Front Row To Front Bench Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to Fashion Roundtable's second book club! 

Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network. Rob holds a PhD from the University of Plymouth, and is author of several books. Starting in lockdown Rob created the highly successful 'From What If to What Next' podcast, where he time travelled with guests to explore practical, imaginative solutions to the climate and ecological crisis. 

The interview delves deeper into Rob's latest book, 'How to Fall in Love with the Future: A time traveller's guide to changing the world.'

Through the power of Rob's book, Meg Pirie and Rob Hopkins visit a 2030 resulting from our doing everything collectively that we could possibly have done. They explore how time travel and routing ourselves in the lived experience of the future help us map out a route to inspire change, the neuroscience behind this, the need to cultivate longing, the responsibilities governments and organisations have to include thinkers, dreamers and artists in decision-making, and Rob's policy wishlist. 

You can watch the full interview here: 

More on Rob's work here and to buy his book here

First Episode of The Fashion Roundtable Book Club featuring a Q & Q with Daisy Fancourt, author of "Art Cure - The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health" published by Penguin Books.

In 2019, Alden Wicker was asked to comment on a lawsuit that was being filed by a Delta flight attendant against Lands' End, because the newly introduced uniform had caused a myriad of health issues, such as skin rashes, shortness of breath, hair loss, anaphylaxis and in one instance death. 

 In her book, 'To Dye For', award-winning journalist and sustainability expert, Alden Wicker, decided to break the story of unregulated toxic chemicals in fashion and their impacts on health and wellbeing. 

 Historically, in The Victorian era, women garment workers dyed fabrics using arsenic green dyes, and the blame lay on the women for consuming this fashion and not the men who owned the factories or dye houses. Skip forward to this century and the issue remains the same. In her research, Alden discovered the patriarchal issue that almost all of the experts and consultants were male, when it is the women who are far more likely to be affected by the toxins that are in fashion in every way. 

What follows is a candid conversation about how dyes can affect our immune systems; how this affects women far more – from those working in fashion, to those consuming fashion, and those in caretaking roles of children with ailments such as asthma. In the US, endocrine disruptors were found in school uniforms, and so Alden talks in detail about ways in which we can reduce our exposure, including staying away from items with productivity promises such as 'easy care' or ultra fast-fashion with drop shipping. 

The conversation leads to how we can better legislate against these issues. Particularly with new trade deals in the pipeline, deregulation on textiles and dyes could result in a saturation of fast fashion. 

To buy Alden Wicker's book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dye-Toxic-Fashion-Making-Fight/dp/0593422619 

Hive books:

https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Alden-Wicker/To-Dye-For--How-Toxic-Fashion-Is-Making-Us-Sick---and-How-We-Can-Fight-Back/28571586 

Read our 'in conversation' interview with Alden here: https://www.fashionroundtable.co.uk/news/in-converstion-with-alden-wicker 

Publisher:  Penguin Random House 

Website: EcoCult 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aldenwicker/ 

Instagram: EcoCult 

An honest and thought-provoking conversation – Public Policy Editor Peter Foster of the Financial Times, speaks with Tamara Cincik about his book, 'What Went Wrong With Brexit: And What We Can Do About It'. 

Foster is one of the few editors who is tracking Brexit and the ever adjusting life after the single market. A fashion-centred conversation of what leaving has meant for business; the realities of the barriers to trade; the confrontational relationship which 'Brexit at all costs' has created between ministers, civil servants and industry; and the need for policymakers to make decisions based on the reality of the issues that industry as a whole is facing. 

Finally, while there's no quick fix, Foster describes the importance of the relationships that are negotiated moving forward with the EU and the call for transparency about the trade-offs that come with trade deals. 

To buy Peter Foster's book, follow this link:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/what-went-wrong-with-brexit/peter-foster/9781805301257

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterfostertelegraphjournalist/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmdfoster 

More on how Brexit has affected the fashion sector: 

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a1431a1e5dd5b754be2e0e9/t/63309fbfdcdec6661dbcc7e1/1664131009325/Fashion+Roundtable_Brexit+FollowUp+Report_060521.pdf 

Not to be missed! As #SecondhandSeptember ramps up, Tamara Cincik speaks with vintage queen Bay Garnett. Drawing on their shared backgrounds as international stylists, they discuss how second-hand shopping allows for a more creative and dynamic experience to storytell through clothes – sustainably; the iconic Anita Pallenburg; Bay's iconic 'banana top'; getting to the source of iconic designer inspiration via vintage and charity shops; and of course Bay's collaboration with Oxfam for #SecondhandSeptember and her concept to extrapolate the idea into a visual fashion campaign. 

Website: https://www.baygarnett.com/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baygarnett/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bay_garnett?lang=en 

For more on Secondhand September and statistics, please visit: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/second-hand-september/ 

Fashion Roundtable's Meg Pirie is in conversation with Ruth Rands, founder of British knitwear brand Herd. 

They discuss Ruth's mission to bring heritage and quality back to British wool, with provenance at its heart. Ruth talks honestly about what is possible here in the UK, sourcing everything within 150 miles; how Kate Moss just bought one of her knits; and her long-term vision for her aspirational label. 

https://www.herdwear.co 

https://www.instagram.com/herdwear/ 

Fashion Roundtable's Meg Pirie is in conversation with UK charity Heritage Craft's Executive Director, Daniel Carpenter. 

They discuss the Heritage Crafts 'Red List of Endangered Crafts', the importance of a STEAM curriculum and practical subjects being taught in schools and what it would take for the UK government to ratify the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

As well as Heritage Craft's latest campaign in partnership with Folksy, 'BUY LESS, BUY BETTER, BUY HANDMADE' and their hope of what this may achieve in supporting makers across the UK. Particularly in time for Christmas.

An interesting conversation about heritage, crafts and the need for government support.

www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/

For this podcast, Tamara Cincik from Fashion Roundtable speaks to Carolyn Harris MP about her working class background, what it means to be a working class Welsh woman in the Houses of Parliament, her vital work as the leading voice lobbying the government on the issues facing women and the menopause. 

Carolyn's work on this issue cannot be underestimated and her insights on the impacts for generations of women who have been misdiagnosed or ignored, are powerful.

She also speaks about her path to a leadership role, while remaining grounded and the other campaigns, including food poverty and gambling, that Carolyn is also working hard on. 

For key insights into effective politics with common sense and authenticity at its core, this is an important conversation.

The Board at Best for Britain is chaired by Lord Kim Darroch, is the former UK Ambassador to the United States and previous advisor to the Prime Minister on European Affairs

This podcast discusses Naomi's fascinating transition from working in the corporate sector as an accountant, into her stark career change into political leadership, showing that it is never too late for someone with a calling to follow their ambitions and use their voice as an agent for change.

It also discusses Naomi's decision to launch the UK Trade and Business Commission, co chaired by Peter Norris Chair of the Virgin Group and Hilary Benn MP, with a cross-section of MPs from all political parties and business leaders, including Tamara who represents the fashion industry.

An interesting conversation about Brexit impacts, female leadership and internationalist values in a recent trip that Naomi and the Commission took to Northern Ireland, seeing the reality of red tape on the ground and offering her vision for what an inclusive, internationalist truly global Britain could be.