Katharine Hamnett, CBE

Katharine Hamnett CBE, is an international fashion designer best known for her political t-shirts and her ethical business philosophy. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, she launched her brand in 1979 with a range of eclectic women’s designs with menswear following in 1981.

If you want to get the message out there, you should print it in giant letters on a t-shirt. Fashion is a great tool for putting across political ideas in writing.
You can’t NOT read messages on t-shirts.

The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying - Look what I killed, aren't I the best.

For many years, I tried to change the industry from within by working with  the big players. I did the rounds of speaking at sustainability conferences, trying to create change, which are mostly hot air fests. It is so much easier now to produce sustainably than it was 15 years ago. So I relaunched the brand and made it as ethically and environmentally as possible, on the principle of show not tell.

Hamnett won the first ever British Fashion Awards, and in 1996, was voted Britain's favourite designer by readers of Cosmopolitan. She was awarded with a CBE in the 2011 New Year Honours, for services to the fashion industry.

Micro-fibres from synthetics such as Acrylic, nylon, polyester, as well as plastics in packaging, are creating huge problems for marine life. All of these are to name just a few of the many problematic areas of fashion production. 

We are not just consumers, we are also citizens of the world. There are the obvious ways, such as taking care to only buy goods that are sustainably produced. But then there are the less obvious ways, such as putting pressure on our elected representatives that we want new laws that only allow goods into our countries that are made to the same standards outside as within.

This would have the effect of making outsourced goods more expensive. As it costs more to pay people properly, treat them well, and use sustainable fabrics and processes, thereby protecting all the outsourced garment workers. Brands would not be able to bunny-hop from one country to another, because laws in one place would have become stricter. They would only be able to ship into the EU if their goods conformed. This would make local manufacturing within our economic block more competitive, create jobs, and cut CO2.

To learn more about Katherine Hamnett click and explore any of her media channels and network links in the tool-bar above.