Community Spotlight
From Fast to Fair: Glasgow's Collective Answer to Fashion's Future
A Glasgow Southside business collective is reshaping local clothing culture
by Carolyn Edmondson
Photos by Emma Sarah McBride & Lotti Blades-Barrett
For years, Glasgow’s Southside has been known as a bustling, creative hub, home to many DIY initiatives and independent businesses. Thanks to this reputation - fuelled by a history of diverse immigration and an ingrained culture of community engagement and social activism - it’s no surprise that the area now leads Glasgow’s alternative fashion movement. The Govanhill and Strathbungo areas in particular house a growing number of socially led, circular economy initiatives operating in defiance of the city centre’s homogeneous, corporate retail landscape.
Launched in 2023, the Fair Fashion Collective is a working group of seven local organisations and businesses all operating in the sustainable and ethical fashion and textiles sector in the city's Southside. Striving for collaboration over conglomeration, the collective’s aim is to provide a hub for like-minded businesses and third-sector organisations who are focused on creative, community and climate activities rather than solely on economic growth. Founding member Lotti Blades-Barrett pinpoints that the collective are especially motivated by Glasgow’s reputation as a creative and vibrant city. She states that in this context, Glasgow is a great place to “get people inspired and motivated to choose change by supporting sustainable, ethical and small business.”
In teaming up, the group rejects competitive individualism. Instead, they use their collective voice and combined networks to bring greater visibility to alternative clothing cultures in the area. Their programme of events and workshops, often free to attend, gently steers the local community away from the mainstream fashion industry, empowering them to make more informed clothing choices. By pooling their combined talents and experience in this way, members can learn from and support each other in the process.
The collective’s membership includes upcyclers, recyclers, reuse, repair and resell initiatives, alongside Scotland’s first and only ethical fabric and haberdashery retailer. This diversity of skills and expertise allows the group to engage with a vast spectrum of the local community, unreachable through one network alone. The varied events programme provided by the group is a testament to this. The events, ranging from practical textile workshops to ethical business panel discussions, are led by members of the collective, often in collaboration with other local sustainability experts and initiatives. Blades-Barrett urges active participation from the community, encouraging locals to approach the team with their ideas and hopes for the future of sustainable fashion in the Glaswegian context.
Future plans involve branching out to include other areas of the city, allowing for a much wider reach and stronger network. The FFC is also hosting their next month-long Fair Fashion Festival in September, which promises to be another diverse mix of events and workshops for all.
By gently shifting traditional business approaches, the Fair Fashion Collective provides a working blueprint for resilient, future-proof, and easily adoptable community clothing models. It offers an example of a successful shift away from the current extractive and exploitative fashion systems frustratingly prevalent in the Global North, paving the way for a more ethical and collaborative approach to style.
Here, we profile three of the collective’s founding members: Apparel Xchange, Second Cashmere and Rags to Riches.
Apparel Xchange
Apparel Xchange is a community interest company founded by Izzie Eriksen in 2018, specialising in the reselling of second-hand children’s and young people's clothing. Confronting the alarming levels of consumption and waste in childrenswear, the project is on a mission to disrupt this wasteful industry, while making sustainable kids’ clothing accessible to everyone.
In hosting clothing repair sessions and teaching hand-sewing skills, the Apparel Xchange store on Nithsdale Street is a multifunctional space. Not only does it serve as a welcoming and fun place to shop for kids' clothes, it also provides the perfect setting for workshops and events that focus on education and creative activism. The events programme aims to empower young people by equipping them with skills and expertise to become independent, critical thinkers when it comes to clothing purchase, use and care.
Alongside the youth focus of the organisation, Apparel Xchange’s programme both engages and gives back to the wider adult community. Glaswegians can gain first-hand insights into the business by volunteering at the city centre clothing sorting warehouse or attending a number of events aimed at adults and sustainability professionals. In addition, in collaboration with other social partners, Apparel Xchange provides custom clothing packages to families in need, further advancing their mission of making sustainable clothing accessible to all.
Second Cashmere
With their focus on cashmere refurbishment, Second Cashmere rescue damaged items by sourcing their base materials from textile recyclers in the UK. As frequently reported, damaged clothes and textiles are sent directly to local landfills or shipped overseas, where clothing waste inevitably contributes to landfill and destruction of local textile cultures and environment. Trying to find a way to reduce this impact, caused by overproduction and consumption, was the catalyst for Lotti Blades-Barrett to found Second Cashmere in 2021.
In particular, Lotti cites fast fashion’s effects on the cashmere industry as a main source of inspiration. While some claim the cashmere boom has “democratised” the precious fibre, previously exclusive to the luxury market, increased demand has come at the expense of decimating centuries-old traditional textile systems, while causing significant harm to people and animals, as well as furthering environmental degradation and habitat loss. Second Cashmere’s website explains this stark reality for customers and the wider public. This not only allows customers to make more ethical and informed cashmere purchases but also enables a deeper understanding of the exploitative industry, and the urgent need to release the pressure caused by it. The small team made up of founder Lotti, plus business partner Emily Smit-Dicks, have also hosted workshops and events on cashmere mending and upcycling, inspiring and enabling people to take further action on their own terms. Future plans include an introduction of open-studio sessions starting in Autumn in their new studio, providing further opportunities for connection to their community, and transparency in their operations.
Rags to Riches
The team behind one of the longest running and best known upcycling initiatives in Glasgow are textile upcycling and reuse experts who provide an extensive programme of workshops and events for the local community. Providing events from beginners mending lessons to public art installations, Rags to Riches is a social enterprise set up and managed by well-loved local organisation Govanhill Baths Community Trust (GBCT).
Born out of the occupation of a local swimming pool which was destined to be demolished, the historical context of GBCT epitomises the spirit of Govanhill. When threatened with closure in 2001, the swimming baths were occupied by locals for 140 days with a 24 hour picket, the longest occupation of a public building in British history. This energetic and fiery social compass is a personality trait that Rags to Riches has inherited in abundance, and can be witnessed by browsing their extensive history of creative projects, workshops and collaborations.
Although textile upcycling and reuse was the starting point and remains a large part of R2R’s work, it’s no longer their sole focus. While the baths are closed for restoration, the project has relocated to The Deep End, a nearby venue where additional space has allowed for a broadening of the programme. The Deep End now hosts the textiles studio, a fully equipt ceramics studio, and a woodwork and plastic recycling workshop. The venue also hosts the studios and offices of local artists and other community groups, providing fertile ground for interdisciplinary collaboration.
The Fair Fashion Collective are:
Apparel Xchange - Young peoples pre-loved clothing
Bam Glasgow - Vintage clothing and coffee shop
Bawn Textiles - Sustainable fashion, fabrics and haberdashery
Merry-Go-Round - Preloved childrens goods
Rags to Riches - Reuse and upcycling of textiles, plastics and wood
Seamster Vintage - Retro Clothing remade & refurbed in Glasgow
Second Cashmere - Restored secondhand cashmere, reclaimed cashmere yarns and original designs
The collective are hosting a month-long Fair Fashion Festival in Glasgow from 31st August to 30th September. Check out all events here. For more information and to read the collectives manifesto, check out their website.
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