Why I’m blogging again after a hiatus
I used to have a blog years ago but somewhere in-between starting and growing a business, a career that evolves at the rate Madonna’s look did during the 80’s & 90’s, 7 moves, a wedding and living abroad for a couple of stints – it got neglected and eventually shrivelled into non existence. Still, things often come full circle in my experience and the topics I wanted to talk about then and those I want to share now may not be all that different, but it certainly feels like a more relevant time to be talking about sustainable fashion brands and movements. I’m so pleased to say that I know there is now a growing community of people who may be interested. So if you’re interested in ‘thoughtful fashion’ stick around!
Image: mayamiko Campaign as creative directed and styled by Emma Slade Edmondson
I’m going to start with a bit about me…
So Hi, I’m Emma Slade Edmondson, I’m a Creative Strategic Consultant working in fashion retail, marketing and branding. My Consultancy works exclusively with ethical brands, or those looking to start the journey to be more so. For 10 years I have pretty much made it my mission to push brands with social and environmental heart to understand the need to start with the customer and what will move them to truly desire, love and need their product. Whilst my work is about products that are good for people and the planet, my mantra has always been aesthetics and experience first because when I started out in this sector many sustainable fashion orgs had sustainable and ethical production down to a tee, while the product, brand, brand experience or presentation just wasn’t quite lust worthy enough.
A mission to help organisations who are doing social or environmental good
My years of experience in advertising, working for the best agencies with the most profitable global clients, my experience in fashion, an instinct for cultural trends and my knowledge of psychology and behaviour change all pointed me to the idea that doing all the right things to create a product wouldn’t make enough of a difference, it wouldn’t sell. So I made it my mission to help organisations who are doing social or environmental good to create offerings and build brands, brand experiences and comms strategies that incite behaviour change and get people revved up. I work with single product led brands such as fashion labels and designers and with charity retailers looking to attract new younger audiences and spark new customer attitudes and behaviours, and to change the customer landscape where their traditional shopper and donor over indexes in the over 45s and 50s demographic.
My niche area of expertise and the thing I get most joy from is sustainable/ethical fashion and second hand textiles and this has really stemmed from my personal love for vintage and second hand clothing options and a growing desire to educate people about the negative impacts of fast fashion, and to change people’s perceptions of sustainable fashion options and second hand clothes.
I’ve been working in this specific space for almost 10 years now and whilst there’s a growing interest in conscious consumption and a definite culture of resale for vintage streetwear brands now, your average high street shopper still might be wary of shopping someone else’s second hand threads. Early on I realised that exciting representations of vintage and second hand clothing (that felt modern and fresh) were needed to really spark behaviour change, and this is what sparked the idea for Charity Fashion Live which you might have heard of!
So what was Charity Fashion Live all about?
I wanted to create something during fashion week to prove that second hand fashion is a viable sustainable option that it is totally on trend and to give a sustainable brand or NGO a mouthpiece during the biggest fashion event of the year. I decided that the best proof would be recreating London Fashion Week looks, in real time using only what we could find in a single charity shop. When we first started out I had no idea if this mad cap scheme would work but 7 seasons later I’ve recreated everything from Holly Fulton and Sibling to House of Holland and Molly Goddard and we are lucky to count Henry Holland as an ambassador. For me charity fashion live was an antithesis to the exclusivity of fashion week – with everything we showed on our catwalk being shared on social media almost immediately and the charity shop being open during the event – anyone and everyone had a front row seat. I think CFL captured peoples and the press’ imagination and we were featured in the Huff Post, the Guardian Observer and even London Fashion Week magazine themselves gave us a mention!
For me shopping second hand is the most sustainable fashion choice and I love creating and strategising for organisations like cancer research uk and love not landfill (lwarb) on how to prove to their customers how desirable and relatable their wares really are.
But I’m also just as proud to have clients like Mayamiko and katie jones who have pioneered sustainable fashion options from the start of the movement and to have supported revolutionaries and revolutionary campaigns such as fashion revolution day and Orsola and Carry from the very beginning.
Image: Fashion Revolution Day shoot: 2014, Creative Direction, Production and styling by Emma Slade Edmondson.
If you like fash-un and you’re interested in doing it more thoughtfully then hang out here for everything from – fashion rental and sustainable brands to shopping second hand, innovation in retail and the charity fashion world (and maybe some lifestyle thrown in here and there)! it’s going to be a mixed, but hopefully delightfully interesting bag.
See you soon!
Emma Xx
