Our collective voices will be the change. 

Fabric of the World lead to the the birth of Swapaholic, a platform to swap, sell and buy preloved fashion. Through the learnings of FOTW, founder, Priyanka Shahra realised the need to extend the life of existing fashion resources. The knowledge capital she gained since 2014 garnered a strong desire to provide an outlet for change. Learn more about Swapaholic here. 

When she is not studying classical music, Ankita athawale is a free-lance writer and theatre enthusiast. She is studied computer science engineering in Pune, India went to business school in Paris, France. Before she met her musical gurus in Padmashree Gundecha Brothers, Ankita Worked with a software company, an educational NGO in SE Asia, a startup theatre group and a multinational cultural organization in various roles.

Believing in doing good is contagious, Cheryl is a global citizen with a passion in empowering our environment and people to be more inclusive and kind. In all things she do, she values Collaboration, Vitality, Resilience and Balance. Her next dream is to share stories from her travels to showcase the works of everyday thoughtful committed citizens play in creating sustainability in the fashion world.

Helen D. Silver is an attorney specialising in environmental and sustainability issues, in particular climate change. She currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for Biodiversity for a Livable Climate which she cofounded, and on the Board of Sense & Sustainability. She has worked with national and regional nonprofits to develop and advocate for effective climate change and other environmental policies in a wide variety of contexts, including with U.S. EPA.

Janani Iyer is a student in visual communication from Ecole Intuit Lab. An innately creative thinker, she doesn’t believe in binding conventional profiles. She describes herself in an ever evolving state of now: visualcommunication.photography.minimalism.black.chilli.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.athletics.murder mysteries.loose t-shirts.watermelon.languages.paris. windchimes.ariports.fridge magnets.Kygo.kaleidoscopes.electronic music.sneakers.Pinterest.Hot dog Bush.lemons.cheese.Bollywood.photomanipulation.monochrome.dancing.beaches.tea.platinum.jasmine.disney.momos.tigers.cup noodles.smell of petrol.old books.roller coasters.Mumbai

Lindsey Hall is founder of Sustainability Consultancy Green Steps, and a freelance science writer. She has a Bachelor in Biology from the University of Leeds (UK), and an Advanced Diploma in Energy and Water Efficiency from the University of Alcalá, Madrid (Spain). Lindsey set up Green Steps to help businesses reduce the impact that they have on the environment, and to help ensure that the world we live in today will still be as wonderful for our children’s and grandchildren’s generations.

Maryanne Gaitho holds a degree in Sociology and writes on a wide range of topics ranging from technology to business and social issues. She has a background in IT and Relationship Management having worked for a multi-national mobile manufacturer and a multi-national bank respectively and has been involved in several high impact social projects through NGOs. Some of the topics she has written about and that have been published include; big data, project management, online Marketing, CRM, pollution, among others.

Nina is an eccentric, youthful and highly independent freelance writer from South Africa. Brought up within a family of academics, she has had a broad exposure to the sciences and arts from a young age. Nina’s writing career began with the family medical practise, in which she would take scientific information and put it into simpler wording to help clientele effectively understand their bodies. Since the impact of the environment on our bodies had begun to fascinate her from this work, her interests in healthy sustainable practises began to grow. Upon agreeing to write for Fabrics of the World, her scope of knowledge has grown yet wider and her enthusiasm for spreading awareness along with it. “I write to travel the entire world in 80-minutes, from the comfort of my own home.” Her passion for word-smithing, combined with her love for research & learning have made her writing what it is today. Nina manages two blogs of her own, wherein she empowers writers through her own processes and shares her knowledge on her other passions.

In 2014, Priyanka founded One With Earth (OWE) in Singapore, a social enterprise that nurtures, supports, develops and partners with solution based-initiatives that are socially and/or environmentally sustainable. One With Earth’s portfolio consists of a range of diverse not-for-profit and sustainable impact driven projects that focus on Textile Sustainability, Education, Community Welfare as well as Sustainable Agriculture. In alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Goals, OWE is born from the epiphany that all initiatives, for profit or otherwise OWE it to the earth to act responsibly. 

I first learned to sew when I was 14. Not that I’m an expert now, but I do know the difference between natural and manmade fabrics. Health concerns, as well as the feel of different fabrics, led me to prefer natural, organic ones. In my early 20s I acquired a bachelors degree in business. I followed that with a two year stint as a US Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV), five years working with the US Forest Service, and then another stint in the Peace Corps. These experiences gave me excellent contrasts and lessons about how I preferred to conduct business.

Uyen-My Pham is a fashion designer living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Denver, CO USA. She has worked internationally as a senior designer, product development manager, and graphic designer. She is the co-founder of Annex Studios, a multi-disciplined design and commercialisation studio. Uyen-My is also the creative director of NON, a sustainability focused children’s wear label. Uyen-My received her degree in Fashion Design and Merchandising from Syracuse University (New York, USA). She is recipient of The President’s Scholarship and M.S. candidate in Strategic Design and Management at Parsons The New School for Design (New York, USA). Early in her career Uyen-My’s talent was accoladed; in 2008 she was a prize winner of the Young Creative Entrepreneur Award hosted by British Council Vietnam and in 2007 she received the International Designer Award from the International Apparel Foundation (Taipei, Taiwan). Uyen-My is a passionate advocate of the marriage of fashion and sustainability. All her work is 100% ethical from farm to consumer; a testament to her walking the talk!