I met Lucy Siegle!

Well, very briefly. We said "hello" and we mentioned that Connected Threads Asia is working on the Singapore campaign for Fashion Revolution.  Actually, I felt like an excited school girl meeting an idol for the first time.  I wish I had said something a bit more constructive, but I did mention to her how difficult it is to get the sustainable fashion movement in Singapore moving.

Lucy was here in Singapore to speak at Asia Fashion Future, which is a collaboration between the British Council and LASALLE College of the Arts, in-conjuction with Digital Fashion Week. She was also joined by Fashion 4 Freedom founder, LanVy Nguyen, and its creative director, Victoria Ho. Although the session was less than 2 hours, many great points were brought up. In fact I thought it gelled well with the earlier session on social media influences on fashion (speakers were Niki Bruce, Editor of HerWorld, Norman Tan, Editor-in-chief Buro24/7, and Billie JD Porter).

Only buy it if you know you will wear it 30 times
Lucy is spot on. Why buy it if it's going to sit in your closet?
It was very interesting to hear how research has shown how our brain responds to shopping on a whim - a sudden euphoria, and then, despite the purchase, disinterest in the item. But what caught my attention was.....

Social media encourages buying
Have you thought about how we are fueling the fast fashion trend? Social media has become the platform for everyone to follow the runways and fashion shoots but, perhaps now it has given us the opportunity to become the trendsetter - street fashion etc.   Perhaps our "likes", our posts of #ootd (outfit of the day), our video hauls are encouraging more people to buy.  In fact, I came across this article in the NY Times about how fashion is moving so fast that it's killing creativity and causing designer burnout.  Hey, I don't want to wear cookie cutter designs, but that's what fast fashion is giving us.

[Note: Norman Tan mentioned that at Buro24/7 they produce more than 60 fashion-related articles a week on their website. With a team of just 10 (I think that's right), I think I would burn-out too!]

It's all about the product
If you're going into sustainable fashion, focus on the product, make it beautiful and people will buy it. The sustainability message will still be there, but that's probably not what your potential clients are focussed on (at first!).

Keep your sustainability message simple
No one wants to be given a long lecture. Focus on the key points and make it fun - a video perhaps?

Empower your artisans
One of the most important messages I got was "empower your artisans".  Why?  They may work for your brand, but by teaching them the skills they need, you can turn them into entrepreneurs so that they can work WITH your brand.

I really love the business model that Fashion4Freedom has used. It has enabled them to work together with their artisans, co-create products and create a community.

Here I am with Lucy and Raye (my partner for Connected Threads Asia). Now don't I look like an excited school girl?

Thank you to British Council Singapore for this wonderful opportunity.