The UK CCC's project is called "Fashioning an Ethical Industry" (FEI). In the two years since it started, FEI has been running student workshops and training events for educators involved in fashion-related courses. They have been providing teachers with resources to help integrate ethical issues related to garment manufacture into their teaching. The UK CCC ultimately hopes to embed ethical issues into the curriculum of all fashion courses across the UK.
A one-day FEI conference called "Creating an Ethical Future for the Fashion Industry", held in March 2007 at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, successfully attracted students, teachers, and course development teams from twenty universities and colleges across the UK. Speakers included Noemi Flores Rivas of the Maria Elena Cuadra Women's Movement in Nicaragua, Lakshmi Bhatia, director of Global Partnerships for Gap, and Arabella Preston, PR manager for People Tree, as well as other clothing industry stakeholders.
One teacher commented, "The information received from you and the conference has already been of great benefit to our students as I have been able to direct queries to the literature and bring the subject into teaching and discussions I have had with the students".
A previous training event for educators, in December 2006, looked at "fast fashion" and the impact of buying decisions on working conditions within the garment industry. Their next conference, planned for Manchester in March 2008, will be on the theme of the rise and impact of ethical consumerism.
According to FEI's co-coordinator Hannah Higginson, fashion students and teachers are interested in all areas of sustainable fashion, from fair trade to recycling. FEI is supported by a steering group made up of teachers and students of fashion-related courses from across the country. Students are encouraged to become FEI "student reps" to help shape the project and to stimulate awareness among fellow students.
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