We need to act now. How to save the planet by changing the fashion industry
The fashion industry pollutes the planet more than transportation, energy and food production. But undoubtadely the oil industry is worse for the environment. More than 90 million tons of garbage annually – the price of the general race for “trends” in the wardrobe. Everything decomposes for a long time and it is toxic. Polyester T-shirt needs 200 years in order to become microplastic. Fish and animals take its particles and microfibers for food because they look in the same way , and so, in accordance with the food chain, it ends up on our plates.
According to this year’s study, edited by Zhi Zhou, Purdue University, USA, microplastics have also been found in tap water, so even vegetarianism does not prevent it. As a result – various diseases including oncology.
This fact is shocking: today you are enthusiastically engaged in shopaholism, and tomorrow your descendants eat plastic and receive disastrous consequences for their health.
Therefore, the trend for awareness has emerged in the fashion industry. Logomania and heavy luxury already look comical. The term “normcore” has come into use as an alternative fashion position. The priority of buyers is the quality of things, their durability, the convenience of the models, as well as the ecological and ethical position of the manufacturer. The questions arise: what materials are things made of? Are they biodegradable? Does the manufacturer help the development of environmental initiatives? Is it engaged in environmental education?
One of the brightest representatives of the new ethics in fashion is the Ecoolska brand. https://ecoolska.com/en/
Perhaps this is the first clothing brand that does not call for buying things, but discourages, drawing attention to global environmental problems. How they set up a business:
- Create upcycling collections. They alter worn-out second-hand items into ultra-fashionable looks, and donate profits from sales to charity projects. An auction will take place in October 2021, where everyone will have the opportunity to purchase items from the RECYCLE YOUR LIFE collection. What did we use for our items:
0 meters of new fabric.
0 natural resources.
Only raw materials are used. Zero waste.
This is a good opportunity not only to replenish your wardrobe with bright, stylish outfits, but also to make your contribution to cleanse the ocean from plastic. After the auction all the money will be transferred for that purpose.
https://ecoolska.com/en/upcycling/
- They are engaged in the collecting of unnecessary clothing of people, and then give it to the disposal, recycling, or, if it is in excellent condition, donate to those people who really need it.
- Actually support the circular economy. In their production, not a single piece of fabric is thrown away. For example, the scraps left over from the cut of the main products are used to create a shopping bag. All things for sale are packed in such bags.
Some of the attacks go to the “house of industriousness”, where people with disabilities, the elderly and single mothers who have been left without a fixed abode live. There, to the best of their ability, they do simple work – weave rugs, thereby they make money. The goal of this project is to organize new jobs for those who find themselves in difficult life situations.
- Recycled fabrics (recycled cotton, recycled polyester) and organic cotton and linen are used. The painting and processing of materials is non-toxic and safe. Waste from production is reduced to zero. The entire path from material procurement and product tailoring to logistics is transparent.
Ecoolska is absolutely open to its customers, the site contains all the information that was previously not customary to expose: who sews these clothes and in what conditions, where the certified fabrics are bought.
- One of the important areas of Ecoolska’s work is digital fashion.
According to a 2018 survey by Barclays Bank, one in ten buys things just for photos on social media! After the content is filmed, the clothes are either handed over back to the store, or hung as a dead weight in the closet, and then sent to the landfill, polluting the planet.
Real and virtual boundaries are erased, in the future many people will have 5-10 basic items in their wardrobe, and the remaining 1,532 items will be digital wardrobe. Digital fashion already now allows you to create realistic clothes that cannot be distinguished from physical ones or to delve into full art, being creative to the maximum.
See for yourself: https://ecoolska.com/en/digital-fashion/
The Ecoolska brand is not only about clothes. It is about environmental friendliness, ethics, harmony, comfortable working conditions and a decent salary for people, charity and neutralization of the carbon footprint. The company opposes all systems of discrimination and implements the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals in its activities. The motive of the brand founder is clear and close to everyone:
«Once my children and I were reading a book about plastic. It described in detail how the invention of this material (it happened 150 years ago)opened up new opportunities for industries around the world, and then – what tragic consequences for the environment and for the planet as a whole that invention had.
Full awareness came to me. I imagined that the children would soon grow up and ask: “Mom, what are you doing?
At this point, I would like to give an answer for which I will not be ashamed: to tell that our brand firstly does not harm the planet, and also makes our world to a better place.»
Olga Skazkina, Ecoolska brand founder and designer