-: London is a super diverse city
in which people from all corners
of the world live and work in close proximity.
The city developed as a centre of administration,
but it is trade and migration that have
made it the global city it is today.
-: In order to understand these processes
of urban change, geographers have been asking
why it is that migrants come to live and
work in particular parts of London.
And the ways in which their labour is transforming
city streets, cultures, and economies.
-: This process is often referred to as globalisation.
The widening, deepening, and speeding up
of global interconnectedness.
Linking distant localities in such a way
that changes in London are shaped
by events on the other side of the world.
And changes to places around the world
are shaped by events right here in London.
-: So what is it that links people from
Europe, South Asia, and West Africa?
The answer is this small cluster of streets
right here in Spitalfields, East London.
Each of these populations arrived here
in Spitalfields to escape persecution overseas,
looking to make a livelihood through
the garment industry.
And each of these populations in turn
has left their own imprint on the fabric of the city.
To understand how places like Spitalfields
have come to be as they are today,
we need to understand the histories of the
people and the industries that have shaped them.
One of the ways in which geographers do this
is by looking for clues in the urban environment,
such as signs and symbols.
This building was built in 1719
by a group of French Protestants
known as the Huguenots.
Between forty and fifty thousand
Huguenots came to England to seek refuge
from religious persecution in Europe.
This is where the word "refugee" originates.
The Huguenots established the silk industry
in Spitalfields, and we can see
signs of this industry preserved in
the architecture of this building.
The building has two doors, one for the family,
and the other for the weavers who would
head straight up to the attic.
It was up in the attic where the weavers
wove and embroidered silk.
This area of Spitalfields became known as Weavertown.
-: This building was originally built in 1743,
as a church for the Huguenot population.
In the 19th century it was converted
to a synagogue, a Jewish place of worship
for the thousands of Jews who came to
the area fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe.
The Jews also became involved in the fabric industry,
producing huge quantities of inexpensive garments
and the industry became known as the rag trade.
So the building was a church,
and then a synagogue, but today, look,
it's a Mosque,
a Muslim place of worship.
The building was converted in 1976 to serve
a growing Bangladeshi population
who arrived in the area after fleeing
the Sylhet region of Bangladesh.
The Bangladeshi community made their
own contribution to the fabric industry
here in Spitalfields, and their legacy is
still visible in the many leather
shops along Brick Lane.
Over the past twenty years, the area has seen
a rise of yet another fabric trade.
This is African Wax Fabric,
and its story is a case study of globalisation.
Hi, Harriet, Time for Geography.
-: My name's Brendan, nice to meet you.
We were wondering if you could tell us
a bit about the wax fabrics you have in here.
-: Yeah, basically how they're created is,
they use wax, then the wax is
put onto the fabric itself.
This is actually dipped into the dye,
it comes out the other side.
They wait for it to dry, then they strip off
the wax and then they put the next layer
of wax on and they build the design up.
Very few companies do waxing,
this is extremely labor-intensive.
You can imagine anything from six to eight
dippings in order to build the design.
These designs everybody just, um,
the girls just make maxi dresses out of them.
-: I want to make a maxi dress out of it.
-: This Batique method of waxing and printing fabric
originated in Indonesia, but in the
mid-19th century a Dutch merchant family
took this technique and attempted
to create a market for wax fabric in Europe.
On the way back to Europe, Dutch merchant ships
stopped over in West Africa,
where local printers and tailors
combined waxing with other techniques
including tie-dying and resist painting,
creating African Wax Fabric.
-: A lot of people ask me why do you
do Batique style of printing?
And the reason why is, in Africa obviously you have
the very bright sunshine, and by dipping
the fabric into the dye and soaking
up the colour and getting these
really vibrant colours, it doesn't fade.
So they actually guarantee the fabrics
for 50 years, the colour in the fabric
for 50 years, to give you an idea.
In the 1970s, the journey of wax fabric
continued as migrants from West Africa
brought the technique to London.
Today, there are over 35 shops selling
African Wax Fabric on Petticoat Lane,
reshaping the urban environment in London
through connections to places around the globe.
However, it is still sold in 6 yard pieces,
an imperial measurement that dates back
to the colonial era.
-: Just out of curiosity, do you know
why they make them in six yards?
Any idea?
The reason why six yards is all of
this is designed for Africa.
So what they do is, in Africa
they wear four yards for the dress,
but because it's part of their
everyday working clothing, they use
two yards to protect their dress.
So while they work it doesn't get dirty.
At the end of the day when they leave,
they take the two yards off so
that their dress remains nice and clean.
-: It's a wrapper.
-: Yeah.
-: Then actually later on in Africa, it evolved.
The two yards then became used if you got kids,
you used it to tie the baby to your back.
Do you sell your fabric just in London,
do you ship it all over the world?
-: We ship it all over the world,
have shops in the US, have shops in Paris.
One of our biggest stores are in Belgium.
And then obviously in the UK as well.
Our biggest customers are Ghanaian customers,
and then obviously Nigerians are our second biggest.
And then I have Congolese customers.
But the market is changing.
I'm getting a lot of Caribbean customers coming
into the market, and then on the other side
I'm having a lot of westerners coming in to the market.
They want to become creative, so they're using
it for all sorts of things like pillow cases,
curtaining, duvets, tablecloths, table runners,
anything that they can imagine.
Whereas, before were 95% of my market
was African market,
now I'm getting at least between 15 and
20 percent more Europeans coming into the market.
The fashion industry, huge!
Obviously you've got Stella McCartney
influencing African fabrics at the moment.
She was selling some of these designs for
one and a half thousand pounds.
-: The wax fabric trade, and other garment industries
in Spitalfields, are now under threat
from the ongoing impact of social and
economic changes.
A new wave of fashion has taken hold in Spitalfields,
focused on the sale of vintage clothing.
This fashion is often associated with the
rise of young, affluent middle class
consumers known as hipsters.
Human geographers have termed this process - .
On the one hand, this is the latest stage
in an ongoing process of urban change in Spitalfields.
On the other hand, this is part of
a more harmful process of gentrification
through which smaller businesses can
no longer afford to operate in the area.
Urban change is an ongoing phenomenon
in super diverse cities such as London,
shaped by the interaction of global and local processes.
The fabric trade provides us with a fascinating
window into how cities are being transformed
through the collision of people, products,
and places, through connections across the globe.
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