"the flip" Campaign Video

A campaign video featuring two pairs of trousers from my new mini brand "the flip", founded in Kerala during my Leadership in Action summer with Swara: Voice of Women. Thank you to models Kitty Winter Clark and Maria Benthanane Khiar. More videos on our instagram @theflipatelier
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Leadership in Action reflections to accompany "the flip" campaign video submission

CraftHer: My six weeks

The leadership in the action project this summer was incredible! Over the course of the six weeks, guided by Project Coordinator Preetha Matthews and CEO and founder of fashion company “Swara: Voice of Women” @Asha Scaria Vettoor  we worked with numerous organisations connected by a focus on women in the craft sector in Kerala. 

We began our journey in Kochi where we worked with the non-profit “Save the Loom” and their affiliated “Store 108”. This organisation was born with the objective of restoring the livelihoods of those affected by the 2018 Kerala floods, whereby flooding had destroyed hand looming apparatus within homes and cooperatives. In addition to restoring these livelihoods, the organisation hopes to revitalise the looming industry in tandem with a world re-focus on handcraft and bespoke as aligned with the demands of climate change. Affiliated store “Store 108” works with designers to reimagine how handlooms can produce a variety of bespoke, stylish pieces. This week was an insightful introduction to the Indian craft sector. 

Our next week was spent in the capital of Kerala Trivandrum where we worked with SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association). SEWA began its work as a trade union in 1972 under the Women’s Wing of the Textile Labour Association that was founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920. Its continued purpose is to provide women with training in sewing, weaving and other cottage trades that could be conducted in and around domestic responsibilities. I felt particularly privileged to have met and spent time with Nalini Nayak the activist, trade unionist and present general secretary of the Kerala branch of SEWA, of which she was a joint founder. 

Our third week was spent in Kottayam with Swara. During this week we met with the team at Swara to design and have made a fundraiser collection. This is the point at which I decided to try and design my own collection. It was amazing to see something come to life from a sketch, although I did find the language barrier a challenge in communicating my designs, sometimes without a translator. 

The fourth week we remained in Kottayam to work with Archana Women’s Centre, the Kerala wing of the Jyothi Jeeva Poorna Trust. Archana has a different approach to female economic empowerment than SEWA, it trains women in traditionally male trades such as carpentry and construction. I was intrigued by their differing approaches to facilitate female independence. 

Our fifth and sixth weeks were spent between Anthirappilly and Kochi with a short visit to Vagamon to stay at the botanical farm “Little Flower Farms”. In Athirapally we spent time with Forest Post, a company that uplifts the forest communities of Kerala by selling their produce. I really enjoyed my time with founder Manju Vasudevan whose energy and ambition was inspiring. 

My interest in sustainable fashion

My interest in sustainable fashion came from a desire to use good design and creativity to make change. The fashion industry is one industry of many that has to change with the demands of the climate and progress in worker’s rights. The Laidlaw research I did was a continuation from my EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) conducted during my time at Sixth Form where I tackled the question: “Is ethical fashion just window dressing?”. I defined “ethical” in this research to encompass both the social and environmental ramifications of the industry. I decided that having identified the obvious need for change I would set out using my Laidlaw research to propose a potential business model solution. Fashion was and is just one way of tangibly realising environmental and social change creatively - that is the root of my interest. 

Since my time in India, I am no longer as optimistic about the fashion industry’s capacity to single handedly spearhead the move to better ethical and environmental conduct in business. Rather, the question I originally set out to tackle in my EPQ regarding fashion’s ability to be sustainable against its constant concern for new trends continued to intensify. 

However, if my faith in the fashion industry to be the beacon of environmental and social justice was not realised, what my time with Swara did reveal to me was the potential of business to be used as a force for good on any number of issues. The nature of the industry might not be able to change but the fashion industry, or any industry for that matter, can make positive change by the people that it employs and skills. Swara work exclusively with female tailors whom Asha came across via Archana Women’s Centre. The centre had funded the training of Omana Manoharan, Swara’s chief tailor and now the chief tailor for my own mini brand “the flip”. Jobs created by business can give women greater independence and this is a cause I believe I will bring forward with me into any future career I have. 

My development as a leader

The demands of the Leadership in Action project matured my idea of what good leadership looks like.

Practically speaking the six of us on the CraftHer program had to work as a team to present recommendations to the organisations we were working with on how they could improve. This required an attention to where each person’s strengths lay and then a subsequent ease in delegating that part of the presentation to them. Good leadership means nothing without a good team, the closeness in their interrelation is hard to decipher from interdependence. 

On a more individual level having the idea for “the flip” and beginning to put it into action presented a host of opportunities for leadership development. I had to take responsibility for locating, sourcing and buying the fabric for my trousers which required the development of a good relationship with one of the few girls at the fabric store that spoke English. I subsequently had a meeting with the manager of the store to put in place a contingency plan for fabric sourcing to my tailor on my return to the UK. I had to build rapport with the chief tailor at Swara albeit with a language barrier. The “design to product” process demands both patience and clarity, two attributes I believe to be of massive importance to an effective leader. 

The most notable leadership quality I think the project brought to my attention and that I hope to carry forward and build on is risk taking and confidence. With the support of the strong women around me I took the risk to invest in this chance to begin an idea. 

My thoughts on the potential of sustainable fashion

What makes a sustainable fashion brand successful, and what should make any brand successful, is the connection of the brand’s operation to a social cause. The values of a brand I believe are more important than ever. With the transparency the internet has granted, these brands are able to be held more accountable. So they should be. In addition to ethics being built into the operation of the brand, the success of the sustainable fashion brand should depend (as is the case with non-sustainable fashion) on the quality and style of the clothing. The creation of a brand aesthetic, the unification of a message with a trend is what makes success. Most people want to buy into a social cause but they will not make the leap to buy the product unless they like the way it looks and has been marketed to them. This is what fashion is all about after all. 

Regarding what needs to change within the wider fashion industry to better support people and the environment - this is tricky. I would advocate that the industry needs to scale down its operations, advocate different styling as opposed to different and constant purchasing (this is the philosophy of the flip). I am a firm believer that the way we present ourselves to society changes how we feel inside. Clothes do have the ability to instil confidence and this is powerful. We all need clothes, yes, but do we need seven pairs of jeans each? I am not naive enough to believe that the industry will change this way when, as I already highlighted, fashion’s nature as an industry rests on this constant capitalist induced human need for change and accumulation. Changing the fashion industry to be more environmentally and socially conscious is dependent on first changing the mindset of the purchaser which will not create more profit, rather it will eat into a company’s marketing resources. We may need a change in the world economic system, but that is another different, if pressing, conversation for another time! 

But perhaps the fashion industry could spearhead a conversation about the potential of regeneration and recycling in the production of clothes. This could disrupt the current cycle of production in service of the environment while creating new jobs. This change is welcome. I advocate for the re-evaluation of industry success to be geared less towards profit and more towards advancement of social and environmental change. In other words, the scale of a brand’s effect on change is what makes them win, not the scale of their profit alone. Social media admittedly makes this easier. Eventually I hope that the scale of change made equals the scale of the profit made. This is what needs to change in order for the fashion industry to better serve people and the environment. There should not be a specific branch of the fashion industry that is sustainable, the entire industry must take this way as the new norm. 

"the flip" philosophy and founding 

As said in my introduction, "the flip" was founded during my time in Kerala. These trousers were designed by myself and made by a talented group of female tailors. The single design comes in different colour combinations (with more being made). Leading on from my thoughts on the potential of sustainable fashion, "the flip" philosophy is about encouraging buyers to buy less and style better for multiple occasions while supporting the cause for female economic independence across the world. 

My vision for the brand's marketing is to have this design styled to different music with different accessories to show the buyer the potential of one item hence discouraging them from buying in excess - as fast fashion incentivises. Further, as inspired by ethical fashion brand Swara founded by the incredible @Asha Scaria Vettoor, I want the brand to be imbued with the message of female economic independence. The brand works exclusively with female tailors and I hope to funnel a portion of the profit made back to a group of charities that support this mission worldwide. Therefore the advancement in female economic independence exists as a social cause in tandem with the profits made. This is my assessment of industry success. Follow us @theflipatelier on instagram. 

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Go to the profile of Megan Shaw
4 months ago

I love this so much Lucia! I cannot wait to see the flip grow into something even more incredible!

Go to the profile of Elizabeth Morvatz
3 months ago

So proud of you Lu!