We know there is a huge question mark about the social and environmental impacts of the fashion industry, but we mostly relate to that in terms of clothing.

But what about our footwear? Do you wonder who has made your shoes? What are employees' working conditions like? Was any child labour or forced labour involved? What raw materials have been used? Where do those materials come from and how are they processed? And what happens to the shoes we discard?

Lucy Reece-Raybould of ORB Member the British Footwear Association is passionate about driving the sustainability agenda in the footwear industry. The BFA has been working with Loughborough University on these issues and we are honoured and delighted to welcome Shahin Rahimifard, Director of Centre for Sustainable Manufacturing and Recycling Technologies as our presenter for this event.

But be warned - you may never look at a pair of shoes again in the same light!

The essence of Double Whammy Networking for Responsible Businesses is supporting each other and supporting a better way of doing business. And, as always, with Double Whammy events, sales will raise funds for local charities, in this instance via the donation option. 

The fixed ticket price is a nominal £2 to cover our overhead costs.

But, as you will see, there is also an optional donation. 100% of donation monies will go to our charity pot (see below)

We appreciate that many small businesses have suffered financially during the COVID pandemic. If you have been affected this way, please do not feel obliged to make a donation. However, if you are able to, we would appreciate you making a donation of whatever amount you feel is appropriate. We recommend between £2 and £10 but more is always welcome.

There's no judgment and this information is only visible to the organiser, so please only donate what you are comfortable with. Only details of the total funds raised will be shared.

The Charity Pot

At each event, we will do a visual draw and the winner of that draw will be able to nominate a local charity of their choice (NOT a national charity) to receive all funds from that event's charity pot. We will pay funds directly to that charity, normally within 10 days of the event, and details will be recorded on the Double Whammy website.

The Draw Winner

The draw winner will be able to give a 5-minute presentation about their business and, if they wish, tell us a little bit more about their chosen charity.

Rooms

During the course of the event, we will be deploying the Room option with delegates allocated to specific rooms of 3 to 5 delegates. Those of you who have attended Zoom meetings utilising this facility will know what a great opportunity this is to get to know more about the delegates in your group.

Schedule

The schedule is subject to change, but the following is a guideline:

11:00am - Log in (from 10.50am.) Delegates will be allocated to small chat rooms so arrive early if you can.

11:10am - Host introduction

11:15 am - Presentation by Shahin Rahimifard, Director of Centre for Sustainable Manufacturing and Recycling Technologies, Loughborough University

11:35am - Q&A

11:45am - Draw winner: charity information and 5-minute presentation

11:55pm - 2nd room session

1210pm - Host closes 'official' part of the event

12:15pm - Option to continue the meeting informally if you wish. Feel free to request a private chat room.

1:00pm - Zoom event closed