Pioneering MDX sustainability research giving overlooked communities a voice

Funding boost for team challenging UK fashion and textile industries

A team of MDX researchers have been awarded funding to further explore how to improve unsustainable practices in the fashion and textiles industry.

Dr Patrick Elf, Safia Minney, Dr Andrea Werner and Prof Fergus Lyon from the Centre of Enterprise, Environment and Development Research (CEEDR) are challenging the unsustainability of the UK fashion and textile sector from the perspective of key suppliers in Bangladesh and India.

Their Regenerative Post-Growth Fashion (RPGF) project draws on multiple social science disciplines to address a number of critical key challenges in the industry including exploitative labour practices, overconsumption, and pollution and emissions related issues.

It also explores how a rapid transformation of the global fashion and textile system from unsustainable practices to regenerative, post-growth alternatives is possible.

The team uses practice-based research to highlight good practice initiatives and collaborations between UK buyers and suppliers in India and Bangladesh to reduce waste, and promote livelihoods and healthy ecosystems.

Often over-looked communities are given a voice and a radical bottom-up approach (starting with small parts and working towards a bigger picture) is used for data collection.

MDX will receive one of nine ACCESS Flex Funds after being selected from more than 60 applications from universities and research networks from all over the UK.

Patrick Elf, Senior Research Fellow in Sustainable Business, said: “The RPGF project will explore how a rapid transformation of the global fashion and textile system from unsustainable practices to regenerative, post-growth alternatives is possible.

"It will draw on ‘on-the-ground realities’, giving diverse communities a voice and (re) establish low-carbon practices as alternative thus demonstrating the value of good practice initiatives and collaborations between UK buyers and suppliers in India and Bangladesh to reduce waste, and promote livelihoods and healthy ecosystems."

A spokesperson from ACCESS said: “The projects all met our key aims around innovation, making the social sciences more visible and having an impact on today’s climate and environment crisis, and which take forward our guiding principles of co-production, sustainability and equality, diversity and inclusion."