Press Release
International Designers Announced for Fashion Open Studio 2021
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 their studios and their practice to the public during Fashion Revolution Week
April 19-25, and sharing their solutions to the urgent challenges facing the fashion industry.
This year 33 designers from 20 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America will
share a single showcasing platform which will highlight sustainable innovation, indigenous
craftsmanship, local cultural heritage, regenerative and equitable business models and newtechnology.
Fashion Open Studio celebrates the designers, both emerging and established who areproudly building businesses with values that align with Fashion Revolution’s theme for 2021:
Rights, Relationships and Revolution. The programme aims to demonstrate how the Fashion
Revolution manifesto works in practice – for an industry that protects the planet and its
resources and respects the artisans and the people who make our clothes. The designers
will show not just who made your clothes but how they are made, and the materials theyuse.
From Dhaka, Bangladesh, Chol will host a workshop to demonstrate Kantha embroidery
techniques with conversations with their team of artisans, to explore their mission topreserve and push cultural boundaries; meanwhile, Rahemur Rahman, who works between
Bangladesh and UK will create a natural dye T-shirt workshop from his kitchen inconversation with the fair trade craft and lifestyle brand. They are dedicated to establishing
the commercial viability of eco-friendly products as well as creating new opportunities forartisans and economically disadvantaged women. Aranya specialises in making naturaldyes made from leaves and flowers, and by products of natural waste. Participants whoregister will be sent a natural dye home kit to join in the workshop.
From Chile, the Munay Sisters will present a video documenting their material sourcing andproduct development, demonstrating the impact these materials have on people's lives andthe environment. They will share their step by step work methodology with a focus on theorganic cotton fields and the different types of cotton such as Pima, Tanguis and Pakucho
which is of ancestral origin. In Kampala, Uganda, we will connect with streetwear label IGC
Uganda who are inspired by African heritage, nature and culture and will be exploring thepast, present and future cultural and practical possibilities of indigenous bark cloth. Incomplete contrast, the 40 year-old couture house, Maison Faliakos in Athens will beopening up its doors to explain the value of craftsmanship.
From Iran, we are pleased to welcome back a multi-designer format with Foje, Leyla
Kashani, Toktam Hemmati and A2ByMatin in partnership with the Tehran-based retailconcept space AASSTTIIN.
As always there will be a strong focus on regenerative techniques, and we welcome thevariety of perspectives and techniques. In Khartoum in Sudan, we will join social enterprise
Sobajo in a workshop that teaches local women tailoring and beading skills alongside reuse
and recycling techniques valuable to us all. NKWO in Abuja, Nigeria will take part in theWoven Threads: Moving in Circles programme during Lagos Fashion Week, an interactive
group project exploring a circular fashion economy. And from Kyrgyzstan, Cut a Dash will
host a masterclass on the Kyrgyz traditional technique kurak, an ancient process ofpatchwork and mosaic sewing which they say is a great opportunity to save our traditions
and the best way to give life to even tiny leftovers.
This is a unique, curated programme of digital and physical events. The designers wereselected for submission by Fashion Revolution’s country coordinators. 28 countries and 66
designers applied to take part this year and were shortlisted by the Fashion Open Studioteam according to a six-point criteria.
Niamh Tuft, Fashion Revolution Global Network Manager said: “The Fashion Open Studiointernational programme opens up the studios of designers from all over the world to a
global audience - bringing their cultural heritage, contemporary context and innovative
solutions for a fair, safe, clean and equitable fashion industry to a new audience. In the lead
up to Fashion Open Studio and during the week's programme this community of designers
have the opportunity to exchange, learn and share from each other in a collaborative andmutually supportive cohort. We're particularly excited to welcome designers from countries
that are hosting their first Fashion Open Studio event to pioneer the format in their fashion
system - Gaia from Uruguay, Chol from Bangladesh, IGC Fashion and Njola from Uganda
and About a Worker from France - are just a few.”
Orsola de Castro, Global Creative Director, Fashion Revolution, and creative director,
Fashion Open Studio said: “Fashion Open Studio is a microcosm of brilliance, courage andresilience, bringing together committed individuals, creative souls and relentlesschangemakers all who use their creativity for the good of many. We challenge themainstream and champion the radicals.”

Notes to Editors
Fashion Revolution’s Country Coordinators and designers are available for interview onrequest. For press enquiries, interviews or images, or more information on the Fashion OpenStudio criteria and Advisory Board, please contact press@fashionrevolution.org
International Fashion Open Studio 2021 designers:

Bangladesh: Chol x Shama Kun; Rahemur Rahman
Chile: Munay Sisters
Denmark: Maja Brix
Ecuador: All Pamamas
Ethiopia: Enzi Footwear; Yefikir; Mafi Mafi
France: About a Worker
Ghana: Chiip O’Neal
Greece: Maison Faliakos
Hong Kong: Jesse Lee
India: Iro Iro, Ka Sha, Oshadi x Christy Dawn
Iran: Foje; Leyla Kashani; Toktam Hemmati; A2bymatin
Italy: Blue of a Kind; Chiara Catalano; Flavia La Rocca
Japan: Atelier MA
Kyrgyzstan: Cut A DashMadagascar: Zouzoudago
Nigeria: BLOKE; NKWO
Slovakia: Modrotlač Rabada and Pavol Dendis
Sudan: Sobajo
Uganda: IGC Fashion
Uruguay: Gaia
Zimbabwe: Vimbai Natasha Naomi; Rungano Rwedu; Patch Maokoe Zimbabwe
The UK designer programme will be announced in March.
About Fashion Open Studio
Now in its fifth year, Fashion Open Studio is a Fashion Revolution initiative. As a showcasing
platform, the purpose is to shine a spotlight on best practice and innovation being led byfashion and textile designers, biotech start-ups and retail disruptors. As well as radical newstart-ups, FOS has attracted some of the industry's biggest names to collaborate, including
Vivienne Westwood, Bethany Williams and Christopher Raeburn. The designers are
selected for their commitment to a clearly defined criteria of responsible design and systemic
innovation. During Fashion Revolution Week, 19-25 April 2021, designers share bestpractice in a transparent 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 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.
The theme for 2021 is Rights, Relationships and Revolution. Human rights and the rights ofnature are interconnected and interdependent; we need a revolution in our relationships witheach other, within fashion supply chains, and with the natural world, for our own prosperity
and wellbeing, and the health of our earth and our oceans.

Fashion Revolution Week 2021 will take place 19-25 April 2021.