University of the Arts London - London College of Fashion

Decolonising Fashion and Textiles: Design for cultural sustainability with refugee communities

‘Decolonising Fashion and Textiles’ is a participatory action-research project exploring the concepts of cultural sustainability and community resilience through the lived experiences of London-based refugees and asylum seekers. The project team created a safe space for participants to meet, learn new skills, and use fashion and textiles to express their shifting identities as they rebuild their life in their place of resettlement.

Through a reciprocal process of making and learning, the project contributed to challenging dominant design practice and shifting prevailing narratives around refugees.

Storytelling sessions were conducted to understand the participants’ personal identities and cultural heritages. Place-based connections between people and organisations were mapped to build a support network and foster community resilience. Through a series of co-design sessions, the participants outlined their collective visions for a more equitable and sustainable future and created culturally meaningful fashion and textile artefacts.

The project team also outlined recommendations for policy change to overcome some of the barriers that refugees face and enable access to good work in the fashion industry.

Top 3 Learnings

1. Universities can facilitate safe spaces for diverse and marginalised people (like refugees and asylum seekers) to engage in participatory practices of fashion and textile design and making, facilitating dialogue, and understanding that transcends cultural differences and perspectives. In such spaces, there is a need for ethics of care, safeguarding measures and support systems, and collaboration with trauma-informed professionals.
2. (Sustainable) Fashion definitions need to be diverse and include marginalised people and multi-ethnic communities residing on the peripheries of dominant culture. Fashion can be used as a storytelling tool and a vehicle for social change, fostering a sense of belonging, allowing refugees to express their shifting identities, and rebuilding their lives in their new place of resettlement, while challenging colonial legacies of exploitation and contributing to the sustainable fashion industry.
3. Instead of being ‘parachuted’ into marginalised communities with the assumption that their knowledge and expertise can solve other people’s problems, social designers can engage refugees and asylum seekers in a reciprocal process of making fashion and textiles. Tapping into their invaluable craft skills can contribute to fostering community resilience and cultural sustainability, whilst shaping more equitable, diverse, and sustainable systems of social inclusion.