Saving the world one pair of underpants, socks, trousers, shirt, vest, jumper…

Part 2

Homemade Underwear

Being born a child of romantic and ideological tendencies, I have learned as an adult, to develop a great distrust for romance and ideology, educating myself away from this into a corner of developed cynicism.

So despite my previous hyperbolic statement: “saving the world one pair of underpants at a time”.  I am deeply suspicious of such a preposterous claim. 

I don’t really believe one can change the world by making pants?

Well…

There was a man called Mohandas Karamchand.

He made a lasting change in the world, and central to this change was a spinning wheel and DIY underwear.  He used to go to political meetings with his spinning wheel and sit there spinning his own cotton.  He was laughed at to begin with, and then people thought he might be onto something, and then it turned out he was.

This man is more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi.

He realized if Indians were to spin their own cotton, there would be no need to export it back to England, the British cotton industry (which exploited Indians) would wither and the reason for Britain being in India would cease to exist, so by lots of Indians spinning there own cotton this would result in the end of oppressive British empirical rule in India (peacefully).

[Thanks to J P Flintoff for some enlightening information on this subject]

Extending this (previously proven) logic, if all of Scotland were to begin making their own underwear, there would no longer be any need for the environmentally damaging, child labor pants drugged up on air miles.

So while I am not quite naive enough to think that I can change the world simply by making my own underwear, I think if Scotland joined me, we might be onto something, at the very least this action would foster an element of intentional positive change, and how else can we change the world other than; mass meta collective attempts at intentional positive change.

And if I’m drastically off peak (which is a distinct possibility), it’s really fun.  Making your own clothes is useful, purposeful creative fun.  

This is one of the reasons at Rag Tag n Textile; we use creative textile skills as a pivotal part of our attempt to foster an environment of recovery for people with mental health problems.  It just so happens that the produce of these skills (subsequently what we sell) has an embedded poetic orbit, including environmental responsibility and homage to the heritage of the area.  Somehow things are often connected like that.

Making your own clothes is fun.  It just so happens it might also change the world, save your soul and the polar bears.  Somehow things are often connected like that.

If you are interested in making your own clothes we run various sewing and craft classes regularly at Rag Tag n Textile workshops.  Have a look here on our website for more information.

Saving The World One Pair of Underpants at a Time

One of the exciting organizations I have had the opportunity to work with since starting at Rag Tag n Textile has been the Social Enterprise Academy.  I have had the pleasure of attending various courses at the academy, learning from their inspiring and vastly experienced tutors. Each course allows me to increase (my now extensive) collection of Academy ring binders.  In the top right hand corner of each folder, alongside the academies logo, sits an intimidating mantra: ‘

‘Learning to Change the world’

Over the next couple of blog posts I am going to attempt to bring, with a combination of informed cynicism and romantic triumphalism, some of my thoughts on ‘changing the world’.  I don’t pretend to have any wisdom to share, these are simply my meanderings and reflections, from spending the last 6 months working with and for, various Social Enterprises; and hearing their stories, as they attempt to effect positive change in the world.

So

Part 1

Changing the world one pair of underpants at a time.

I recently went to see The Avengers, the latest Hollywood installment of the marvel franchise, starring a group of superhero protagonists attempting to save the world.  While watching this film I became acutely aware of how many of these Superheroes wore their underpants on the exterior of their clothing.  Counting the majority of the Avengers League, Superman, Batman, Wolverine (the list goes on), it seems the majority of people tasked with saving our universe, appear to wear their underpants on the outside of their trousers.  

Anyway… as the movie progressed and my concentration faltered, I began to obsess over the content of Captain America’s underpants (hold on!)

Were they made in china? Was the cotton sourced from fair-trade farmers?  Was any child labour exploited in the making of captain America’s briefs? Is the manufacturing company ethically active?

Captain America; what a hypocrite, gallivanting about, saving the world while continuing to corrupt it with your underwear, which you don’t even have the decency to wear underneath your trousers.

Not many consumers care to dwell on where their underpants have come from, let alone, Captains Americas.  I don’t necessarily propose they do; so arcane are the operations around the manufacture of our material goods, even if one did, no single person could ever hope to grasp more than a fragment of this information.

If the fate of the universe depends on our ability to navigate through the minefield of globalized mass production and its destructive tendencies; not only of our underwear, but everything we consume, the crippling scale of the task seems immediately debilitating.

So while I have no idea how to change the world I suppose the challenge to myself is not allow the business of life and scale of the task, to force me into indifference. 

My current postulation:

Find one thing (to begin with) that fosters an element of intentional positive change and get on with it.  For the World is not saved in grand gestures made by those jaunting around with inverted underpants, but a group of intentional bloody minded people making there own underpants (or sunhats)

Rag Tag 'n' Textile Ltd is a registered charity (SC 037619) working with people who are recovering from mental health problems. Based in Skye and Wester Ross, in the Highlands of Scotland, we are a social enterprise making handcrafted items from recycled textiles.  If you are interested in learning to sew (your own underpants) our sewing classes will be re-launching next Wednesday (23^rd May) at the Broadford Workshop from 6.  For more info or to book a place please email us info@ragtagntextile.org.uk)

Presentation

Hello everyone it has been a long time.  Too long.  It will never be this long again.  I feel so strongly about this that if the blog is not updated every week over the summer, we will be giving out a universal 20% discount on the website. Thats a Rag Tag promise.

Anyway as the length of time has been somewhat significant, a lot has happened since the last time.  We have launched our online shop (shop.ragtagntextile.org.uk), had our first Fayre & Square (next one 18th May) and I have been away on a big long course as part of my placement.

At this big long course I had to do a presentation about what I learned at the big long course, some people liked this presentation, so I shared it with the staff and now I am going to share it with you.  I assure you it was under 10 minutes despite it's misleading representation in type; i.e. be prepared this is a  long post (but there's pictures)…

Part 1

My name is Reuben and I've been working at Rag Tag n Textile now for nearly six months.  I'm going to take some time out to explain where I was before I came to Rag Tag, how I got here (a bit about here) and where here might lead.

Up until last sumer I was a student at Edinburgh College of Art. In my final year I ended up embarking on a project which would later be titled: 

The Post Apocalyptic Toothbrush; how the current worlds trajectory towards disaster may or may not influence the manufacture of our material world.

Long before the project  received such an elaborate title I found myself going through everything I owned and looking at where it was made. It turns out, after going through all my possessions they came from over 28 countries and had travelled a total of 47 7714 miles (the equivalent distance to the moon and back) and not one of these countries was Scotland.

As I processed this information it got me thinking about the convoluted and complex nature of the supply chain and its required necessity.  I had a novel proposal (the nature of its novelty derived from the context of an assumed globalised economy); what if everything I owned was made and sourced in Scotland.

Why don't we just start here?

During this time of intense contemplation and questioning, the country was experiencing an esoteric amount of snowfall and low temperatures.  This had crippled much of the countries transport infrastructure and one day I wandered into a shop and found myself confronted with this notice.

I began to wonder if this wasn't simply an abstract research question, but an extremely important question which could determine our future security and sustainability.

You see it turns out while there are a lot of good things about importing a cheap global economy (mainly it being cheap), there can be some dangerous consequences due to it's dependancy and fragility (also known as putting your eggs in one basket aka oil).

Further to this, the import economy also lacks any form of cultural heritage or embedded local nuances.  This convoluted form of mass global manufacture while 'providing affordable goods for all' creates a marketplace of bland uniform products which are often momentously mundane and so far displaced, they fail to provide any value to the local economy. The machine aesthetic and dehumanised production exists in a vacuum void of any sense of place (or humanity). We are left with a 'plateau of mutual pastiche'. 

So this question opened up a can of worms which led me on a journey which ultimately led me to here: Rag Tag n Textile. These questions engrained in me a desire to design products that utilised local skills and materials; and were steeped in cultural heritage. Resulting in a more visceral connection with our material world and transparent relationship with those who manufacture it.

So when the opportunity came up to put some of these ideas into possible practice at Rag Tag n Textile I jumped at the chance.

Those of you who aren't familiar with Rag Tag n Textile, we work with people recovering from mental health problems, helping to aid the recovery experience through the participation in projects and the learning of new skills that explore traditional textile crafts embedded in the area.

In my short time at Rag Tag n Textile I have had the chance to wear a few different hats in the organisation, this has provided a great learning experience allowing me to immerse myself in various aspects of daily life in a social enterprise.  Within this context I have three core projects to deliver over the twelve months.

The first one which is in progress is developing online media, particularly  online retail and sales.  Our online shop has gone live and we are looking at ways to further develop and promote this.

I have also been looking at product development and branding, this considers how we can communicate and frame, Rag Tag n Textile and its products both visually and narratively, in order to achieve effective communication of the organisation.

The third project which is beginning to take off, looks at Social Impact measurement.  This is an exciting research project  that will result in an SROI report for the organisation.  The purpose of this is to evaluate and clarify the work of Rag Tag and Textile making it more attractive to funders and perhaps more importantly keeping the organisation accountable to it's mission, goals and values.

Part 2

If I think back to the beginning of the week, reflecting on the week passed; it's interesting comparing how I feel now and how I felt prior to the course.

Its at this point I have to confess prior to the course I was skeptical about attending a business development course and baffled by its relevance to my work.  I was more comfortable considering myself in the field of design or the 'creative industries' working under purity and integrity, disengaged from the capitalist business world which could only offer constrictive and pollutant advice.

When I looked at the programme for the week it didn't get any better.  I saw words like networking, marketing and 'god forbid' selling and my stomach wrenched pugnaciously in opposition to the language of the free market.  

However despite what may have appeared my insurmountable preconceptions, I will now happily propagate what a great week I have had and it's invaluable contribution to my placement.  I have made friends with people on the course (i.e. networked), I've thought about who would be interested in Rag Tag n Textile (i.e. marketing) and (I won't even place this one undercover) prepared a sales pitch.

The Journey from pre vulgar snobbery to post championing ambassador was not without obstacles.  One of the key moments for me culminated in a sales exercise  at the beginning of the week.  I was required to preform a cold call sales pitch over the phone in front of the class.  Aware of the watching crowd (14 people) I was caught between not making a scene, and my contempt for salesmanship.  Under the watchful eye of the crowd I decided not to make a scene. I took a deep breath  (an attempt to restrain the resistance rising from the depths of my being) and I did it.  

I made the sale (and it was exhilarating!)

As the adrenalin subsided and I later recalled this experience of outright flaunting salesmanship. I attempted to understand what had made me feel so uncomfortable.  For I know I believed in the value and providence of goods, (it is after all the purpose of my profession, not to mention the topic of my 6000 word dissertation; Why Our Material World is Undervalued and Under-appreciated). Whats more I realised that I had a real belief in the value and providence of products at Rag Tag n Textile and I wanted to tell people about them.

This was beginning to sound a lot like selling.

Sooo….

 on that note:

I work for Rag Tag n Textile.  Have you heard of us?

Rag Tag n Textile is a Creative Business, Social Enterprise and Mental Health Charity based in Skye & Wester Ross making and selling handcrafted textile products.

Fuelled by a belief in positive change through social enterprise Rag Tag n Textile grew from a desire to provide meaningful employment for people living with or recovering from mental health problems in the local area.

At Rag Tag n Textile we don't just offer unique and beautifully handmade textile products, inspired by the skills and nuances of the area.  We offer an alternative attitude to consuming, a new blueprint for business and an innovative approach to mental health.

Our products are made from recycled fabrics and textiles using environmentally sound methods because we believe thats the only way to do things.

It is our hope that Rag Tag n Textile products will inspire  and delight while raising awareness and supporting issues of mental health. 

So if you are enticed to browse Rag Tag n Textiles exclusive range of online products please visit our online shop

shop.ragtagntextile.org.uk

So this is my sales pitch I developed at my training week so I can successfully sell and promote Rag Tag n Textile, their products and their services.  While I may have thought of myself as a designer who likes to walk barefoot and stroke animals (not eat them) and most certainly has no need for or interest in Business Skills.  This week I've come to realise to do my job properly and as best I can, effecting change, I need an understanding of business and I need to be able sell the organisation effectively. And actually it is a privilege to do so.

Thanks very Much

P.s. If your interested in the Talent Scotland Graduate placement programme visit http://www.talentscotland.com/