Sustainable Germany — But what about what they wear?
In Germany, the use of the three sectioned trash cans, the cans attached to posts, and all the mitigation strategies that Germans us to reduce waste is evident throughout the cleanliness of the city and streets. From glass water bottles to the lack of AC, it feels like Germany does it all.
An experience I want to focus on is the sustainable clothing store we visited called Kollateralschaden. Understanding the role of sustainable clothing in a German’s life seemed interesting to me because they take on measures every day to be as sustainable as possible and if something so crucial such as clothing you put on everyday produces a ridiculous amount of waste, it seems a bit imbalanced.
This institution focuses on sustainable clothing through reusing fabrics and integrating styles that can be versatile and reused in many ways. The concept of this struck me as a hit to practical and sustainable Germany but as I learned from our speaker, those who come into the shop are those who are really into the sustainable fashion wave and not just an everyday German. This got me thinking about the interest group of this venture who are people already onto the sustainable fashion scene and have changed their lifestyle towards it. If this is the case, the movement towards sustainable fashion stays stagnant as others don’t join in and the consumer cycle is the same in quantity. The speaker also mentioned how he does not use social media nor marketing outlets but just lets the customers find him. I understand this approach as he mentions the process for this clothing cannot be dealt with a large customer audience, but it makes me wonder how we can all as a society move towards sustainable fashion when they even know with the methods now, a larger audience cannot be reached.
I believe the unresolved tensions lie in the stigma and personal “inconvenience” of sustainable fashion. The public believe more towards marketed and accessible retail stores in malls that use cheap labor and unfair wages. This is also true because of the lack of advocacy from the sustainable businesses who choose to keep their brand small to not disrupt their small consumer rate. I believe that marketing towards sustainable and better fashion needs will generate attention and convince society as it will put in on people’s radars. Many also look at sustainable fashion and look away because of the prices. The prices are significantly higher due to the fair wages and immense hours put into production which turn people off from the product. Much of the public agree on this and therefore it is hard for those economically disadvantaged to be able to care about this issue. I believe something to help mitigate this would be digitizing the production process. Our speaker said it is not possible for his product design but through innovation, research, and testing, I believe sustainable fashion can be taken to another level to reduce costs and help it become more accessible to all.
Overall, I believe the right steps in sustainable fashion in Germany can sway the public view on it and pave a larger road to sustainability and help our planet.
#Berlin
