Week 2: Testing the waters
With our heads held high, our team entered week two with heightened spirits, eager to pick up where we left off. The theme of the week was discovery, our days were to be concerned with delving into the world of ethical fashion services, sustainable business models and clothing swapping events, but first… coffee.
Monday saw the team in full force, under the collective guidance of Lizzie and Amelia. Spurred on by caffeine, we were eased into the morning by one of Ruby’s heartfelt facilitations, the likes of which spanned the entire week. With warm hands, we got stuck in. First Amelia introduced us to the task at hand, then Lizzie coached us on the tools and techniques needed to carry it out and soon we felt ready for anything. Pooling our collective minds, we drew up a research plan, and divided into teams. Monday ended with a sense of trepidation, as we were eager to get started.
On Tuesday we launched both our Facebook page and our mailing list, if you would like to join our mailing list please message us via our Facebook page or email us at: fromewardrobecollective@outlook.co.uk. Our social media presence aided us in our acquisition of relevant statistics and figures as we could now pose questions to our community of supporters who seemed more than happy to answer them. Taking the more direct approach, some team members took to the streets to chat with local clothing professionals and charity shop volunteers about the current state of ethical and sustainable fashion in Frome. Leah, Laura and Iona took the week’s theme of discovery to heart, returning with scores of relevant information, and a handful of new insights.
Laura and Ruby were also lucky enough to meet with Ciara from Poot. Here we learned a great deal about the fashion community in Frome and were delighted to receive feedback on our projected ideas. Whilst this was going on, Rosa and I were tapping away at our keyboards, looking into Frome’s demographics, considering possible venues, and exploring a number of similar clothes swapping models existing throughout the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. After a relaxing lunch, the team reunited to share what we had discovered. With the help of Liz, we managed to group our findings by theme, so that we could better make use of them during next week’s ideation process, something we are more than excited to get underway! The number of multicoloured posted notes currently lining our office wall is quite staggering.
If all of that sounded like quite a lot, that’s because it was. As a group we are starting to learn how to work effectively under pressure, moving quickly from one task to the next. It is, however, very important to maintain a nurturing environment when working on projects such as these, in groups such as this. For that reason, we were delighted to spend Thursday getting to know each other, and ourselves, better, through our various team building activities accommodated by Andy Britnell, during his facilitated section of the day.
And like that, the week was over as quickly as it had begun. As students we are learning how to process and interpret information, as a team we are learning how to communicate and work effectively under pressure, and as friends, we are learning to how be happy with ourselves, together. And maybe, over the coming weeks, some of us might just realise a thing or two about pursuing meaningful livelihoods that are important to us.
Thank you for reading this week’s blog post, be sure to check back later for more updates.
Benedict.