Sri Lanka leads successful campaign for Global Fashion Revolution Day

Friday, 2 May 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

AOD in partnership with its own sustainable design star, young Fashion Designer Lonali from House of Lonali leads Sri Lankan campaign on Global Fashion Revolution Day

On 24 April 2013, 1,133 people were killed and many more were injured when the Rana Plaza factory complex collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh due to its adverse conditions. The strain it caused the whole fashion supply chain is still felt today. The Fashion Revolution Day (FRD), marking the one year anniversary of this tragedy, went beyond a traditional commemoration limited to a minute of silence, and attempted to address the root of the problem which is, the lack of transparency and interest in fashion manufacturing origins. FRD took a stance to stop fashion from committing more crimes and promote guilt-free clothing by creating true awareness on the importance of people questioning where their clothes come from. This international fashion movement swept across the world and invited to lead Sri Lanka in this was Sri Lanka’s dynamic design campus AOD.

The campaign kicked off early April where pre-FRD workshops and presentations were held at AOD International Design campus to create awareness of why ethical sourcing is crucial and the repercussions of careless manufacturing practices. Further, House of Lonali conducted a detailed quiz through their official Facebook page. The response to the quiz was overwhelmingly successful and it was wonderful to find out the youth of Sri Lanka were conscious and sensitive towards ethical fashion manufacturing and insist better transparency of supply chain. On FRD (24.04.14), AOD students in partnership with House of Lonali (Sri Lankan ethical Designer Brand) rallied to turn their clothes inside out to find out where their clothes were made. This gesture was to spark a wave of interest in the origin of our clothes. The event was open those who wanted to support the cause and take a stance. The event commenced in the morning at the Park Street Mews and moved over to the Good Market later in the afternoon. Each enthusiastic participant pledged to make fashion manufacturing more sustainable and ethical. Many pictures of labels belonging to ethically made garments were posted on the event’s Facebook page with the hashtag #fashionrevolutionSL.and facebook.com/AODSrilanka. This campaign is a movement that will hopefully ignite a passion and a commitment to ethical fashion consumerism from Sri Lanka, billed as the world first sustainable fashion manufacturing destination, to aid the larger global movement.