Now you’re talking…Katherine Hamnett

She famously flashed a T-shirt opposing the purchase of US Pershing missiles while shaking hands with Margaret Thatcher back in the ’80s. Now the leftfield fashion guru is designing organic clothing collections for the likes of Tesco – in between campaigning on nuclear power, HIV and fair trade…

Green saint or sinner?
Sinner; I take planes sometimes!

Road to Damascus moment?
Dozens! The most important was in 1989, when I saw the results of research into the social and environmental impact of the clothing industry. I went from thinking that, as a fashion designer, I probably wasn’t doing any harm, to realising I was contributing to a living nightmare. There are 20,000 deaths a year from accidental pesticide poisoning in cotton farming alone.

“I went from thinking that, as a fashion designer, I probably wasn’t doing any harm, to realising I was contributing to a living nightmare”

What made you want to work for a supermarket giant?
I want to help cotton farmers in the developing world who are living on the edge of starvation. If they grow their cotton organically they get a 50% increase in income. The sheer volumes that Tesco can consume could make an enormous difference to hundreds of thousands of people’s lives. Just to make my range of clothing, Tesco ordered 250 tonnes of organic cotton from a mill in India.

What possession couldn’t you do without?
My little farm in Majorca.

And what would you be glad to see the back of?
Conventional cotton that uses 25% of world pesticides.

Any words to the wise?
People should realise they have more power as consumers than as voters, and should write to their favourite brands threatening to boycott un- environmental products. They should tell their MPs that if they don’t actively represent their views in Parliament, they’ll be voting for someone else next time.

What scares you about the future?
That it might be too late. We need to find out as much as possible about our impact on the environment. Clean up or die.

Interview by Giovanna Dunmall

20 September 2007