Introducing SFW Hub: Frome

Introducing our Hub partner in Frome: Everyone Needs Pockets.

We’re delighted to have the team behind Everyone Needs Pockets rejoin us for 2025 - their third year participating! Here we chat to Claire, who shares some more insights into all things Everyone Needs Pockets and their wider work in Frome, Somerset.

Claire:

“Everyone Needs Pockets began in 2022, born out of a circular economy event where it was clear there were a large group of people interested in reusing and recycling textiles. We have a team of 4 Anna, Claire, Jill and Tamara and many many wonderful volunteers.

In our network we have so many amazing people with backgrounds and interests in fashion, design, weaving, sewing, knitting, crafting, quilting and many expert dabblers.

We run a monthly How To Mend Your Clothes free workshop, helping teach people the skills to be able to repair their own clothes making them last longer. We have held many Stitch It Don't Ditch It in Frome town centre as a gentle act of encouragment to get people thinking about their clothes, during these events we have so many interesting converstaions and can feel the impact of doing something so simple can have. We have also started going into schools and to other community events with our giant community loom. A fun and hands on weaving experience everyone can get involved in using up our scrap fabric and teaching about the impact fast fashion is having on our planet.

We are an inclusive network of people united by a shared commitment to challenging the unsustainable ways we consume and dispose of textiles. Our guiding principles are rooted in community, collaboration, and creativity. We believe in the power of bringing people together to share skills, ideas, and energy to create meaningful change. Inclusion and accessibility are at the heart of what we do—we strive to make sustainable fashion approachable and joyful for everyone. Through our events, we offer hands-on opportunities for people to learn how to repair and craft their own wardrobes, empowering them to explore new routes for creative self-expression. We also recognise the positive impact that making, mending, connecting with others and working with your hands can have on mental health and wellbeing. Through all our work, we aim to inspire a deeper, more joyful relationship with clothing and textiles, one that nurtures both people and planet.

What are your aims for taking part in SFW?

As always, our aim is to have fun while encouraging, educating, and inspiring community action and alternatives to the current growth-based, extractive, and unhealthy fashion and textile systems. SFW is a space where people can rediscover the joy of making—repairing, crafting, and reimagining their own wardrobes. We want to empower people with the skills and confidence to express themselves creatively, while also experiencing the mental health and wellbeing benefits that come from hands-on, meaningful engagement with clothing and textiles.

How would you recommend we can “Reclaim Fashion”?

For me, reclaiming fashion means reclaiming the joy that can be found in clothes. It’s about creativity and expression and using what we already have to make something unique, rather than following trends or shopping fast fashion. Most new clothes are such poor quality and once you know the terrible working and environmental conditions under which they’ve been produced, I find it hard to find any joy in them at all. When I make a pair of shorts out of old T-shirts or upcycled my friends old duvet cover into a dress, that’s joy and fun for me. It’s sustainable and joyful, it can be both without being terribly expensive. I love all the upcyclers on social media and YouTube, there’s so much creativity out there, which gives me hope.

Quick Fire Questions

What is your top tip for those new to consuming fashion sustainably?

Buying and swapping second hand, it isn't the answer to it all but it's a good place to start.

Are there any documentaries/ exhibitions/ books you’d recommend for someone who is looking to change their perspective or educate themselves on the topic of fashion sustainability?

Kate Fletcher's books, Amy Twigger Holroyd's ' Fashion Fictions' website, Worn by Sofi Thanhauser and Fashion Reimagined documentary.

What is your favourite wardrobe staple?

That's such a hard question my favourite thing changes all the time. I wear things continuously and then change to something else. I suppose at the moment it is a jumper.”

You can learn more about Everyone Needs Pocket’s work via their website and Instagram here.

Take a look at their previous activities as part of SFW in our previous programmes here.