by Agency
AMSTERDAM: Ikram Cakir picks out a similar product, this period in hot red, after examining an assortment of blue and white blouses. Greetings from Amsterdam’s “fashion collection.”
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 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 wear 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 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, today’s consumers purchase 60 % more clothing than they did 15 years ago, but each item is only kept for 50 % as long.
A third of microplastic releases into the oceans—toxic elements for humans and fish—and one-fourth of global water pollution are caused by style.
All of this led Elisa Jansen, her two sisters, and a friend to start” LENA, the style library,” in an upscale neighborhood in the heart of Amsterdam.
” Why did we launch in 2014?” She explained to AFP that the fashion industry is one of the most poisoning in the world.
” Test before you buy,” they say.
In addition to drop-off and set points in various French cities, the collection also has an online section.
” Often wear fresh clothing.” beneficial to the globe. With your design, study. Try before you buy, reads a flyer summarizing LENA’s philosophy that is hung above its desk and washing machines.
Jansen said she has “always worked in disposal clothing” 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 organize a sizable shared wardrobe.”
Customers register for a 10 euro fee that will enable them to use or purchase clothing from the series.
Although there are over 6,000 members, not everyone is a typical customer, according to Jansen.
Her best goal is the quality of her clothing, and she always chooses businesses 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 decades 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 possess closed since.
She acknowledges that finding a successful business unit took some time.
However, her location in a popular neighborhood nowadays primarily draws women between the ages of 25 and 45″ who want to make responsible choices but also want fairly clothes.”
The intended market is 35-year-old wine journalist India Donisi.
She remarked,” It’s really very convenient,” as she put on what she referred to as an “extravagant” fuchsia green jacket.
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 people.
I firmly believe that this is the potential. Our consumption ca n’t go on like it is, she said.
You always have the choice to borrow if you do n’t want to buy, which I hope other clothing brands will even do themselves.
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