Severed Thread: The Decline of the Swiss Embroidery Industry
Season 1
Episode 4: The Fates of Embroidery
Episode 3: Red Hot Fantasy Labor
Episode 2: African Lace
by Raisa Kudasheva
In the last episode I try to imagine the form in which the craft of embroidery will persevere in Switzerland. Link: The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St. Clair https://www.sustainablefashionweek.uk/opinion/the-golden-thread Music in this episode was taken from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound.
In this episode I address the link between embroidery and the plague of fast fashion. Links: Why fast-fashion garment workers' lives are still at risk https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/why-fast-fashion-garment-workers-lives-are-still-at-risk-transcript-1.7120894 Shirtwaist Factory Fire Episode on Dressed: The History of Fashion Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/sweatshops-and-shirtwaists-remembering-the/id1350850605?i=1000649944856 Music used in this episode was taken from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound.
After the Second World War, interest in embroidery declined across Europe and the United States. In response, entrepreneurs began seeking new revenue streams. One such "stream" was West Africa. Links to media mentioned in the episode: STOFF - Ein Spitzengeschäft Film https://filminstitut.at/filme/stoff-ein-spitzengeschaeft Forget Me Not Book by Stephanie Baechler https://www.stephaniebaechler.com/books/forget-me-not-vergissmeinnicht/ How French Fashion Emerged even More Decadently from the Guillotined https://www.messynessychic.com/2022/01/20/how-french-fashion-emerged-even-more- Clothed in the Vapors of Dawn: The Rise and Fall of Dhaka Muslin https://open.spotify.com/episode/37eo89vyiFAa978ZoDblYt The ancient fabric that noone knows how to make BBC article https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210316-the-legendary-fabric-that-no-one-knows-how-to-make Historical Document with Swiss Wages in 1908 https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books/archive_008.pdf Music: Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound
In this episode, the host travels to Appenzell to meet Walter Sonderreger — a contract embroiderer who was eventually forced to close his family business. His company was "the last one standing" in the region. It is impossible to understand the decline of the embroidery industry without diving into the history of embroidery machines. Link: How This 140-Year-Old Lace Factory Created Leavers Lace for Dior, Burberry and More | WSJ Coveted https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD2nh75Yz8E Music to this episode was taken from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound.