This article, which has been chosen by the company’s main editors as one of the best this week, is being republished by AFP. Streaming by Julie Capelle
Ikram Cakir picks out a similar item, this time in hot red, and hands over an assortment of blue and white blouses. Greetings from Amsterdam’s “fashion librarian.”
The “big shared wardrobe” in the French capital is a response to clothes wasted and style industry pollution. It is listed as one of the only real centers for renting used and fresh clothing worldwide.
Each material has a tag indicating the sale price or the daily rental fee for hundreds of vibrantly colored pants, coats, and overalls that are organized by brand 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 really nice.”
She told AFP,” So numerous garments are bought and then never used.”
Cakir continued,” This is a great way to utilize 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 following worldwide.
According to the United Nations in 2022, the cotton market is also a significant polluter, accounting for between two and eight percent of global carbon emissions.
According to the UN, the average person purchases 60 % more clothing today than they did 15 years ago, but each piece is only kept for half as long.
One-fourth of the nation’s water pollution and one-third of microplastic discharges into the oceans—toxic substances for seafood and people—are caused by style.
All of this led Elisa Jansen, her two sisters, and a friend to start” LENA, the trend library,” in an upscale neighborhood 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.
In addition to drop-off and set locations in other French cities, the collection also has an online section.
” Always wear fresh clothing.” beneficial to the environment With your tone, test. Try before you buy, reads a flyer summarizing LENA’s philosophy that is hung above its shop and washing machines.
Jansen said she has “always worked in disposal clothes” because her career started in antique shops.
However, she was unable to purchase new items because of the antique industry, which she found to be too uniform in style.
She said,” That’s when I had the plan to share clothing in a sizable shared wardrobe.”
Customers can use or purchase clothing from the set after paying a 10 euro fee.
Jansen acknowledges that although there are over 6, 000 people, no all of them are regular borrowers.
Her best goal is the quality of her clothing, and she always chooses companies with a long lifespan.
She remarked,” You wo n’t find any fast fashion here,” alluding to the practice of buying cheap clothing that is then thrown away after just a few uses.
When LENA second opened nine decades ago, it was “really one of the first of its kind,” according to Jansen.
Although Jansen claimed the Norwegian outlets appeared to possess closed since, related activities have been introduced in countries like Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Scandinavia, and Switzerland.
She acknowledges that finding a successful enterprise unit took some time.
However, her location in a posh neighborhood then draws mostly women between the ages of 25 and 45″ who want to make responsible choices but also want quite clothes.”
The intended market is 35-year-old wine blog India Donisi.
As she put on what she described as an “extravagant” fuchsia red 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 action will motivate others.
” I firmly believe that this is the potential. As it stands, our consumption may maintain,” 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.
jcp/ric/jhe/gil