Last week, Brighton hosted its first ever Sustainable Fashion Week (SFW) – and it was a huge success! As part of the SFW team, I can’t begin to describe the excitement we felt – a mixture of pride, joy, and sheer exhaustion by the end of it all. With more than 2,000 people attending our sustainable fashion focused events in Brighton, and thousands more hearing about it in local and national media, we hope we put sustainable fashion on the local map!
About Sustainable Fashion Week Brighton
Sustainable Fashion Week was created by A Single Thread, a Community Interest Company (CIC) based in Bristol. They’ve hosted their annual event for three years now, but 2023 was the first time it went nationwide, and other local charities and CICs around the country hosted their own iterations!
In Brighton, Sustainable Fashion Week 2023 was hosted by Brighton Peace & Environment Centre, a local charity, and Sew Fabulous, a community interest company that has been teaching sewing skills and sustainable fashion education for many years in the London Road Market.
Earlier in the year, the two organisations reached out to me to get involved in supporting Sustainable Fashion Week Brighton, and I have been working alongside the team since! In that time, I helped to secure event partners, film screenings, key speakers, and social media coverage. It’s been a huge passion project, and it culminated in the two-day extravaganza at Brighton Dome this past weekend.
Behind The Scenes At Brighton Sustainable Fashion Week…
This was the first year that Brighton has hosted Sustainable Fashion Week, and from a core team of seven people, five partner organisations, and many generous volunteers, we welcomed more than 2,000 people to our two-day event at Brighton Dome, as well as even more attendees at satellite events across the week!
Our week culminated in a two-day event that took place at Brighton Dome on Saturday 30th September and Sunday 1st October. Across these two days, we provided:
- 4 x Runway shows from Artwear, Brighton MET, Ecosystem Incubator, and a student-led runway
- 2 x Film screenings of Fashion Reimagined and The True Cost, in collaboration with the EuroMernet Film Club
- 3 x Panel talks, on ‘Fast Fashion as a Feminist Issue’ led by Ngoni Chikwenengere, ‘Made in Brighton’ led by Lauren Bravo, and ‘Circular Fashion, Unpicked’ led by Besma Whayeb
- 1 x Citizens Assembly, with conclusions fed back to Brighton & Hove Council
- 6 x Workshops, led by Sew Fabulous and supported by TOAST and Denim Recon
- 1 x Repair Café, with free access to sewing machines and on-hand guidance
- 30 x Market Traders, handpicked to promote sustainable, circular, and fair fashion
- 1 x Clothes Swap, with hundreds of garments being swapped!
The week itself took months of planning, with regular get-togethers at the Sew Fabulous studio after hours, as well as hundreds of emails, Slack messages (!), Instagram DMs, and more. This is the largest event I have ever been a part of, and just like the clothes swaps and panel talks I’ve hosted previously, it’s a joy to see it all come together, but for this one in particular, it’s a joy that has lasted for days now. I am so wildly proud and happy at what we achieved, making a free, accessible space to celebrate sustainable fashion in all its forms – designing, making, mending, upcycling, wearing, styling, protesting, learning, and dreaming of a more equitable, less consumerist future.
I want to celebrate everyone who worked on SFW Brighton this year – here’s a few of the key people and partners that worked on the event and made the week happen!
Hayley Franco – Trustee at Brighton Peace & Environment Centre @uncle.hayley
Susie Deadman – Founder & Director of Sew Fabulous CIC @sewfabulousbrighton
Becca Freeman – Centre Manager at Brighton Peace & Environment Centre @bpecfairplanet
Lucy Lindley – Markets Organiser @notsosloppy
Besma Whayeb – Event Curator @besmacc
Abi Rigby – Runways Co-Organiser & Stylist @4bigails4rchive
Marren Hager – Runways Co-Organiser & Vintage Patten Cutter @marrenhager
Thank you to everyone who volunteered alongside us – a special shoutout to Leila and Cloe (my right-hand women!) Lily, Vivianca, and George.
And a huge thank you to our partners and partners in kind: Discarded Spirits, Peper Harow, The Ecosystem Incubator, Brighton MET, EuroMernet, Change X, Brighton Soup, Remake, No Sweat, The Nettle Dress, Brighton Dome, Dukes at Komedia, City Books, Pala Eyewear, The Body Shop, Proper, Hello Klean, Bird & Blend, Small Batch Coffee, Wolfox, Baukjen, TOAST, Lush, and more.
Sustainable Fashion Isn’t Just For A Week
Sustainable Fashion is for forever! And that’s the hope of our core team too. From this year’s event, we’ve already received a huge amount of feedback calling for similar events year-round. I’m not sure we could put this scale of event on every weekend, but I do know we have an appetite to keep this ball rolling – so please follow us on Instagram @sfwhub.brighton – and watch this space!
If you did attend our event, please consider making a donation to the Sustainable Fashion Week Brighton JustGiving page. Every penny will help us fund the event, and future iterations!
Thank you to everyone who attended and supported our event – it went beyond our wildest dreams!
