Today, on Earth Day
, Fashion Revolution Week begins. A week in which we remember the victims of the horrific collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh (in 2013), which killed more than 1,000 people and injured hundreds more, and, even more intensely than the rest of the year, we fight for transparency, ethics and sustainability in the fashion industry.
"If someone wanted to live 100% sustainably from a fashion perspective, they would have to go naked their whole life," says
Martina Mareková Kuipers , coordinator of the
Fashion Revolution movement in Slovakia , and continues: "There's no need to exaggerate, zero waste is really a trend now, but we need to realize that whatever we do, some trace of us will always be left behind. It's especially important to think before buying anything, even clothes."
Organic, eco and other trends
Zero waste, ecology and a sustainable lifestyle are really a trend, we have been fighting plastics for years, we try to shop in our own bags, take vegetables in retro mesh bags, pastries in canvas bags, we carry water in our own bottles (ideally made of glass), we buy food whose origin we know. A similar mindset is gradually coming to the fashion industry, which is one of the dirtiest industries in the world.
They say that clothes make the man, and thanks to them you can often guess a person's social status, position or taste. Fashion trends are an important part of many people's lives, but even those who are not interested in trends have to dress. Therefore, it is important, just like with the aforementioned foods,
to think about what we wear and where it comes from .
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Martina Mareková Kuipers and Simona Nečasová[/caption]
"Think about what I need and whether I have to have it. If you want to find out what you really need, move house and see how many unnecessary things appear when packing. However, you also need to think about whether I will deliver the item or throw it away, donate it to charity, what happens next... We are flooded with textiles, new, high-quality and low-quality, absolutely all kinds of textiles. The fact that someone cleans out their closet and solves their "problem" only means that they have moved the problem somewhere else," says Martina Mareková Kuipers. However, as we will mention several times in this article, every coin has two sides. "But again, the first step is to air out the closet. Tell yourself what you really wear, what your style is, start thinking about how you will wear the item, whether it will fit in your wardrobe, what material it is made of, what quality it is... They say that if you put on a piece of clothing "at least 30 times, you really used it," adds
Simona Nečasová , also from the
Fashion Revolution team in Slovakia .
When buying any clothing, think about
Everyone has to start with themselves. "Someone doesn't care that someone else is suffering during the production of their clothes, but they should at least care that if they wear something that is made of poor-quality materials, and moreover processed in a way that is harmful to their health, it affects them. Those substances go into their skin. So they are not only harming the earth, soil, water, but also their health..." Simona opens another topic.
"If we think about it, we really don't need much, we don't have to go shopping every week, it's enough to treat ourselves to something of higher quality once in a while. High-quality and ethical things are not expensive, the price is what it should be. It's expensive compared to clothes from fast fashion brands, but that's like food. Quality food will never be cheap, just like any other quality thing. But then again, I also understand that people are confused because there is an overabundance of information, you can't check how it's made, what it's made of... We really need to educate ourselves on this topic," says Martina. This is where there is room for brands, which, according to the Fashion Revolution movement, should be more transparent and show their customers not only finished products, but also what they are made of, and who is behind them.
Responsibility and sustainability start much earlier than with clothes hanging in a store window.
#whomademyclothes
The question “Who made my clothes?” has been heard more and more since the global movement began.
In April 2018, #whomademyclothes resonated with 275 million people around the world, including Slovakia. It expresses people’s commitment to learning as much information as possible about the origin of their clothes and the conditions in which they were made.
"Small designers and small brands approach this responsibly. The smaller the brand, the more transparent it is, it's basically their marketing, thanks to which they sell themselves. But even larger brands can show something from behind the scenes of their production and in the age of social networks relatively easily," says Martina. (
We write about the origin of the Alain Delon clothing brand in several articles. )
So let's summarize , when I want to buy some clothes, I first think about whether I really need them and whether I can combine them with other things in my wardrobe. I try to find out where the clothes were made and what material they are made of. I focus mainly on local production, because I will definitely find out more detailed information locally, but what if some part of the puzzle is not 100% perfect?
"Do you buy a local product from Slovakia or a product that was also locally produced in a small family factory abroad? It's like going to the store and wondering whether to buy Slovak tomatoes in plastic or Spanish ones without plastic. So what should you buy? What has a smaller carbon footprint? Or do I want to support my economy? Sometimes it's not even important what material it's made of or whether it's ecologically produced, but rather that you support the domestic economy. It didn't have to travel thousands of kilometers. Simply put, you have to consider it from every angle," Simona Nečasová thinks.
Clothing cycle
The goal of the fashion revolution is for brands and consumers to start thinking more about the entire life cycle of clothing, from how it is produced, how it travels to stores and consumers, to what happens to it when you no longer wear it and decide to exclude it from your wardrobe. You always have an alternative. If you have clothes in your closet that are almost unworn, but you know that you will no longer wear them, you can pass them on to a friend, you can take them to a second-hand store, where they will find a new owner or breathe new life into them (for example
, NOSENE creates the Renewals collection ) or participate in so-called SWAPs, in which participants can exchange their clothes with each other.
"There is one big problem with textiles, they cannot be recycled. They are mixed fibers, there are technologies to separate these fibers, but they are very expensive, economically demanding. Nobody does it. Even if things are in a landfill, the organic decomposes in the synthetic, it is as if food decomposes somewhere between the plastics. Plastics can be recycled, but textiles cannot be processed in this way, they can only be remade, for example into insulation," explains Martina Mareková Kruipers. That is why it is very important to think about where your clothes will end up before you even buy them.
And to focus on quality, not quantity.
Fashion Revolution Week 2019 in Slovakia
Fashion Revolution Week in Slovakia will kick off with a panel discussion in Berlinka
on Tuesday, April 23 at 6:00 p.m. , which will also include our brand Alain Delon. In addition to us, the invitation to Barbara Jagušák's
Fashion Revolution Talk was accepted by sustainable wedding dress designer Zuzana Kedroňová from Yoora Studio, Juraj Kunák, representative of the Slovak company Ekocharita, and Zuzana Ryšavá, Fashion Revolution coordinator for the Czech Republic.
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Martina Mareková Kuipers and Barbara Jagušák[/caption]
On Thursday, April 25, a student fashion show of upcycled models will take place in the premises of the Svornosť printing house. The fashion show of students from eight high schools is the ceremonial culmination of the half-year project Young & Eco, organized by the Student School Council #INAK. "Last fall, we gave lectures, such information days at high schools about the fashion industry, from January to April, the models were made. The students chose some second-hand material that they reworked, during this implementation they had two consultations with designers. We are three designers who advise them on how to do it, what to do, to broaden their horizons a little, so that they are not afraid to lift, fold, play with it," explains Martina Mareková Kruipers, who creates under the Bartinki brand.
After the show, Barbara Jagušák will talk about the principles of sustainable fashion with guests Alžbeta Irhová, founder of the eco brand BAGBET, Zuzana Dutková, founder of the Dutka Lab brand and organizer of Bratislava SWAPs, Petra Csefalvayová from the Institute of Circular Economy, and Katarína Peterová, a slow fashion blogger working under the name La Florita.
In addition to Bratislava, Fashion Revolution Week activities will also take place in other cities in Slovakia. The full program can be found in the highlighted stories of the
Fashion Revolution movement in Slovakia on Instagram .
#fashionrevolution #whomademyclothes #imadeyourclothes
