Dana Thomas Interviewed by Gwenan Edwards

Journalist and writer on fashion and culture Dana Thomas outlines the damage done by the clothing industry and looks at the grassroots, high-tech, international movement that is fighting to reform it.

Thomas has investigated the human and environmental cost of the clothing industry from sweatshop labour to environmental degradation, overconsumption and waste and says the industry has become environmentally and ethically unsustainable. However, she says there are signs of renewal in new technologies and in changes of behaviour including 3D printing, clean denim processing, smart manufacturing, hyperlocalism and lab-grown leather.

Thomas contributes to the style pages of international newspapers including The New York Times and the Financial Times. She is author of Gods and Kings and Deluxe, and was made a French Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Here she talks to BBC news presenter and journalist Gwenan Edwards, whose credits include the BBC Proms, Wales at Six on ITV, and Newsroom South East and Watchdog on BBC1.