Sophie Slater, Birdsong
“PAY EMPLOYEES A FAIR WAGE”
“We might be tiny but the big mission is to change the blueprint,” says Sophie Slater, who launched sustainable and ethical fashion brand Birdsong in 2014. Today, she remains as determined as ever to change the way women in retail are valued.
It’s estimated that 60 million women worldwide, aged 18-35, make less than a minimum wage from their work in the garment industry. As a London Living Wage Employer, Birdsong is set apart. Unlike the minimum wage, the living wage changes according to location, depending on the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. “With retail, you’re often made to feel replaceable. People are scared of losing their jobs if they stick up for themselves,” she says. “Retail workers deserve to be paid properly and need decent union representation.”
From refugees to adults with learning disabilities, Birdsong employs people from all walks of life to make, embroider, package and market its products. Feminism pulses through every decision she and her business partner make, from materials to models.
“I’d always worked with clothes but I never thought I’d start a business,” says Sophie. “I’d worked in retail for five years and I briefly had a modelling contract in London, which for someone from a seaside town up North was very exciting. But as a teenager, I was over-sexualised by the modelling and retail industry. When I was 15 being photographed, male photographers constantly commented on my body,” she says. “It’s provided massive motivation for making Birdsong shoots as wholesome and encouraging as possible. We try to make everyone feel like a person, not a piece of meat.”