In April 2025, ahead of the biggest Bradford Science Festival to date, I went to St Paul’s youth club in Manningham to meet with ten intelligent, creative and lively young people to talk about fashion and climate change. The topic was new to most of us, but through browsing a few library books, brainstorming ideas and asking each other big questions, we started to find the connection between these two topics. And the Young People’s Panel was born!
We were shocked by some of the things we learnt. Did you know that nonbiodegradable fabric can sit in landfills for up to 200 years? This includes fabrics like polyester and nylon. We discovered that making one cotton t-shirt can use up to 2,000 litres of water (that’s about 5,400 normal bottles). It made all of us think twice about what we were buying and how often.
With the help of fantastic youth workers Kim, Karen, Anum, Margaret and Danielle from Bradford Youth Service, we organised lots of engaging sessions in which the panel researched the science, learnt new skills and eventually designed and made some sustainable outfits using upcycled, second-hand textiles. These pieces are being exhibited at Bradford Science Festival 2025 on 25 and 26 October in the Broadway.
Over six months, we travelled the Bradford District in search of knowledge and inspiration. In May, we went to Ilkley to visit the well-loved collection of charity shops, learning to look at labels to see what materials things are made of and consider how they might have been made—was this hand-knitted or made by a machine?
To inspire the panel to think about the importance of youth voice in event planning and decision-making, we attended Public Interest, a Common/Wealth Theatre production at Loading Bay as part of Bradford 2025. Although the show was on a completely different subject matter, it was inspirational and helped us think about what an engaging event might look like at Bradford Science Festival to showcase our work.
In August, after finalising our ideas, we travelled to Keighley to visit Charlotte and Gillian at Stitch Society. In their amazing studio they design and make high quality, sustainable clothing by hand. Here the panel learnt new skills including sketching designs, using paper patterns, sewing on a machine and how to transform fabric using natural dyes (such as beetroot, turmeric and nettles).
The final pieces are a triumph, and we are really proud of the Young People’s Panel’s work. They have made many outfits, including two upcycled hoodies with sewn-on patches and a skirt and kimono from colourful second-hand scarves.
In October, a few weeks before the show, we met back at St Paul’s and invited Rozina and Lorett from Creative Flare Yorkshire to join the fun. They were inspirational and showed us some upcycled outfits they’d made during a similar project. We decided on who would model the outfits, which music would play and some spoken word.
We hope many of you will consider the history and lifespan of the clothes you wear, and think about the impact our fashion choices have on the planet.
