Going archival - With Dr Kat Jungnickel, Politics of Patents (#120)
This week's guest is Dr Kat Jungnickel, sociologist (from Goldsmiths, University of London), cyclist, tweed enthusiast and keen investigator of historical clothing patents. We talk about how the popularity of 'safety' bicycles in Britain in the 1890s became a catalyst for the women's rights movement and led to sartorial inventions and patents for new forms of (convertible) cycle wear that switched from street wear to cycle wear. Kat and her team of sewing social scientists reconstruct many of the innovative solutions from the past and reflect on how these designs helped women lead active independent lives.