ETHICAL STYLE
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7
STYLE SPECIAL
so if I think they have been treated in a sub-human
way it takes all the joy out of that garment.”
It's not only her fashion commentary, broadcasting
and campaigning that we can thank Caryn for, she's also
an ambassador for the London College of Fashion's
Centre of Sustainability.
“I began looking at my relationship with sustainability
around 15-20 years ago, where I'd just started to see
everything speed up,” Franklin explains. “Something that I
would have bought one season, that was great quality, would
suddenly have no currency the following season. I didn't
want to keep buying new, so I had to adjust my position and
what I was saying to other people who were asking me to
commentate on their behalf. I began to be more critical of
this constant trend turnover. I started to look at clothes in a
different way; I began to look at second-hand and designers
who were working with materials that were sourced in a
different way, and this, in turn, made me work in a different
way, and work for companies that would support my ethics.
I've made certain choices and I've created my own definition
of success, because there have been companies that have
given me an invitation to work with them, and with that,
great money, and I've had to say no. I don't do
this every day, and when I do do it, it causes me a great
deal of concern. But, I've had to, and
wanted
to, change the
way that I work.”
Caryn's interest in slow fashion has certainly grown over
the years and she's become more knowledgeable about the
lack of ethics in the fashion industry. “I, and others, are
in the best possible place to be vocal about this because
we're in the industry all the time – we see it, warts and all.
It's only when you really love something, that you're in the
best position to reform it. A person on the outside, is just
a person with a placard on a stick, but how do they know
where to begin reforming? The suggestion to the London
College of Fashion to create a centre for sustainable fashion
was mine years ago, when I was an external assessor." Not
one to shy away from championing other ethical influencers,
Franklin openly supports people like Safia Minney: “I think
she is doing an amazing job; she's created our biggest and
highest profile sustainable fashion label, People Tree, and
seeing the work that she has done, and going with her and
being able to report about it after, those things become
natural extensions of engaging with fashion and also seeking
out other designers in the wider community,” says Caryn.
Sustainable clothing hasn't always been portrayed in the
most glamorous light, but Caryn believes that anybody who
chooses to believe that ethical clothing is unfashionable is
holding onto an old ideal. “They should possibly look at
why it benefits them to hold on to that. So, it might just be
that it's easier for them to use the high street and not think
Caryn in her earlier presenting days.
Photography by Paul Ward