The second in this year’s Better Lives Lectures series, marked the paperback release of the Routledge Handbook of Sustainability and Fashion, co-edited by the Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF) Professor Kate Fletcher and Professor Mathilda Tham of Linnaeus University, Sweden. CSF who are hosting this year’s lectures, invited guests to join eight of the Handbook’s contributing authors in a human library event.
Just like in a real library, a visitor to the Human Library chose a Book from a range of titles. The difference is that the books were people, and reading was a conversation. In the Human Library attendees were invited to ‘borrow’ different fashion-sustainability specialists for small group discussions.
Participants included: Prof. Carole Collet from Central Saint Martins, Dr. Sue Thomas from Heriot-Watt University, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion Prof.Dilys Williams, LCF’s Liz Parker, Amy Twigger-Holroyd from Nottingham Trent University, and Dr. Andrew Brooks from King’s College London.
Participants selected the titles they wished to discuss and joined small dynamic group discussions led by the ‘book’. Discussions lasted 15-20 minutes, when participants were then given an opportunity to choose to borrow another book.
The final Better Lives lecture in the 2017 series explores whether modern slavery can ever be eliminated from the fashion industry. Led by Professor Dilys Williams, Baroness Lola Young, and facilitated by LCF’s Liz Parker, panels will represent NGOs and industry – the event will bring together fashion buyers, parliamentarians, educators, graduates, students and others for a guided discussion exploring the role of fashion buying in eliminating modern slavery from the fashion industry.