Future World Changers

I want to alter our relationship with our clothes: how we manufacture them, how we consume them and how we dispose of them. Clothing is one of the biggest polluters on the planet right now, and the manufacture of clothing is related to where I come from.

Bangladesh is the second largest producer of ready-made clothing in the world, and also home to some of the most disadvantaged communities in the world, affected by pollution, climate change and labour welfare (the Dhaka garment factory collapse in 2013 was a huge industrial disaster which killed over 1,300 garment workers).

We often forget about the human cost of the clothes we wear. I believe it is possible to have a global supply chain that does not exploit the least privileged people in society and does not have such a detrimental impact on the environment, by engaging in more second-hand clothing practices: recycling, re-using, upcycling, buying less clothes and paying workers more for them.

To raise awareness, I have organised clothing swaps back home in Bangladesh, which is a very unknown practice there, and I have worked to make people more aware as consumers by organising a screening of the documentary The True Cost; and organising panel discussions with industry experts and environmental activists.

Most of the clothes I wear are second-hand, and I want to continue to educate the public that they can make more sustainable choices.

Why Glasgow?

As a Masters degree holder, I was looking for an accelerated law degree that would allow me to finish the course in a year or two. Glasgow offered this option, as well as held the position of second-best law school in the UK in 2019, so it was an easy choice.

Juneyna is one of the University of Glasgow’s Future World Changers: students with ambitions to improve lives across the globe. Follow their journeys using #UofGFWC.