Part 3: How do I take action to improve the impact of my school uniform?
If you’ve read and followed the instructions in Part 1 & Part 2 of this blog series, you will now know about the negative impacts our clothing has on people and the planet, and some information about how your school uniform was made. In Part 3, we will share some ideas about how you can build awareness of the stories behind our clothes and take action to improve the impact of your school uniform.
Idea 1: Have a courageous conversation with your friends
Talk to your friends and ask them if they’ve ever wondered about how their clothes are made and where they come from. It’s likely that the thought has never crossed their mind. Send them the link to Part 1 of this blog series and have a chat about what they discover. They’ll probably be as shocked as you and want to know how they can take action. This is great news because they can help you tackle some of the other ideas in this blog post! Changing the world is always more fun with friends.
Idea 2: Talk to your teachers
Teachers have the potential to be very powerful allies when it comes to making change happen at school. Choose a teacher you trust and respect and raise your concerns about your uniform with them. Make sure you prepare for the conversation beforehand and share all the information you have learned about your uniform so far. This will let your teacher know that you really care about this issue and you’ve taken the initiative to look into it before coming to them. Ask them if they have any ideas about how you and the school might work together to improve the impact of your uniform and develop an action plan.
Idea 3: Put posters up around the school
Design and create eye-catching posters that inspire people to ask questions and educate them about the story behind their clothes. You never know what seeds you will plant in people’s minds. You can print off some of the posters and images Fashion Revolution has created or get inspired and design your own.
Idea 4: Start a petition
A petition can be a great tool for change and it’ll show the people in charge that students really care how their uniforms are made. There are a couple of ways you can go about this.
You can ask students to sign a petition that:
Urges your school’s principal and leadership team to start sourcing your uniforms more ethically.
Calls on your school uniform supplier to start sourcing your uniforms more ethically.
Make sure that when you draft the petition you include some of the research you’ve done so that students can really get behind your cause. Change.org makes it really easy to start a petition and you can use this resource to help you put it together.
Once you have collected enough signatures, present it to your teachers or email it to your uniform supplier and ask them to take action.
Idea 5: Hold a Uniform Revolution Day
Another good way to raise awareness and make a change is to hold a Uniform Revolution Day. This idea was inspired by Fashion Revolution Day which is held on the 24th of April each year. On this day in 2013, the Rana Plaza Factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed, killing over 1200 people and injuring thousands more. The building housed a number of garment factories and was very unsafe. On the morning of the collapse, workers refused to go inside the building after noticing huge cracks in the walls. Unfortunately, the people in charge threatened them with violence and the loss of their jobs so they were forced to go to work.
To try and bring about change and make sure this tragedy never happens again, each year hundreds of thousands of people around the world turn their clothes inside out, take a selfie showing the label and ask the brand - who made my clothes?
You can do something similar at your school, here’s how:
Organise a date for your Uniform Revolution Day to take place, preferably with permission from your teachers.
Promote your Uniform Revolution Day using posters, newsletters and school announcements. Share information about why you’re doing this and what students and teachers need to do to support you.
On the day, get as many students as possible to turn their clothes inside out, take photos and then share them on social media and the school website.
Make sure you share what you have done with your school leadership team and uniform supplier. It’ll let them know that there is a lot of support for a uniform that is better for people and the planet.
Idea 6: Meet with your uniform supplier
Get a group of students together and ask your school leadership team if they can arrange a meeting with your uniform supplier. Having a conversation with your supplier about why you care about how your uniform is made and what you want them to improve on will really plant the seeds for change. Again, make sure you’ve done your research beforehand. If you’ve collected signatures via a petition or held a Uniform Revolution Day, present what you have done at your meeting.
Feeling uncertain about what to say and how to approach the meeting? We’re here to help. Email us and let us know what you need!
There are lots of different ways to build awareness about the impacts of your uniform and take action. We’ve shared a few but we encourage you to get creative and think of some of your own. By working together we can shift the needle and ensure our uniforms are made more ethically and sustainably. Are you with us?
In Part 4, the final post in this series, we will talk about what you can do when you no longer need your uniform. It’ll come as no surprise that throwing your uniform in the bin is the very last resort.
