if I asked every one of you in this room
to name something that you all have in
common with one another and you rely on
it so much you’ve actually brought it
along with you today to this event would
you know what it is this product is part
of a 2.7 trillion dollar industry
employs 75 million people globally and
produces an estimated 100 billion units
per year as well as being one of the
oldest products crafted and traded it
can also enhance a person’s performance
and mental well-being so you’re thinking
it’s an app on my smartphone right no
actually it’s much more part of us today
than even our smartphones it’s clothing
yep these seemingly simple pieces of
fabric sewn together draped around our
bodies literally touching us are so much
more than just clothes now my passion
for designing clothes didn’t come about
because I was brought up in the fashion
industry far from it literally far from
it in a small rural fishing village in
the northeast of Scotland the closest I
came to making any kind of fashion
statement growing up was deciding
whether I should wear my brother’s
hand-me-downs tucked inside my wellies
that season or over the top the most
important thing that I’ve learned in the
decades of working with people and the
clothes that they wear is that it’s not
actually about how you look that’s most
important what really matters is how
clothes make you feel now our close
association with textiles isn’t just
their physical proximity to our bodies
we hairless apes have been wearing
clothes since 6,000 BC and whether we’re
actually aware of it or not
clothes are an extension of our
personalities and our desire to belong
to stand out to blend in to make a
statement to tracked a partner to
protect us physically but some
emotionally – even the art of taking
your clothes off is part of sex and
seduction in a complex mating game now I
got distracted by that one the Victorian
Industrial Revolution started right here
in the UK with textiles being the first
mass-produced commodity from that
revolution many words terms and
expressions are still woven into
everyday figures of speech but a little
like our attitudes towards clothes have
become so normalized now that our
importance and significance has almost
been lost I was chatting to my colleague
last week and we were discussing a
strategy and we came to the same
solution and she said ok that’s because
we’re cut from the same cloth and then
that very same afternoon I read an email
from a friend
and she’d written it’s all falling apart
at the seams we catch shuttle buses we
weave through traffic we follow comment
threads of online posts and before I
lose the thread of what it is that I’m
trying to say words that originated in
textile production and the tailor’s work
rooms are still very much part of the
fabric of today’s society now our
happiness and performance levels are
intertwined with what we wear and there
are several studies that actually
support this Northwest University took a
group of students and asked them to
perform some mental agility tasks but
they gave them a doctor’s white lab coat
to do so the control group were their
own clothes those wearing the doctor’s
white lab coat performs significantly
better than those in their own clothing
in the second study they gave them the
exact same coat but this time told them
it was just painters overall these
results were significantly less than
those wearing the doctor’s coat
believing they were wearing the doctor
in the final study they placed the
doctors lab coat at the front of the
room and asked the students to imagine
that they were wearing it whilst
undertaking the mental agility tasks the
results were similar to those who were
wearing their own clothes from the first
study the conclusion it’s not enough to
think you were wearing something that’s
associated with professionalism and care
you actually have to be wearing it to
reap the benefits this is called and
closed cognition but we already know
this ourselves right because we when we
pull on something that makes us feel
good inside we stand taller
we’re braver we have that little bit
more confidence and self-belief now
fashion has used the emotional boost
that clothes can give us selling more
and more to us as we chase that dream of
an enhanced version of itself but if we
continue to consume clothing at the rate
that we do today it’s estimated by 2030
is going to require to earth worth of
resources to sustain demand in that same
time period the demand for clothing is
expected to rise by 63 percent today
clothes have become the same cost as a
packet of posh crisps or coffee
quite literally clothes are as cheap as
chips the consumers expectation is that
they’re cheap and therefore they buy
more but there’s a huge social and
environmental cost to be paid for this
vast fashion trend it takes two thousand
seven hundred litres of water to produce
just one conventional cotton t-shirt
that’s the same as an average person
would drink for three years there are
some 72 toxic chemicals used in the
textile dyeing and manufacturing
processes many of these end up in the
water courses are impossible to be
filtered or removed textiles is the
second largest pollutant of clean water
on the planet
many farm and factory workers in the
purest countries are still trapped in
modern-day slavery
making the cheap clothes that we have
come to expect now fashion is responding
with closed-loop production systems up
cycling clothes better biodegradable
fabrics sourcing from sustainable
sources even using waste products such
as orange peel or pineapple stalks
scooping plastic out of the ocean to
make Footwear and developing better
microfiber fabrics that don’t shed when
washed the ends up in the ocean and our
food supply but all of these take time
to develop and adopt and something we
can start right now is shifting our
consumption habits I wanted to take a
moment though and just kind of explain
how I believe we’ve got to where we are
where the brands continue to squeeze the
manufacturers to pay less than a living
wage to their workers and reducing the
cost of their garments clever marketing
this week’s must-have best buy it bagged
subtly toying with her emotions that if
were not shopping and consuming we’re
not actually fashionable a fashion has
used this Tosh fashion has created
insecurities insecurities that they
themselves are now benefiting from
celebrity endorsements clever social
media schemes have us all believing we
must buy buy buy and then share share
share but the thing is they’re not
actually selling you clothes they’re
selling you hope I call this hope on a
hanger
you hope but by making that new purchase
that your body might be magically
transformed you hope that you’ll get the
job you hope your partner will love you
you hope you might actually like
yourself that little bit more let me ask
you two questions how many of you have
bought something and regretted it maybe
never even worn it okay and secondly how
many of you own clothes that when you
wear them you don’t feel that great in
them yeah we’ve all done it we have
we’re all guilty of it for the past five
years I’ve been looking into which
clothes have the most power and
influence on us and my conclusion it’s
subjective there are no rights and
wrongs in what we choose to wear it’s a
feeling that comes from within us and
not simply about buying another new
dress or shirt we need to understand
which clothes make us feel good and why
sorry guys completely lost place I love
this bit it could be the color their
texture although that feeling of comfort
they give you like a child swaddled in
soft blankets wrapped around you clothes
are part of who you are as much as they
have shaped the earth in which we all
live
yet we have reduced them to frenzied
levels of consumption in search of the
next quick shopping fix and dopamine
high fast fashion has eroded the very
essence of what clothes mean to us as
human beings why is it women have more
clothing choices yet less confidence in
what we wear five-year-olds love to
dress up and express themselves through
their clothes but children age occurs
especially as young as 7 are now
concerned with their appearance
including the clothes that they’re
wearing long gone from our society is
the strict dress codes of what we should
and shouldn’t wear and laughter own free
will to drape
wrap suspend whatever we want on our
bodies has brought on mass insecurities
what will I wear today how many even
thought that this morning for coming
here and then a second question comes
into your mind when you do cool on
something it’s like does this even like
actually suit me you know and who are we
asking when that question punctures our
thoughts usually it’s just ourselves and
we’re pretty quick at responding from my
most recent study the little contentious
beastie that I call mirror mouth had 82%
responding negatively about the clothes
that they were wearing this little inner
critic hacks enter our brainwaves and
says things to us we wouldn’t dream of
saying to someone else yet we listen but
I’ve developed a black belt and self
defense and it’s called dressing your
positives when that
question does this suit me zaps across
my front cortex my mirror my scans my
reflection checking that I’m ticking
positive boxes only no more thoughts of
does my bum look big in this can you
tell I don’t have a 6-pack yet does it
show I miss my gym session last night
instead of focusing on concealing what
you don’t like about your body you need
to concentrate and what you do like your
positives can even be that you’re
wearing something sustainable or ethical
it’s time to adjust your view of what
marketing has Bettis for decades to be
less judgmental and what is right wrong
beautiful or unattractive and here’s the
most important part it starts with
ourselves when you develop your own
style DNA focus only on your positives
then those social media shares and likes
and what others think it really doesn’t
matter and even if what you wear is not
a thought that crosses your mind daily
the impact you have through the clothing
choices you make influences the planet
in which we all live I want to see
fashion continue to thrive but I believe
we should pay a fair price to those who
make our clothes
a world where we buy better where we buy
less and where the money filters all the
way to the base of the supply chain a
world where we really do care about what
we wear thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
to name something that you all have in
common with one another and you rely on
it so much you’ve actually brought it
along with you today to this event would
you know what it is this product is part
of a 2.7 trillion dollar industry
employs 75 million people globally and
produces an estimated 100 billion units
per year as well as being one of the
oldest products crafted and traded it
can also enhance a person’s performance
and mental well-being so you’re thinking
it’s an app on my smartphone right no
actually it’s much more part of us today
than even our smartphones it’s clothing
yep these seemingly simple pieces of
fabric sewn together draped around our
bodies literally touching us are so much
more than just clothes now my passion
for designing clothes didn’t come about
because I was brought up in the fashion
industry far from it literally far from
it in a small rural fishing village in
the northeast of Scotland the closest I
came to making any kind of fashion
statement growing up was deciding
whether I should wear my brother’s
hand-me-downs tucked inside my wellies
that season or over the top the most
important thing that I’ve learned in the
decades of working with people and the
clothes that they wear is that it’s not
actually about how you look that’s most
important what really matters is how
clothes make you feel now our close
association with textiles isn’t just
their physical proximity to our bodies
we hairless apes have been wearing
clothes since 6,000 BC and whether we’re
actually aware of it or not
clothes are an extension of our
personalities and our desire to belong
to stand out to blend in to make a
statement to tracked a partner to
protect us physically but some
emotionally – even the art of taking
your clothes off is part of sex and
seduction in a complex mating game now I
got distracted by that one the Victorian
Industrial Revolution started right here
in the UK with textiles being the first
mass-produced commodity from that
revolution many words terms and
expressions are still woven into
everyday figures of speech but a little
like our attitudes towards clothes have
become so normalized now that our
importance and significance has almost
been lost I was chatting to my colleague
last week and we were discussing a
strategy and we came to the same
solution and she said ok that’s because
we’re cut from the same cloth and then
that very same afternoon I read an email
from a friend
and she’d written it’s all falling apart
at the seams we catch shuttle buses we
weave through traffic we follow comment
threads of online posts and before I
lose the thread of what it is that I’m
trying to say words that originated in
textile production and the tailor’s work
rooms are still very much part of the
fabric of today’s society now our
happiness and performance levels are
intertwined with what we wear and there
are several studies that actually
support this Northwest University took a
group of students and asked them to
perform some mental agility tasks but
they gave them a doctor’s white lab coat
to do so the control group were their
own clothes those wearing the doctor’s
white lab coat performs significantly
better than those in their own clothing
in the second study they gave them the
exact same coat but this time told them
it was just painters overall these
results were significantly less than
those wearing the doctor’s coat
believing they were wearing the doctor
in the final study they placed the
doctors lab coat at the front of the
room and asked the students to imagine
that they were wearing it whilst
undertaking the mental agility tasks the
results were similar to those who were
wearing their own clothes from the first
study the conclusion it’s not enough to
think you were wearing something that’s
associated with professionalism and care
you actually have to be wearing it to
reap the benefits this is called and
closed cognition but we already know
this ourselves right because we when we
pull on something that makes us feel
good inside we stand taller
we’re braver we have that little bit
more confidence and self-belief now
fashion has used the emotional boost
that clothes can give us selling more
and more to us as we chase that dream of
an enhanced version of itself but if we
continue to consume clothing at the rate
that we do today it’s estimated by 2030
is going to require to earth worth of
resources to sustain demand in that same
time period the demand for clothing is
expected to rise by 63 percent today
clothes have become the same cost as a
packet of posh crisps or coffee
quite literally clothes are as cheap as
chips the consumers expectation is that
they’re cheap and therefore they buy
more but there’s a huge social and
environmental cost to be paid for this
vast fashion trend it takes two thousand
seven hundred litres of water to produce
just one conventional cotton t-shirt
that’s the same as an average person
would drink for three years there are
some 72 toxic chemicals used in the
textile dyeing and manufacturing
processes many of these end up in the
water courses are impossible to be
filtered or removed textiles is the
second largest pollutant of clean water
on the planet
many farm and factory workers in the
purest countries are still trapped in
modern-day slavery
making the cheap clothes that we have
come to expect now fashion is responding
with closed-loop production systems up
cycling clothes better biodegradable
fabrics sourcing from sustainable
sources even using waste products such
as orange peel or pineapple stalks
scooping plastic out of the ocean to
make Footwear and developing better
microfiber fabrics that don’t shed when
washed the ends up in the ocean and our
food supply but all of these take time
to develop and adopt and something we
can start right now is shifting our
consumption habits I wanted to take a
moment though and just kind of explain
how I believe we’ve got to where we are
where the brands continue to squeeze the
manufacturers to pay less than a living
wage to their workers and reducing the
cost of their garments clever marketing
this week’s must-have best buy it bagged
subtly toying with her emotions that if
were not shopping and consuming we’re
not actually fashionable a fashion has
used this Tosh fashion has created
insecurities insecurities that they
themselves are now benefiting from
celebrity endorsements clever social
media schemes have us all believing we
must buy buy buy and then share share
share but the thing is they’re not
actually selling you clothes they’re
selling you hope I call this hope on a
hanger
you hope but by making that new purchase
that your body might be magically
transformed you hope that you’ll get the
job you hope your partner will love you
you hope you might actually like
yourself that little bit more let me ask
you two questions how many of you have
bought something and regretted it maybe
never even worn it okay and secondly how
many of you own clothes that when you
wear them you don’t feel that great in
them yeah we’ve all done it we have
we’re all guilty of it for the past five
years I’ve been looking into which
clothes have the most power and
influence on us and my conclusion it’s
subjective there are no rights and
wrongs in what we choose to wear it’s a
feeling that comes from within us and
not simply about buying another new
dress or shirt we need to understand
which clothes make us feel good and why
sorry guys completely lost place I love
this bit it could be the color their
texture although that feeling of comfort
they give you like a child swaddled in
soft blankets wrapped around you clothes
are part of who you are as much as they
have shaped the earth in which we all
live
yet we have reduced them to frenzied
levels of consumption in search of the
next quick shopping fix and dopamine
high fast fashion has eroded the very
essence of what clothes mean to us as
human beings why is it women have more
clothing choices yet less confidence in
what we wear five-year-olds love to
dress up and express themselves through
their clothes but children age occurs
especially as young as 7 are now
concerned with their appearance
including the clothes that they’re
wearing long gone from our society is
the strict dress codes of what we should
and shouldn’t wear and laughter own free
will to drape
wrap suspend whatever we want on our
bodies has brought on mass insecurities
what will I wear today how many even
thought that this morning for coming
here and then a second question comes
into your mind when you do cool on
something it’s like does this even like
actually suit me you know and who are we
asking when that question punctures our
thoughts usually it’s just ourselves and
we’re pretty quick at responding from my
most recent study the little contentious
beastie that I call mirror mouth had 82%
responding negatively about the clothes
that they were wearing this little inner
critic hacks enter our brainwaves and
says things to us we wouldn’t dream of
saying to someone else yet we listen but
I’ve developed a black belt and self
defense and it’s called dressing your
positives when that
question does this suit me zaps across
my front cortex my mirror my scans my
reflection checking that I’m ticking
positive boxes only no more thoughts of
does my bum look big in this can you
tell I don’t have a 6-pack yet does it
show I miss my gym session last night
instead of focusing on concealing what
you don’t like about your body you need
to concentrate and what you do like your
positives can even be that you’re
wearing something sustainable or ethical
it’s time to adjust your view of what
marketing has Bettis for decades to be
less judgmental and what is right wrong
beautiful or unattractive and here’s the
most important part it starts with
ourselves when you develop your own
style DNA focus only on your positives
then those social media shares and likes
and what others think it really doesn’t
matter and even if what you wear is not
a thought that crosses your mind daily
the impact you have through the clothing
choices you make influences the planet
in which we all live I want to see
fashion continue to thrive but I believe
we should pay a fair price to those who
make our clothes
a world where we buy better where we buy
less and where the money filters all the
way to the base of the supply chain a
world where we really do care about what
we wear thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
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