1. Rethinking textile products Lesson one: The lifecycle of a T-shirt
Learning objectives:
To gain awareness of personal values and how they impact on the decisions we make as consumers
To increase understanding of the environmental impact of a product at different stages of its lifecycle
To gain awareness of how textiles companies are developing circular economy products

2. A new inspirational business
Belief circles 1. Write your name on a small piece of paper and organise yourselves into a large circle. 2. In the middle of the circle your teacher will place a statement. If you agree with the statement place your name close to it, if not further away. 3. You may be asked to explain your decision.
Tell the students that over the next few lessons they will be developing ideas to create a textiles business.
Start by thinking about individual beliefs. Could these influence business decisions?
Refer to the document “Act.6.L1.Starter activity_Belief Circles”, in the resources folder for this lesson. The Belief Circles worksheet has six statements on it that you can use for this activity. You can also add your own.

3. The story of a T-shirt
T-shirt facts
An Average consumer in the UK buys around eight T-shirts per year
The UK imports approximately 460 million T-shirts in one year
The cotton for many T-shirts is grown, harvested and spun into yarn in the US
The yarns are often shipped to China for knitting, dyeing, cutting and sewing, then shipped to the UK for retail

4. Activity: The story of a T-shirt
You will need:
A T-shirt
Set of EMF picture cards
Flipchart paper, Blu-Tack, pens
Look at the label of your T-shirt. Using the pictures and your own ideas tell the story of that T-shirt, from the growing of cotton through to disposal.
Use the energy and water cards.
This flow of material and production is called Cradle to Grave or a linear (straight line system).
The facts from this slide have been taken from Well Dressed: The present and future of clothing and textiles in the United Kingdom, which is available to download for free from

5. Learning from others
A number of textiles companies have started thinking about the whole story/system of how they develop textiles products. Watch this video clip: Make notes of any terms and ideas that you feel are important to NIKE.

6. Homework/extended product research activity
Research a textiles company and use your product research activity sheet to record details about the company.
Inspirational companies, include:
Eurostar Bags: Remade from ‘waste’ uniforms
usiness/articles/worn-agains-journey-to- closed-loop
Rapanui Clothing: Clothing with a difference
To offer students further inspiration you may wish to add to this list. There might even be local textiles companies who are developing circular economy systems.