EPISODE 3: CARYN FRANKLIN

Caryn Franklin is a mate and a pioneering voice for gender equality, body and image diversity and discusses the reasons that perpetuate bias and injustice. We go beyond fashion…

I caught up with Caryn to talk to her about her work in the advertising and communications industry to bring it out of the dark ages. How brands get it wrong when they don’t represent their customers and the fall of photographer Terry Richardson and the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him.

Caryn talks about another way of doing fashion from image to producing fashion. With a huge smile she recounts her trip to People Tree producer partner, Swallows in Bangladesh. This witness of worker empowerment came directly after the shock of meeting garment factory workers who suffered the loss of loved ones in the Rana Plaza building collapse.

We discuss the old patriarchal system that is pushing us towards climate collapse and extinction and how fashion and ethical consumers are building a new way. “We need to remain hyper-vigilant about it …

…and sometimes this will be uncomfortable. Brands green-washing will become more difficult as influencers start to check brands on Rank a brand. The power of our purse is massive and has changed markets already”.

Thank you Caryn for sharing your life work and wisdom. Gender binary thinking will become a thing of the past as we embrace difference. We need to support new ideas and new thinking. We will normalise true diversity and this will promote inclusion, empowerment and mental health globally.

And indeed “ if we spend less time looking in the mirror we would be able to dedicate more time to making the shift that is urgently needed now”!

Pls enjoy, share this podcast and subscribe.

REPORTS & OTHER LINKS

Franklin on Fashion
i-D
Slave to Fashion
Cambridge Judge Business School – “Does my bottom line look good in this ?”
Rank a Brand
The Women’s History of the World – Rosalind Miles
Equal Power – Jo Swinson
The Successful Self – Dorothy Rowe
Me and White Supremacy – Layla F Saad