The Re-fashionable project is an Erasmus+ funded project that aims to develop skills and tools that will revolutionize the fashion industry and enhance its sustainability. The activities of the project benefit fashion and VET school trainers and students, fashion companies and environmental organisations, by providing tools and materials that can help each group align its operations and activities with the European sustainability goals regarding sustainable fashion and climate-neutrality.
In order to realise that goal, 6 organisations across 5 countries (Spain, Italy, Greece, Hungary and the Netherlands) have joined forces. Re-fashionable is supported by the combined expertise of non-profit organisations, businesses and educational institutions.
What is the drive behind Re-fashionable?
The understanding of the current state of the fashion industry and its significantly negative impact on sustainability on a global scale.
Due to fast fashion trends and general practices of overproduction and overconsumption, coupled with bad waste handling, the fashion industry has risen to become the 2nd largest polluter globally. Those facts have led to significant environmental and social effects that directly oppose the sustainability goals set by the EU. As a result, legislative pressure is being applied to manufacturers, distributors and retailers, through the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and similar initiatives that aim to bring sustainability into fashion. A reform of the industry is required, which subsequently demands a reform of the training process of fashion professionals and practitioners.
The Re-fashionable project aims to build a platform that will raise awareness about the problems of the fashion industry, encourage ideas for their solution and cultivate a commitment to a more sustainable fashion industry. Through the provision of tools and knowledge, Re-fashionable will arm future and current fashion professionals, practitioners and educators for their journey of forging a fashion industry that is circular, environmentally and socially positive. The community created through refashionable will set the course of the fashion industry in the coming years and hopefully bring to fruition the plans about reducing waste and pollution through new initiatives and attitudes towards production, consumption and disposal.
What is Re-fashionable bringing to the table?
The main results of Re-fashionable to achieve the project’s goals are:
- The Collaborative Digital Platform: A digital space for fashion schools and students, fashion companies, professionals, and environmental organizations to collaborate, exchange ideas and good practices, build projects, and learn from each other. This platform will be the basis for a community that will re-imagine the sustainable fashion space.
- An Innovative Course: “The Green Thread” is a tailored e-learning course for fashion industry professionals, providing essential knowledge on fashion sustainability, environmental and social criteria, sustainable technology in fashion, and much more. Through the course, learners will garner all the necessary skills to embark on their sustainable fashion journey. The course, by its structure and content, is a valuable and ready-to -use learning source for fashion schools and VET trainers who wish to incorporate sustainability and circularity concepts and examples in their teaching and training.
- The Summer Lab: An in-person event where project target groups can interact, conceptualize opportunities, and explore new media in the context of sustainability. Through face-to-face interaction, the exchange of practices and generation of ideas regarding sustainability in fashion will be enhanced.
Through the official project website https://refashionable.eu/, you can become part of the fashion sustainability community and benefit from the publicly available, free tools developed through the Re-fashionable project. You can also follow the project’s progress through the official Facebook and Instagram pages. For any further information, please feel free to contact