Making it personal: Birdsong
By BEL JACOBS
According to a recent parliamentary report, most garment workers in Leicester, manufacturing for UK ecommerce brands, are still paid £3.50 ph in 2019. In a world of modern slavery and straight-to-landfill fashion, social enterprise label Birdsong launches its Blueprint SS19 campaign - showing the true, completely transparent, cost and value of a dress.
A lovechild of feminism and Fashion Revolution, the campaign movement born from the depths of Rana Plaza, Birdsong has precedence in ethical fashion. All its clothes are made ethically, sustainably and locally by a remarkable women’s charity in London. The high skill level, consideration, time and social impact put into its clothing makes it more valuable than a cup of coffee, and now the brand want to make sure the prices reflect that and that we, the consumers, understand why.
Co-founders Sophie Slater and Sarah Neville always knew they wanted to focus on the makers of their garments. Just for starters, each garment carries photographs of the women who cut, sew, embroider or knit the clothes on its labels.
How does Birdsong work? “We start by dreaming up designs, and then work with expert women makers who face barriers to employment – from artists and printmakers to seamstresses and painters – and pay them a London living wage to bring our creations to life,” explains Slater.
The new campaign takes transparency to an even higher level, however. “We pay £15ph in labour costs, which means a total of £27 for each dress,” she says. “Of this, around £19 will go straight to the migrant garment worker living in Tower Hamlets, and £8 to the charity supporting her.” The clothes are also made from sustainable, hand woven cotton, spun for a living wage in India, that costs £24.13 per dress and is biodegradable.
The total? “£120 - which covers all staff costs, office rent, postage and packaging done ethically by adults with learning difficulties at another charity in London,” says Sophie. No £1 bikinis here, ta very much. And the dress and the rest of SS19 is a treasure. One of the brand’s bestsellers is a t-shirt dress, cut from fire engine red handwoven khaki cloth, with concealed zip and body skimming shape. Genuinely clever slogan t-shirts sport phrases such as ‘Resist & Persist’, ‘Optimist’ and “Exercise Empathy’. “This is not just a new collection. This is a livelihood for local women in London,” says Sophie.
“This is a practised craft. This is a culture change. This is an investment in the planet,” she continues. Birdsong: a blueprint for a better fashion industry.
Who are the people changing the way we think about fashion?
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