Tansy E. Hoskins on Anti-Capitalist Fashion

Fashion is political. From the red carpets of the Met Gala to online fast fashion, clothes tell a story of inequality, racism and climate crisis. In The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion, Tansy E. Hoskins unpicks the threads of capitalist industry to reveal the truth about our clothes.

Fashion brands entice us to consume more by manipulating us to feel ugly, poor and worthless, sentiments that line the pockets of billionaires exploiting colonial supply chains. Garment workers on poverty pay risk their lives in dangerous factories, animals are tortured, fossil fuels extracted and toxic chemicals spread just to keep this season’s collections fresh. We can do better than this. Moving between Karl Lagerfeld and Karl Marx, The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion goes beyond ethical fashion and consumer responsibility showing that if we want to feel comfortable in our clothes, we need to reshape the system and ensure this is not our last season.

Tansy E. Hoskins is an award winning author and journalist who investigates the global fashion industry. This work has taken her to Bangladesh, India, North Macedonia, and to the Topshop warehouses in Solihull. This is her third book.

Tansy will be joined in discussion by Asad Rehman, the Executive Director of radical charity War on Want. Asad is a veteran campaigner and has been a leading figure in various movements including the anti-racist movements of the 80's, and has helped found the stop the war coalition and more recently the COP26 Coalition. His work linking climate justice to economic and racial justice has been pivotal to the fight for a just transition and Global Green New Deal.

This event will be chaired by journalist, broadcaster and author Lucy Siegle. Lucy specialises in climate and nature stories and has brought many environmental stories to mainstream audiences through her TV appearances. Her latest book is Be the Ultimate Friend of the Earth: 100 Questions to Boost Your Climate and Nature IQ.