Name: “Can fashion save the world? And why should it?”
Start: 2026-02-18T18:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-02-18T20:00:00+00:00
Location: Ravensbourne University London

$\u201cCan fashion save the world? And why should it?\u201d$

Join Ravensbourne University London’s Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas EdD FRSA in this inaugural Professorial Lecture.
About this Event

Can fashion save the world? And why should it?”

Join Ravensbourne University London’s Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas EdD FRSA in this inaugural Professorial Lecture as she shares her research on sustainable fashion, responsible business and teaching for sustainable development and shows the creative ways individuals and communities are addressing the fashion industry’s negative impacts on people and planet.

About Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas EdD FRSA

Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas EdD FRSA is an award-winning researcher, author and National Teaching Fellow named in The SustainabilityX® Magazine’s Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™.

Professor of Marketing and Sustainable Fashion at Ravensbourne University London, where she co-leads the Regenerative Fashion Lab, Natascha is a highly regarded academic whose research focuses on sustainable fashion, craft and cultural heritage, social enterprise business, responsible management education, and the intersection of sustainable practices and wellbeing.

Natascha is Vice Chair of the UK charity The Costume Society, Chair of the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) UK and Ireland Chapter and member of the PRME Global Expert Pedagogy Group and one of the world's first LEGO® Serious Play® facilitators specialising in sustainability. Natascha is co-author of leading fashion business texts, Editor-in-Chief of Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases and co-Principal Editor of the International Journal of Sustainable Fashion and Textiles. Natascha has collaborated with organisations including Charity Super.Mkt, Crafts Council, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the British Beauty Council and is a frequent contributor to industry and media pieces featuring in the New York Times, the Independent, Vogue Business, BBC, CBC and NPR.

Abstract

In this Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Can fashion save the world? And why should it?, Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas EdD FRSA, Professor of Marketing and Sustainable fashion at Ravensbourne University London will share her research into sustainable fashion, responsible business and teaching for sustainable development.

Natascha has extensive international experience, and the lecture will cover several aspects of her multi-faceted research and teaching career and how her passion for teaching with empathy and her personal concerns about the existing fashion system led to a series of innovative outcomes across research, teaching and pedagogy. Natascha will share her extensive research and writing on sustainable fashion and her reflections on the creative ways in which individuals and communities are addressing the fashion industry’s negative impacts and reputation, through cultural heritage, craft, education and responsible business. In framing the context of the lecture, Natascha will outline how over-production in the fashion industry contributes to the climate emergency, nature loss and increasing inequality, linking the expansion of the global fashion system with negative impacts on people and planet in the largely unregulated pursuit of profit.

Referencing her own personal and professional experiences as an international fashion academic, along with her roles within organisations such as The Costume Society and the United Nations-supported initiative Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), Natascha will expand on concepts such as sustainable development, sharing examples of her work with pioneering individuals and organisations who are challenging the status quo and creating fashion and operating fashion businesses in more sustainable and regenerative ways.

About the Ravensbourne Inaugural Professorial Lecture Series

Ravensbourne University London Inaugural Professorial Lecture Series marks a pivotal moment in the institution's academic evolution, celebrating the appointment of five distinguished scholars whose exceptional contributions exemplify leadership, innovation and excellence. This lecture series honours individuals who have demonstrated outstanding distinction within their respective fields whilst making significant contributions to the strategic objectives of the University.

The conferment of the title of Professor recognises not merely academic achievement, but a profound commitment to shaping the future of education, research and knowledge exchange. These scholars play a pivotal role in developing Ravensbourne's academic provision, supporting students in effective learning and research and driving forward the University's Research and Knowledge Exchange strategy. Their work extends beyond traditional academic boundaries, forging meaningful connections between theory and practice, academia and industry, creativity and commerce.

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