A Challenge To Be Met: Final Pitch
A Challenge To Be Met Project has finally come to the final pitch. As a team, we knew from the beginning that we have a common dream: to see changes in the fashion industry — which means to see changes in the way people perceive little actions and their consequences. Changing everyday habits is hard, we knew that from the beginning, especially when it comes for habits that “comfort” us, and fast fashion is of course a part of what we call “comfort zone” in modern life, since it’s cheap, it’s super accessible, and it never stays out of current trends.
In order to comprehend the problematic side of this industry, we had to define fast fashion:
“Inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends” is a widely accepted explanation of what fast fashion is.
Combating fast fashion is a challenge, so we came across multiple realizations. Fast Fashion industry is not only dangerous for the environment, but also for humans, since when it comes for working conditions, basic human rights are violated in the name of profit. Of course no one can also ignore the fact that clothing industry is the second most infectious industry in the world after oil. The two biggest and most popular fast fashion companies, INDITEX and H&M, use unsustainable methods for their production, while their practices result in large amounts of textile waste, most of which is landfilled.
Having these facts in mind, our thoughts were clear: we want a change!
We started to make further researches in the field of fashion, and we took numerous actions that day by day made the framework of our project clearer. We participated in the Global Media and Information Literacy Week with an open letter to the Mayor of Athens, regarding ethical fashion, we also made a TEDtalk regarding ethical and fast fashion, we watched documentaries and we read multiple informative articles.
After all, how will our voices be heard?
In order to raise our voices and spread awareness in the issue of fashion, we made our own website called “Ethical Hive”, which includes informative articles about fashion, interviews that highlight different points of view of consumers, and what we consider to be most innovative in our website, is a visual map that allows our audience to explore ethical stores in their neighborhood. Of course, as time goes by, the map will be enriched with more and more stores.
Besides that, we also created a page called “Thrift Store Guide”, in which we describe step by step how someone can make his own online second-hand shop. Thus, we encourage people to recycle their clothes, to keep clothes out of landfills, lower their carbon footprint and help preserve water. And of course… we encourage them to come closer to their community, to explore sustainable “hives” in their neighborhood.
We also added a service with this title “Do you own an ethical brand or a thrift shop? Contact with us, and we will promote your business!”. With this service we encourage ethical shops to contact us, and then promote and advertise their shop in our website for a minimum fee — and this is the business model that we have in mind to start, but it is something we want to do when we gather enough audience. For now, we want to offer our services voluntarily, and in the future slowly venture into charging. Another future concept is to include in our website a “Featured Shop Of The Week”. Our purpose through our services is to offer our audience more and more choices and motives to shop ethically, because this is the change we want to see. We want people to reconsider the consequences that their daily actions have, and reconsider habits that may be harmful not only for the environment, but also for themselves, for every individual out there. We want to raise awareness. Everyone must know the story of their clothes.
Changes come for small everyday actions, and we should all believe that strongly. Everything that we do matters and we should not forget that. What we wear is more than a simple t-shirt. More than a simple dress. It has a story. Someone made it. Someone who does not share the same rights with us. Someone who starves and is being mistreated. Let’s just not forget that.. lets fight for a better planet.
Where you can find us:
The Rest of the team: Hara Papadatou , Ioanna Poliou
Sources and useful links:
· Fast Fashion Is the Second Dirtiest Industry in the World, Next to Big Oil
· Fashion’s crippling impact on the environment is only getting worse
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/437egg/why-fashion-is-the-worlds-most-polluting-industry
· The environmental costs of fast fashion
· 5 Truths the Fast Fashion Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannon-whitehead/5-truths-the-fast-fashion_b_5690575.html
