known before — about these times.
Kowtow is more than a fashion brand, and through Common Interest, we continue our commitment to leaving the world better through a collaboration with like minded visionaries. Built on the ethos that great minds think differently, but often find common ground - Common Interest is available exclusively in Kowtow stores and online from 14 March 2021.