Artisan Rights at the Ethical Fashion Hackathon

The Cultural Intellectual Property Rights Initiative is delighted to have participated today in the Ethical Fashion Hackathon, an event where over 60 participants from 60 different countries contributed with concrete ideas for resolving pressing challenges faced by the textile and fashion industry today.

The brainstorming was decided across four action areas:

1. Fashion Weeks

2. Production and Sales Cycles

3. Responsibility Standards

4. Supply Chains

Here is a short insight on some of the topics discussed during the Ethical Fashion Hackathon with relevance for the craft economy and focus on cultural sustainability.

Under the Fashion Weeks theme a topic of discussion was ARTISANAL TOURISM.

There was also input on bringing traditional artisans into the limelight at a global level through the use of technology and virtual exhibitions and agreement on the need to pass the microphone to artisan communities. Hear their voice.

Under the Responsibility Standards theme there was a proposal of wide-use of BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY for textile and fashion industry traceability and transparency - 7Weaves co-founder Rituraj Dewan brought in important perspectives on behalf of artisan communities and traditional craftspeople.

The problem of inaccessibility and non-affordability of certification to sustainable handcrafted fabric producers - weavers from over the world from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Marocco etc. was given due attention.

Under the Production and Sales theme there was a proposal for officially following a TWO SEASON FASHION CYCLE that would give more space to craftsmanship and storytelling, allowing for longer lead times which would be more adapted to the creative practices of artisans and traditional creative communities.

Cultural IP Rights Initiative founder Monica Boța-Moisin, Bëdu founder Alice Maturin-Baird, Sri Lanka based entrepreneur Vikum Rajapakse from Kantala and creative thinker Júlia Coma Vilarasu worked together on a proposal for a solidarity framework for fair contracts and pricing. The actionable idea of creating a legal framework for negotiating all contracts and transparently calculating prices based on the principle of solidarity between all the stakeholders of the textile and fashion value chain.

The Ethical Fashion Hackathon is an initiative of the International Trade Centre’s Ethical Fashion Initiative and CommonVC, in close partnership with the European Union.

Thank you for providing an extraordinary forum for idea-exchange and action determination!

#ethicalfashionhackathon #culturalsustainability #ethicalfashioninitiatve #legalframework #artisanrights

Text by Monica Boța-Moisin, 2020