Green Gown Awards 2014 - Sustainability Champion Award - Rachel Clowes - Highly Commended

Embroidery Technician, London College of Fashion

From saving electricity to increasing biodiversity and pioneering the use of organic calico, Rachel engages community members, students and staff from diverse disciplines. Working with the estates team, for example, resulted in a reduction in electricity consumption at the University’s West London site of 78,000 kWh and 39,000 kg of CO2 over the last 11 months.

Rachel’s involvement growing flax and natural dyes with neighbourhood groups instils robust local links, whilst replacing over 2,000m of conventional calico with organic decreases insecticide use in our global society. Both initiatives encourage better informed students who can positively influence the future of fashion.

Rachel demonstrates that sustainable thinking can be embedded in every college role and need not be a top-down directive. Her approach has inspired others to build sustainability into their day-to-day activities, helping to create a strong and supportive college community.

Top 3 learnings

1 Everyone, regardless of their job role, can bring sustainable thinking into their day-to-
day activities
2 Collaborate across disciplines to have a greater impact and more exciting results
3 Be visible and positive to engage as many other people as possible.

What it means to win ...

“University of the Arts London is a place to explore, research, teach and learn practices and processes that contribute to the furthering of societies and cultures. We seek, through the arts, to enable community and individual engagement in practice. Winning this Award recognises our commitment to social and ecological design and amplify the impacts of our collective ambitions towards a sustainable future.”

Nigel Carrington, Vice-Chancellor

Videos

• Embroidery Technician, London College of Fashion (click to hide)