Fashion Activism of Extinction Rebellion and Fashion Act Now

Abstract

This article examines the fashion activism of Extinction Rebellion (XR) through a comparative analysis of literature, media, and interviews with activists. We argue that their decentralized organizational structure allows the individual local chapters and action groups to function and organize independently, quickly, and more efficiently than many other current and past organizations, in part thanks to social media connectivity, trans-national communication channels, multi-generational involvement of activists and researchers, and the nonhierarchical structure of the action groups. This is significant because despite the criticism they have received from sociologists, media critics, and other analysts, currently they are one of the most effective organizations in terms of raising awareness and provoking public debate about the climate emergency and how it relates to fashion.

Keywords:

• fashion activism
• Extinction Rebellion
• climate crisis
• nonviolent protest
• clothing as communication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katrina Sark

Katrina Sark is an associate professor in the Department of Design, Media and Educational Science at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU). She specializes in cultural analysis, cultural history, media, gender studies, sustainability, and decoloniality. She is the founder of the Canadian Fashion Scholars Network, the co-founder of the Urban Chic book series, and the coauthor of Berliner Chic: A Locational History of Berlin Fashion (2011), Montréal Chic: A Locational History of Montreal Fashion (2016), and Copenhagen Chic: A Locational History of Copenhagen Fashion (2023). Her other publications include Branding Berlin (2023), Social Justice Pedagogies (2023), a special issue on Ethical Fashion and Empowerment in Clothing Cultures (2021), as well as chapters in Cultural Topographies of the New Berlin (2017) and World Film Locations: Berlin (2013). She is the creator of Chic Podcast, dedicated to fashion, design, culture, sustainability, decoloniality, media, and technology. [email protected]

Sara Arnold

Sara Arnold is an environmental justice activist, co-founder of Fashion Act Now and Associate Lecturer and Visiting Practitioner at University of the Arts, London. She previously founded fashion rental platform, Higher Studio, to incentivize a circular economy. When the 1.5 IPCC report was released in 2018, stating that we have twelve years left to prevent runaway climate change, she turned to activism, coordinating the Cancel Fashion Week and Boycott Fashion campaigns for Extinction Rebellion. In 2020, she co-founded Fashion Act Now, which coined the term defashion to describe the urgent downscaling of resource and energy use that is required in the fashion industry. She now turns her energy toward OurCommon.Market, a project launched by Fashion Act Now to highlight commons-based fashion initiatives around the globe. [email protected]