A new ‘slow fashion’ movement is being created by the LARCH social enterprise programme to tackle the negative social and environmental aspects of fast fashion and is looking for more enthusiastic people to join in.
Slow Fashion is a new eco-friendly approach to fashion that focuses on sustainability, recycling, or acquiring second-hand clothes and encourages the idea of buying better quality garments that will last longer, making sure that their manufacturing processes have been fair and ethical to people, animals, and the environment in general.
Hunter Gatherer is a key strand of LARCH that tackles societal issues across Redcar & Cleveland and Hartlepool, and works to identify if Social Enterprise can provide a solution to addressing these problems. They have reached out to VCSE, local authorities, private sector organisations and have successfully developed a diverse and multi skilled steering group, including Northern School of Arts to help drive this project forward.
The following key themes have been identified requiring further research
- What is already in place within the Tees Valley
- Potential manufacturing base
- Education and workshops
- Guild based opportunity with communications and sharing
LARCH stands for Local Access Redcar & Cleveland and Hartlepool and is funded by Access Foundation for Social Investment and Big Society Capital.
LARCH aims to develop and build a thriving social economy in these areas and its ambitious plans will achieve this through working with local people who want to tackle social issues whilst developing sustainable social enterprises. These principles are embedded within heart of the LARCH Programme.
This is a unique opportunity to enable local organisations to make more social impact in their respective communities with access to enterprise development support, blended repayable finance or what is known as social investment, or financial support to develop growing enterprises.
If you have a project relating to Slow Fashion, or are a social enterprise working in this field get in touch at hello@larch-ne.org or find out more at www.larch-ne.org.