Title
& Description
News Outlet
& Journalist
Date
& Location
MEDIA TYPE
& LENGTH
10 March 2021
United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Knitters are using social media, crowdsourcing, and spreadsheets to make the knitwear industry more inclusive of different body types. Designer Sarah Krentz offers patterns using an interactive spreadsheet where knitt...
19 February 2021
Kampala, Uganda
Video
5-15 Minutes
A Ugandan company called TEXFAD is taking the stems from banana trees that would normally go to waste and is turning them into new textiles like rugs, place mats, and hair extensions. Over its eight year existence, TE...
Associated Press
Vahid Salemi
29 December 2020
Tehran, Iran
Text
Under 800 Words
An organization in Tehran, Iran is helping women "looking for work to make handicrafts" by allowing them to use donated sewing machines as a means of becoming self-sufficient despite high rates of unemployment. When t...
15 December 2020
United States
Broadcast TV Talk Show
5-15 Minutes
After witnessing milk going to waste on his uncle dairy’s farm in China, Robert Lou came up with the idea to turn the leftover milk into clothing. It takes five glasses of milk to produce one t-shirt and he’s sold ove...
8 December 2020
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Text
800-1500 Words
Since 2014, the Sheltersuit Foundation has distributed more than 12,000 combination jackets and sleeping bags in multiple nations to protect unhoused people from cold weather. Dutch clothing designer Bas Timmer design...
17 November 2020
United States
Video
5-15 Minutes
The killing of George Floyd inspired a series of exhibits in Minneapolis featuring quilts made by over 100 artists depicting stories of racial injustices and also empowerment in the United States. These protest quilts...
20 October 2020
Melbourne, Australia
Text
Under 800 Words
Those wacky waving inflatable tube men normally seen outside car dealerships may also have a dual purpose: stopping wild dingoes from killing livestock. Inspired by a similar attempt in Oregon, scientists tested the a...
13 August 2020
Pottstown, Pennsylvania, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
A former costume designer and a farmer in Pennsylvania are partnering together to grow flax to produce their own linen. Since the fashion and textiles industries produce a lot of waste, the duo are reviving the crop t...
9 July 2020
Versailles, Kentucky, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
When a pandemic lockdown idled the men jailed at Woodford County Detention Center, they replaced the jobs they previously had performed in the community with work in the jail that served an immediate need: sewing prot...
Yes! Magazine
Tracy Barnett
17 June 2020
Oaxaca, Mexico
Text
1500-3000 Words
Mark Brown has brought Ghandian economic principles of economic justice and local autonomy to the Mexican countryside to form a farm-to-garment textile business that employs villagers who once made woolen textiles unt...
BBC
Nick Holland
26 May 2020
Costa Rica
Podcast
Over 15 Minutes
Old ships, powered by the wind, are being refurbished to sail small amounts of cargo around the world. While there are only a few hundred still in use, newer ships and sails are being designed and built with new techn...
4 May 2020
Denver, Colorado, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
Across Colorado, grassroots groups have come together to create homemade masks for the state’s most vulnerable populations to protect against COVID-19. Two of those populations are Denver’s Downtown Detention Center a...
15 April 2020
London, England, United Kingdom
Text
Under 800 Words
In the United Kingdom, a grassroots network called Scrub Hub is gathering groups of volunteers to sew scrubs for hospital workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic. The groups are self-organizing, raising money on their ...
25 March 2020
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
As hospitals and healthcare workers face a shortage of protective gear in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, an army of independent craftspeople have stepped up. Around the United States, they are sewing protectiv...
24 March 2020
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
As the shortage of personal protective equipment continues amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, homemade masks are becoming an increasingly important option. While N-95 masks are preferable over homemade cotton masks, hospit...
24 March 2020
New York, United States
Multi-Media
800-1500 Words
To help address the shortage of personal protective equipment in hospitals, companies and individuals in the fashion industry are turning from clothing production to face mask production. This approach, which is being...
11 March 2020
United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Climate Neutral, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, is creating a brand label that identifies companies that are offsetting and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Companies can purchase carbon offsets, where they ...
7 February 2020
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Text
800-1500 Words
Empowering young entrepreneurs fosters new, sustainable, and inclusive approaches to design and fashion. In Brazil, designers from Aglomerado da Serra, a favela in Belo Horizonte, are using up-cycling to make a more s...
PBS NewsHour
Rebecca Oh
30 October 2019
United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
More entrepreneurs are designing and producing apparel with transgender consumers in mind. It is often difficult to for trans individuals to find apparel that fits their bodies well. But several designers are making m...
13 June 2019
United States
Text
800-1500 Words
New startups are recycling worn fabrics as a way to combat the environmental impact of the fashion industry. Knickey is a subscription service where people can trade in worn-out underwear for a new pair of organic cot...
8 April 2019
United Kingdom
Text
1500-3000 Words
Making fashion sustainable requires a shift in the culture of the industry. Several brands and organizations are already working to change the unethical and unsustainable practices in fashion. From mobilizing hashtags...
25 January 2019
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Multi-Media
Under 800 Words
Blue Tin Production Co-operative taps into the sewing talents of immigrant and refugee women in Chicago by offering a living wage to produce work for designers and eventually their own clothing line. The program also ...
15 January 2019
Uttarakhand, India
Text
800-1500 Words
In a mountain village in the north of India, a women’s knitting group formed five years ago to help women reach for financial independence. The group ended up breaking stereotypes, building confidence, and creating li...
9 January 2019
Houston, Texas, United States
Text
800-1500 Words
Founded on addressing the lack of properly fitted workwear for women in the labor industry, SeeHerWork sells designed and tested products like gloves, safety vests, and backpacks specifically for women. In doing so, t...
Washington City Paper
Adrianna Smith
13 December 2018
District of Columbia, Washington, United States
Text
1500-3000 Words
On one floor of an affordable housing building in Washington, D.C., the NonStop Art Makerspace has made creativity more accessible. The makerspace was a group effort between Capital One, the Community Preservation and...
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