Ikram Cakir picks out a similar object, this time in hot red, after examining several different shades of blue and white blouse. Welcome to the “fashion librarian” in Amsterdam.
The “big shared closet” in the French capital is a response to clothing waste and fashion industry pollution and is advertised as one of the only real centers for renting used and fresh clothing worldwide.
Each product has a label indicating the purchase rate or how much it costs to rent it each day, and hundreds of vibrantly colored pants, coats, or overalls are organized by company or style.
Depending on the customer’s loyalty, how frequently they rent clothes, and how many they borrow, the daily rental price ranges from about 50 euro cents ($ 0.55 ) to a few euros.
Cakir, a 37-year-old NGO campaign manager, thinks the idea is” only truly good.”
She told AFP,” So numerous garments are bought and then never used.” Cakir continued,” This is a great way to use new attire without depleting the planet.”
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing waste and pollution, the equivalent of one truckload of clothing is burned or buried in waste every minute worldwide.
According to the UN in 2022, the cotton sector accounts for between two and eight percent of all carbon emissions worldwide.
According to the UN, today’s consumers purchase 60 % more clothing than they did 15 years ago, but each item is only kept for 50 % as long.
One-fourth of the nation’s water pollution and one-third of microplastic discharges into the oceans—toxic substances for bass and people—are caused by style.
All of this inspired Elisa Jansen, her two sisters, and a friend to start” LENA,” the trend library, in the heart of Amsterdam.
” Why did we start operations in 2014?” She explained to AFP that the fashion industry is one of the most poisoning in the world.
” Test before you buy”-
In addition to drop-off and selection locations in other French cities, the collection also has an online section.
” Often wear fresh clothing.” beneficial to the earth. With your design, test. Try before you buy, reads a flyer summarizing LENA’s philosophy that is hung above its desk and washing machines.
Jansen claimed that she has “always worked in disposal clothes” because her career started in antique shops.
However, the classic industry did not permit her to purchase new items, and she thought the style was to uniform.
She said,” That’s when I had the concept to organize a sizable shared wardrobe.”
Customers must pay a 10 euro fee in order to use or purchase clothing from the series.
Although there are over 6,000 members, not everyone is a normal customer, according to Jansen.
Her best goal is the quality of her clothing, and she always favors companies with a long lifespan.
She remarked,” You wo n’t find any fast fashion here,” alluding to a trend where clothing is inexpensively purchased and then thrown away after just one or two wears.
When LENA second opened nine years ago, it was “really one of the first of its kind,” according to Jansen.
Similar efforts have been started in nations like Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Scandinavia, and Switzerland, though Jansen claimed that the Scandinavian stores appeared to had closed since.
She acknowledges that it took some time to find a successful business concept.
However, her location in a popular neighborhood then primarily draws women between the ages of 25 and 45″ who want to make lasting choices but also want fairly clothes.”
The intended market is 35-year-old wine journalist India Donisi.
As she put on what she described as an “extravagant” fuchsia green jacket, she said,” It’s really very convenient.”
Donisi frequently borrows items from the library to wear to media appearances, but she lives nearby and admits she would n’t travel across town to do so.
Jansen hopes that her program will motivate others.
I firmly believe that this is the potential. As it stands, our consumption don’t continue, she said.
You always have the choice to borrow if you do n’t want to buy, so I hope other clothing brands will even do it themselves.