The AFP publishes this information, chosen by the company’s editors-in-chief as probably the greatest of the week. Video by Julie Capelle
Ikram Cakir palms her a multicolored blue and white shirt and selects an analogous garment, this time in sizzling pink. Welcome to Amsterdam’s “vogue library”.
Billed as one of many world’s solely bodily hubs for renting new and used garments, the Dutch capital’s “massive closet sharing” is a response to clothes waste and air pollution from the style business.
A whole bunch of brightly coloured pants, coats and jumpsuits are sorted by model or fashion, every with a tag indicating a retail worth or how a lot it prices to lease the merchandise per day.
The value of each day rental varies from about 50 euro cents ($zero.55) to a few euros, relying on buyer loyalty: how usually they lease garments and the way a lot they borrow.
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For Cakir, a 37-year-old NGO marketing campaign director, the idea is “simply good.”
“Loads of garments are purchased after which by no means worn,” he explains to AFP.
“It is a nice technique to put on new garments with out depleting the planet,” Cakir added.
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Globally, the equal of a truckload of clothes is burned or buried in landfills each second, in line with the Ellen MacArthur Basis, a charity centered on eliminating waste and air pollution.
The textile business can be a significant polluter, inflicting between two and eight p.c of worldwide carbon emissions, in line with the United Nations in 2022.
Within the period of quick vogue, the typical particular person buys 60 p.c extra garments than 15 years in the past, whereas every merchandise of clothes is saved solely half as lengthy, the UN says.
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Style is answerable for 1 / 4 of the air pollution of the world’s waters and a 3rd of microplastic discharges into the oceans: substances poisonous to fish and people.
All this prompted Elisa Jansen to open “LENA, the style library” in a stylish space of central Amsterdam, together with her two sisters and a buddy.
“Why did we open in 2014? As a result of the style business is without doubt one of the most polluting on this planet,” he advised AFP.
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The library additionally has a web based part, in addition to drop-off and pick-up factors in different Dutch cities.
“All the time new garments. Good for the planet. Experiment along with your fashion. Strive before you purchase,” reads an indication hanging above LENA’s counter and washing machines, summarizing its philosophy.
Jansen’s profession started in classic shops, which is why he says he “has all the time labored in clothes recycling.”
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However the classic enterprise didn’t permit him to buy new objects and he discovered the fashion too homogeneous.
“That is once I got here up with the thought of sharing garments in an enormous closet,” she mentioned.
Prospects enroll by paying a charge of 10 euros, permitting them to borrow or purchase garments from the gathering.
There are greater than 6,000 members, however not all are common debtors, Jansen admits.
Their high precedence is the standard of their clothes, all the time preferring extra sturdy manufacturers.
“You will not discover quick vogue right here,” she mentioned, referring to a pattern by which garments are purchased low-cost after which thrown away after just some wears.
LENA was “actually one of many first of its form” when it opened 9 years in the past, Jansen mentioned.
Related initiatives have been launched in locations together with Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Scandinavia and Switzerland, though Jansen mentioned Scandinavian shops appeared to have closed since then.
It took a while to discover a worthwhile enterprise mannequin, he admits.
However its location in a trendy space now primarily attracts ladies between 25 and 45 years outdated “who wish to select sustainable choices but additionally need stunning garments.”
India Donisi, a 35-year-old wine blogger, is the target market.
“It is truly very handy,” he mentioned whereas attempting on what he known as an “extravagant” fuchsia-pink jacket.
Donisi usually rents garments from the library to put on at media occasions, however she lives across the nook and admits she would not go throughout city to borrow an outfit.
Jansen hopes his initiative evokes others.
“I actually consider that is the longer term. Our consumption can’t proceed as it’s,” he mentioned.
“I hope different clothes manufacturers even do it themselves… so that you all the time have the choice to borrow in the event you do not wish to purchase.”
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