Book Club No.7: In Conversation with Professor Kate Fletcher | Fletcher's Almanac Vol. 2
In the seventh Front Row to Front Bench book club from Fashion Roundtable, Meg Pirie talks with Professor Kate Fletcher about Fletcher's Almanac Volume 2, a pocket-sized book of short vignettes that moves through the seasons, between England, Ireland, Wales and Norway. The perfect companion to Volume 1.
Professor Kate Fletcher's work on slow-fashion, degrowth, nature and systems change has had an effect on how many of us, including Meg, think about the fashion industry.
After more than 30 years working in fashion and sustainability, Kate has turned towards storytelling, arguing that what we need is a shift in perceptual consciousness. As she puts it: "You can't unstir the coffee from the cream. You put it all in together, you can't take it back. And yet we're sort of pretending like we can."
In this episode:
Fashion media often reinforces the illusion that clothes exist apart from ecology. What might change if every fashion story had to carry its landscape with it through a mandatory ratio of nature words
The UK's own fibres, from wool and flax to hemp and nettles, and how to look out of the window to see what naturally suits your climate. For Meg in Wales it was nettles and wool!
Seeing our wardrobes as a "hanging rail of capabilities."
The need for individual work and a shift in not only perceptual consciousness but also literacy in what clothes are when they are not sponsored by an industry view of what fashion should be.
And two policy proposals worth debating:
Mandatory month-and-year production date stamps on all clothing, to track the churn and time spent on resale platforms such as Vinted and Depop
Recognising ecocide as a crime in international law under the Rome Statute
Kate's advice for anyone wanting to start is to begin with the clothes you already own.
Fletcher's Almanac Volume 2 is published by Quickthorn, will be released on the 1st October and is available to pre-order now. Illustrated by Stephen Fowler.
Front Row to Front Bench is the book club presented by Meg Pirie, for Fashion Roundtable, (https://www.fashionroundtable.co.uk/) the leading fashion and textiles think tank and consultancy.
Buy the book here: https://quickthornbooks.com/products/fletchers-almanac-vol-ii?_pos=2&_sid=44e87ff16&_ss=r
Find out more about Kate's work and her other publications here: https://katefletcher.com/ (https://katefletcher.com/)
18 Sept 2026
Fashion Roundtable Book Club No. 6: In Conversation with Frieda Gormley
In this episode, Meg Pirie sits down with House of Hackney co-founder Frieda Gormley to talk about her debut book, In the Company of Nature.
Part memoir, part manifesto, it's the extraordinary story of how a small British interiors brand became a radical case study in regenerative business, guided by nature's own blueprint for living systems.
"The old stories of unchecked growth, extraction and exploitation are beginning to crumble. In their place, new stories are emerging — stories of community, collaboration and connection." — Frieda Gormley
Buy the book here
Explore #FRBookClub here
24 Jul 2026
Fashion Roundtable Book Club - Patrick Grant
Fashion Roundtable's 5th book club and it's a special one!
In this episode, Meg Pirie is joined by Patrick Grant from the hit BBC series The Sewing Bee (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03myqj2) - Season 12 of which aired last week! Patrick is the founder of campaigning clothing brand Community Clothing (https://communityclothing.co.uk/) which supports local clothing and textile manufacturing across the UK. Patrick is also an outspoken advocate for radical change in the fashion industry and this comes across perfectly in his debut book, LESS, which was an instant Sunday Times bestseller – and that's what this episode centres around.
Patrick offers a hopeful vision for how rethinking our relationship with clothing could kickstart a thriving new local economy, bringing prosperity and hope back to places in our country that have lost out to globalisation – policy asks that, like Patrick, Fashion Roundtable is very hot on!
From Patrick's rescue mission of Cookson & Clegg and the ethos behind Community Clothing, to national economic policy, and back to a hand-wound watch, Patrick and Meg talk to the very shape of the book itself.
Resources mentioned in the podcast
More about Patrick's campaigning clothing brand Community Clothing (https://communityclothing.co.uk/)
(https://communityclothing.co.uk/) Watch Season 12 of the Sewing Bee
Check out The Tin Shed Gallery on the Isle of Mull - for Patrick's famous mug reference!
Read Fashion Roundtable's Open Letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Public Procurement
Sign the letter
Contact Front Row To Front Bench Podcast
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