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Samata Pattinson is a womenswear designer, public speaker and author who has her own fashion label, Samata. In 2007 Samata became the first British female to showcase during the New York Nolcha Fashion Week and has received a host of industry awards and nominations including Cosmopolitan magazine‘s ‘Future Fashion Star of 2008’. She has been named in the ‘Black Women in Europe: Power List 2010’, and in March 2011 was listed as one of Red magazine’s ‘One to Watch: Top 20 women under the age of 30’. At the same time she was also announced as the winner of Suzy Amis Cameron’s international dress design contest Red Carpet Green Dress, creating an Oscar worthy gown from sustainable materials. Samata is currently the Global Campaign Director of the contest working between Los Angeles, New York and London. Samata is a guest lecturer at the London College of Fashion and has written for Fashion Capital, Cision, The Guardian and Vogue UK. Samata has been invited to Number 10 Downing Street to meet former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and has addressed Prime Minister David Cameron and an audience of MPs, entrepreneurs and media at the launch of StartUp Britain. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Virginia Grose is Principal Lecturer and Course Leader for MA Fashion Business Management at the University of Westminster and Design Executive and Product Developer at Courtaulds Textiles. With a background in product development in the fashion industry supplying major retailers in the UK and USA, after leaving Courtaulds in 2006 Virginia has worked as a consultant to Treasure Step International, Hong Kong supplying niche clients in Europe where she was able to develop and work with just about anything made with cashmere and other knitwear products. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Having studied at the prestigious Parsons the New School for Design in New York City, Fiona Dieffenbacher started out working for Donna Karan and was mentored by both Michael Kors and Anna Sui. She later opened her own boutique, and her collections retailed across the US and Japan. Fiona is now Program Director of the BFA Fashion Design course at Parsons. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Aaris Sherin is an educator, writer and designer. She is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at St John's University, Queens, New York. Sherin is a frequent lecturer and speaker at both national and international design conferences. Her writing has been featured in publications such as PRINT Magazine, STEP Inside Design, Form, Leonardo, and Design and Culture. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Alison Gwilt is Associate Professor in Design at the University of New South Wales and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the University of South Australia, Australia. She is an adviser to the not-for-profit organisations Redress (Hong Kong) and the Ethical Fashion Forum (UK). Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Erin Cadigan is a fashion design instructor at Pratt Institute in New York, USA, and runs a successful eco-friendly lifestyle company, THREE Erin Cadigan. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.