Carry Somers is renowned for her transformative impact on the fashion industry. A visionary change-maker, fashion designer, social entrepreneur, and campaigner, she co-founded Fashion Revolution, the world’s largest fashion activism movement. Challenging the industry to take greater responsibility, her work has inspired action and ignited a shift towards transparency, fairness, and sustainability at every level of the supply chain.
Since stepping away from Fashion Revolution, Carry has focused on her twin passions: textiles and storytelling. Her book The Nature of Fashion (Chelsea Green, September 2025) explores the entwined histories of plants and textiles, uncovering the threads that have shaped our world and the choices defining our material future.
With an MA in Native American Studies, Carry has long supported and collaborated with Indigenous communities, amplifying their voices and traditions while embedding their values into her practice. She founded the award-winning Fair Trade brand Pachacuti, pioneering radical supply chain transparency and setting a benchmark for ethical practices. In 2022, she co-founded the League of Artisans, a non-profit championing artisanal skills as a vital response to global challenges.
Recognised by the Business of Fashion BoF500 as one of the most influential figures shaping the global fashion industry, her advocacy extends beyond fashion. She sailed 2,000 miles from the Galapagos to Easter Island with an all-female research crew investigating microplastic and toxic pollution in the Pacific Ocean. She also collaborated on Lottie Delamain’s textile garden, which won a silver-gilt medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, encouraging visitors to reimagine the link between what we grow and what we wear. Current roles include co-lead for Kew Gardens Community Open Week and adviser to Kew’s Material World Festival.
Carry's contributions have been widely celebrated. She received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Keele University in 2022 and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2023 to further her work in reimagining fashion’s relationship with nature. Her advocacy continues to inspire action and transform industries worldwide.
Q1. How does sustainability influence your work and daily life?
It is central, and always has been, from setting up Pachacuti in 1992 – a brand that went on to become the world’s first Fair Trade Certified company – to founding Fashion Revolution after the Rana Plaza factory collapse, and and my work with League of Artisans today. And of course, it is pivotal to my book, The Nature of Fashion (Chelsea Green/Rizzoli Autumn 25) although I do try not to overuse the word sustainability! And in terms of life beyond work, it influences every choice, from the paint I put on my walls (fully traceable minerals, non-toxic) to my weekly In My Back Yard order for all my food – fish, meat, fruit and veg and more - all from within 30 miles of Branscombe.
Q2. Have you experienced any pivotal moments that deepened your understanding or commitment to sustainability?
Several – and they always entail hearing stories from those affected at first hand. My fashion career began accidentally in the early ‘90s when what started as a summer holiday project to support a co-operative in Ecuador who had experienced arson attacks turned into a brand. I set aside my fully-funded PhD in natural dyes and the symbolism of colour in the Andes and decided to create change instead. Thirty years later, when travelling through Latin America for my book research, supported by a Churchill Fellowship, it was the first-hand stories that moved me, revealing the impacts of our way of life on distant communities, from the Andes to the Amazon. Many of those stories did not find their way into my book, but they underpin my work all the same.
Q3. Have you encountered any unexpected benefits or opportunities from adopting sustainable practices?
Too many to count – and many are invisible. There’s the cleaner air from avoiding toxic paints and materials in my home, and the unknown but likely profound effects on my health from steering clear of plastic-wrapped food wherever possible. Then there are the human connections – talking to local farmers, fishermen, conservationists – that enrich my life in ways I never anticipated.
Q4. In your view, what’s one simple and doable lifestyle change that could have a meaningful impact on sustainability?
Rethink how you shop for food. I use In My Back Yard, part of Open Food Network. My milk and yoghurt arrive in returnable glass bottles, my organic vegetables mostly come in paper bags. Even my fish is landed just over the cliffs by Beer Fisheries, a community interest company whose members are licensed to fish in Lyme Bay’s marine conservation zone. Salad bags containing a seasonal selection of 100 different leaves and flowers. It’s a small shift, but impactful, giving me food that tastes like it should, bursting with flavour! And the cost? Because of the way In My Back Yard is set up – buying direct from the farmers and run by volunteers – prices are mostly on a par with, if not lower, than my local supermarket. Truly a world of difference.
Q5. How do you think circular economy principles — eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials, and support ecosystem regeneration — could be adopted in your industry or in a hobby?
Nature has no landfill: every fibre, dye and process should be part of a regenerative cycle. Fashion has an extraordinary opportunity to embrace the circular economy by looking to the past in order to move forwards – something I explore in The Nature of Fashion – shifting from the linear model to one rooted in dynamic equilibrium with the living world around us.
Q6. Are there any books, documentaries, or podcasts around sustainability that you feel particularly inspired by and would recommend to others?
I would highly recommend How To Save The Amazon by Dom Phillips and collaborators – those who completed his story after the author was killed during his research. It dives into a tangled web of deforestation, poverty and pollution, exploring the historical context and resisting simplistic narratives. We hear from those on the frontline of devastation, showing both the scale of the challenge and successful ways in which local communities are protecting their land.
Q7. Is there a circular designer or brand you particularly admire and why? This doesn’t have to be in fashion.
I greatly admire Fernando Laposse, a Mexican designer whose work transforms agricultural waste into beautiful, functional objects. I visited his studio during my Churchill Fellowship travels and heard how his projects begin with local farming communities, from turning discarded corn husks into furniture veneer to using avocado pit dye to create huge textile panels. Beyond creating income streams and reviving craft traditions, he uses his work to spotlight the often unseen impacts of production, from the assassination of environmental defenders to the destruction of the monarch butterfly’s overwintering habitat.
Q8. What is the most timeless piece in your wardrobe, where did you find it and how long have you had it for?
I sailed the Atlantic on a tops’l schooner in 1992. On our first day at sea, the wind snapped one of our goosewinged booms, leaving us vulnerable to the elements, while our worn canvas sailcloth proved no match for the gales and heavy seas. In need of a safe haven, we headed for Bermuda. Setting off on foot to explore the island, I stumbled upon a blue playsuit adorned with painterly poppies in a local boutique. It was a rare find considering it is one of just three items of blue clothing ever to have made their way into my wardrobe. Over thirty years have passed since that purchase, and the playsuit still makes an appearance every summer.
Q9. What do you consider when buying new clothing?
Will it be in my wardrobe for the next thirty years!
Q10. How do you curate your wardrobe?
I spend at least half a year living in my Branscombe caravan, halfway up the cliff overlooking the sea. So in a way, my wardrobe self-curates itself. Whenever it does grow, it’s almost always with a vintage or upcycled find.
