Safia Minney
Safia Minney, MBE, is an award-winning social entrepreneur & internationally recognised for the company she founded, People Tree, a pioneer of sustainable fashion. She led the business as Global CEO for 20+ years in Japan & Europe. Safia is recognised by the World Economic Forum as an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur and is a leading influencer and international speaker on sustainable business and supply chains, climate action and Fair Trade. Safia is an advisor, executive coach and author of 9 books including; ‘Slave to Fashion’, campaigning to eradicate modern day slavery in the fashion industry and ‘Slow Fashion - Aesthetics meets Ethics’
Sunday 6th March
Slow Fashion in a Fast World
As the feminist movement continues to expand in its intersectionality, there is increasing awareness that women’s rights cannot be examined without acknowledging the significance of class, sexuality, race and ability. With 80% of garment workers across the world being female, and 20 million women home-based workers in the crafts/textile space in Pakistan alone, it’s almost undeniable that fast fashion, consumption and cultural crafts is a feminist issue. Women are underpaid, overworked and subject to unsafe working conditions and the panel will explore this in the context of capitalist-patriarchy and look at local responses, both within mainstream markets and in niche spaces, as potential ways forward. This panel represents a series that was initiated in 2019 and has evolved as a key feature of how we explore production and livelihoods as a feminist issue