Dr Alison Gwilt (Fashion & Sustainability, SHU) talks about the UK’s attitude to clothing repairs on Radio 4

Dr Alison Gwilt, Reader in fashion and sustainability at Sheffield Hallam University was interviewed for Radio 4’s Costing the Earth programme about her research study which looked at the country’s attitude to repairing clothing and why some people don’t see the value in doing so.

Alison led the Make Do and Mend interdisciplinary research project at SHU, bringing together researchers from the Communication and Computing, and Art and Design Research Centres, and the Material and Engineering Research Institute, exploring how we might reinvigorate community-based approaches to the repair of clothing and examines the potential roles for online and offline activities to facilitate knowledge exchange, build communities and develop new repair processes and strategies.

Listen to the show on BBC Radio 4 here (from 17:50).

Alison Gwilt is a fashion design researcher, author and consultant. She explores and promotes a range of innovative design methods and approaches that enable the fashion and textiles community, from educators, to producers, and consumers, to adopt more sustainable and ethical practices. Her work focuses on the use of positive/sustainable design interventions that challenge the current production and consumption paradigm.