From iron to aggregates

One hundred and seventy-five years ago the supply of iron ore and coal were vital to maintain growth during the latter stages of the Industrial Revolution and the need for these minerals contributed to the founding of the British Geological Survey

Getting close to clothes: using material objects to rethink the creative geographies of post-war London fashion

Getting close to clothes provides new perspectives on the geographies of fashion cities and the processes and collaborations by which they function. Taking the history of London’s garment industry in the post-war 1940s as a case study, this paper traces the major stages of the making process–pattern making, cutting, machining and finishing–through four garments from the Museum of London’s fashion collection. By understanding these material fashion objects as processes, it uncovers the hidden stories of historic garment workers through the tiny clues left in old stitching, revealing the creativity of the individuals who made them and how they contributed to the creative cultures of the historic fashion city. This study of material processes shows how individual makers shaped garments and contributed to a creative culture that played a vital role in London's growing post-war reputation as a fashion city. It also broadens the boundaries of London as a fashion city beyond the confines of the West End by revealing that a network of workrooms and factories across the city supported this centrally located cluster of fashion businesses. Having established the historical role of making in the creative cultures of London fashion, this paper concludes by questioning how future studies of contemporary fashion cities might look to material objects in order to reconsider the creative agency of subcontracted garment workers in the new international division of labour and the contributions they make towards the symbolic reputations of major fashion cities, in spite of geographical distances

Mineral resource maps and safeguarding areas : a Welsh case study

Access to economic mineral resources in the UK, such as sand and gravel and crushed rock aggregate, is vital to ensure the continued supply of raw materials that are essential for maintaining national infrastructure and underpinning the economy. Increasing pressures on land use threaten adequate mineral supply in the long term if the location of mineral resources is not considered when siting other types of development. Security of supply of minerals is, therefore, becoming an increasing priority for local and national government organisations responsible for planning for development

Signs of wear: encountering memory in the worn materiality of a museum fashion collection

Historical clothes are more than just examples of how past societies dressed—they are imbued with small details of individual lives in their marks of wear. In this article I explore how these marks evoke memories, and how setting up interactions between personal memories and the materiality of fashion objects creates opportunities for new perspectives in the field of fashion history. I open this article by considering how historians might draw on the methodologies of material culture and archival co-authorship to bring memories into collections research. In order to illustrate these ideas, I then present objects from the Museum of London’s fashion collection alongside my own family photographs and stories to show how integrating my grandmother’s memories into my material culture research disrupted the conventional narratives of 1940s austerity fashion. I conclude by considering how the application of memory to collections research might inform the way that fashion objects are displayed in museums. I suggest that, by focusing on the relationship between visitor memories and the small details of how a garment has been worn and used, museums could create displays which disrupt historical orthodoxies and reveal how echoes of the past continue to shape contemporary fashion cultures

More than window dressing: visual merchandising and austerity in London’s West End, 1945–50

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the fashion departments of London’s West End department stores were not only challenged by austerity and bomb damage but also by the growth of multiple retailers selling branded ready-to-wear goods. This article investigates how department stores responded by investing in display and visual merchandising to attract custom and rebuild their fashionable reputations. It argues that the difficulties caused by austerity conditions forced department stores to embrace new retail methodologies that helped them adapt to the changed circumstances of post-war fashion retail and compete with multiple retailers

Thinking big : defining resources for major coastal defence projects

The UK’s coastline holds a special place in the nations psyche, but in many places requires significant and ongoing engineering effort to maintain its integrity. A ‘soft’ coastline and strong hydrodynamic regime around the UK, combined with the effects of climate change, contributes to high levels of erosion and sediment transport. Accordingly high volumes of sand and gravel are required for coastal defences, beach recharge and land reclamation every year. The British Geological Survey (BGS), in a project commissioned by The Crown Estate, has been identifying offshore resources which can be used for these applications with the aim of understanding the UK’s capacity for supplying major coastal defence projects. Research has been undertaken using industry and legacy sample data in association with modern high resolution bathymetry. This has allowed the volume of material in significant seabed features, such as sandbanks, to quickly be calculated and their properties defined. Results from this research will help to ensure that materials are sourced from the most cost-effective areas and that supply is not restricted. Understanding the volumes and properties of offshore sea bed features opens up the possibility of new types of coastal management, linking defence with amenity. Large scale coastal engineering schemes, such as the ‘Sand Engine’ on the Dutch coast, shows how these types of projects can both protect the coastline and promote public amenity if the large volumes of suitable material required can be economically and environmentally sourced

Modification of polyester for medical uses

Polyester is now the world\u27s biggest volume fiber with a wide range of enduses. Its strength and relative inertness make it useful in several medical applications, but it can still suffer complications of infection, blood clotting and a lack of compatibility with the body. Surface modification of the fiber prompted by established textile processes provides ways to incorporate or link a range of bioactive substances to overcome these problems. The same substances may also be incorporated into polyester solutions that can be electrospun as submicron scale fibers with even more interesting properties

Medical Textiles

A vital aspect of the textile industry is creating materials for medical use. Medical textiles come in all different shapes and sizes. They can be used to create something as simple as a bandage or something more extreme like sutures. Martin Bide, a TMD professor at the University of Rhode Island, discussed his experience with creating medical textiles and shed light on how lengthy the process can be before achieving the final product. In order to have any success in this area of the industry you need to be familiar with innovation in medical textiles, the stages it takes to create them, and what they are being used for

Safely acquiring new resources

The UK has one of the largest dredging industries in the world and marine-sourced aggregates make a vital contribution to the UK aggregate supply for construction, coastal protection and land reclamation. To date, more than 900 million tonnes of marine sands and gravels have been extracted from the UK’s continental shelf and marinedredged aggregates account for about a fifth of the UK’s sand and gravel production. Due to increasing pressure on onshore resources and the large quantities of material likely to be needed for infrastructure projects, this offshore demand is unlikely to decline. This, combined with competing demands for space on the sea bed from rapidly growing new developments, means that it is more important than ever to ensure offshore resources are planned and managed effectively