Some of students' creative designs from last year.

Fairtrade fashion show ready to hit the catwalk

Bexhill 6th Form College is in its seventh year of collaboration with Fairtrade to produce an exciting evening of fashion. Students from the college will be designing and producing their own fashion with the support of Fairtrade. HOT’s style correspondent Bevali Francis is getting excited.

I was really impressed with the creativity of the young people who entered their ethical and recycled designs into a catwalk competition as part of last year’s showcase and am looking forward to seeing what they do this year.

The fashion show will held at the new Izzard Theatre in Bexhill 6th Form College and alongside the students’ work, fashion models from the college, Bexhill High, St Richards College and volunteers from Pestalozzi will be modelling clothes from UK’s Fairtrade fashion companies Love that Stuff, The Fair Shop and Nomads.

Also making an appearance on the evening will be Pants to Poverty, a slightly eccentric and utterly uncompromising pants company who make wonderfully colourful organic cotton pants and vests that are designed and made by people who are paid a fair wage.

Also present will be Koolskools, which buys Fairtrade certified cotton in India and has it made into items of school uniform at a factory in Mauritius where the workers, 25% of whom are people with special needs, receive fair wages.

Kate Gaskell, managing director of Liberation Nuts, the UK’s only Fairtrade, farmer-owned, nut company, will give a talk.

Fairtrade will also have stalls selling crafts, fashion and jewellery, alongside information about why we should choose Fairtrade products.

The evening is also about making us aware of why we need Fairtrade to change the lives of cotton farmers and workers for the better, says Jack Doherty, chairman of the Bexhill Fairtrade Group. Cotton farming still sees children as part of the workforce and many pregnant women are exposed to pesticides which can have a devastating effect on their unborn children. The suicide rate among cotton farmers is uncommonly high.  Fairtrade‘s message to us is to choose products that change lives.

This will be the first Fairtrade Fashion Show held in the Izzard Theatre, which was built with funding from comedian and activist Eddie Izzard. There is a disabled entrance – please call the college box office on 01424 214545 ext 1225 if you wish to use it. Stalls with items for sale will be in the conference room at the top of the auditorium.

Fairtrade Fashion Show Friday 13 March, Izzard Theatre, Bexhill 6th Form College, Penland Road, Bexhill TN40 2JG. Adults £6, concessions £3. Ticket holders are entitled to canapés and a free glass of Fairtrade wine or soft drink. Doors open at 6.30 for a 7pm start. Tickets can be purchased online.

Creativity to the fore.

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