RAGS TO RICHES
Building sustainable textile practices is essential for the future of textiles. Crispina ffrench, an environmental optimist and textile alchemist, upcycling discarded clothing and manufacturers’ waste since my the 1980’s. She has built a business supporting and advising textile artists become successful entrepreneurs and, in effect, contributing to a sustainable textile industry that 'gives back more than it takes'.
ffrench's new initiative, Rags to Riches: Textile Upcycling Summit, is a free, three day online event to teach textile upcycling entrepreneurs exactly how to maximise profits, minimise stress, and find creative fulfilment in turning trash into treasure. It has become clear that entrepreneurs have the ability to address our over consumption of textiles with uplifting creative ingenuity and real noticeable global impact.
Over 30 presenters from across the world and creative textile upcycling spectrum are sharing their knowledge and experience. Through the summit, practitioners will learn and develop a toolkit to sourcing materials, setting up and optimising their business strategy and office structure while also 'getting one's head in the right place so that the dream of running a creative textile upcycling business'.
As a sponsor of the event, Selvedge has joined Crispina ffrench in the Rags to Riches podcast to discuss Selvedge and to hear about Polly's experience and thoughts on upcycling. From over one hundred issues of Selvedge, Polly has researched, read and written about a varied range of stories of textile recycling and upcycling around the world. Of ingenious methods of re-using and re-imagining textiles. The most recent being Selvedge issues 111: Make Do and 102: Mend.
Image: Selvedge issue 111: Make Do
Rags to Riches is FREE and open to anyone considering starting a textile upcycling business or to find new ideas to develop your existing business or just to find out more about how a textile upcycling business can be successful and sustainable.
Find out more and register on the event website HERE.
Follow Crispina frrench:
www.crispina.eco
@crispinaffrench