Monthly Podcast: Tamara Cincik In conversation with Alden Wicker
In 2019, Alden Wicker was asked to comment on a lawsuit that was being filed by a Delta flight attendant against Lands’ End, because the newly introduced uniform had caused a myriad of health issues, such as skin rashes, shortness of breath, hair loss, anaphylaxis and in one instance death.
In her book, ‘To Dye For’, award-winning journalist and sustainability expert, Alden Wicker, decided to break the story of unregulated toxic chemicals in fashion and their impacts on health and wellbeing.
Historically, in The Victorian era, women garment workers dyed fabrics using arsenic green dyes, and the blame lay on the women for consuming this fashion and not the men who owned the factories or dye houses. Skip forward to this century and the issue remains the same. In her research, Alden discovered the patriarchal issue that almost all of the experts and consultants were male, when it is the women who are far more likely to be affected by the toxins that are in fashion in every way.
What follows is a candid conversation about how dyes can affect our immune systems; how this affects women far more – from those working in fashion, to those consuming fashion, and those in caretaking roles of children with ailments such as asthma. In the US, endocrine disruptors were found in school uniforms, and so Alden talks in detail about ways in which we can reduce our exposure, including staying away from items with productivity promises such as ‘easy care’ or ultra fast-fashion with drop shipping.
The conversation leads to how we can better legislate against these issues. Particularly with new trade deals in the pipeline, deregulation on textiles and dyes could result in a saturation of fast fashion.
Alden provides her top list for policy asks:
An ingredient list on clothing. Right now it's very disempowering that this isn’t on clothing.
Endocrine disruptors – hormone disruptors which can cause effects in our bodies such as issues to our immune system, energy levels, skin, brain function and reproductive systems – these should be banned.
PFAS should be banned completely.
A reaction to fragrance should be taken seriously, particularly in the workplace.
To buy Alden Wicker’s book, follow this link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dye-Toxic-Fashion-Making-Fight/dp/0593422619
Hive books:
Read our 'in conversation' interview with Alden here: https://www.fashionroundtable.co.uk/news/in-converstion-with-alden-wicker
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Website: EcoCult
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aldenwicker/
Instagram: EcoCult