The Selvedge Tote, Issue 01 Political

"I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU all for the support, encouragement and subscriptions we have received since our launch, keep them coming! It is reassuring to learn that so many of you share my passion. I would also like to thank our contributors, photographers, advertisers, and the devoted Selvedge team, for helping make my vision a reality.

The success selvedge is enjoying is a result of the textile community getting behind the idea and making it work. It is rare in contemporary society for an entire community to unite at a seminal moment, but when all of the elements are present, in the correct proportion, the results are a kind of alchemy. This happened during the 1940s when Ghandi, through his promotion of Khadi changed the course of India’s history. Although Khadi no longer carries a political message, it is still a cloth of great integrity, honesty and endurance as one can observe in the DOSA current collection. We have been fortunate in being able to support the women of the Qilasaaz workshop in Uttar Pradesh, by developing the Selvedge Magazine bag, made from loosely woven khadi and printed using natural dyes; the bag is available to buy or as a subscriber’s gift.

Textiles have been used as a vehicle for communicating political messages since the embroidered banners of Women’s Suffrage and today’s artists are no exception. Women in all walks of life use textiles to reflect their personal experience. Palestinian women embroider the reality of life under the shadow of conflict, Jeni Allenby traces the evolution of their traditional textiles. We also touch on Jessica Ogden’s work for the NoLoGo label, page 60, Lucy Orta’s confrontational designs and Katharine Hamnett comments on and criticises the fashion industry’s methods of production.

If all this political debate gets you a little hot under the collar, you can chill out in Helsinki or shop till you drop in New York.

Polly Leonard, Founder, Selvedge Magazine