In reaction to the Rana Plaza Collapse of 2013, my colleague Bria Ale Bleu and I created Fashion Fight Club as a performative culture disruptor. Through performance, publication, and instruction, we aim to invoke action against all fast fashion crimes and inspire more meaningful modes of consumption, fulfillment, and creation. We host “fights” with a variety of interest groups, and special events such as for Fashion Revolution Day.
WELCOME TO FASHION FIGHT CLUB!
Americans alone consume nearly 20 billion garments a year. That’s 68 garments and 7 pairs of shoes bought per person. That’s over 5,000 items of clothing in a lifetime. This is fast fashion.
We are going to take you through a series of activities to help you understand why fast fashion is corrupt. During the fight you will be cutting, ripping, tearing, and unraveling fabrics to take back from fast fashion crimes. Afterwards you will reconstruct the fibers into something special.
Remember you are fighting because…
The fashion industry is the world’s second-largest polluter right behind the oil industry.
Because big-name fashion brands like h&m, gap, and forever 21 don’t own the factories producing their clothes – and they
probably want to keep it that way.
Because 250,000 Indian cotton farmers have killed themselves in the last 15 years.
Because the world now consumes a staggering 80 billion pieces of clothing each year.
REMEMBER you are fighting because FAST FASHION IS A PROBLEM.
These are the rules (pass out scissors)
1.You do talk about fashion fight club
2.You DO TALK about fashion fight club
3. Please don’t leave the ‘arena’ during the fight.
4. Violence to things not people
5. You can’t fight unless you mend
6. If your material isn’t cooperating put it down and move to another
7. Bring shirts, bring shoes, bring whatever you want to fight
8. If this if your first night at FASHION FIGHT CLUB, you have to fight
when we say go run to the middle of the arena, grab material from the middle pile and make as many cuts as you can.
you have two minutes to do this.
GO
Please be safe.
Don’t be scared!
the more holes the better the fight!
you can’t fight fabric with wimpy cuts.
your arms need to go through that hole
your head isn’t going to fit through that
slash it all over, in the middle, fringe the sides,
make holes so you can put the fabric on your body
the wholeeeee length of the scissors
cut fast, don’t think, fierce cutting
pick up another another piece, don’t stop cutting!
TIME
scissor down.
hold on to what you’ve cut, put your materials on your body. pull it over your head, step into your materials, put your arms through some holes. wear your materials.
We're about to give you a series of commands.
Please follow them as aggressively as you can.
you have 5 minutes to fight, so fight fast.
begin deconstructing the fabrics
touch the fabrics, touch them! you can do it together—take your fabrics and set them free!
finger and tickle the fibers until they turn into fragments—combine fibers—everybody’s fibers are one!—paw pet pull puncture pierce handle hack rip slash scratch stretch stitch stab scribble shred tear twist turn torch —
DIVE THROUGH IT
Engage with one another’s fabrics when you are fighting.
ABUSE the fabrics !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
fight them
use your body.
bust through
integrate your fibers with everyone’s fibers and
—paw pet pull puncture pierce handle hack rip slash scratch stretch stitch stab scribble shred tear twist turn torch —
—pull pull pull pull—
—shred shred shred—
—pick pick it—
—pull pull pull pull—
—RIP—
PUUUULLL PULL PULL PULL
ROTATE ROTATE ROTATE ITTTTTT
TIME
the fight is finished.
lay on the floor.
breathe.
breathe out all the toxins you just ripped out.
breathe.
fast fashion is a problem.
its your time to start loving again and make a difference.
its your time to get in touch with the human heart.
gather your remains and leave nothing
behind.
END
FASHION FIGHT CLUB
takes back from all fashion waste and uses it for fabric fights. Fabric waste is deconstructed during the fight and reconstructed afterwards into a meaningful "outfit."
FASHION FIGHT CLUB
acts as an improvisational human-centered intervention that challenges consumer habits, and provides an honest cathartic way to take back from fast fashion crimes.
FASHION FIGHT CLUB
encourages people to rethink their relationship to clothing, their consumption habits, and their proclivity to making.
FASHION REVOLUTION DAY
