Sewing is often taught with a focus on making something finished. But behind every creation is a set of techniques shaped by culture, community, materials, and purpose.

Around the World in 80 Sews explores sewing through that lens; part reference, part project book, and part global expedition. You’ll discover Japanese Sashiko, Ghanaian Kente weaving, British Dorset buttons, and even techniques designed for extreme Antarctic conditions. This book brings together eighty sewing and textile techniques from around the globe, along with short projects to try at home.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Luke-Matthew Iveson

“You might know me from winning The Great British Sewing Bee (Season 10), or maybe from making clothes for strangers I meet. Either way, I’m a maker, designer and teacher who’s obsessed with sewing, textiles, and learning new things.”

With over 80 billion pieces of clothing produced each year and with human made stuff now outweighing living biomass, this is the story of the first sorting site for the deluge of items we discard every single day. Having spent decades exploring charity shops for bargains and treasure, Tansy Hoskins decided to dig deep into the world of charity shop volunteering.

From used underwear to wolf pelts, Charity Shop World is a personal account of sorting through donations to reveal the entanglement of people and products. This book also investigates the export of clothes to overseas markets and landfill, revealing hidden shareholders behind a multi-million pound business.

Taking us to the heart of a country hit by austerity and the cost of living crisis, Charity Shop World reveals surprising places of human connectivity, where local communities struggle to find their way through economic hardship to reach a more sustainable way of living. In a world where 'broken' things and 'unwanted' people are expelled to the margins of society, this book is a powerful call for a new way of living to rise up from the debris of overproduction and consumption.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TANSY E. HOSKINS is an awardwinning author and journalist who investigates the global fashion industry. Her books include The Anti- Capitalist Book Of Fashion which Vogue selected for the 'Best Fashion Books Of All Time' and Foot Work - What Your Shoes Tell You About Globalisation. Tansy has won the ICA Bookshop Book of the Year Award, and been nominated for a British Journalism Award. She is a trainer at the Centre for Investigative Journalism. Tansy lectures on the politics of fashion supply chains across the UK at universities, museums, cultural events and political gatherings and regularly does the 'heavy lifting' for media interviews and discussions on the workings of the global garment industry.

Chronicling how she transformed Harvey Nichols from a fusty, old-fashioned store to a thriving, cutting-edge fashion brand, this entertaining and insightful book is suffused with the heady glamour and excess of 90s Cool Britannia.

Mary takes us behind the shop window - to the people who kept the show on the road and the early lessons that shaped her career. Told with her trademark wit, grit and candour, readers will see first-hand how, armed only with the blank canvas of a shop window and her own creativity, Mary created an era-defining global brand destination.

About the Author

Mary Portas is a businesswoman, broadcaster, author and activist. She has published four books: Windows: The Art of Retail Display, Shop Girl, Work Like A Woman and Rebuild. At age 32 she became a board member at Harvey Nichols before founding her own retail consultancy. Mary has since worked with some of the biggest names in global retail. Her BBC series Mary Queen of Shops premiered in 2007 and she has presented on television and radio ever since. In 2009, she partnered with Save The Children to reinvent charity shops. She also conducted a review of the future for high streets for the British government in 2011. As co-chair of the Better Business Act, Mary heads a coalition of businesses calling for a change in the law to ensure UK companies align their interests with those of wider society and the environment. In 2024 she was awarded an OBE for her services to business, broadcasting and charity.