I introduced Hubbub in these pages a few months ago, and I’m back again to update you on what we’ve been up to and what we have planned for 2015 - which is lots!

We’re a new charity trying to bring a fresh approach to communicating environmental issues to mainstream audiences. We focus on what people are passionate about, for example food, fashion, sport and homes. No doom and gloom. No preaching. Our approach is open, upbeat and solutions-led. Within our Fashion Hub we want to help people make their clothes last longer. We’ll organise events and activities that are fun, sociable and fit easily into people’s everyday lives.

As the third most polluting industry in the world the power of the fashion industry to create a more sustainable society is enormous. The demands of the industry on people are well documented, but equally fashion’s ability to inspire people who wouldn’t otherwise think twice about sustainability is a force which has yet to be fully tapped. That’s what we hope Hubbub can help to do.

In November, with the support of The Northbank Business Improvement District, Hubbub ran a Refashion Day at Somerset House, curated by The Good Wardrobe. The day was a resounding success attended by over 80 people, featuring a Sew It Forward session and workshops from TRAID and A Alicia.

Then in December we hosted a pre-Christmas breakfast event at the House of Commons to announce our plans for 2015. We were lucky to attract an array of inspiring speakers including sustainability journalist Lucy Siegle, founder of JoJo Maman Bébé Laura Tenison MBE and the designer Christopher Raeburn. 

All of the speakers brought their own unique take on this tricky but wonderful world of sustainable fashion, and the challenges and opportunities it presents. To close, Hubbub’s CEO Trewin Restorick outlined Hubbub’s plans for our Fashion Hub in 2015, which will include the following initiatives:

• A gifting campaign at Mothers’ Day to curb textile waste – ‘From a Mother to Another’. Baby and childrens clothes will be distributed from mothers who no longer need them to mothers who do. In collaboration with JoJo Maman Bébé and Barnardo’s. Join us at the launch party on the 3rd February.
• A London Refashion Week will celebrate creative ways to make clothes last longer through upcycling, making and crafts, linking to Fashion Revolution Day 2015.
Events will be focussed around Somerset House and Aldgate, where the Refashioning Aldgate festival will celebrate the area's rag trade roots and fashion heritage while encouraging people to ask ‘Who Makes My Clothes?'
• Working with the charity Uprising to train 130 talented young Londoners who would normally be excluded from the creative industries to run sustainable fashion projects.
• Launching the ‘Who Gives a Shirt’ initiative to redistribute and upcycle unwanted football shirts.

Hubbub's approach is open and collaborative - we certainly don’t claim to have all the answers. But we think we can bring people and organisations together so that collectively our impact is greater than it would be working alone. Over the next year we’ll be collaborating with businesses, designers, local organisations, charities and individuals to find creative ways of making clothes last longer.

If you want to get involved and help us make some noise then get in touch [email protected].

Photo credits: Heather Poore
Film: Heather Poore and Grant Taylor

About the author

Gavin is one of the Founders of Hubbub. Previously Gavin was Senior Client Manager at Global Action Plan, one of the UK’s leading environmental charities. He also set up the UK’s first online carbon calculator and the UK’s first environmental lifestyle magazine Ergo.