Patrick Grant – Less

Today the average person has nearly five times as many clothes as they did just 50 years ago. Last year, 100 billion garments were produced worldwide, most made from oil, 30% of which were not even sold, and the equivalent of one bin lorry full of clothing is dumped in landfill or burned every single second. Our wardrobes are full to bursting with clothes we never wear so why do we keep buying more?

The Great British Sewing Bee judge Patrick Grant talks about loving clothes but despairing of a broken system, the crisis of consumption and how we might make ourselves happier by rediscovering the joy of living with fewer, better quality things. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With a career in fashion spanning nearly two decades Patrick Grant has a lot to say about our clothing, who makes it and how it’s made. He is a regular on television and radio as a commentator on the clothing and textile industries and is best known as a judge on the BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee. Patrick holds an honorary Doctorate from Heriot Watt University, is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is in the Business of Fashion 500 index of the most influential people in global fashion. In 2016 he launched Community Clothing, a social enterprise which supports thousands of UK jobs through making and selling affordable high- quality clothing.

Host or Publisher Guildford Book Festival