Over a period of time at the beginning of this year I did an internship for a Greek designer called Sophia Kokosalaki, October 2011 saw the launch of “Kore-Sophia Kokosalaki”, an ethically conscious debut collection with ASOS. This collection had lace trims throughout made by a group of women in Sri Lanka.
The lace is not only ethically sound, it is also ecologically sound; the lace is not made in a factory using up heaps of electricity, or in a huge building. The women sit outside in covered shade with their bobbin cushions and make the lace in the natural environment of Sri Lanka; the only un-ecological thing about the fabric is the air miles it has to do to get to London.
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| My Grans Bobbin Lace |
The lace is made by this ancient technique called Bobbin Lace. It is a fantastic way to make lace and looks beautiful once complete, it is a very slow way of making the fabric but once the lace has been made it looks fantastic and different, each lace is made using a pattern, these patterns then have pins in them with thread wrapped around to create the holes, then each bit of thread is connected to a bobbin.
You can see this in the picture on the left. This is a photo I took of the bobbin lace my Gran does at her lace making class. This technique may be ancient, but it is still very popular, this is probably because of how rewarding it must be once the work if finished.
'I've been aware of this technique since I was at St Martins, but I thought it was dead, long gone. I thought, who has the time to do slow fashion? But the Sri Lankan lace-makers do, and they take pleasure from it and they can work from home if they are mothers.' [1]– Sophia Kokosalaki
What
is lovely about Sophia helping these women is that Sri Lankan women do not
normally get to keep their jobs in their home country. ‘1.7 million Sri Lankans were working abroad in 2009.[1]’ There are a few factors for this major number,
most of it is to do with un-employment in the country and inflations, but one
other issue is to do with domestic problems like drug abuse from male partners.
I think for a woman to be made to up-sticks and move to a different country to
work because they can’t make the money in their hometown is really upsetting.
Most of these women will have children and families to look after as well.
Sophia is paying these women to be able to live in their own country, which is fantastic. Most of these women work from home anyway so they do not even need to leave the house, so their families can be well looked after.
Sri Lanka likes to say it has some of the best rights for women, one of the first women prime ministers was elected in Sri Lanka in the early 60’s; this doesn’t mean as a country all women get the same type of rights. Unfortunately unless you are really well educated it is hard to get a job in Sri Lanka, even if you are male, this makes it hard to bring up and support a family. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country; it is horrible to see so many of the local people are forced out. Sri Lanka’s main exports to the UK is their tea, as a country the UK now set up a fair trade offer with the tea growers out in Sri Lanka, this all helps with the rural poverty that hits the country. A fair-trade on tea is common, but on apparel and fabric is pretty un-heard of. Apparel is another one of Sri Lanka’s main exports to the US and Europe, unfortunately it does not make as much money for the locals as tea because it is cheap labour that they cannot get in their own countries. As tea cannot be grown in England it would be stupid to not offer them a fair trade, unfortunately we can get apparel from other areas so people will only use Sri Lanka’s goods if it is the cheapest, and it is not for a country to turn down business. This makes Sophia’s efforts to give these women a fair wage for fabric is brilliant, and may start something off. These women work hard for a living we should not be stealing off them.
Sophia is paying these women to be able to live in their own country, which is fantastic. Most of these women work from home anyway so they do not even need to leave the house, so their families can be well looked after.
Sri Lanka likes to say it has some of the best rights for women, one of the first women prime ministers was elected in Sri Lanka in the early 60’s; this doesn’t mean as a country all women get the same type of rights. Unfortunately unless you are really well educated it is hard to get a job in Sri Lanka, even if you are male, this makes it hard to bring up and support a family. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country; it is horrible to see so many of the local people are forced out. Sri Lanka’s main exports to the UK is their tea, as a country the UK now set up a fair trade offer with the tea growers out in Sri Lanka, this all helps with the rural poverty that hits the country. A fair-trade on tea is common, but on apparel and fabric is pretty un-heard of. Apparel is another one of Sri Lanka’s main exports to the US and Europe, unfortunately it does not make as much money for the locals as tea because it is cheap labour that they cannot get in their own countries. As tea cannot be grown in England it would be stupid to not offer them a fair trade, unfortunately we can get apparel from other areas so people will only use Sri Lanka’s goods if it is the cheapest, and it is not for a country to turn down business. This makes Sophia’s efforts to give these women a fair wage for fabric is brilliant, and may start something off. These women work hard for a living we should not be stealing off them.
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| Sophia Kokosalaki - Kore Collection for ASOS |
[1] Tamsin Blanchard, Sophia Kokosalaki Hooks Up With ASOS, http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/tamsin-blanchard/TMG9022788/Sophia-Kokosalaki-hooks-up-with-Asos.html, 21st January 2012
[2] Wasantha Ilanganthilake, Sri Lanka aims to improve rights for women migrant workers abroad, http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/sri-lanka-aims-to-improve-rights-for-women-migrant-workers-abroad, July 2011
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