Stitched Up! Protest and the Garment Industry

We are honoured to be included as part of The Cinema of Ideas programme focusing on protest in the garment industry. The line up includes films, a discussion and a darning workshop hosted by us! It is all online. Our workshop and the panel discussion are on specific days. The films; you have two weeks to watch at your leisure. All of this for only £5 ticket.

The Cinema of Ideas programme

Workshop and panel discussion

Darning Workshop
10:30am, Saturday 26 Feb

We are delighted to have Fast Fashion Therapy join us for a darning workshop. Learn how to prolong the life of your clothes by mending holes and fixing seams and save them ending up in a landfill. Darning kits provided by Fast Fashion Therapy are available on their website so you can mend-along with this workshop. Please purchase your darning kit a week in advance so it can be delivered to your home in time for the workshop: https://etsy.me/32QfqRQ

Register for the workshop here (note, you must have purchased an event pass for your registration to be approved).

Live Panel Discussion – How to Support Garment Workers
7pm, Monday 21 February

We are delighted to be joined by journalist Amber Sunner, writer Gracie Beswick and Ruth Ogier from charity War on Want for a live conversation on how to support garment workers around the world on an international and local level.

About the speakers

War on Want is an organisation dedicated to supporting Garment workers around the world fight for their rights.

Amber Sunner is a freelance journalist who has researched and interviewed garment workers in Leicester, publishing an article in October 2020 exposing the exploitative treatment of workers in BooHoo factories.

Gracie Beswick is a filmmaker and writer dedicated to sharing and promoting sustainable and ethical fashion, with an emphasis on small individual changes that can make a big difference.

Films

Made in Bangladesh, streaming 19 February – 5 March

Rubaiyat Hossain’s 2019 drama follows garment worker Shimu as she fights to start a union in her unsafe and exploitative factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The Pajama Game, streaming 21 February – 27 February

The Pajama Game is a classic Hollywood musical starring Doris Day as a union grievance officer who juggles her loyalties to her union and her growing affection for her new manager.

The films will be accompanied by Knitwear Workers Protest March, an archival newsreel from the Media Archive for Central England that highlights Britain’s history of textile production and union action! As the demand for cheap instant clothes has been accelerated by the pandemic, this selection of films is as timely as ever, showing who really pays the price when your t-shirt costs next to nothing.

We’ve got our tickets booked!