Carry Somers

Meet Carry Somers, as founder of Fashion Revolution, the world’s largest fashion activism movement. Having spent the past decade pressuring the fashion industry to take responsibility for its social and environmental impacts. Carry Somers is also in the process of setting up a new organisation. A support network for artisans, as well as writing a book on plant-based fibres and dyes. Carry Somers is a true Fashion Revolutionary! 

IRK: Carry Somers tell is your “Why”  

Over 30 years ago, on a research trip to Ecuador. I accompanied a woman to buy the wool she needed to knit her jumpers. Seeing the weighing scales, an international symbol of justice. Loaded with wool on one side and the woman being charged a price bearing no resemblance to the cost per kilo. I felt a real sense of outrage at the clear discrimination being practised before me. That anger at the injustices of the industry is still there: it’s the fire that keeps me going. And although there is still so much to be done, fashion thrives on change, so I believe fashion can change. It will however, require a new mindset. A new way of working with respect for culture, craftsmanship, makers and the earth’s precious resources.

IRK: What are you most passionate about with respect to taking care of people and planet? 

From sailing 2000 miles with eXXpedition to investigate microplastic pollution. To sifting through the sediment at the bottom of Rudyard Lake and retrieving twenty-year-old cotton fibres. To picking up fishing nets and a polyester scarf washed in by this morning’s tide. My passion is raising awareness of the often invisible impact of our clothes on waterways and the ocean.

IRK: What are some conscious actions you implement in your daily life? 

I’ve done two beach cleans already today. At the moment, I’m buying my food from a fantastic East Devon network of independent, small-scale food producers called In My Back Yard. Where you can buy everything from veg and milk (in glass bottles) to freshly-caught fish. And when it comes to my clothes, almost all of them are vintage or second-hand.

IRK:Carry what’s your hope for the future of the planet? 

My hope is that the fashion industry can begin to work in step with nature, not against it.

What Sustainable Development Goal do you align with the most?

Gaol 12, Responsible Production and Consumption and Goal 14, Life Below Water