Values-led Designer-Artisan Collaborations as Pathways Towards Cultural Reconciliation in Fashion

This chapter discusses a research project that explored ethical collaborations between designers, Indigenous artisans and marginalised communities, with the aim of fostering social change, supporting cultural reconciliation, and contributing to the decolonisation of dominant fashion practices. It situates the project within the field of design activism as a transformative tool towards social justice, while intersecting with cultural studies and decolonial theory. The study embraced ethnographic and participatory action research conducted in Vietnam and Australia, and adopted a range of co-creation methods and interviews with academics and practitioners working on decolonising design. The chapter discusses a design anthropological approach to eliciting diverse lived experiences and contributing to community empowerment. It proposes a ‘middle-up-down’ approach to co-designing social innovations and building long-term partnerships aimed at community resilience and social impact. The chapter also highlights the work of fashion social enterprises (i.e., Fashion4Freedom, Kilomet109, Clothing the Gaps, and The Social Studio) as examples of designer-artisan collaborations that contribute to sustainable development, foster cultural reconciliation and social impact, create job opportunities, and enhance the wellbeing of people and the planet. In conclusion, this research paves the way for a new fashion system that respects and integrates Indigenous knowledges, contributing to shaping more equitable, diverse, inclusive, and sustainable futures.