Fashion Revolution presents How to be a Fashion Revolutionary
at the British Textile Biennial 2023
September 2023
Fashion Revolution is taking residence at the British Textile Biennial 2023 with the How to bea Fashion Revolutionary exhibition, located at the Helmshore Mills Textile Museum in East
Lancashire. Between 29th September and 29th October, How to be a Fashion Revolutionary
will guide visitors through the Fashion Revolution archives, drawing on the learnings fromnine years of campaigning to encourage reflection and inspire action.
In a display of archival Zine covers, poems and illustrations, the exhibition follows theenvironmental and human problems inherent in the fashion industry, maps out creative
solutions and charts a course for change. It proudly features artwork designed orcommissioned by Fashion Revolution Global and Fashion Revolution teams in Argentina,
Brazil, India and Singapore to paint a global picture of action and resistance, and to invite
new audiences on their fashion activism journeys.
The installation will be brought to life by a video montage capturing the evolution of Fashion
Revolution into a global movement spanning 75 countries, and an interactive conversation
map where visitors can respond to questions posed throughout the exhibition. Developed byTalk Climate Change for Fashion Revolution Week 2023, the Fashion Revolution Map is aglobal forum for Fashion Revolutionaries around the world to exchange knowledge,
inspiration and ideas for change. At the exhibition, the map will serve as a conversation tool
for the local community and capture the responses of newly initiated FashionRevolutionaries.
The British Textile Biennial is taking place across Eastern Lancashire, a cultural and historicsymbol of the global textile industry. Taken from the British Textile Biennial 2023 programme,“the industrial revolution transformed rural East Lancashire into an engine of fast fashion at
the epicentre of a web that stretched across the globe; commandeering human andenvironmental resources across continents in a vicious cycle of labour, manufacture andtrade that persists today and which we now know is unsustainable”. How to be a Fashion
Revolutionary recognises and responds to these issues and encourages visitors tocollectively reimagine what a clean, safe, fair, transparent and accountable fashion industry
could look like.
“Storytelling has always been such a vital part of our work and is integral for capturing newhearts and minds in our global community. Through revisiting the Fashion Revolution

archives, visitors can explore artistic interpretations of fashion’s potential to harm and heal,and will find themselves similarly transformed by illustration and poetry. How to be a Fashion
Revolutionary is based on the delightfully simple premise that anyone can be a Fashion
Revolutionary. It starts with being curious, finding out and doing something, and thisexhibition will guide you on your journey to action.” - Mel Watt, Digital Communications
Manager at Fashion Revolution
Ends.

NOTES TO EDITORSFor further information and interview requests, please email press@fashionrevolution.org.
Download press images here.
How to be a Fashion Revolutionary is open 29th September - 29th October.
Location: Helmshore Mills Textile Museum, Holcombe Road, Helmshore,
Rossendale, BB4 4NP
Opening hours: Thursday – Sunday, 10:00 – 16:00
A selection of displayed Zines will also be available to purchase at the Helmshore Mills
Textile Museum gift shop.
The exhibition was curated by Mel Watt, Molly Porteous and Lauren Rees, the GlobalCommunications Team at Fashion Revolution.
Throughout the month, a series of British Textile Biennial workshops and events will be held
across East Lancashire. The full schedule of events and workshops will be announced
shortly. You can view the schedule and book your place here.

About Fashion Revolution
Fashion Revolution is the world’s largest fashion activism movement, mobilising citizens,industry and policymakers through research, education and advocacy work. Fashion
Revolution’s global movement spans across 75 countries with a collective vision for a
fashion industry that conserves and restores the environment and values people over growthand profit.
About the British Textile Biennale 2023The British Textile Biennial throws a spotlight on the nation’s creativity, innovation andexpression in textiles against the backdrop of the impressive infrastructure of the cotton
industry in Pennine Lancashire. The third edition of British Textile Biennial traces the routesof fibres and fabrics across continents and centuries to and from the north of England in aseries of commissions and exhibitions throughout October in the spaces left behind by theLancashire textile industry. From the so-called ‘slave cloth’, spun and woven by hand on thePennine moors, to the bales of used fast fashion that make their way from British highstreets to the markets and toxic mountains of waste in West Africa, BTB23 follows thatjourney.