Manchester was once the Cottonpolis and it is now the capital of fast fashion. My feminist approach is to promote slow fashion, aims to make sustainable materials a popular choice. The Mycelium Fashion Hub will support cultural diversity and fair labour to enhance local communities. It could empower ethnic minority workers from BAME and disabled backgrounds within the fashion industry and promote sustainable fashion in Manchester. The hub serves educational, research and design, and retail purpose. Mycelium is chosen as the raw material as it supports a circular economy.
To reduce carbon footprint, mycelium will be grown, made into leather and transformed into trendy garments, all happening in the same building. All other materials are sourced locally. The roofscape is designed to facilitate rainwater collection for an outdoor rainwater storage tank. The outdoor water treatment will filter tanning water. The factory uses vegetable tanning as it has less impact on the environment. The building will be built of mycelium bricks which will be manufactured in nearby factory. Mycelium could be used to insulate the building. Both workers and local people could help with the construction process as a collective activity.
To give back more green spaces to nature, a single building will occupy the site in Ancoats. Outdoor green areas will provide spaces for doing exercise, protesting for ‘stop greenwashing’ and growing herbs to make textiles. According to Karl Marx, fashion is ‘ double-faced’, a source of both pleasure and pain, expression and exploitation. Rethinking fashion through Marx helps to integrate ethics and aesthetics in a responsible way that looks at sustainability, environmental protection and codes of ethics.
