Press release30.03.21

FASHION OPEN STUDIO ANNOUNCES PROGRAMME FOR FASHION REVOLUTION WEEK 2021 April
19-25

Fashion Open Studio, the global fashion showcasing and mentoring initiative of Fashion Revolution,
is delighted to announce the 2021 cohort of international designers who will be opening up theirstudios and their practice to the public and sharing their solutions to the urgent challenges facing
the fashion industry.

This year over 50 designers from 21 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America will
share a single showcasing platform which will highlight sustainable innovation, indigenouscraftsmanship, local cultural heritage, regenerative and equitable business models and newtechnology. Fashion Open Studio is grateful for its partnerships with Common Objective andSarabande Foundation and Aassttiinn, Copenhagen Fashion Week, Lagos Fashion Week, Redress
Design Award, Sourcing House.

From A2ByMatin’s ‘Punk Islam’ which bridges the textile heritage between Italy and Iran, tosolutions for zero waste creation by Yefikir in Addis Ababa, Fashion Open Studio is a unique space fordesigners with different geographical and cultural challenges to share their solutions with thecommunity and the wider industry.

Fashion Open Studio celebrates the designers, both emerging and established who are proudly
building businesses with values that align with Fashion Revolution’s theme for 2021: Rights,
Relationships and Revolution. Human rights and the rights of nature are interconnected andinterdependent; we are part of the wider living world and our right to a healthy environment
depends on the health of our planet.

The designers will show not just who made your clothes but how they are made, and the materials
they use. In response to Fashion Revolution’s new hashtag for 2021, #WhoMadeMyFabric, many ofthese designers have the answers because they are involved not just in weaving the cloth, but
growing and spinning the raw fibre too with events including a short history of hemp with specialist
Mohsin Sajid, and our ongoing look at the material world with The Sustainable Angle.

Because of continuing restrictions due to Covid-19, the majority of the events will be digital again
this year giving a global audience to designers who have aspirations to grow their brands only as far
as their resources will allow them.

We are witnessing a new generation of designers who no longer set their sights on working for aninternationally recognised brand but on building their businesses sustainably, and with authenticity.
They are building small brands with local markets and renewable supply chains. They are exploringnew materials grown and woven in labs. They are looking to another dimension altogether, wherevirtual reality eliminates the need for materials altogether.
Designers taking part include About a Worker, a radical design studio based in Paris, giving workers
from around the world the opportunity to become designers; Oshadi Studio in Erode, India, on theircollaboration with Christy Dawn for a regenerative cotton collection that starts from the cotton seedin the field; Kampala based IGC Fashion and London based NUBA discussing their use of barkcloth;
Raeburn, GAIA, and Olivia Rubens demonstrating how circularity and regeneration works within theirpractice. Of the emerging talents who are leading the conversation on so many of these issues weare excited to welcome Emma Bruschi, prize winner of the 35th Festival of Fashion Hyeres who willshow her farm to collection approach.

We will highlight the importance of relationships in the supply chain as well as with our clothes:
BLOKE in Lagos, dedicated to the preservation of long established local artisanal practices, small
communities of knitters, and textile artists. We will explore brands who actively pursue businessmodels that stay small but generate enough revenue to support their communities.

As well as exploring the textile cultural heritage and indigenous raw materials being preserved andprotected by many of the designers, there are some explorations of the designers who aretransforming the future landscape of fashion. We rethink the whole idea of #WhoMadeYourFabricwith a dive into the biomaterial experiments and research of Modern Synthesis and a collective ofresearchers including Elissa Brunati and Chiara Tommencioni Pisapia. And we take you away fromthe material world too, on a journey into cyberspace to see what happens when fashion becomesvirtual with digital couture creators Auroboros.

Tamsin Blanchard, Fashion Open Studio Curator said: “The whole landscape of fashion has changed.
We are seeing a new generation of designers around the world who are connected by the desire tochallenge the entire fashion system, from cotton seed to repair station. I am excited by the diverseand far reaching possibilities proposed by this year’s designers and look forward to giving them theexposure to share their innovative ideas and have their voices heard.”

Orsola de Castro, Global Creative Director, Fashion Revolution, and creative director, Fashion Open
Studio said: “Fashion Open Studio is a microcosm of brilliance, courage and resilience, bringing
together committed individuals, creative souls and relentless changemakers all who use theircreativity for the good of many. We challenge the mainstream and champion the radicals.”
ENDSNOTES TO EDITORSThe full schedule of global events is available on www.fashionopenstudio.com with updates andstory takeovers on Instagram @fashionopenstudioFashion Open Studio designers are available for an interview on request.

About Fashion Open Studio
Now in its fifth year, Fashion Open Studio is a Fashion Revolution initiative. As an alternative
showcasing and mentoring platform, the purpose is to shine a spotlight on best practice andinnovation being led by fashion and textile designers, biotech start-ups and retail disruptors. As wellas radical new start-ups, FOS has attracted some of the industry's biggest names to collaborate,
including Vivienne Westwood, Bethany Williams and Christopher Raeburn. The designers areselected for their commitment to a clearly defined criteria of responsible design and systemic
innovation. During Fashion Revolution Week, 19-25 April 2021, designers share best practice in atransparent and open manner, in a way that offers access and stimulates discussion and questions.

About Fashion Revolution
Fashion Revolution is the world’s largest fashion activism movement, formed after the Rana Plaza
factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013 which killed over 1,100 people. Fashion Revolution

campaigns for a clean, safe, fair, transparent and accountable fashion industry throughresearch, education, collaboration, mobilisation and advocating for policy change.
Fashion Revolution is a global movement with country offices and voluntary teams in 90 countries.
Fashion Revolution believes in a global fashion industry that conserves and restores the environment
and values people over growth and profit. In order to achieve this goal, the organisation conducts
research that shines a light on the fashion industry’s practices and impacts, highlights where brands
and retailers are moving too slowly and incentivises and promotes transparency and accountability
across the supply chain.

Images:Download images and campaign materials for press HERE
and credit where appropriate.
Social media:@fashionopenstudio #FashionOpenStudio #WhoMadeMyClothes #WhoMadeMyFabric#WhatsInMyClothes #ImadeYourClothes #FashionRevolution #LovedClothes Last

For press enquiries, interviews or images, or more information on the Fashion Open Studio criteria
and Advisory Board, please contact press@fashionrevolution.org