ABOUT
I am a designer, maker, researcher and writer. Through design-led participatory research, I explore plural possibilities for post-growth fashion systems: alternative ways of living with our clothes that meet our fundamental human needs and respect ecological limits.
The main vehicle for this research is my Fashion Fictions project, which brings people together to imagine, explore and enact alternative fashion worlds as an unconventional route to real-world change. I founded the project in 2020 and it has already involved thousands of participants across six continents. Fashion Fictions was funded by a Research, Development and Engagement Fellowship from the Arts & Humanities Research Council from 2021–23. A book exploring common themes within the diverse fictional visions, Fashion Fictions: Imagining Sustainable Worlds, is currently under contract for Bloomsbury Academic.
Other activities support the development of my key interests. In 2022 and 2023, for example, I ran a Degrowth Discussion Series for research and teaching colleagues in the Fashion, Textiles and Knitwear Design department at Nottingham School of Art & Design. The co-authored book Historical Perspectives on Sustainable Fashion: Inspiration for Change (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023) enabled me to consider the use of historical precedents to inform future sustainability transitions. I am a board member and treasurer of the Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion, an international organisation working for systems change in fashion.
I have a particular interest in commons and commoning, which dates back to my investigation of the ‘fashion commons’ in my doctoral work. This interest was expanded through leadership of Crafting the Commons, an AHRC-funded network interrogating connections between craft practices and ideas of the commons active from 2019 to 2021. The network informed the development of We Are Commoners, a major touring exhibition by Craftspace in 2021–22.
Another interest is participatory textile making as a means of research. I coordinate Stitching Together, a network that aims to foster critical dialogue around participatory textile making in research and practice. The network was funded by the AHRC from 2019 to 2021.
Background
I have been actively exploring the relationship between fashion and sustainability since 2004, when I founded my experimental craft fashion knitwear label, Keep & Share.
I studied for a PhD at Birmingham City University from 2010 to 2013. Entitled Folk Fashion: Amateur Re-knitting as a Strategy for Sustainability, this work utilised a participatory workshop-based methodology to generate new insights about experiences of making, remaking and fashion. The research formed the basis of my first book, Folk Fashion: Understanding Homemade Clothes, published by I.B.Tauris in 2017. The practical side of the project developed into Reknit Revolution, an ongoing initiative supporting knitters to rework the items in their wardrobes. This work was showcased at a major solo exhibition at Rugby Museum & Art Gallery in 2017.
From 2014 to 2016 I was a postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Leeds working on Design Routes, a collaborative research project funded by the AHRC.
Design Routes aimed to explore how design can make a meaningful contribution in developing and revitalising culturally significant designs, products and practices to make them relevant to the needs of people today. A co-edited book, Design Roots: Culturally Significant Designs, Products, and Practices, was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2018.
Soon after joining Nottingham Trent University in 2016 I co-edited a second book, Fashion Knitwear Design, with my colleague Helen Hill. The chapters were written by the team of specialists who deliver Nottingham Trent University’s highly respected fashion knitwear design courses.
My inaugural lecture from January 2021 provides an overview of my work in fashion and sustainability over the past twenty years.
The main vehicle for this research is my Fashion Fictions project, which brings people together to imagine, explore and enact alternative fashion worlds as an unconventional route to real-world change. I founded the project in 2020 and it has already involved thousands of participants across six continents. Fashion Fictions was funded by a Research, Development and Engagement Fellowship from the Arts & Humanities Research Council from 2021–23. A book exploring common themes within the diverse fictional visions, Fashion Fictions: Imagining Sustainable Worlds, is currently under contract for Bloomsbury Academic.
Other activities support the development of my key interests. In 2022 and 2023, for example, I ran a Degrowth Discussion Series for research and teaching colleagues in the Fashion, Textiles and Knitwear Design department at Nottingham School of Art & Design. The co-authored book Historical Perspectives on Sustainable Fashion: Inspiration for Change (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023) enabled me to consider the use of historical precedents to inform future sustainability transitions. I am a board member and treasurer of the Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion, an international organisation working for systems change in fashion.
I have a particular interest in commons and commoning, which dates back to my investigation of the ‘fashion commons’ in my doctoral work. This interest was expanded through leadership of Crafting the Commons, an AHRC-funded network interrogating connections between craft practices and ideas of the commons active from 2019 to 2021. The network informed the development of We Are Commoners, a major touring exhibition by Craftspace in 2021–22.
Another interest is participatory textile making as a means of research. I coordinate Stitching Together, a network that aims to foster critical dialogue around participatory textile making in research and practice. The network was funded by the AHRC from 2019 to 2021.
Background
I have been actively exploring the relationship between fashion and sustainability since 2004, when I founded my experimental craft fashion knitwear label, Keep & Share.
I studied for a PhD at Birmingham City University from 2010 to 2013. Entitled Folk Fashion: Amateur Re-knitting as a Strategy for Sustainability, this work utilised a participatory workshop-based methodology to generate new insights about experiences of making, remaking and fashion. The research formed the basis of my first book, Folk Fashion: Understanding Homemade Clothes, published by I.B.Tauris in 2017. The practical side of the project developed into Reknit Revolution, an ongoing initiative supporting knitters to rework the items in their wardrobes. This work was showcased at a major solo exhibition at Rugby Museum & Art Gallery in 2017.
From 2014 to 2016 I was a postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Leeds working on Design Routes, a collaborative research project funded by the AHRC.
Design Routes aimed to explore how design can make a meaningful contribution in developing and revitalising culturally significant designs, products and practices to make them relevant to the needs of people today. A co-edited book, Design Roots: Culturally Significant Designs, Products, and Practices, was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2018.
Soon after joining Nottingham Trent University in 2016 I co-edited a second book, Fashion Knitwear Design, with my colleague Helen Hill. The chapters were written by the team of specialists who deliver Nottingham Trent University’s highly respected fashion knitwear design courses.
My inaugural lecture from January 2021 provides an overview of my work in fashion and sustainability over the past twenty years.