Sustainable fashion
Members of Parliament: Fenna (Bonn), Anne (Bonn), Felix (Bonn), Karl (Bonn), Noam Levy (Jerusalem), Hadassa Ferber (Jerusalem), Michelle Lukomsky (Jerusalem)
Mentor:
Bar Ezra, PhD candidate in the Hebrew Universtiy
Main topics:
social justice, environmental hazards, recycling, slow fashion, donations, activist fashion
We met with
Marijke Mulder, coordinator for education and advice at Femnet e.V
Marijke was a pedagogical assistant and Europe and funding officer at the Institute for European Partnerships and International Cooperation e.V. until 2018. Since 2018 she has been the coordinator for education and advice at Femnet e.V.
Marijke informed that the increasing misery of the textile workers in the textile industry is not only a problem far away in Asia. We we all use and wear clothes from exploitative work. She encourages teachers and students to take a look at what's hanging in their own closet. To upcycle old things together or organize a clothes swap party could be activities to draw more attention to the topic. Also the development of campaigns, such as students/teachers getting their mayor, the school authority or the local entrepreneur to only buy fairly produced workwear or home textiles could show possible courses of action.
Decision offer of the committee for fair fashion
The committee:
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Is worried about the shopping behavior of uninformed customers.
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Is concerned that the fair fashion industry does not get enough attention at the moment, and also the fair fashion industry is not fully realized or adequately promoted.
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Recognizes the problem is that too many people buy fast fashion and are not educated about how bad it is for the environment and the workers.
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Is concerned about the future of the earth if major companies continue to unethically mass produce goods and discard unsold goods in landfills.
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Recognizes that people associate expensive clothes with good quality and better working conditions and thus justify their purchases, even if the production process is actually the same.
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Is worried about the bad working conditions, the massive water consumption and the long and environmentally harmful production process of fast fashion.
The committee:
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Recommends that schools educate students more about the clothes they consume. For example, by offering workshops that deal with the problem of current shopping behavior or by incorporating the topic into already existing subjects like Geography.
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Supports educating students and young adults about the ecological and social dangers of fast fashion.
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Recommends organizing informational days or projects about fair and fast fashion to educate and reach students.
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Recommends that schools start teaching students about the problems with clothing production from a young age to draw attention to the topic.
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Recommends organizing re- or upcycling clothes programs or days at school where students bring their old clothes and donate or swap them, e.g., “flea market day”.
Out presentation
