Last week, I was invited to be part of the panel leading the fashion-themes discussion at Shine Unconference 2011, that took place at Hub Westminster on 17th and 18th November.
Shine is the UK’s leading unconventional conference (or unconference) for socially-minded entrepreneurs, and offers an accelerator package to allow entrepreneurs to grow their venture; practical support, services, tools and connections.
The focus is by no means on fashion, however I was glad to see that the topic was considered relevant for entrepreneurs who want to be agents of change, and I was honoured to be invited to sit in a very variegated and interesting panel. The session was titled ‘Bang on Trend’ (and subtitled: Fashion and social enterprise haven’t always skipped through life hand in hand. But can personal iconography, technology and social enterprise create a something more important?), it was led by Kresse of pioneering label Elvis & Kresse, with other panelists including Esther Freeman of Ms Wanda’s, Heather lodge of Heloeco and Lori Smith of Rarely Wears Lipstick.
In the true spirit of the ‘unconference’, this aimed at being an informal discussion, and indeed the public were very engaged and threw some really interesting questions at us, which led to very open conversations on a number of topics, all related to fashion and sustainability. For a good round-up, read this blog post by Ms Wanda’s.
I left quite inspired by the whole debate, the result was food for thought not just for those attending, but for us panelists too – even more so I’d say, as the issues that we discussed are integral part of our jobs, and very much our personal interests.
