That’s Not My Age podcast: Fashion Revolution founder and author Orsola de Castro
Orsola de Castro photo: Annie Johnston
Orsola de Castro is the global creative director of Fashion Revolution a not-for-profit organisation formed in response to the Rana Plaza factory disaster in 2013. We first met at London Fashion Week a year earlier, when Orsola was managing Esthetica the showcase for sustainable designers – and I (very superficially) stopped to ask her about the fabulous gold trousers she was wearing. A leading pioneer in the sustainable fashion world, 54-year-old Orsola created the label From Somewhere in the late 1990s, making upcycled clothes and items from off-cuts and end-of-roll fabric from factories in Italy. Now, a fully fledged fashion revolutionary, together with co-founder Carrie Somers, she leads a global movement calling for change in the fashion industry. Orsola de Castro is an outstanding speaker on sustainability and now an author. Her first book Loved Clothes Last (How the Joy of Rewearing and Repairing Your Clothes Can Be a Revolutionary Act) has just been published by Penguin. Full of practical tips on how to lengthen the lifespan of your clothing and reveal your inner craftivist, it also contains staggering facts and figures on the impact of fast fashion on the workforce and the planet.
Orsola’s new book
Born in Rome, Orsola loves pizza and is reading Bernadine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. On taking a more sustainable approach and making loved clothes last she says, ‘ Our wardrobes don’t have to be the finish line; they can be the starting point. We can all care, repair and rewear. Do you accept the challenge?’
Fashion Revolution Week happens once a year, in April. Find out more HERE
PODCAST LINKS
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The That’s Not My Age podcast is now recorded using a web-based application on my computer due to Covid-19 restrictions.
PODCAST CREDITS
Producer and audio engineer: Linda Ara-Tebaldi
Host: Alyson Walsh
Guest: Orsola De Castro
Music: David Schweitzer
Artwork: Ayumi Takahashi
Coordinator: Helen Johnson
Discussion (16 Comments)
Mrs Tonia says:
Look forward to listening to this new podcast over weekend.
I recall her being featured on TNMA previously. As it turns out I’ve purchased this book along with others on how to mend clothing and have done several Toast mending workshops in lockdown. Very practical to sew along with the zoom tutorials. Next week darning class. It’s actually positive to patch things up and keep wearing. Embracing the imperfections along the way.
Thanks for featuring Orsola De Castro again on TNMA.CC says:
This is fantastic! What an intelligent approach to everything, really, not just our clothes – and i am terribly silly to use “just” not now.
aleida wilbrink says:
I was hoping you would feature her. Reading her book right now, it’s great – as a fellow keeper of clothes I relate to her message. Should be mandatory reading material at schools all over the world.
bev (maudie) says:
Thanks, Alyson. I have just ordered Ms de Castro’s book and plan on listening to podcast at the weekend.
Mary Doherty says:
Flora Collingwood Norris does fantastic work with Visible Mending of Knitwear, they are beautiful She also offers kits to use to repair knitwear and she designs and makes beautiful knitwear under the label Collingwood Norris in her small Studio in the Scottish Borders
Thanks for the heads up! I’ll review Loved Clothes Last over at my blog, CaretoKeep.com. And of course I’ll link to your podcast. We love hearing about work in the sustainability/fashion arena!
I’ve just listened to this new podcast with Orsola. Fascinating range of topics covered. Her strong personality and convictions are apparent and well drawn out by your incisive questions.
Interesting tidbits here too in the question section at the end. I read Evaristo last spring and have just downloaded Yaa Gyasi most recent novel Transcendent Kingdom as well as the earlier one on recommendation of a friend. Have also got my copy of Anna Ahmatova poems.
Tomorrow back to her book on keeping and mending clothes which I got when it came out.
Stimulating of a lockdown evening with no possibility of going out to listen to this podcast. Thanks for the food for thought Alyson. Keep them coming please.MaryRose OSullivan says:
Excellent interview Alyson, thank you. Stand out moments for me were shopping by principles as well as by look and fit, and comparison with gourmet food and high fashion, as we all need to wear clothing like we need to eat so it is a topic I need to pay more attention to when buying clothes. I have reworked a few garments in recent years thanks to the talents Marzanna, a local Alterations/seamstress business Stitch n Sew in Glanmire, Cork, and said goodbye forever to too long sleeves and too wide shoulders. Great podcast.
I have just (Dylon) wash and dyed a load of less than white linen (dress, two short sleeved jumpers and a top) orange! Amazingly all of them worked out well with no ‘blotchy’ areas and they look so uplifting for post-Lockdown zappiness!
Jacque says:
Enjoyed your interview with her. Such a shame so many people cannot even do the most basic clothes repairs, everyone, male and female, should be able to sew on a button or put a few stitches into a dropping hem. I am sure back in the 70’s one of the trendy jeans shops had a zip replacing service , does anyone else remember this? Then again back then jeans were so tight and had no stretch so zips were under a lot of pressure.
I cannot abide piling knitwear and was going to replace several jumpers in the wardrobe but decided to try a battery operated defuzzer. Jumpers have now been washed, de-bobbled and steamed. They look like new – so satisfyingly money-saving and ready for the Aussie winter.carole b says:
Really enjoyed this podcast, and I have just ordered Orsola’s book through Hive. I’m seeing it as a Mother’s Day present for myself – I feel it connects me with my mum and her generation, who really looked after and made and repaired clothes all their lives. Although I’m still drawn to looking at clothes online, and putting stuff in my basket, I’m taking Orsola’s advice to really think about purchases, and finding that mostly I don’t go back to buy.
Happy International Women’s Day everyone!PS – was thrilled that my younger son (20 and now living on his own) showed me on Friday where he had sewn and repaired one of his slippers!
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Well this looks great. Her approach is inspiring.