Liz Ricketts is one of the industry’s foremost campaigners on textile waste and climate justice.
She is the co-founder and executive director of The Or Foundation, a non-profit working to support communities in Ghana’s giant secondhand clothing hub of Kantamanto market and advocate for a justice-led circular economy.
Ricketts' started her fashion career as a designer and stylist. But after witnessing the damaging impact of fashion’s disposable culture she pivoted her focus towards education and advocacy, gaining a Masters in education from Harvard.
Her work has played a central role in raising awareness of the vast volume of clothing waste sent from European and American markets to Ghana and other countries in the global South — much of it ending up in landfill. More recently, The Or Foundation has stepped up its political advocacy, campaigning to ensure European efforts to regulate textile waste benefit the countries where it typically ends up.