Helena Norberg Hodge - Globalisation Has Failed Us. What Now?

About this episode

Clare Press interviews Helena Norberg Hodge about the failures of globalisation and explores alternatives rooted in local economies.

As supply chain shocks rock the world yet again, we ask: is globalisation a failed experiment? As my guest this week points out, the idea that global trade is always beneficial for everybody is a lie. Big business just gets bigger, multi-national corporations lobby governments to win tax breaks and shape trade deals, while bankers bet on the misery of millions. There's no point pretending that this system works for the majority. So what's the alternative? My guest this week is the legendary author, linguist and movement builder, Helena Norberg Hodge. Helena is the founder of Local Futures , an international non-profit set up to promote ideas around a new economy, one rooted in place, "nature, community, and the deeper meaning that makes life whole". Her books include 2019's Local Is Our Future , and 1991's its called Ancient Futures , about her time in Ladakh, where she arrived in 1975 and began working with local communities there. She's also a filmmaker - you'll hear us discuss her documentary The Economics of Happiness . From the fashion side, she loves local textile heritage and her critique of the global fashion industry is around its focus on what she calls "the…

People in this episode

Host: Clare

Guest: Helena Norberg Hodge

Topics covered

• globalisation
• economy
• localism
• fashion
• supply chain

Keywords

• Local Futures
• The Economics of Happiness
• consumer monoculture
• textile heritage

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Local Is Our Future, Ancient Futures

Books & works: Local Is Our Future, Ancient Futures, The Economics of Happiness

Places: Ladakh

More episodes of WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

• Encore - How Michael Preysman Built Everlane · June 3, 2026 · 38 min
• Do You Know the History of Cotton? Artist Nikesha Breeze on Honouring her Ancestors and the Story of Colonial Cotton · April 17, 2026 · 52 min
• Dark Matter Labs' Indy Johar on Planetary Civics and a new Vision for Fashion's Future · March 25, 2026 · 54 min
• A Forest Story - Adventures in Tasmania's Magical Temperate Rainforest · March 20, 2026 · 1h 6m
• Ethics, Embroidery and Which Stories Get Told, Wafa Ghnaim on the Power and Practice of Palestinian Dress · March 8, 2026 · 59 min
• A Wardrobe Crisis Listener on Learning Tatreez Embroidery to Connect with her Palestinian Culture · February 28, 2026 · 36 min